title
stringlengths 6
301
| keywords
listlengths 0
23
| messages
listlengths 2
2
|
|---|---|---|
The ethics of library resource sharing in the digital age
|
[
"Resource sharing",
"Interlibrary loan",
"Interlending",
"Ethics",
"Librarians",
"Libraries"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As digital information supplements and even replaces print material, librarians must adapt resource sharing policies, practices, and procedures to the technological, economic, and legal realities of the digital age. Although interlibrary loan (ILL) specialists provide an invaluable service, this does not mean that everything they do is right, beneficial or good for their patrons, or for society as a whole. As with any human endeavor, they should neither assume that their work is immune to ethical considerations, nor should they take ethical shortcuts. Otherwise, even the most well meaning librarian risks compromising their values, interests, and mission, as well as harming other stakeholders in the information world, including their own constituents.\nEthical values and frameworks: Merely adhering to religious commandments or governmental laws is insufficient for determining whether something is ethical. Instead, all perspectives must be rationally analyzed and weighed against a conception of the greatest - quantity or quality - of some good or goods. However, what is best is not always obvious, so one cannot rely on common sense alone. At times extensive, sometimes daunting issues, concerns, and questions need to be addressed and parsed in order to be responsible and respectful. There is often room for reasonable debate, and competing goods and interests mean that compromises and tradeoffs are necessary.\nEthical issues and analysis: While ethical analyses can help librarians address any issue, conflicts among ethical theories exist, such as when something is clearly utilitarian, but is not very fair or is a violation of specific rights. This is why ethical conduct is best understood as choosing among competing goods, rather than choosing to do something right versus wrong, or good versus evil. When administrators, publishers, lawmakers, or the public dictate policies and rules that are inconsistent with librarian values and norms, though, librarians should turn to ethical reasoning in defense of their work.\nThe ethical way forward: By being explicit about how the work that librarians do upholds certain values, the public can better understand, appreciate and support the role of libraries and librarians in helping them continue to access and use information. This means that librarians themselves must understand how their policies and procedures, as well as the current legal, economic and technological landscape, syncs with their values and ethical precepts, and advocate for change, when they do not.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to outline ethical implications of the practical challenges facing resource sharing practitioners in the digital age.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author presents an overview of major ethical challenges related to digital resource sharing using a framework of four key ethical theories: justice as fairness; utilitarianism; rights theory; and common good theory.\nFindings: When administrators, publishers, lawmakers, or the public dictate policies and rules that are inconsistent with librarian values and norms, librarians should turn to ethical reasoning in defense of their work.\nSocial implications: Resource sharing practitioners everywhere will find the ethical theories useful when presented with questions related to user access to information.\nOriginality/value: Library managers charged with development and assessment of resource sharing policies and practices will benefit from this paper.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effect of perceived brand leadership on luxury service WOM
|
[
"Selection bias",
"Propensity score analysis",
"Brand leadership",
"Luxury products",
"Word-of-mouth recommendation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As of 2014, the overall luxury market value exceeded US$900bn worldwide (Bain and Company, 2014). The social phenomenon of luxury spending boom and a significant growth of the luxury industry has been largely attributed to the service industry. For example, the luxury hospitality industry is worth $81bn, which represents a 6 per cent increase from 2013 (Bain Luxury Study, 2014). A key contributor to the phenomenon of excessive consumption is the US market. The USA represents the largest luxury market in the world, with luxury spending rates doubling that of Japan, the second largest luxury market (World Luxury Index, 2014). Adding to its prominence in this context, the US market's luxury interest has also recently grown by 7 per cent, indicating over half of worldwide luxury consumer interest (Luxury Society, 2014).\nTheoretical background: Before addressing the research hypotheses, the researchers discussed several theoretical assumptions associated with luxury service types and brand leadership and their impact on WOM behavior.\nMethods: Product selection\nData analysis: In this study, we are interested in exploring the effect of two conditions (i.e. accessible and inaccessible luxuries) on the structural relationship between the four factors of brand leadership and WOM recommendation intention. As documented above, two different populations self-select to obtain membership in public or private golf clubs, and therefore a direct comparison of outcomes across these conditions may be biased because of confounding consumer variables, such as gender, age, education, household income, ethnicity, product involvement level and personality traits.\nResults: Measurement model\nDiscussion: The purpose of the study was to explore how consumers' brand leadership perceptions dynamically influence their WOM corresponding to the luxury type. The authors examined:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Despite the remarkable growth of the luxury industry, a phenomenon referred to as luxury fever, as well as the growing interest in word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing in the industry at hand, little is known about how consumers' perceived leadership of luxury brands dynamically influences their WOM behavior. This paper aims to examine the moderating role of a type of luxuries (accessible vs inaccessible) in the relationship between the four dimensions of perceived brand leadership - quality, value, innovativeness and popularity - and consumers' WOM recommendation intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The current research is based on survey data gathered from 333 actual customers who attend five golf clubs located in North Florida. An innovative data analysis procedure that combines structural equation modeling with propensity score analysis to estimate the moderating effects, controlling for selection bias, is presented.\nFindings: Quality was the significant predictor of WOM among consumers of inaccessible luxuries (private club). In contrast, financial value and popularity were key factors in predicting WOM of individuals who chose accessible luxuries (public club).\nOriginality/value: This paper attempts to shed new light on the field of strategic luxury marketing by addressing differential consumption decision-making processes corresponding to hierarchically constructed luxury services. In addition, an innovative way is suggested to achieve covariates' balance in the examinations of latent variables and multisampling models for observational research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Modeling competencies for supporting work-integrated learning in knowledge work
|
[
"Competences",
"Learning",
"Workplace learning",
"Knowledge management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge workers are workers whose critical work resource within their essential value-creating tasks is knowledge (Drucker, 1994). In order to enhance the productivity of knowledge workers, their competency enhancement and learning has to take place directly at their workplaces. According to Haskell (2001), work-integrated learning aims at fostering the learning transfer (i.e. the application of what has been learnt to current job activities).Work-integrated learning does not merely rely on pre-defined development plans and on learning resources, which are specifically designed and produced for dedicated learning situations. Work-integrated learning instead mainly considers knowledge workers' actual tasks, personal competency disposition and work domain as being relevant for deriving current learning needs. Work-integrated learning also seeks to reuse the results of the work task as learning material.Knowledge work operates in a constant tension between personal goals and organizational constraints. On the one hand, knowledge workers increasingly learn in an informal and self-directed manner (Pinchot and Pinchot, 1996). In our approach to workplace learning, this is addressed by offering knowledge workers easy access to relevant knowledge artifacts and persons in a workplace learning environment, and thereby giving them considerable freedom to work and learn in a self-directed manner. On the other hand, aligning learning to organizational goals and task requirements is an important factor. This even poses challenges for traditional personnel development instruments and trainings. How this alignment can be addressed within knowledge work remains an open issue (Elkjaer, 2000). In order to address these organizational issues, we look at the context in which the knowledge worker operates. The context is made up of several elements that address aspects of the task and the organizational setting (such as the process or domain the person currently works in, and the competencies required for performing the work).The purpose of the current paper is first to suggest a model of a person's context with regard to workplace learning in order to better understand the relevant constituents that make up a user's work environment and the relationships between them. We then focus on one element of the user context, namely the competencies required to perform the work successfully. Competencies are used as a guide to suggest relevant learning interventions. The paper then presents a formal model for competencies and suggests a methodology of how competencies can be modelled in a specific organizational case. A case study illustrates the methodology and provides a possibility for testing its applicability.\nContext in workplace learning: Tight integration of working and learning in a workplace learning environment relies on a clear computer-interpretable conception of what content the material in question actually conveys. A clear conception can be provided by annotating material with metadata taken from a sufficiently expressive model base (Sicilia, 2006). For reuse purposes, metadata is analyzed during the process of assembling learning material. Assembling learning material not only consists of selecting mere content, but also of putting it into new usage contexts and the contexts of other material presented (Heiwy, 2006). To integrate working and learning, far-reaching strategies need to be considered. This is especially true for the technological foundations (Lytras and Pouloudi, 2006) and the metadata models to be developed or chosen. In order to allow for the greatest flexibility in reusing material, often a number of different metadata models are chosen. In this case measures need to be taken in order to align different models with each other (Cruz et al., 2004). In order to consider the topics raised by the aforementioned modeling issues, we propose a formal model that connects competency development and work execution and is in alignment with metadata used for annotating learning material.We refer to the context in which a person operates as the \"workplace learning context\". It is comprised of information relevant to a person's workplace. Given the case of a typical IT-based workplace of a knowledge worker, the workplace learning context needs to take care of the at least three conceptual spaces that are considered to make up the workplace (Lindstaedt and Farmer, 2004):1. the work space;2. the learning space; and3. the knowledge space.These spaces are unified conceptually using the abstraction of the so-called \"3spaces\".Each of the spaces of the 3spaces provides specialized tools and structures supporting one of three roles a knowledge worker typically fills at the professional workplace (Figure 1):1. Worker - This role is typically supported by the work space. The work space contains work-relevant tools and resources. It is structured according to work processes and tasks.2. Learner - This role is typically supported by the learning space. The learning space contains resources and measures for an individuals' competencies acquisition. The learning is structured according to learning topics but does not provide information about the relationship between work tasks and learning resources that contribute to competency development.3. Expert - The expert role is typically supported by the knowledge space. The knowledge space represents the knowledge that is stored within organizational memories and covers structuring, relationships and semantics of that knowledge.It should be noted that all three individual spaces of the 3spaces are normally structured differently (mutual structural disconnection) and are implemented by heterogeneous systems (mutual technical disconnection) (Lindstaedt and Farmer, 2004).In order to support work-integrated learning, all three roles that a knowledge worker can fill need to be supported. The workplace learning context mentioned above serves to wrap up all three roles conceptually and also serves to integrate them in an unified model, which in the following is referred to as the \"Workplace Learning Context Model\". The Workplace Learning Context Model represents the three roles of a knowledge worker and provides a mapping from the 3spaces onto a unified context model. The Workplace Learning Context Model thus spans the user's work context, the competency profile and the current knowledge domain in focus.\nThe Workplace Learning Context Model: A comprehensive workplace learning context model needs to cover a broad knowledge spectrum from organizational knowledge to knowledge of individual employees. Because employees are the main target and beneficiaries of the model, modeling the competencies of knowledge workers is a key requirement for providing appropriate support. Knowledge workers can be regarded as individuals that generate, operate on, require and manipulate organizational knowledge and act within this broader organizational knowledge context. Therefore, the development of models that deal not only with individual knowledge but also with the organizational knowledge context is crucial. Organizational knowledge can be regarded to consist of procedural and declarative aspects (Hartlieb, 2000). This distinction is of the highest importance, especially in the light of latest research on process-oriented (procedural; see, for example, Remus, 2002) and ontology-based (declarative; see, for example, Gronau et al., 2003) knowledge management as well as in the light of the latest standardization efforts in industry, which include, for example, standards for process management (International Organization for Standardization, 2000). Each of the spaces from the 3spaces introduced above can be mapped onto one of these aspects of knowledge:* individual knowledge finds its representation in the learning space, since both of them cover the acquisition of competencies;* procedural organizational knowledge is related to the working space; and* declarative organizational knowledge is related to the knowledge space.Based on this argument, this contribution introduces the three-dimensional Workplace Learning Context Model for conceptualizing a knowledge worker's context, which consists of individual (competency), procedural (work) and declarative (knowledge) spaces, each of which is taken care of in its own dedicated package, i.e.:* the competency package;* the process package; and* the domain package.The competency package\nCompetencies in workplace learning: a competence performance conception: For purposes of the present paper, we focus on the competency package introduced above, its relationships to the other packages, and how it can be utilized in a workplace learning environment. Specifically, our goal is to suggest ways in which a competency gap can be (semi-)automatically inferred from a comparison of a person's task performance in the past, and the tasks she is about to tackle in the future.For illustration purposes, the first section presents a scenario of how we envision the use of competencies in a workplace learning environment. In the second section, potential problems of how competencies are traditionally being used in the context of workplace learning are identified. Thirdly, we introduce a formal framework for competency management which specifies the formalization sketched out in the previous sections and which helps to alleviate some of the problems. The framework is based on a close connection between competencies and task performance. The framework informs an implementation method which is then introduced in the subsequent section and illustrated by means of a case study.A scenario for performing a competency gap analysis\nModelling competencies: a methodology and a case study: This section introduces the methodology we use to model competencies within the competence performance framework. According to Ley and Albert (2003a), the methodology entails the following steps:* derive a set of tasks (performance) for the position in question, and for the learning domain to be supported;* determine competencies needed to successfully perform the tasks; and* relate tasks and competencies (competence performance matrix).These three steps focus on the process \"defining competencies\" mentioned in the overall organizational competency management process presented by Ley et al. (2007).The methodology has already been applied in different settings (i.e. in the automotive industry and in a research-based setting). We have recently conducted a further case study focused more directly on supporting workplace learning. We briefly introduce this case study here. It will then be used to illustrate the procedure employed for deriving competence performance structures in the subsequent sections.A case study of requirements engineering\nConclusions: The above structures map the learning domain in terms of learning goals and the related tasks derived directly from relevant working tasks. This means that learning is specifically tailored to the requirements of working tasks and processes. The Workplace Learning Context Model has been developed in order to provide a mapping between the process, knowledge and competency spaces relevant to a given user. Hence, several ways of supporting users during their work tasks can be realized. Among them are the following:* Task learning - The Workplace Learning Context Model allows for deriving resources, which are considered relevant for executing a given task, and presenting them to the user.* Task execution support and domain-related support - The Workplace Learning Context Model allows for deriving those concepts of a domain ontology which are directly related to the work domain, within which the task is going to be executed.* Competency-gap based support - The Workplace Learning Context Model allows for computing the competency gap between the competencies that are necessary for executing the task at hand and the competencies a user possesses, and consequently for deriving those competencies that are necessary to fill the competency gap.As a next step, we are intending to integrate the competence performance structures into the APOSDLE environment. The learning space within this environment can then make use of the structures when delivering tailored learning material to knowledge workers in the process of an RE project. We are then intending to evaluate learning outcomes that result from use of the system by means of a large-scale evaluation study in real-world settings. An important question in this evaluation will be the added benefit which the different models provide with regard to the learning outcomes.\nOutlook: The initial results we have presented above suggest that there is plenty of room for future research aiming at making knowledge management and workplace learning more effective. In particular, measures applicable for augmenting knowledge workers' learning transfer and hence productivity deserve special attention. It is known that approaches are urgently needed that allow for better alignment of learning material with a learner's requirements, hence boostING workforce agility (Brakeley et al., 2004). It should be stated here once again that monolithic approaches are often not appropriate. They tend to gradually lose their agility and momentum when deployed in a real-world scenario. This inflexibility is mainly due to the fact that monolithic approaches are hard to maintain and unsuited to changes and adaptations. We therefore propose to research offering knowledge services for workplace learning that strongly consider a user's context. We envision that the applications mentioned in the scenario above might be well be suited for such a service-based approach. One such a service is an analysis service, which infers information based on a user's past behavior. An example of this is given in the scenario above, where Laura's competencies are automatically inferred from her past task executions. Another service concludes users' competencies gaps with respect to the task at hand and triggers a competency-sensitive retrieval for knowledge artifacts. An example of this is given in the scenario above. Still other services might offer recommendations of learning resources that have been considered appropriate by users in a similar context.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to suggest a way to support work-integrated learning for knowledge work, which poses a great challenge for current research and practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors first suggest a workplace learning context model, which has been derived by analyzing knowledge work and the knowledge sources used by knowledge workers. The authors then focus on the part of the context that specifies competencies by applying the competence performance approach, a formal framework developed in cognitive psychology. From the formal framework, a methodology is then derived of how to model competence and performance in the workplace. The methodology is tested in a case study for the learning domain of requirements engineering.\nFindings: - The Workplace Learning Context Model specifies an integrative view on knowledge workers' work environment by connecting learning, work and knowledge spaces. The competence performance approach suggests that human competencies be formalized with a strong connection to workplace performance (i.e. the tasks performed by the knowledge worker). As a result, competency diagnosis and competency gap analysis can be embedded into the normal working tasks and learning interventions can be offered accordingly. The results of the case study indicate that experts were generally in moderate to high agreement when assigning competencies to tasks.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The model needs to be evaluated with regard to the learning outcomes in order to test whether the learning interventions offered benefit the user. Also, the validity and efficiency of competency diagnosis need to be compared to other standard practices in competency management.\nPractical implications: - Use of competence performance structures within organizational settings has the potential to more closely relate the diagnosis of competency needs to actual work tasks, and to embed it into work processes.\nOriginality/value: - The paper connects the latest research in cognitive psychology and in the behavioural sciences with a formal approach that makes it appropriate for integration into technology-enhanced learning environments.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Professionalization in Asia - whence and whither
|
[
"Asia",
"Accounting profession"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The aims of this paper are twofold. First, we seek to assess the contribution of the 1999 Special Issue on Organizing the Accounting Profession in Asia in the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ) (henceforth the Special Issue). Second, and more generally, we seek to review the literature and offer suggestions for future research that could lead to deeper theorization of the professionalization of accounting.\nResearch method: Our research method consisted of two steps. First, we started by identifying research from 1999 to 2018 which had cited papers in the Special Issue. This enabled us to locate new research on professionalization projects in the region which had been directly influenced by the Special issue. Second, we undertook a larger literature search to locate English publications on this topic which had not cited papers in the Special issue. Using this two-step approach, we were able to generate two lists of country-specific studies - those whose authors had cited papers from the Special Issue and those with no citations from the Special Issue. There were ten countries in the first group. That is, post-1999, the Special Issue has been cited in research on professionalization in the following countries: China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia. There were four countries in the second group. Post-1999, the Special Issue has not been cited in the papers in our data set discussing professionalization processes in Mongolia, Taiwan, Pakistan and Singapore.\nFraming the literature on accounting professionalization projects in Asia: Willmott's (1986) synthesis of functionalist, interactionist and critical theories of the professions is a useful framework for research on professionalization projects within accounting. A functionalist view sees these projects as engineered by an integrated community of accountants who undertake highly skilled tasks that are crucial to the integration and smooth operation of society (Carr-Saunders and Wilson, 1933; Greenwood, 1957). An interactionist approach focusses on how organized accountants act to convince others of the legitimacy of their claim to professional recognition (Haug and Sussman, 1969; Roth, 1974). Within the critical lens, is a neo-Weberian theorization which argues that accounting professionalization is a means to achieve collective social mobility by accountants through control over a niche within the market for skilled labour (Larson, 1977; Klegon, 1978; Parkin, 1979). Writers working with Marxist arguments contend that professional power is recursively influenced by conflicts and contradictions in the social division of labour within a capitalistic mode of production (Carchedi, 1975; Johnson, 1982).\nThe special issue: States\n20 years since - the direct impact of the special issue: Analyzing the impact of a single issue on research in the area is difficult. Citation counts is one means of analyzing impact although they are imperfect measures. For example, it is well known that over time the number of citations for a paper diminishes although it is unclear that this necessarily means diminishing influence. Further, an issue could influence indirectly. For example, any one paper or group of papers will have particular objectives and emphases. The aspects that they do not focus on could well be the topic for future work. That is, while the content of papers, that is, their presence, will influence subsequent work their silences or absences could also influence, albeit indirectly. And citations may not capture both direct and indirect forms of impact.\nAssessment of impact of the special issue and future research directions: Summary of impact\nConcluding comments: The Special Issue has assisted in expanding the quantum of research on professionalization in Asia. The themes of the Special issue have been strengthened - emphasizing the role of state agencies, the impact of colonization, and, the reach of transnational accounting associations and firms. Subsequent research has produced additional insights on the interpenetration of communitarian norms in firm practices and professional identity construction. As well there is new interest in the emergent role of transnational actors such as IFAC and the World Bank. Future research could focus more on comparative analysis and in investigating arguments that Asia is characterized by distinct and different configurations of capitalisms, states and communities that co-constitute professions in specific ways. It could also analyze how corporatist arrangements work in a world populated by influential transnational actors that are not governments. These research opportunities attest to the ongoing fruitfulness of studying professionalization in Asia, a terrain that is not only economically material but a diverse empirical place that enables theoretical innovation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to assess the impact of the 1999 Special Issue on Professionalization in Asia in the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ); and second, more generally to review research on this topic post-1999.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper starts with a discussion of the research articles of the Special Issue. It then identifies research that has cited papers in the Special Issue and which focusses on professionalization in Asia to identify relevant subsequent research. In addition, a literature search is conducted to locate post-1999 work that has not cited papers from the Special Issue but has investigated the same topic area. Analyzing both sets of work enables an integrated review of the field and aids the identification of future research opportunities. The study covers published research articles and books on professionalization projects in Asia from 1999 to 2018. In this paper, reference to Asia focusses on East Asia (including countries such as China and Japan), South Asia (including countries such as Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka), and South East Asia (including countries such as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam). Given the elapsed time of near 20 years, there has been sufficient time for research to be published. Therefore, the review focusses on published output only and does not discuss unpublished theses, conference proceedings nor working papers.\nFindings: First, the Special Issue of AAAJ in 1999 generally adopted a critical lens and studied professionalization as projects of market closure and collective mobility. The corporatist framework of Puxty et al. (1987) provided a useful framing to analyze the influence of states, markets and communities on professionalization. Second, the Special Issue has helped to spur interest in understanding professionalization in the region. Post-1999, there are studies of countries not covered in the Special Issue. Third, the themes identified in the Special Issue continue to be relevant and are examined in post-1999 work: the active role of the state, the legacies of colonization, the activities of transnational accounting bodies; and to a lesser degree, the influence of transnational accounting firms. Finally, future research could usefully focus on: the distinctive and more expansive role of Asian state agencies; the conduct of deeper comparative research; the role of accounting firms in the region; and the impact of transnational agencies such as the International Federation of Accountants and the World Bank.\nResearch limitations/implications: There are three limitations. First, the review of literature omits unpublished research such as PhD theses and working papers. Second, it focusses only on research published in English. As a result, some work may be excluded. Third, it assesses the contribution of a single issue (i.e. the 1999 AAAJ Special Issue) and does not discuss work that preceded 1999.\nOriginality/value: This paper is aimed at assessing the impact of the 1999 Special Issue but also presents a wide-ranging analytical review of published research on accounting professionalization in Asia since 1999. The paper identifies several areas for future research and proposes a modified model of state-market-community-profession relations. In particular, the paper emphasizes the large and distinctive roles of Asian state agencies and the activities of transnational actors (both those within the profession as well as those that are external).\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Shareholder wealth effects of M
&
As: the third wave from Malaysia
|
[
"Acquisitions and mergers",
"Short-term wealth effects",
"Malaysia",
"Event study",
"Emerging markets"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In Asia, the merger and acquisition (M\nLiterature review: Signalling theory\nResearch methodology: Sample selection and data collections\nFindings and data analysis: Short-term shareholders wealth effects\nSummary and conclusions: The effects of the third M\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the short-term wealth effects of mergers and acquisitions (M\nDesign/methodology/approach: The short-term wealth effect is measured by the Cumulative Average Abnormal Returns (CAARs). For the purpose of this study, the wealth effects of a sample of 180 target and 196 bidding companies announced in Malaysia during the period from 2001 to 2009 are analyzed.\nFindings: Results of the study revealed that there are positive market reactions by both target and bidding shareholders towards M\nOriginality/value: There is high number of announced M\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Science mapping the most-cited publications on workplace learning
|
[
"Bibliometric analysis",
"Communities of practice",
"Learning communities",
"Science mapping",
"Workplace learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: On 22 August 2019, a SCOPUS basic search using titles, abstracts and keywords for the phrase \"workplace learning\" was conducted. This search generated a total of 2,445 results of which the oldest was dated 1988. In spite of these relatively few and recent publications, the concept of workplace learning - defined, in this study, as learning that occurs at workplace (Billett, 2004) - is believed to have a much ancient history. In fact, there existed some form of arrangements even in the ancient Greek whereby apprentice training was conducted within workers' cooperation (Wenger and Snyder, 2000). These rather informal provisions of learning in the workplace were regarded as the hallmark of communities of practice (one of the few ways in which workplace learning is described in the literature) although the exact term was coined much later in the 1990s (Wenger, 1998).\n2. Methods: This paper engages science mapping to produce an overview of the existing knowledge base on the topic of workplace learning. Science mapping is a method for conducting a bibliometric analysis of literature and scholarly work (Morris and Van DerVeer Martens, 2008). It is an appealing sub-class of bibliometric (or scientometric) analysis in which researchers attempt to explore and graphically display the connections among the various concepts (scientific knowledge) as it evolve and grow over the years (Small, 1997; van Eck and Waltman, 2014). These connections can be analysed using various units such as keyword, author, publication, journal, institution and country as the basis for enquiry (Cobo et al., 2012).\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 The pattern of publications and citations\n4. Limitations: The present bibliometric investigation is constrained by certain limitations. Firstly, our search of the literature was based on a single database. While we acknowledge the credibility of other databases such as Dimensions, PubMed and WoS, we consider that findings from SCOPUS database would be sufficient owing to its wide coverage of social sciences. We admit that the results could be somewhat different if another database or even a combination of databases is used to extract data. Furthermore, keywords were not available in 26 per cent of the articles that we used in the analysis. We regarded these as missing data. Had we replaced them with those that have provided keywords, our keyword network might look slightly different from that which is presented in this paper. Finally, our analyses were limited to data from the 100 most-cited publications only; results could have been very different had we used all the publications retrieved in the original search. Hence, the conclusions presented ahead must be interpreted keeping these restrictions in mind.\n5. Conclusions: In this paper, we presented a bibliometric analysis of publications on the topic of workplace learning. We analysed the citation and publication patterns of scholarly work from 1970 until the date of search (which is 17 August 2019). We further analysed the 100 most-cited articles on the topic for the contribution and collaboration of countries towards the publication as well as the key journals in which these works are published. We also represent the map of knowledge on the topic using keywords and by analysing cited references in these publications.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to use science mapping to explore the knowledge base on workplace learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analyses were based on the 100 most-cited articles out of the 7,469 results that were generated by the search on SCOPUS database. Bibliometric analyses such as keyword occurrence, co-authorship network and bibliometric coupling network were conducted using VOSviewer.\nFindings: The results indicated that scholarly work in the area of workplace learning is on the rise while emphasising the need for contributions from Eastern and Asian perspectives. It was also found that scholarly work on workplace learning can be classified into two major schools of thought, namely, one that revolves around learning communities and other around communities of practice. Finally, analysis of the top-journals revealed that many of them have a close association with the field of education.\nResearch limitations/implications: This analysis is based on a single database. Nonetheless, scholars looking forward to research and publish on the topic may consider the key concepts and journals identified in this review.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, no other study on bibliometric analysis of the topic has been conducted. This study contributes to the knowledge base on workplace learning by science mapping the existing knowledge.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Commercial extra virgin olive oils: Global Quality Index computation and pattern recognition by chemometrics
|
[
"Pattern recognition",
"Extra virgin olive oil",
"Global Quality Index (GQI)",
"Linear discriminant analysis (LDA)",
"Principal component analysis (PCA)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The extra virgin olive oil extracted from the fruits (olives) of the plant Olea europaea L. is distinguished from all other vegetable oils because it is derived from a fruit and not from seeds, and because it is obtained exclusively by mechanical or other physical means. Numerous investigations over the years have favoured a quality product, and have made the consumer increasingly aware and able to discern between the oil for retail sale and that for the high-value niche market. Now, the concept of \"super quality\" is catching on, and many producers have felt the need to include label information in addition to the overall quality of the packaged product, to outline the organoleptic, together with the preservative and the nutritional properties of their extra virgin olive oil.\n2. Materials and methods: 2.1 Samples\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Selected analytical variables\n4. Conclusions: The GQI computed for the commercial extra virgin olive oils by their chemical and sensory data allows their discrimination according to the different global quality levels of \"excellent\", \"good\", and \"sufficient\". By PCA it was possible to confirm that these three quality levels are correctly based on three significantly different populations of these extra-virgin olive oils. Furthermore, the LDA applied to all of these data confirmed the clustering of these samples into three groups according to these three levels of the GQI.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to guide the choice of consumers, putting on the label an additional claim, which can provide more information on the sensory profile and the nutritional and preservation features of the marketed extra virgin olive oil.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to define the concept of global quality, the following parameters were considered: fruity, bitter, pungency, 1-penten-3-one, phenolic substances, tocopherols, peroxide value, free acidity, palmitic acid, stearic acid oleic acid linoleic acid, and the campesterol/stigmasterol ratio. The study was carried out on 143 commercial extra virgin olive oils.\nFindings: The Global Quality Index was calculated as the square root of the sum of the squares of the individual local indices, according to three different algorithms. The computation obtained was recognised by chemometric analysis.\nSocial implications: A legislative amendment on the labelling could be proposed through an additional claim that safeguards the consumers on the health profile, inducing them to a more targeted purchase.\nOriginality/value: Three different global quality levels \"excellent\", \"good\", and \"sufficient\" have been determined. This clustering has also been recognised with a statistical approach. Since in the market, consumers can find extra virgin olive oils of different overall quality levels, it is possible to guide the choice of customers through an additional claim on the label, able to give more information on the sensory profile and the nutritional and preservation features of the product.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Getting a grip on the problem: learning through computer haptics
|
[
"Skills",
"Training"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In the modern workplace technology is bringing many changes with increasing rapidity. Nowadays the computer and the mobile phone are taken for granted as indispensable tools of working life. Yet, there are many who saw these come into their workplace and will see many other revolutionary changes before they retire. There are exciting new technologies churning through the laboratories of major manufacturers that may further revolutionise the way people communicate through and with their computer technology; both at home, for leisure and in the workplace. The implications for learning and development processes are immense and exciting.\nHaptics and their potential applications: This is not just a day dream for some distant future or speculation about what might be possible some day. There are commercial systems now being offered for specialist applications where the user can see an object, hear sounds from it, and also reach into the computer to touch and feel it. This is known as computer haptics. The commonest method used to display the virtual object so that it can be touched is force feedback. Here forces are played back against the hand that simulate touching the object. The forces are typically produced from small electric motors under the control of the computer. The user holds a pen through which the forces are transmitted by a device that looks like a small angle poise lamp (see Figure 1).\nA virtual cow: Most of the applications that are available at the moment for this technology are research and demonstration prototypes. Perhaps the most novel being a system developed at the University of Glasgow to train students in animal medicine. The intention was to give the student experience of the physical manipulation needed for an internal examination before he or she tried it out on a live animal. In some versions of the device to increase realism the researchers had a mock up of the rear end of cow through which the student put his or her arm. It will not take much imagination for learning professionals to see how this technology could transform many training processes where physical skills are being learned. Especially where there are health and safety issues to consider.\nReal-time learning from the customer: Within the industrial design community is where there are off the shelf products available for this technology. Here there are virtual sculpting tools with which it is possible for virtual products to be constructed and tried out reducing the need to build a physical block model. The design team can produce a prototype show it to the customer and then modify it in real time in response to the feedback from the customer. In this way benefits can be obtained in terms of speed and responsiveness to the customer and reduction in the amount of physical prototyping needed.\nMaking the most of abilities: An interesting aspect of the new forms of the emerging multi-sensory technologies is their potential to improve access to computer systems for people with sensory impairments. Here, the computer transposes information between sensory domains to scaffold a sensory area that is weak or completely transpose between senses in order to compensate for a deficit. The most obvious current example of this is the experimentation with the presentation of graphical material through computer haptics to people who are visually disabled. It is possible, for example, to take a virtual reality 3D presentation of an object such as cup and represent it as a virtual computer haptic object that a visually disabled person can touch and feel.ENABLED[1], a European collaborative research project, amongst other research initiatives has been investigating the use of computer haptics for the display of graphical map information to assist blind people to explore, plan and learn routes. The project was researching technology to enable blind people to plan a route and become familiar with it before downloading it into a travel aid that would guide them by voice to their destination. Having spent time being lost, frustrated, and late, trying to find my way around London and other cities on foot with a street map to get to an important business meeting, I do not doubt that there are many of us, both sighted and non-sighted, who would appreciate having a device like this that can guide us to our destination.\nConclusion: In the workplace and training schools in the not too distant future the ways in which people use computer technology will be very different from that of today. When my grandfather started work as an apprentice printer, the first \"heavier than air\" flying machine had not taken off of the ground. By the time he died men had walked on the moon and you could buy a ticket on most high streets to travel the world by jet aircraft. The only certainty about technology these days is that there will be change. The key to future success will be how the human and organizational aspects of this continuous revolution are dealt with, so that industry and the wider society it serves are able to benefit from what it has to offer.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to the exciting area of computer generated touch for professionals in organizational learning and development and identify how it might impact their speciality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - People in the not too distant future will be able to touch, smell and taste, as well as look at and hear, the images on a computer display. This article reviews some of the key features of computer generated images that users can touch and feel, and highlights what these mean for training and personal development.\nFindings: - New forms of sensory communication will open up opportunities to improve accessibility to on-line services and provide new forms of training more appropriate to the needs of the individual learner while providing greater flexibility of delivery.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is of particular value to people who wish to gain an insight into how new and emerging technologies will impact the ways in which organizations will provide access to computers and training as costs reduce for this technology.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Experience value as a function of hedonic and utilitarian dominant services
|
[
"Marketing strategy",
"Satisfaction",
"Utilitarian",
"Hedonic",
"Experience value"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Tourists travel to enjoy themselves. Accordingly, the act of travelling in one's spare time can predominantly be delineated as a hedonic consumption practice (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982). However, enjoyment-, fun- and pleasure-oriented consumption often depends on a number of different features, including utilitarian goods and functional facilities, in addition to the hedonic tenders. This reflects the true nature of tourism experiences as a bundle of activities, services and benefits (Medlik and Middleton, 1973), affecting experience value and satisfaction for the tourist. Therefore, various tourist firms propose ways to fill these gaps for visitors. Some firms focus on functional value and value for money, for example, a budget hotel, others on emotional or knowledge value, for example, a museum. Further, some focus on both aspects in their services, for example, an airline company or a restaurant. In this paper, we investigate how the dimensions and effects of experience value might differ for different services in a tourism setting. More specifically, we explore experience value for services with different levels of utilitarian and hedonic content.\nTheoretical background: Perceived value of hedonic- and utilitarian-dominant services\nMethod: The hypotheses were tested in an experimental study of four different service experiences taking place during a weekend trip. In total, 938 members of a nationally representative online panel in Sweden, provided by a research company, participated in the study (56 per cent female/44 per cent male, age range = 16-74 years old, average age = 44.5 years old). The panellists used by the research company are recruited from several different channels (websites, emails, social media, telephone, TV and affiliate marketing) and in accordance with the Esomar guidelines. The company keeps rigorous quality controls in all steps of recruitment, panel management and sampling. The sample could, thus, be considered to reflect a demographically representative sample of Swedes.\nResults: Before the data were analysed, they were screened with regard to the length of time the participants spent on answering our questions. More specifically, as comprehension of the scenario description was necessary, we screened out participants who used less than 1 minute answering the study (n = 5). Similarly, participants who spent too much time on the study were likely to forget about the scenario. Therefore, we also excluded participants who spent more than 15 minutes on the study (n = 65). This means that a total of 70 participants were excluded from the initial sample, and thus, our remaining analyses are based on a sample size of 868 participants.\nDiscussion: The current study analyses both hedonic- and utilitarian-dominant services of four different services. These four services were studied with the aim of acknowledging different dimensions of experience value for all four services together in utilitarian- and hedonic-dominated services separately. Similar analyses were also performed to assess how experience value affects overall satisfaction.\nLimitations and further research: The results of the current study are subjected to several limitations. Although the experimental design allowed us to test different experiences within the same travel setting, the scenarios might not have been as vivid as intended, which could have resulted in utilitarian aspects of value becoming more important. Still, if anything, this should have attenuated the differences between predominantly utilitarian and hedonic experiences. Our finding that the dimensions of value and the impact of value on satisfaction differ among the two types of experiences can, thus, be said to be robust. Still, empirical validation using more naturalistic settings and real utilitarian and hedonic experiences are needed to understand better how this will function in a real-life setting. We hope that the current study will lead more researchers to take an interest in these issues and see the great potential in working with natural experiments to get there.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative importance of dimensions of experience value in four different hedonic- and utilitarian-dominated services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed hypotheses are tested by an experimental design. Altogether, four different service experiences, taking place during a tourist weekend trip, were studied using a scenario-based approach. In total, 938 members of a nationally representative online panel in Sweden participated in the research.\nFindings: Both hedonic and utilitarian value dimensions are present for the different experiences. However, the structures of the value dimensions differ between hedonic- and utilitarian-dominant services. Surprisingly, functional value and value for money influence satisfaction most for both categories of services.\nResearch limitations/implications: The design of the experiment allowed the authors to test different experiences within the same travel setting. The paper shows that all services include both hedonic and utilitarian elements, indicating awareness of what attracts tourists during the whole process of experiencing a journey. Findings suggest that further studies on different hedonic- and utilitarian-dominant firms within the different tourism service categories should be performed.\nOriginality/value: Theoretically, the paper only partly confirms the two structures of consumer service value, hedonic and utilitarian, revealed in earlier studies. The paper also reveals that functional value affects satisfaction more strongly in both hedonic- and utilitarian-dominant services. Several explanations for this are suggested. For the tourism industry to enhance experience value and tourist satisfaction, they should, therefore, focus on delivering functional value during the stay and probably more on emotional value in attracting visitors to travel. Results of the paper reveal that services are a part of a continuum between what is mostly utilitarian at the one end and mostly hedonic at the other end.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Educating graduates for marketing in SMEs: An update for the traditional marketing curriculum
|
[
"SME marketing",
"Employability",
"Marketing curriculum",
"Marketing graduates",
"Small and medium-sized enterprise"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The percentage of youth (18-24 years old) unemployment in the UK has risen dramatically in recent years reaching 18.4 per cent (761,000) with almost one-in-five youths currently out of work (ONS, 2013). This situation is exacerbated by universities producing a large number of graduates each year. For example, 787,205 fresh graduates were produced by higher education institutions (HEIs) in England in 2011/2012 (HESA, 2012). This situation is further complicated by graduates favouring jobs in large organisations rather than employment in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) because of perceived improved career prospects (Hart and Barrat, 2009).\nLiterature review: The marketing curriculum\nAims and objectives: The aim of this study is to provide an analysis of how SME owners define marketing and to compare student perspective on marketing within a SME context. Two specific objectives of the study are to understand how SME owners and marketing students perceive marketing practice in SMEs and to compare the perceptions of graduates and SME owners of each other as potential employee and employer.\nResearch method: The research methods used in this study were an in-depth literature review, semi-structured interviews with ten SME owners in two geographical regions of the UK, and semi-structured interviews with 20 undergraduate marketing students at one UK university based in the East Midlands. The entire student sample had undertaken work experience in an SME involving marketing. This was an exploratory investigation emphasising participant interpretations and taking account of the research context (Bryman, 1989; O'Donnell and Cummins, 1999). The sample size, although small, allowed for an in-depth exploration of the research questions. It also allowed a more detailed comparison between SME owner perceptions of UK marketing graduates and students' perceptions of SME employment. The interviews lasted approximately one hour in duration and data was fully recorded and later transcribed.\nFindings: The concept of marketing in SMEs was broadly understood by all participants in this study but definitions and reported practices varied. We identified five key themes, which addressed the key aim of the research. These were: how marketing is defined within an SME context; application of marketing in SMEs; the barriers to implementing marketing; graduates as potential employees and SMEs as a potential career option; and the relevance of the HE marketing curriculum for graduates looking for employment in SMEs.\nDiscussion: Our study suggests that SME owners and marketing undergraduates define marketing as being customer focused, meeting customer needs and involving some levels of advertising. However, the way marketing is practiced in SMEs does not correspond with student understanding as typically taught in the HE business management and marketing curriculum. What has emerged from these findings is congruent with the existing literature in which the current HE marketing curriculum focuses heavily on traditional marketing theory and practice as discussed previously (see Figure 1) which fails to reflect the characteristics and reality of SMEs (Martin and Chapman, 2006; Stephens et al., 2010). However, as suggested in our study, unique characteristics of SMEs (such as chaotic business style, effectual process when making decisions) and strategies such as word of mouth communication, relationship marketing, internet marketing and social media marketing (activities typically undertaken by SMEs) receive very little attention in the current marketing curriculum. In addition, students recognised the value of personal skills development such as teamwork, working independently, flexibility, communication skills from their work experience within the SME sector.\nImplications: From a critical perspective, our research suggests that the perceptions of graduates and SME owners about each other are negative. Graduates in our study did not view SME jobs as their primary career options and on the other hand, SME owners did not view graduates as employable in that they perceived that they are not equipped with the understanding, knowledge and skills that fit SME practice. If we are suggesting the importance of updating the traditional marketing curriculum to build in more relevance to SME practice, a solid justification is required. As the typically large endowment gifts and donations come from large enterprises, then, what incentives are there for faculties to serve SMEs? We adopt an emerging debate in this study, called the Triple Helix of University-Industry-Government Relations (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000), as discussed earlier, to guide the discussion of our justification of these questions. Our argument stands firm on the need to reflect on the traditional role of education which focuses on developing graduates to serve the industry.\nConclusion: This study sets out to explore the perceptions of SME owners and marketing students with relation to marketing practice and graduate employment in the SME sector. We contribute to knowledge by highlighting the commonalities and differences between SME owners and marketing students. At the start of this paper, we highlighted the issues of the marketing curriculum for over emphasising theories and skills that suit larger organisations rather than SMEs. The literature also indicates a range of misconceptions held by both SME owners and students that view both parties being less than optimum employers and employees. Our study confirms these aspects. This situation is critical because SMEs represent 59.4 per cent of all UK private sector employment and if this situation persists, SME owners will continue to perceive there are few benefits in employing graduates and graduates will only value jobs offered by large firms.\nLimitations and future research: There are a number of limitations for this study. First, some literature has identified employers' needs (e.g. Schlee and Harich, 2010), but limited studies have been carried out to compare how SMEs perceive graduates' skills and how graduates perceive the career prospects in SMEs within the UK. This research has highlighted this aspect. Nevertheless, the study is only qualitative and exploratory in nature and does not claim any generalisability. Further research can adopt a large scale quantitative design with a wider variety of respondents, including HEIs alumni and students with work experience in both SMEs and large enterprises to draw out statistical comparisons. Second, this study focused particularly on SMEs in the UK since this has been overlooked by many HEIs. A comparative study with investigating the business and marketing curriculum in the UK and other countries (e.g. the USA, EU, Australia and Asia) could bring fruitful insights.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Despite rising graduate unemployment in the UK, there are insufficient numbers of graduates employed in small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs). The literature suggests that a teaching emphasis on large organisational business models in higher education institutions, particularly in the teaching of marketing theory, renders the SME sector unattractive to graduate employment and conversely, it is perceived that graduates lack additional \"soft skills\" vital for SME development and growth. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of how SMEs define marketing and to compare student perspective on marketing within a SME context. This paper also examines the need to improve the conventional marketing curriculum with additional teaching solutions that consider the reality of UK SME ownership and student employment prospects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative research approach was adopted using in-depth interviews amongst ten SME owners and 20 undergraduate marketing students of a UK university.\nFindings: Findings revealed that the marketing practices used in SMEs were not present in the marketing curriculum in the case university. The employment of marketing graduates was not positively perceived by SME owners and equally, marketing undergraduates did not view SMEs as the career organisation of choice.\nOriginality/value: The study re-evaluates the HE marketing curriculum and suggests an update of the curriculum in order to move the university-industry-government relationship away from the traditional knowledge transfer perspective.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Study of reliability measures of a local area network via copula linguistics approach
|
[
"Bus topology",
"Linux operating system",
"Maintenance reliability",
"Star topology"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Reliability theory has caused great anxiety in recent years, because high-tech industry processes, including computer networking with increasing levels of sophistication, nowadays comprise most engineering systems (Verma et al., 2010; Ram, 2013). Earlier researchers Gupta and Agarwal (1984), Wang (1990), Kurien (1993), and Gupta et al. (2001) have reported appreciable work in the field of reliability, by taking different real life systems and discovering important reliability measures incorporating various types of failure and repair policies, but they did not study the reliability characteristics of a computer networking system, i.e. Linux operating systems which are connected via a local area network (LAN). Vanderperre (1990) studied the reliability of a system by considering all failure rates which are different, but the repairs for which follow a general distribution, nonetheless in the system the author has assumed different failure rates but repairs follow general and exponential distribution. Pandey and Jacob (1995) studied the cost and availability analysis of three state complex systems under common cause failure, human failure and one repair.\n2. Brief introduction to the Gumbel-Hougaard family copula: Several authors including Nelsen (2006) have studied the family of copulas extensively. The Gumbel-Hougaard family copula is defined as:\n3. System description: In current research work, we have considered a model related to computer networking, i.e. Linux operating system which is connected to the LAN. The system has two different topologies, namely, star and bus, which are placed at two different places and connected to a server through a hub. In both topologies, star (Subsystem 1) and bus (Subsystems 2), we have n clients. The system has two types of failure, i.e. partial failure and complete failure. Partial failure also consists of two types, namely minor and major. The minor partial failure brings the system to a degraded state whereas the major partial failure brings the system to a complete breakdown state (failed state). The system can completely fail due to the server failure or hacking or blocking. The system can also fail completely by failure of the hub of star and bus topologies. All states except S3 and S6 are repaired by general distribution and the completely failed states are repaired by Gumbel-Hougaard family copula distribution. The system is analyzed by using a supplementary variable technique and Laplace transformation. Availability, state transition probabilities, mean time to failure (MTTF) and profit function of the system have been discussed by taking different failure rates values. Finally, some special cases of the system have been taken as highlights. The transition diagram of the network system is shown by Figure 1.\n4. State description: S0 The system is in a good state\n5. Assumptions: The following assumptions have been taken throughout the model:\n6. Notations: S/B star topology/bus topology\n7. Formulation of mathematical model: By probability of considerations and continuity arguments, we can obtain the following set of different differential equations governing the present mathematical model:\n8. Solution of the model: Taking Laplace transformation of Equations (1)-(13) and using Equation (14), we have:\n9. Particular cases: 9.1. Availability and non-availability analysis\n10. Conclusions: LAN has great importance in network technology, given that it connects many users through hubs to a server in a local area. This work analyzed the reliability measures of LAN with and without the Gumbel-Hougaard family of copula approach. From the results we achieved, one can conclude that the use of the Gumbel-Hougaard family of copula improves the performance of the system. This study is important and useful for software engineers and/or networking experts. The accuracy of the proposed approach is evaluated by comparing their results to those obtained in this work. A network may be stretched by some techniques for network simulation and probabilistic valuation of reliability, safety and survivability. The future scope of this study is connected with a study of reproducing failures during the development and maintenance of the network, and cost-effective means of critically lowering failures.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find the reliability measures of Linux operating system connected in local area network (LAN).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The system has two different topologies, i.e. star topology (subsystem-1) and bus topology (subsystem-2), are placed at two different places, and connected to a server through a hub. Both the topologies have n clients. The system has partial failure and complete failure. The partial failure is of two type's namely minor partial and major partial. The minor partial failure degrades the system whereas the major partial failure brings the system to a break down mode. The system can completely fail due to failure of server hacking and blocking.\nFindings: By using supplementary variable technique and Laplace transformation, by taking different types of failure and two types of repairs the availability, non-availability, mean time to failure and cost analysis (expected profit) of the design system have been obtained.\nOriginality/value: In this research, a mathematical model of Linux operating system has been discussed from which one can check the behavioral analysis of the designed system.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Human campylobacteriosis and bird-pecked milk
|
[
"Food‐poisoning",
"Bacteria",
"Milk",
"Birds"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Thermophilic campylobacters, particularly Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli and C. lari, continue to remain the most common cause of acute bacterial enteritis. Most recent confirmed data for 2006 recorded 937 laboratory reports for Northern Ireland (www.cdscni.org.uk/surveillance/Gastro/Campylobacter_sp.htm, approximating to 53.8 cases per 100,000 individuals, compared to an attack rate of 86.7 and 42.8 cases per 100,000 individuals for England and Wales (www.hpa.org.uk) and the Republic of Ireland (www.ndsc.ie/hpsc/A-Z/Gastroenteric/Campylobacter/Publications/ AnnualReportsonCampylobacteriosis/File,2649,en.pdf), respectively. However, it was estimated that the true prevalence of this infection was approximately 10.3-fold higher, due to patient under-reporting.Campylobacter jejuni remains a major cause of foodborne illness worldwide causing human acute bacterial enteritis. Overall the high incidence of clinical disease associated with this organism, its low infective dose in humans, and its potentially serious sequalae, confirm its continued importance as a significant public health priority. Numbers of infections have declined slightly in some parts of the world during recent yearsbut the overall disease burden is still significant thus there remains an urgent need to better understand how this disease is transmitted into and within the human food chain. Such challenges are increased by the observation that an increasing number of Campylobacter isolates from humans and the human food chain exhibit antibiotic resistance and that antimicrobial-resistant Campylobacter strains cause more prolonged or more severe illness than do antimicrobial-susceptible strains (Moore et al., 2006). The majority of cases of Campylobacter food poisoning are thought to be sporadic in nature and the epidemiology of this disease differs significantly from other food-poisonings such as those caused by Salmonella or enterotoxic Staphylococcus aureus where large outbreaks are more common.Previously, Vellinga and Van Loock (2002) reported on the epidemiological outcome in reduction of human cases of campylobacteriosis (40 per cent), following the withdrawal of chicken and eggs, due to a contamination event associated with dioxin-contaminated feed components and outline the opportunity that such major events/incidents have in helping elucidate epidemiological relationships. In the 1990s, several reports were published outlining the epidemiological association between individuals in households contracting campylobacteriosis and drinking bird-pecked milk (Sopwith et al., 2003; McElroy and Smyth, 1993; Stuart et al., 1997; Riordan et al., 1993; Hudson et al., 1991; Lighton et al., 1991), mainly due to corvids, namely crows and magpies Although the doorstep delivery of milk was once popular in certain parts of the USA, for example, in New Hampshire, this service became largely moribund in the 1960s and 1970s, due to changing social patterns in food retailing and the way people shopped for food. However, in the UK, this practice of daily doorstep delivery of milk has remained active to the present. Although established as a risk factor for the acquisition of campylobacteriosis, the extent and frequency of infection via this source has never been quantified. However, since theses reports, there has been a gradual decrease in the doorstep sale of liquid milk in the UK. Hence, it was the aim of this investigation to attempt to examine the relationship between the incidence of laboratory reports of human campylobacteriosis from clinical faecal specimens and the doorstep sale of liquid milk in the UK over the nine year period, 1995-2003, where data are available.\nMethods: Data relating to the frequency of milk doorstep delivery in the UK was obtained (Dairy UK, 2008). In addition, data on laboratory reports of Campylobacter isolated from faecal material in England and Wales was obtained (HPA, 1993). Each data set was plotted on a single graph with two y-axes, as appropriate (see Figure 1).\nResults and discussion: Laboratory reports for campylobacters isolated from clinical faecal material in England and Wales increased by 33 per cent from 43,449 cases in 1995 to 57,674 cases in 2000 and then decreased yearly to 46,181 cases in 2003, representing an overall rise by 6.3 per cent in reported cases during the nine year period 1995-2003, as illustrated in Figure 1 (Dairy UK, 2008; HPA, 1993). Simultaneously during this period, doorstep sales of liquid milk decreased by 69.5 per cent, i.e. from 2,565 million litres in 1995 to 782 million litres in 2003, as shown (Figure 1). Overall, during this period, total GB liquid milk sales decreased by 3.8 per cent (Dairy UK, 2008). This relationship is statistically significant (p < 0.05).In 1992, the Interim Report on Campylobacter, written by the UK Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Foodstuffs (ACMSF) (ACMSF, 1992), noted the epidemiological risk associated with the consumption of liquid milk which had been comtaminated with campylobacters originating from birds pecking foil sealtops. ACMSF recommended that industry address this problem by investigating the employment of a material for sealing milk bottle tops, which the birds could not penetrate and thus maintain the Campylobacter-free status of the pasteurized milk. Although Campylobacter laboratory reports increased from 1995 through to 2000 and decreased until 2003, the trend associated with this pattern was similar with epidemiological trends of food poisoning notifications, as well as other gastrointestinal infections, where the acquisition of these causal aetiological agents is not associated with the consumption of bird-pecked milk.In conclusion, unlike the Belgian case of withdrawal of chicken and eggs from the market resulting in a 40 per cent reduction of cases human campylobacteriosis, these data do not show any similar trends of a reduction of human cases in the event of a 69.5 per cent reduction in sales of doorstep milk in the UK over a nine-year period. These data may indicate that although bird-pecked milk is a recognized epidemiological risk factor for the acquisition of campylobacteriosis, the frequency and significance of this means acquiring the infection may not be as common as has been previously suggested. In addition, with the recent emergence of avian influenza virus (H5N1), as well as West Nile virus, public health epidemiologists may need to consider risk assessment of such bird contamination of milk, in regions where doorstep delivery of milk is still available.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the correlation between rates of food-poisoning in England and Wales due to the bacterium, Campylobacter, and the frequency of doorstep delivery of milk. Thermophilic campylobacters, particularly C. jejuni continue to be the most common cause of acute bacterial enteritis in the Western world.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data relating to the frequency of milk doorstep delivery in the UK were compared to data on laboratory reports of Campylobacter isolated from faecal material in England and Wales and expressed graphically.\nFindings: - There does not appear to be any visible correlation between a falling rate of doorstep delivery of milk and Campylobacter food-poisoning.\nOriginality/value: - These data may indicate that although bird-pecked milk is a recognized epidemiological risk factor for the acquisition of campylobacteriosis, the frequency and significance of this means acquiring the infection may not be as common as has been previously suggested.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Entrepreneurship education in Ghana - the case of the KNUST entrepreneurship clinic
|
[
"Education",
"Entrepreneurship",
"Development",
"Experiential",
"Clinic"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entrepreneurship is recognised globally as a critical economic development strategy for job and wealth creation. Notably, innovation and knowledge spillover theories and related empirical studies, such as those by Schumpeter (1934/1983), Acs et al. (2009), Decker et al. (2014), confirm the role of entrepreneurship in economic development through widespread innovations by entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial start-ups, that generate employment and wealth, especially, for the innovating economies. For instance, entrepreneurship has been an integral part of Malaysia's economic policies and is said to have played a significant role in the country's attainment of a middle income status and the reduction of poverty rate in Peninsular Malaysia from 49.3 per cent in 1970 to 16.5 per cent, in 1990 (Bin Yusoff et al., 2015; Rahim et al., 2015).\nLiterature review: This section of the paper comprises a review of the meaning, purpose and rationale of entrepreneurship education and, in so doing, provides justification for its delivery in an experiential manner, for example, as proposed by Joplin in her five-step model of experiential education (Joplin, 1995). The review ends with an exposition on EC as a viable pedagogy for the provision of experiential entrepreneurship education.\nMethodology: This paper is rooted in the interpretivist paradigm and adopts the case study approach to research, specifically insider action research, to discuss why and how the EC pedagogy has been embraced at the KNUST. Case study research involves in-depth study of a particular individual, programme or event for a defined period of time (Leedy and Ormrod, 2010). Case studies, as reiterated by Flyvbjerg (2006), aid in the systematic production of exemplars that form the foundation of an effective academic discipline. Coghlan (2003, p. 459) explains that, \"Action research tends to be opportunistic in that the situation being studied is one that is already occurring or being planned, and is not set up specifically for the purpose of the research\".\nThe KNUST EC: The KNUST EC concept was mooted by the provost of the College of Art and Social Sciences of KNUST, together with the management team of the Centre for Business Development (CBD) of the KNUST. In line with the university's strategic vision of contributing to sustainable development in Africa, through the advancement of knowledge in science and technology (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, 2005; Sawyerr, 2004), the KNUST EC was set up in 2012 to help address graduate unemployment and innovation deficit in Ghana. Specifically, the clinic seeks to enhance the entrepreneurial competencies of students and to nurture viable business ideas.\nConclusions and policy implications: This paper has illustrated the KNUST EC as an experiential entrepreneurship education, using Joplin's five-stage model of experiential education as a basis for elaboration. The clinic occurs through preparation, orientation seminar, selection and matching, coaching or actual clinic sessions, and monitoring and evaluation. The first three stages of the clinic provide focus for the clinic while the remaining two stages, namely coaching and monitoring and evaluation, entail activities that are geared towards action, support, feedback and debrief, as stipulated by Joplin in her five-stage model. Some of the eventual outcomes, since the inception of the clinic in 2012, are over 20,000 students trained in entrepreneurship and new venture creation, 300 coached business projects and 100 projects submitted for incubation at the university's business incubator - the KBI.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Entrepreneurship education thrives on the pillars of experiential education. Using the case of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, the purpose of this paper is to examine the entrepreneurship clinic (EC) as a viable pedagogy for the promotion of experiential education in entrepreneurship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper relies on insider action research to analyse, within Joplin's five-step model, the case of the EC at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.\nFindings: The analysis showed that the KNUST clinic comprises five main activities including preparation, orientation, selection and matching, coaching and monitoring and evaluation. In relation to Joplin's five-step model, the first three stages of the clinic provide focus for the clinic while the remaining two stages - coaching and monitoring and evaluation - entail activities that are geared towards action, support, feedback and debrief. Through the clinic, thousands of tertiary students have been trained in entrepreneurship and new venture creation; some selected participants have been coached while others have had the opportunity to qualify for business incubation.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the paper discusses some achievements of the clinic in relation to enrolment and fundraising, it does not assess the impact of the clinic on the entrepreneurial competencies, intentions and initiatives of participants, hence, these issues are recommended for future research.\nPractical implications: The paper demonstrates that it is feasible to implement the EC methodology, irrespective of the cost and time implications that are often associated with experiential educational methodologies. However, support from university management, funding raising from internal and external sources and technical support from industry and government agencies are key to the sustainability of clinics.\nOriginality/value: The paper adds novelty to the entrepreneurship education literature by bringing to the fore how a university in an emerging African economy is implementing and managing the EC pedagogy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
When something goes wrong and no one is around: non-internet self-service technology failure and recovery
|
[
"Service failures",
"Self‐service",
"Internet",
"Critical incident technique"
] |
[
{
"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.Allen Crocket is a do-it-yourself flier. Though he travels 100,000 miles a year, [he] rarely talks to an airline employee on the phone or at the airport. He buys tickets online. He prints boarding passes at home. He gets alerts on his cellphone if his flight has been delayed. If he doesn't have an exit-row or front-of-the-section seat, he checks in at a kiosk at the airport (Yu, 2006).The emergence of self-service technologies (SSTs) in the past two decades has introduced interesting changes and challenges within the retail and services sector. SSTs are defined as \"technological interfaces that enable customers to produce a service independent of direct service employee involvement\" (Meuter et al., 2000, p. 50). The above example of today's air traveler, taken from a recent article in a leading US newspaper, provides the perfect example of the use of SSTs, in many forms, to conduct routine service activities; this flier used the internet, a computer, a cell phone and a kiosk to conduct his basic travel needs. Other examples of SSTs include retail activities such as internet purchases, ATM machines, telephone banking and transportation tokens (e.g., subway). Consumer spending in this area has been dramatic; it is estimated that all SST purchases will exceed $1.3 trillion by 2007 (Holman et al., 2004), reflecting a growth rate of 88 percent within the last two years. For instance, in the Airline industry, Northwest Airlines estimated that only 20 percent of customers used an SST when flying in 2001, but over 70 percent were using some form of SST by 2004. In 2003 alone, it is estimated that 10.8 billion transactions occurred at ATMs, total internet spending reached $100 billion (Mullaney et al., 2003) and total non-internet self service technology spending in the USA rose to $128 billion (Holman et al., 2004).\nThe study: Critical incident technique\nResults: The results of the sorting and classification process for our data are reported below. First, the failure classification scheme is discussed, followed by the presentation of the types of recovery strategies identified. Table III includes the failures identified through our analysis, their frequency and percentage of occurrence within our sample, and the mean respondent rating of the magnitude of each failure. Table IV includes excerpts from our data pertaining to each failure type.Classification of failures\nDiscussion: The magnitude of SST failures\nImplications: Managerial implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to focus on non-internet-based self-service technologies through the presentation of failure and recovery strategies employed by service firms using self-service forms of interaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper employs the critical incident technique using 508 customer responses to present nine failures and nine recovery strategies used by self-service technology firms. It presents data on post-recovery satisfaction levels and propensity to switch behavior. The paper also compares findings in the non-internet self-service technology context to findings from e-tail and bricks and mortar settings.\nFindings: - Findings indicate that: non-internet self-service technology customers experience different types of service failure relative to traditional retail and e-tail settings; non-internet self-service technology firms employ a different series of recovery strategies relative to traditional retail and e-tail settings; and post-recovery switching by customers can be high even with satisfying experiences.\nOriginality/value: - This paper strengthens the existing failure and recovery literature by presenting data on the largest growing sector of the service industry, self-service technologies, and the largest sector within self-service technologies (non-internet purchases). These findings will have value to traditional firms looking to expand to their channels in addition to firms currently experiencing customer dissatisfaction.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Talent development for top leaders: three HR initiatives for competitive advantage
|
[
"Strategy",
"Human resources",
"Top leaders"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe importance of strategic human resource in organizational development: Top leaders in today's globally turbulent environment must continually re-align and develop their organizations to achieve and sustain competitive advantage (those unique organization strengths which are inimitable). And to drive these changes, top leaders need to know if their resources - especially their employees - are capable of attaining such innovation. One such major knowledge source that is readily available to facilitate top organizational leaders in this ongoing quest is their human resource (HR) function.\nTalent inventories: Talent inventories coordinate valuable knowledge about the employee capabilities required to fulfill strategic objectives. To successfully implement a strategic plan, top leaders must ensure that organizational members have the requisite skills. An effective human resource function will identify and compile such organizational abilities as well as audit and keep track of skill development.\nWorkforce planning: Workforce planning - setting strategies and goals for shaping the future organizational workforce - is a vital component of competitive advantage. This process can rectify talent gaps (as identified through talent inventories) through appropriate adjustments so that the available workforce can meet current and future strategic challenges. Such adjustments impact recruitment, selection, development, retention, reward and internal promotion and transfer policies. Also, workforce fluctuations (adjustments such as talent availability, departures and retirements) can be closely monitored to ensure available talent.\nTraining and development: Training and development is an especially vital HR function for implementing a top leader's strategic change plan (Speculand, 2006). Using such methods as the previously discussed talent inventories, HR can check for gaps between available employee skills/aptitudes and those needed to make a successful organizational innovations/changes. Where gaps are identified, HR can develop appropriate training programs and monitor to ensure that the skill development programs are operating successfully, especially in terms of learning transfer. Relatedly, credibly management research asserts that most employees place high value on skills development which can be used on the job. In fact, offering such training is a potential deterrent to costly turnover.\nSuggestions for incorporating talent development into top leader decisions: This manuscript has put forth robust, convincing reasons for why the three talent development HR functions of talent inventories, workforce planning and training/development should be incorporated into strategic organizational change and innovation initiatives to achieve competitive advantage. In this concluding section, we will provide some tangible suggestions for such integration. First, the most fundamental step is to create an organizational climate that perceives HR as a core factor in strategic planning and resultantly integrates HR into strategic initiatives. This inclusion is embodied by having the chief HR officer as an active member of the top leadership team.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper provides guidelines for how leaders can use human resource department capabilities to improve organizational performance and related outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To develop these guidelines, existing best practices were examined and distilled into concise recommendations for organizational leaders.\nFindings: Examination of best practices indicated three human resource areas for quality improvement in organizational outcomes: talent inventories, workforce planning and training/development processes.\nOriginality/value: This paper draws together multiple sources to provide ways for top leaders to better utilize existing human resource practices for improved workplace outcomes and strategic enhancements.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Multivariate modelling of 10-day-ahead VaR and dynamic correlation for worldwide real estate and stock indices
|
[
"Real estate market",
"Basel Committee requirements",
"Diag-VECH",
"Dynamic correlation",
"Local correlation predictive power",
"Value-at-risk"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Value-at-risk (VaR) models calculate the maximum loss for a portfolio of financial instruments at a pre-specified time and level of confidence. VaR exhibits the attractive property of summarizing market risks in one single number. VaR at a given probability level (1-p) is the predicted amount of financial loss over a given time horizon. For y\n2 Literature review: There are not a lot of studies that examine the VaR estimation in real estate markets. Jin and Ziobrowski (2011) focus on downside market risk in residential housing for ten US metropolitan regions, for the period 1991-2007. They indicate that the conditional VaR models provide a more conservative estimate of market risk in comparison to modern portfolio theory (MPT), whereas the traditional risk measure based on a longer time series is less influenced by short-term extremes. He et al. (2008) propose the wavelet denoising ARMA-GARCH approach for estimating VaR in Chinese real estate market. Their data cover the closing prices for the Shanghai real estate index for the period from April 1993 to December 2007. They find that the wavelet denoising ARMA-GARCH model for VaR estimation has superior performance compared to the traditional ARMA-GARCH model.\n3 Data description: We use seven (the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore) international real estate indices obtained from FTSE EPRA/NAREIT[3] which include listed/securitized companies that have their core business in real estate activities (REITs and non-REITs), as well as seven major stock market indices for the same countries (S&P500, FTSE100, DAX30, NIKKEI225, ALL ORDINARIES AUS, HANG SENG and WISNGP). The dataset for stock indices was obtained from Bloomberg(r) database except from the Singapore (WISNGP) index which was obtained from the DataStream(r) database services. The sample covers the period of January 1990-September 2011 period and incorporates 5,640 daily observations for each asset. All data are expressed in US dollars.\n4 Methodology: 4.1 Model description\n5 Results analysis: Table II provides the average ten-day-ahead 99%VaR results of the Diag-VECH model under the normal density function as well as the results of the backtesting tests. For the four real estate indices (the UK, German, Japan and Singapore) and two stock indices (FTSE100 and NIKKEI225) the backtesting results indicate that either the VaR is over-estimated or the VaR violations tend to be clustered.\n6 Concluding remarks: The paper contributes to the existing literature as it bridges the gap between VaR theory and practice for the securitized real estate and stock markets across the world. A 14-dimensional Diag-VECH model is estimated for equity and their relative real estate indices from USA, Europe and Asia-Pacific. We use daily data from a period of over 20 years. The proposed multivariate modeling framework provides accurate multi-period risk estimates for leptokurtic and asymmetrically distributed real-estate and stock portfolio returns. Following the Basel Committee requirements for financial regulation, we proceed to the efficient estimation of ten-day-ahead 99%VaR for real estate markets together with stock markets of seven countries across the world.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The Basel Committee regulations require the estimation of value-at-risk (VaR) at 99 percent confidence level for a ten-trading-day-ahead forecasting horizon. The paper provides a multivariate modelling framework for multi-period VaR estimates for leptokurtic and asymmetrically distributed real estate portfolio returns. The purpose of the paper is to estimate accurate ten-day-ahead 99%VaR forecasts for real estate markets along with stock markets for seven countries across the world (the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore) following the Basel Committee requirements for financial regulation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 14-dimensional multivariate Diag-VECH model for seven equity indices and their relative real estate indices is estimated. The authors evaluate the VaR forecasts over a period of two weeks in calendar time, or ten-trading-days, and at 99 percent confidence level based on the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision requirements.\nFindings: The Basel regulations require ten-day-ahead 99%VaR forecasts. This is the first study that provides successful evidence for ten-day-ahead 99%VaR estimations for real estate markets. Additionally, the authors provide evidence that there is a statistically significant relationship between the magnitude of the ten-day-ahead 99%VaR and the level of dynamic correlation for real estate and stock market indices; a valuable recommendation for risk managers who forecast risk across markets.\nPractical implications: Risk managers, investors and financial institutions require dynamic multi-period VaR forecasts that will take into account properties of financial time series. Such accurate dynamic forecasts lead to successful decisions for controlling market risks.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first approach which models simultaneously the volatility and VaR estimates for real estate and stock markets from the USA, Europe and Asia-Pacific over a period of more than 20 years. Additionally, the local correlation between stock and real estate indices has statistically significant explanatory power in estimating the ten-day-ahead 99%VaR.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Strategic branding of destinations: a framework
|
[
"Tourism",
"Services marketing",
"Brand image",
"Travel"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nDestination branding: need for research: There is a paucity of academic research in this field (Pike, 2005) in an industry with daily revenue of over US$ 2 billion (Future Brands, 2006). This is a growing industry with less than 12 percent of the world population flying internationally (IATA, 2007; WTTC, 2007). In 2006, Travel and Tourism (T&T) contributed 10.3 percent to world GDP, had 12 percent of global investments and 8 percent of all jobs (WTTC, 2007; Arnold, 2007). Competition is fierce with 194 nations clamoring for a share of the tourist's heart, mind and wallet. This indicates a need for a more strategic approach to branding as brand position leads to greater economic value (Matear et al., 2004; Davis, 2002), growth and welfare. A study by Fan (2006) found that brand owners outperformed their OEMs in terms of profits by a ratio of 50:1. A strong international marketing strategy improves financial and brand performance through identification and achievement of specific brand values (Wong and Merrilees, 2007; Meenaghan, 1995).Existing strategy frameworks cannot linearly be applied to the destination context (Hosany et al., 2007; Hankinson, 2005) due to its multidisciplinary foundation and terminology interpretations (Balmer, 2001). The unique characteristics of destinations mentioned below which differentiate it from corporate, product and service brands are some reasons why they need another brand strategy development approach:1. Tourism is dependent on macro-environmental factors like politics, terrorism, disease outbreaks, weather/natural conditions and currency fluctuations.2. Geographical constraints affects accessibility, weather, access to resources, defines infrastructure requirements and people characteristics.3. Inherited names and past history like heritage, culture and perception of locations (like country of origin) evolve over time and cannot be easily changed (Shikoh, 2006).4. Stakeholders are diverse and influential. Destinations are run by governing bodies which are politically motivated, have funding constraints and answerable to their stakeholders (Stokes, 2006; Hankinson, 2005; Pike, 2005). Media is becoming a powerful influence.5. The diversity of target customers, the complex decision making process and the multiple choice sets make destination marketing harder (Woodside and Dubelaar, 2002; Gonzalez and Bello, 2002).6. Destinations are service dependent. Services account for over 65 per cent of global GDP and are people dependent, employing 40 per cent of the global workforce (ILO, 2007). Destination success also depends on infrastructure, technology and communications (IMD, 2005). Investments required are huge and need to keep global standards in mind.7. Feedback and control issues (see Pike, 2005). Destination marketing organizations do not have top-down implementation control (Pike, 2005). Perception of destinations is influenced by publicity and promotion (Correira et al., 2007) which can be distorted by global market events and other destination images. Since destination brands are complex and are constantly changing (Trueman et al., 2004; Kates and Goh, 2003) they must be managed.The research objective of this paper was to develop a branding strategy framework for destinations. Since destination branding is complex and existing literature is largely limited to image and logo design (Blain et al., 2005), there was a need to re-approach this topic. The conceptualization of the model was done by first looking at existing literature on services, product, product portfolio and corporate branding strategies. Similarities between existing branding theories and the destination context were found using a wide variety of published case studies on destination branding to identify key components. These topics were further researched to find relationships between components.\nDestination branding: building on existing theories: \"A brand is a consistent group of characters, images, or emotions that consumers recall or experience when they think of a specific symbol, product, service, organization or location\" Simeon (2006, p. 464). Branding must \"attract and keep customers by promoting value, image, prestige, or lifestyle\" (Rooney, 1995, p. 48). It must communicate information, minimize risk or increase trust (Knox, 2004), help identify or recall key factors, differentiate from competition and facilitate recommendations (Palumbo and Herbig, 2000). For destinations this is challenging as they attract a diversity of customers and the delivered product is often highly customized with the customer in control.Destination brands are similar to corporate brands, as they act as umbrella brands for a portfolio of leisure, investment and business tourism, and stakeholder and citizen welfare products (Trueman et al., 2004). Goodwill is created through a unique identity by considering the diversity of stakeholder needs (Hatch and Schulz, 2003). Destinations like corporations are subject to increasing market complexity (globalization, internal and external government policies, foreign exchange fluctuations and natural environment) and increasing marketing costs, which warrants a corporate branding approach as posited by Xie and Boggs (2006). Hence corporate branding strategies can be extrapolated to the destination context.Destination brands are also similar to product and services. They have both tangible and intangible components, are mostly service dependent, and can be positioned through the use of slogans (Pike, 2005). Country of origin (COO) applies in the destination service context (Javalgi et al., 2001). It requires greater emphasis on factors internal to the organization, especially the role of employees (for destinations, this refers to citizens) in the brand building process (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001).This paper is organized as follows. First, based on the identification of key elements of destination branding, a detailed literature review is given. Next, the relationships between components is described and presented as a conceptual framework. Finally, future research directions are discussed.\nKey destination branding components: a literature review: The destination branding process revolves around the following five components. See Table I for a comprehensive literature review. Each of the components is discussed in detail with respect to their relevance and importance to strategic destination branding:1. Vision and stakeholder management.2. Target customer and product portfolio matching.3. Positioning and differentiation strategies using branding components.4. Communication strategies.5. Feedback and response management strategies.Step 1: vision and stakeholder management\nRelationship between branding elements: Vision is the starting point of designing a branding strategy. Governing bodies must take into consideration the relationships they want to develop with both internal and external customers, the networks they have alliances with or can develop to help reinforce branding strategies, and the basket of products they want and can offer. Governing bodies must identify key target customers in terms of where they come from, their potential to spend and mindset. Vision must embrace existing culture and work to balance any negative effects associated with the country of origin.The differentiation strategy must be designed to leave a clear and unique image in the target customer's mind having consistency in all media choices. Destinations must choose combinations of brand components for attracting customers, helping customers take a decision to visit and to create loyalty. It begins in the tourist's country of origin, is reinforced on arrival, and duration of stay, and managed during exit and post-visit. Image branding and the experience itself must raise some emotion associated with the destination.By tangibilizing the experience, destinations can promote word of mouth and reinforce the image. Too many images associated with a destination can create confusion, making it harder to take a decision to visit. During the visit, the quality of the experience and service must live up to the promised level or it will lead to dissatisfaction. The relationships between elements are depicted in Figure 2. A destination brand name is an intangible asset with unique attributes and must be protected and managed strategically to maximize value.\nDiscussions and future research directions: Destination branding requires focus and commitment of time, people, resources and changes in policies, culture and mindset. The purpose of this paper is to create a framework that will help governing bodies plan their destination branding strategies and encourage more research in this area. There are many independent surveys and rankings, which provide a holistic view on repeat tourism and investment but the academic literature on processes involved for successful destination branding is limited. This paper moves away from conventional brand elements of design by integrating branding at the strategy level.Future research can test through cases whether a clarity in vision leads to better destination performance especially in new destinations with little historical context. Another area of research is to find the ideal composition of brand components necessary for different stages of the consumer decision making process and to find the effect of various types of media for various consumer decision making stages.This paper provides a constructive guideline in the development of destination branding. As T&T economy continues to grow, the distinction between one destination and another blurs. Governments are investing over US$ 1480 billion on attracting tourism (WTTC, 2007) and hence a more strategic approach to branding would increase investment returns. Destinations must start focusing on the service experience and all customer touch points; especially the people as they help deliver the experience.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Travel and tourism is the second largest global industry with daily international revenues of approximately US$2 billion, and investments of 12 percent of world GDP. Though this is a highly competitive industry, there is a paucity of academic research on destination branding. This paper aims to present a branding framework for designing successful destination strategies. This exploratory study seeks to determine key factors that affect the strategic branding of destinations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Similar fields like place marketing, destination marketing, services, product and corporate branding were reviewed along with destination case studies. Based on this review and its extrapolation to the \"destination context\", a framework for strategic branding of destinations was formulated.\nFindings: - Successful strategic branding of destinations is dependent on several inter-related components, which are discussed. The paper highlights key issues in destination branding and provides a platform for future research.\nOriginality/value: - The value of the paper is high as it provides a practical framework for governing bodies to consider when investing time, money and effort when creating a global destination.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Towards the implementation of an assessment-centred blended learning framework at the course level: A case study in a Vietnamese national university
|
[
"Learning activities",
"ACBL",
"Blended learning",
"Course level",
"Formative assessment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the past ten years, many universities have deployed blended learning (BL) (Garrison and Vaughan, 2008). Studying how people learn, Bransford et al. (2000) concluded: \"good learning environments are learner-centred, knowledge-centred, assessment-centred, and community centred\". How to implement BL is a question that researchers are still studying. There are different levels on which BL can occur: the activity level, course level, programme level and institutional level (Valiathan, 2002). Graham et al. (2012) proposed a framework focus on institutional policy and adoption issues. How to persuade administrators, teachers, and even students to adopt BL, however, is still a question that is not easily answered. In our case, to implement BL at the institutional level, effectively, we need to implement it effectively at the course level, because this will provide convincing evidence in support of extending the approach to the programme or institutional level.\n2. Method: 2.1 Sample\n3. Results: 3.1 Results from log database of LMS\n4. Discussion: Quantitative and qualitative statistics from the experiment results showed that the ACBL framework that we implemented and continued to apply was effective for students. The results of our quantitative statistics showed the interaction of students and the benefits of these applied courses for the participants. Our investigation also proved that students were satisfied with these courses and that they wanted to expand the application to many other courses.\n5. Conclusion: In the paper, we presented a framework for applying BL at the course level, which focused on the students' assessment. We use the advantages of technology to deploy enrichment of online learning activities in the BL course. The framework was implemented in practice, and we obtained positive results. A focus on the evaluation helped students to learn more actively and to spend more time on learning activities. The coordination of assessment types for weekly learning activities during the whole course attracted students' interest. Designing ACBL courses with many learning activities created excitement and promoted learners' active participation to bring satisfaction. The results of our experiment showed that formative assessment with the support of technology would be very effective in encouraging students to active learning. How to do this is an interesting question for the researcher? In my opinion, teachers and course designers must focus on building interactive learning activities; learning content requires the contribution of the whole group. Assessment activity should incorporate a variety of formats to evaluate the true capabilities of the learners. The survey results indicated that applied ACBL courses that combined traditional teaching methods with LMS instruments were very effective for students, especially in practical and skill-development courses.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to build an assessment-centred blended learning (BL) framework to assess learners, to analyse and to evaluate the impact of the technology support in the form of formative assessment in students' positive learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research proposed an assessment-centred BL framework at the course level to support formative assessment in students by designing a variety of online learning activities combined with e-assessment tools of learning management system (LMS) to analyse and evaluate the impact of the technology application in the form of formative assessment student learning initiative. The author has tested this model in five years with more than 200 courses.\nFindings: Experimental results have shown that formative assessment evaluation form is more efficient when supported by technology such as LMS.\nOriginality/value: This research proposed an assessment-centred BL framework at the course level by using LMS tools combined with traditional teaching.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Medical undergraduate students' perception towards the use and non-use of e-books: a case from Pakistan
|
[
"Pakistan",
"E-books"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With the passage of time, libraries are transformed from four concrete walls to the knowledge arena by providing access to e-sources. In the past few years, pretensions of libraries increased access to information have brought them to embrace the electronic books (e-books). Convictions of Connaway and Snyder (2005) are jotted as:\nLiterature review: E-books represent an emerging area of scholarly investigation. The growing availability of e-books collection in libraries has begun to affect the perception and attitude of library patrons towards the use and non-use of e-books. Borchert et al. (2009) delineated a good level of awareness about e-books at the University of Southern Queensland and Griffith University, Australia. They looked into the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the users' awareness (un-awareness), acceptance and use of e-books. They concluded that there is a high level of awareness of e-books among students, but the use of e-books is comparatively low. Students frequently read e-books for academic purpose, and they suggested the library to purchase both formats of the books.\nMethodology: A quantitative research design based on survey method was used to explore the perception of medical students towards the use and non-use of e-books. A questionnaire was used as a survey instrument. It was administered on the basis of wide-ranging literature review and opinion by experts. The questionnaire was pretested before data collection from target population. The questionnaire was divided into four major segments. The first portion was about the demographic characteristics of participants; the second contained the use and non-use of e-books; the third part was related to users' purpose, frequency, preferences and reasons to use e-books, while the fourth part was designed only for \"non-users\" of e-books to explore the reasons behind non-use of e-books.\nResults and discussion: Demographic characteristics of electronic books users\nConclusion: E-books have gained acceptance among medical students. The study revealed that use and non-use of e-books were almost equal in number among the medical students. They used e-books for academic purpose, and Google is the main source to access the e-books. Nevertheless, the medical students preferred print format to for their textbooks. It also found that the students use e-books because of their dynamic features such as fast and easy access, portability, around-the-clock availability and time saving.\nRecommendations: The following recommendations are made on the basis of the findings:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the perception of medical undergraduate students regarding their behavior towards use and non-use of e-books. It also elucidates their preferences between print and electronic book format.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It is a quantitative study based on survey method. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from final year medical students of three medical colleges of Lahore, Pakistan. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse 232 useable questionnaires.\nFindings: The findings indicate that the use and non-use of e-books is almost equal among students. The students who use e-books mostly access them through Google books, and they used e-books for academic purpose. Users were convinced about the benefits of e-books such as easy access, 24/7 availability and up-to-date information. However, users and non-users of e-books preferred to use printed version of books. Non-users identified that e-books often distract them because of different links on the website, and they do not want to change their habit of reading printed books. Moreover, they are satisfied with printed books available in their libraries and hesitant to read on screen.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present study is limited to the medical sciences; its results cannot be generalizing to other academic disciplines.\nPractical implications: The findings of the study will assist the medical libraries to improve their e-books collection and also negotiate the publishers for its licence issues. The study will also encourage the librarians to acquire handheld devices and load them with e-books for their users.\nOriginality/value: This is believed to be the first study on the use of e-books in the perspective of medical students in Pakistan.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Individual learning and group performance: the role of collective efficacy
|
[
"Training",
"Collective efficacy",
"Groups",
"Teams",
"Learning",
"Social cognitive theory",
"Individual development",
"Group work"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Researchers have made great strides in understanding the variables that affect the relationship between training and trainee performance on the job (Kozlowski and Salas, 2010). However, the implicit hypothesis underlying the training literature is that individual-level training outcomes aggregate to create valued outcomes at higher levels (Kozlowski et al., 2000, pp. 158-159). \"Training needs are derived for individual-level KSAs, training programs are delivered to individuals, and training effectiveness is evaluated for individual-level outcomes and transfer\". Recently, multi-level models of training effectiveness have been proposed by groups of researchers (e.g. Mathieu and Tesluk, 2010). However, most of the empirical work on transfer of training continues to focus on the paradigm that training the individual has an impact beyond the employee's immediate performance. Research on transfer of training has not yet adequately addressed the process through which individual learning improves the performance of the work group to which they belong. The present study addresses this gap. Specifically, this research was designed to investigate the effect of individual training on collective efficacy, a mediator of group-level performance following training.\nSelf-efficacy: Social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) provides a theoretical basis for understanding the psychological and social motivation for self-regulation, effort, persistence, choice, and performance. Self-efficacy reflects the individual's \"judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain desired performances. It is concerned not with the skills one has, but with judgments of what one can do with whatever skills one possesses\" (Bandura, 1986, p. 391). In short, self-efficacy refers to the extent to which people believe that they can cause, bring about, or make something happen (Yanar et al., 2009). A great deal of research has focused on the relationship between self-efficacy and individual performance (Lent et al., 2002).Self-efficacy has been identified as an essential variable for trainee transfer (Tannenbaum et al., 1991). In addition to strong main effects on training and performance outcomes, self-efficacy moderates and mediates the effects of training on job behavior as rated by peers and supervisors (Ford et al., 1992; Gist, 1989; Saks, 1995). The relationship between training, self-efficacy, and individual performance is well established; so much so that in their review of the training literature in the Annual Review of Psychology, Salas and Cannon-Bowers (2001) argued that researchers should explicitly focus on methods for increasing self-efficacy as part of a training program.While self-efficacy is a key variable of interest when the desired performance outcome is at the individual level, in today's world of work, individuals often work as part of a team. There is less known about the transfer of skills learned in training when individuals need to apply their learning to group settings.\nCollective efficacy: There is widespread use of teams and workgroups in organizational settings as a way to achieve learning and work performance. Increasingly, teams are charged with making important decisions as organizations realize that they must rely on many sources of expertise in order to remain competitive (Dose, 2003). As a result, employee development needs to become increasingly concerned with groups and teams.This literature has identified collective efficacy, a group-level proxy of self-efficacy, an important predictor of team performance. Collective efficacy refers to a group's shared belief in a collective capability to organize and execute courses of action (Bandura, 1997). The research on collective efficacy has grown in the last decade. Meta-analytic findings support a relationship between collective-efficacy and performance (Gully et al., 2002; Stajkovic et al., 2009). Gully et al. (2002) calculated the collective efficacy to performance relationship as 0.41 and found support for the finding that collective efficacy is paramount in situations where the task requires high group interdependence. In a second study, task interdependence was found to moderate the collective efficacy to group performance relationship such that where tasks require high (as compared to low) member coordination, collective efficacy is increasingly important (Stajkovic et al., 2009).There are a growing number of studies that have investigated the relationship between training and collective efficacy. For example, Brown (2003) found that collective efficacy mediates the training-performance relationship. Gibson (2001) found that training is positively related to collective efficacy and team effectiveness. While the efficacy to performance relationship is acknowledged as being important, a limitation of the current literature is that we know little about how individual training can enhance collective efficacy in work teams. Kozlowski and Salas (1997) suggested that we need to train an entire group if we are concerned with group level outcomes. Most of the extant literature has focused on the elements of team training that can increase team success (Salas et al., 2007). In other words, the extant research has focused on group level interventions when concerned with group level outcomes. Little research has attempted to cross levels of analysis to understand the influence of individual level factors on group level outcomes such as collective efficacy. A notable exception within the collective efficacy literature is the work completed by Tasa et al. (2007) on individual factors that contribute to collective efficacy in work groups. They found that the development of collective efficacy occurs following the interactions between individuals within a work group. The present study aims to deeper our understanding of this relationship by investigating the effect of individual training on the team level outcomes of collective efficacy and team performance.Research in social psychology has been interested in the effect of the individual on the group for decades and therefore provides a basis for making predictions about collective efficacy as a result of individual training. Specifically, the literature on minority influence is reviewed here.\nSocial impact theory: Social influence studies in social psychology examine changes in judgments, opinions, and attitudes of an individual as a result of being exposed to the judgments, opinions, and attitudes of others (Moscovici et al., 1969). In general, the theory states that majority opinions will factors more heavily into group decisions. Minority factions can have an influence on group outcomes, however, there are a number of process losses that can interfere with team's ability to recognize minority opinion as being important and valuable (Park and DeShon, 2010).Latane's (1981) social impact theory predicts that majority influence increases as the size of the majority increases. Each additional group member, however, adds less to the majority's cumulative impact as group size increases. Hence, the amount of social influence exerted by a majority or minority faction is a function of the number of its members. The marginally decreasing impact is modeled by the equation I=sNt, where s is a constant, N represents the number of individuals in the faction, and t is an exponent with a value of less than one. This equation shows that as the number of sources increase, the amount of influence exerted by each additional individual decreases in a nonlinear fashion.Social impact theory states that a trainee has more influence over others in the group as the number of people who are trained increases, with each additional trainee having less impact on the group (Latane, 1981). As more group members receive the training, there will be a greater effect on a group, but the added value of training individuals will decrease as more members are trained.Collective efficacy represents a group's belief about their abilities. According to social impact theory, beliefs can be altered when a majority of a group has the ability to influence those beliefs. Therefore, it is likely that training a majority of the group's members ensures an increase in collective efficacy.H1. As the number of people in a group who are trained increases, collective efficacy of the group also increases until the majority has been trained at which point there is no statistically significant benefit to training additional group members.It is proposed here that the influence an individual has on a team as a result of training is based in their ability to alter the efficacy beliefs of the team. As the individual expresses views that are supported by their training experience and is able to provide a rationale and evidence for their views, the team feels more confident about the decision. Research in social psychology indicates that where a knowledgeable group member can demonstrate a logical and rational explanation for their approach, group performance is enhanced (Hastie, 1986; Laughlin, 1980; McGrath, 1984). Therefore, it is expected that trained group members provide information that increases their understanding of the problem, increases their efficacy beliefs and as a result has a positive influence on team performance. The following is hypothesized:H2. Collective efficacy mediates the relationship between the number of people trained and a group's performance.\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Collective efficacy\nDiscussion: The transfer of training literature has unarguably advanced the knowledge of both scientists and practitioners over the last few decades, yet the focus of this research has remained at the level of the individual (Aguinis and Kraiger, 2009). Consequently, Kozlowski et al. (2000) argued that a key limitation of transfer of training research is that it cannot answer the question of whether training one individual influences a group's performance. The present study is an initial step toward answering this question.The main hypothesis enjoyed partial support. The findings indicate that collective efficacy increases as we move from training no one to training the majority of the group. In addition, collective efficacy was found to mediate the relationship between the number of trained individuals in a group and a group's performance. This extends our understanding of social cognitive theory in that the study examined the effect of training one or more individual(s) on the collective efficacy of the group. This research crossed levels of analysis. Researchers know that an individual's level of self-efficacy moderates subsequent transfer of training for that individual (Saks, 1995), and that collective efficacy moderates a group's level of transfer of training (Brown, 2003). Now, it is known that individual training can increase collective efficacy when a majority of the group is trained.Training all five group members did not significantly increase collective efficacy. Kozlowski and Salas (1997) argued the necessity of training a team as a unit in order to enhance group performance. This research indicates that it is not necessary to train an entire group to see benefits from training. Subgroups of individuals can influence team level beliefs about ability. This has implications for team performance beyond our understanding of transfer of training.Collective efficacy has a moderate relationship with performance (Gully et al., 2002; Stajkovic et al., 2009). Team performance is often problematic and can be limited by a wide range of factors (Hackman, 1998). If collective efficacy can be predictably and reliably enhanced, team performance can be improved. This study provides some guidance on how to positively influence outcomes at the team level, train at least a majority of team members.This study has implications for what Kozlowski et al. (2000) called vertical transfer of training. Vertical transfer has been defined as transfer of training across levels of analysis. The present study found that vertical transfer occurs when a group's collective efficacy can be enhanced for the defined task. In other words, the group performed better as a result of individual training in groups where collective efficacy increased.A limitation of this study is that it did not explicitly examine the processes that supported an enhancement of collective efficacy across teams. Future research should investigate the content of the group's discussion in order to determine the ways in which group members were able to alter the efficacy beliefs of their colleagues.Individual difference factors might have an impact on the relationship between the variables described in this study. For example, experience with the task, expertise, or previous knowledge might have an effect on individual self-efficacy, level of contribution within group discussion, and ultimately collective efficacy of the group to which that individual belongs. This study used a relatively homogeneous sample, future research might want to investigate the effects of these types of differences on the collective efficacy to performance relationship.There are also some limitations based on the methods used in this study. Generalizability was sacrificed for control over potential extraneous variables. Given that the task was an artificial simulation, the results must be cautiously interpreted. Their application to other contexts still needs to be examined.In future, it would be interesting to extend these findings by investigating the relationship between efficacy and other group level variables that are known to affect group performance. For example, the research on group diversity has led to inconsistent findings; diverse groups sometimes perform quite well and other times fail to deliver (Van Knippenberg and Schippers, 2007). Collective efficacy might provide a useful construct for predicting performance among diversity. Similarly, recent work on collective intelligence has offered an interesting advance in our understanding of group performance. The general ability of the group to perform a wide range of tasks is not a simple combination of the intelligences of the various group members (Woolley et al., 2010). Efficacy represents a motivation whereas intelligence describes an ability. Collectively efficacy might interact with intelligence in a meaningful way.The practical significance of these findings is that when group level outcomes are desired, human resource specialists and managers need to consider how the acquired knowledge will be distributed among group members. When individuals are working as part of a team, we need to consider training the majority of group members. After that, there is limited value in training additional group members. Based on the current research findings, if training dollars are minimal, training a majority of the group members is a good strategy.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The aim of the current study is to investigate the effect of training individual group members on the collective efficacy of the group and the group's subsequent performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Participants (n=275), in a laboratory study were randomly assigned to groups of five (k=55). Individuals were then randomly selected from those groups such that none, one, three, or all five members of the group participated in training on effective ways to select a job candidate.\nFindings: - Groups in which at least a majority of group members were trained had higher collective efficacy than groups where fewer members were trained. Training individuals beyond a majority did not improve collective efficacy further. Collective efficacy mediated the relationship between individual training and group level performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research extends the knowledge of the relationship between the individual and the group within social cognitive theory. Training a majority of the group is needed to see an increase in collective efficacy, a mediator of group performance.\nPractical implications: - Human resource managers should consider the effects of training individuals when they expect their employees to work as teams. It is beneficial to train as many people as necessary for the group to be able to benefit from the new information; however, training beyond the majority of people within the group does not improve confidence or performance.\nOriginality/value: - The paper examines the relationship between individual group members and collective efficacy in a learning context. This extends the knowledge of social cognitive theory by crossing levels of analysis.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How VUCA is changing the learning landscape - and how curiosity can help
|
[
"Creativity",
"Openness",
"VUCA",
"Curiosity",
"Disruption Tolerance",
"Inquisitiveness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Eighty per cent of learning and development professionals surveyed by LinkedIn (Thomson et al., 2017) reported that developing employees is top of mind for their organizations' executive teams. At the same time, volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) in the business landscape are rapidly eroding learning budgets and resources as worker knowledge and skillsets become outdated at faster rates (Horney et al., 2010). In addition, employees are demanding modern learning content and delivery and are increasingly reluctant to make time for training and development. In short, VUCA has dramatically shifted the learning landscape in organizations, pushing learning professionals to adapt faster than ever before to keep pace.\nFour attributes of curiosity: Curiosity occurs through four attributes, according to Dr. Todd Kashdan, senior scientist at George Mason University (Merck KGaA-EMD Group, 2016). The first mechanism is inquisitiveness, which means using inquiry and reframing to move beyond preconceived biases and status quo options to take on other perspectives and investigate new, ambiguous, or complicated situations. Inquisitiveness is demonstrated by asking a range of questions to probe deeply into what is really going on. This helps develop a 360-degree view of a situation to learn everything possible about the challenge at hand, including understanding the current state, defining the ideal state or outcome, and identifying the specific resources needed to attain the outcome. Inquisitiveness is reflected in the recent talent management trend to forgo exhaustive benchmarking studies in favor of scanning the landscape to identify and evaluate such approaches from both within and outside their organization and industry.\nApplications of curiosity: In January 2017, NY Community Bancorp, Inc. demonstrated curiosity when it redesigned its Teller Fundamentals Training Program. Reflecting openness and creativity, the new design incorporated various delivery methods, including instructor-led facilitation, video demonstrations, simulations, self-study, role-play activities, group discussions, and practical system application. These novel training methods demonstrated the learning designers' willingness to challenge the status quo. As a result, after only 6 months post-implementation, various organization-level outcomes were evident, such as post-training turnover reduction of 13 per cent, increased customer satisfaction, and increased operational efficiency (Weinstein, 2018).\nConclusion: Although employee development is a key objective for most organizations, VUCA is exerting pressure on learning and development professionals, diminishing their resources as demands simultaneously increase. A curiosity mind-set offers a potent means for thriving in the current business landscape. Through inquisitiveness, creativity, openness, and disruption tolerance, executives and their organizations may cultivate the agility, learning culture, and operational efficiencies that contribute to a stronger bottom line.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to describe four ways learning professionals can harness curiosity to navigate learning environments marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A review of theory and research on curiosity, VUCA, and learning and development challenges was conducted.\nFindings: When applied to talent development, the attributes of curiosity (inquisitiveness, openness, creativity, and disruption tolerance) can help learning professionals innovate their offerings.\nPractical implications: Organizational development and learning professionals are encouraged to implement measures for harnessing the power of curiosity within their processes to optimize their organizations' learning programs.\nOriginality/value: VUCA has placed significant pressures on learning professionals to continually evolve employee development offerings to keep pace with dynamic organizational skill needs. Curiosity is presented as a plausible mechanism for enabling learning professionals to more successfully navigate these pressures.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Take control to break glass ceiling: Ways to help women fulfil their potential
|
[
"Gender",
"Glass ceiling",
"Careers",
"Stereotypes"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: That evocative term \"glass ceiling\", coined to highlight women's frustrations at perceived barriers stopping them getting to the top of their professions, has been around for a while now. It has been discussed, dissected, debunked and defended in various ways over the years and remains a powerful image of how many women - and men - see the culture of their organizations.\nBlueprint for both individuals and organizations: In designing a framework for the two key groups involved with women's careers - the individual and the organization - the authors deliberately used the term \"organization\" broadly, as some areas fall within the remit of HR and others would need to be determined by the chief executive and the senior management team. Their advice for individuals includes the following:\nImportance of CEO and top team in supporting the way ahead: As for organizations, advice which could help employers create more structure, support and equality includes as discussed below:\nComment: This review is based on \"A better career environment for women: developing a blueprint for individuals and organisations\" by Holton and Dent (2016). The authors conducted research with women managers about their careers and, from their findings, offer advice on both an organizational and individual basis.\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: The paper illustrates the difficulties that women continue to face in the workplace and how terms such as leadership, management and team leader may be gender biased. There is a need for employers and for individuals to consider a variety of different approaches to help create a more positive career environment for women.\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"
}
] |
Does the effect of media influence suicide rates?
|
[
"Suicide",
"Media",
"Contagion"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: When Johann Wolfgang Goethe wrote Werther in 1774, he reached their first piece of success. With huge response when it was launched, the sorrows of young Werther was a testimony to how literature or the media had the power to act in society. It may be noted that many suicides were attributed to the novel at that time. Since then, suicide has been a topic of discussion on various approaches. In this context, this novel inspires the main question of our research: does the effect of media influence suicide rates?\n2. Literature review: The economic literature on the relationship between suicide and income and employment is relatively recent. Hamermesh and Soss (1974) are the first to make an economic approach on the issue. The rational suicide theory developed by them is a way to explain why suicide seemed to increase monotonically with age, and reduces with the increase of income. They also argue that much of the variations in suicide rates compared between countries can be explained by sociological theories. However, the relationship between income and suicide and suicide and age cannot be well explained by these theories. Instead, such relationships can be streamlined by means of economic theory. In this context suicide can be analyzed through models of individual decision, collective decision or even through market mechanisms.\n3. Theoretic model of suicide with contagion effect: In this paper we use a dynamic model of suicide proliferation where the suicidals belong to two distinct groups. In this context, we intend to show that by using a populational model that captures the mutually reinforcing connection between the activities of both groups of suicidals (contagion effect), we can provide new insights to understand the dynamics of suicide proliferation[1].\n4. Methodological aspects and descriptive statistics: The data used in this study are obtained from two sources: first, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE); and second, the Information Department of Brazil's Unified National Health System (DATASUS). The series relating to income, Theil index, poverty rate and unemployment rate, were extracted from the PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles, from 1980 to 2009). The rate of divorce was obtained from the IBGE. Population data were obtained from the demographic censuses. In the years that censuses were not carried out, the values were obtained by interpolation. Both PNAD and Census are elaborated by IBGE. The data on suicide, intentional homicide, fetal deaths and rate of hospitalizations due to mental disorders, were extracted from DATASUS.\n5. Empirical results: Tables AI, AII, AIII and AIV present the results of the regressions. Such tables are available in the Appendix. The results of Table AI estimated by pooled regression (OLS) indicate that the explanatory variables media index (MEDIA), unemployment rate (UNEMPLOYMENT), divorce rate (DIVORCE), unemployment times media (UNEMPxMEDIA) and poverty index (PO) are statistically significant at the 5 percent level, for all groups of suicidals. A highlight that should be observed is in regards to the sharp difference of results obtained for certain variables between the models estimated from panel data and the OLS estimator. The values of the estimated coefficients VIOLENCE, FETAL DEATHS, UNEMPxMEDIA and PSYCHIC DISTURBANCE showed significant differences when compared between the two groups of suicidals of the models estimated in Tables AII and AIII.\n6. Conclusions: The main result of this study is that the media index is positively correlated with the cases of suicide. It is observed that the media index is the third motivator of suicides, after unemployment and violence, for all groups of people. The estimated model for pooled regression shows that an increase of 1 percent in the media raises the suicide rate of young men between 15 and 29 years of age in 5.34 percent. While in the case of models of FE and of DPDIV the same proportional increase would have an impact of 4.22 and 3.71 percent, respectively.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: An important question about the determinants of suicide refers to the role of media. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if there are groups of people who are susceptible to suicide as a result of the effect of media.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data for the 27 Brazilian states, for the period 1980-2009, to investigate the impact of the media index, unemployment rate, divorce rate and other explanatory variables on the rate of suicide by gender and age. First of all, the authors estimated a model of fixed effects panel. The second estimation method makes use of dynamic panel data with instrumental variables. Each of the results generated by these two estimated models is compared with those obtained by ordinary least squares in stacked data. The authors develop a model about the suicide epidemic where the media works as a contagion effect to disseminate suicidal behavior.\nFindings: The authors observe that, the media index is the third motivator of suicide, after unemployment and violence, for all groups of people. The estimated model shows that 1 percent increase in media index increases suicide rate of young men (aged between 15 and 29 years) at 4.22 percent.\nResearch limitations/implications: The empirical results are limited because the authors developed a media index based on quantities of televisions and radios. The authors suggest other research include social media in the index as well.\nOriginality/value: This result seems to suggest a type of contagion effect on suicide rates, which reinforces the results obtained by Cutler et al. (2001).\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Relationship between budget allocation and growth of resources at the university libraries of Northern India - a study
|
[
"India",
"Collection development",
"Library budget",
"Budget allocation",
"Growth of resources",
"University libraries in India"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Collection development has always been a great challenge for the librarians across the world. It comprises formulation of policies, practices and procedures of selection, acquisition and evaluation of library collections, assessment of users' needs, conservation and preservation, weeding out policies, etc. It is the very backbone of all library services and has always been of a great concern to the library professionals. It covers a broad range of activities and services that include the creation of collection development policy (CDP) for print and e-resources, selection tools or aids, weeding out of material, cooperative collection development, evaluation and protection of library collection besides resource sharing opportunities. in the libraries. Over the past few decades, the process of collection development has evolved in such a way so as to emphasize on personalised services for satisfying user's needs and for ensuring that it serve as an essential element of the information life cycle. Studies have also shown a positive co-relation between library collection and users satisfaction from it. It has been proven time and again that efficient collection development in libraries is possible provided it is based on the objectives of the library, analysis of the users' needs and bears testimony to the transparent CDP of the library. The five fundamental factors that are engaged in the process which are being carried out in university libraries include policies, finance, the kind of material to be acquired, selection and acquisition and collection development (Gessesse, 2000). The present research paper discusses the relationship between budget allocated for acquiring the library collection and the growth of resources in university libraries of Northern India.\nReview of related literature: Gyeszly (2001) examined the increasing cost in subscription of print and e-resources. She evaluated the annual subscription rate of the core journals of social sciences (Political Science and Economics) and compared the price increase during 1998-2000. She found that the print subscription cost of Political Science and Economics print journals were $42,557 during 1998-1999 as compared to $47,225 in 1999-2000, indicating a significant increase of $4,668 (11 per cent). The subscription price of electronic journals was $22,365 during 1998-1999, which increased to $24,539 (an increase of 9.7 per cent) in 1999-2000. Roberts (2001) highlighted six trends or models of financial management in libraries and proposed that academic and research libraries should adopt user access funding model in place of the existing traditional model. Petrick (2002) found that in SUNY library, the increase in expenditures on electronic resources did not result in a decrease in expenditures on monographs, serials and audio, visual materials. Moreover, she did not find any constant increase in expenditures on electronic resources during the period of study as it decreased from 1996 to 1998. She also noted that the acquisition of library materials in all categories was increasing despite lower overall SUNY library budgets. Fombad and Matula (2003) examined the challenges faced by the library in collection development keeping in view of budget, rapid growth of e-resources, requirements of faculty members, delays in receiving orders, issues and challenges in library collection evaluation. They revealed that there are several problems/challenges involved in the process of collection development at UBL. They noted that a lump sum was allocated to each faculty which was then split up and allocated on a subject basis so as to have a positive check on controlled spending. They found that UBL makes use of various techniques such as list checking, accreditation evaluations, statistics for expenditures and volumes to give feedback on collection development. Smith (2008) examined the fund allocation process of Adelphi University Library, New York. She noted that the University has been increasing annual library budget for library materials equal to or exceeding anticipated inflationary costs. This resulted in developing a rational materials budgeting process. Chaputula and Boadi (2010) examined the budget distribution for collection development by examining the annual reports of the university, acquisition statistics and accession register of the library. The expenditure on library materials out of the total budget of the college was 0.22 per cent in 1998 which increased to 0.33 per cent in 1999, but it started decreasing till 2006 and then again started increasing from 2007 onwards. Ghosh and Panda (2010) found that IIT (Kharagpur) had the highest budget (Rs.1,000 lakh), whereas IIT (Guwahati) had the lowest budget (Rs.325 lakh) for subscription of library resources. The central libraries of IIT at Kharagpur, Bombay, Madras, Kanpur and Roorkee spent 80 per cent or more of their budget on serial subscription. The central library of IIT (Guwahati) spent more than 60 per cent of its budget for serial subscription. Kichuk (2010) analysed the growth patterns of e-resources, full text databases, bibliographic databases and reference databases at the University of Saskatchewan Library, USA, from 1996-1997 to 2007-2008. She found that the growth of e-resources doubled from 2004-2005 to 2007-2008, and both internal and external factors (such as market availability, library consortium membership, print migration to online, user expectation and functionality development) impacted the growth of e-resources at University of Saskachewan Library. Joshi et al. (2012) noted the expenditure of amount on purchase of books at six university libraries in Karnataka during 2005 to 2009. They noted that Bangalore University spent the highest amount (Rs.220 lakh) on procurement of books during the 2005 to 2009, followed by Gulbarga University (Rs.194 lakh), Mangalore University (Rs.135 lakh), Karnataka University (Rs.134 lakhs), Kuvempu University (Rs.112 lakh), whereas the Mysore University spent the least amount (Rs.61 lakh) on procuring the books. Asante (2014) investigated relationship between budgetary constraints on the operation of academic libraries in Ghana. He found that all four constructs (i.e. collection development, acquisition and selection, patronage and service provision) have a significant linear relationship with budgetary constraints with regard to the academic libraries in Ghana. Pandita and Singh (2016) examined the percentage of budget spent by libraries of 20 higher educational institutions of India for procurement of print and e-resources during 2012-2015. They found that the university libraries in India spent 43.54 per cent of their budget on procurement of print resources and 56.46 per cent on the procurement of e-resources during the study period, whereas engineering and technology-based institutions spent 24.04 per cent of their library budget on the procurement of print resources, whereas 75.96 per cent budget was spent on the procurement of e-resources during the study period. They noted that the procurement preference among institutions varied significantly depending upon the factors which include age of institution, infrastructure, richness and resourcefulness of the institutional library in terms of print or electronic documents, access to internet facility, skilfulness of human resource towards the exploitation of e-resources and many more.\nBrief profile of universities and their libraries: Panjab university (PU), Chandigarh\nHypotheses of the study: H01. There is no significant relationship between the increased library budget and growth of books and journals at Panjab University Library.\nLimitation of the study: The study was limited up to the five universities of Northern India, which included three states of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The universities are Panjab University (PU), Punjabi University (PbiU), Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Kurukshetra University (KU) and Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU). The data related to budget allocation for books and journals (both print and electronic) resources as well as cumulative growth was collected and analysed for the period 2003-2004 to 2012-2013.\nResearch methodology: The data were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire. Other sources which were consulted for obtaining data include library records such as annual reports, budget estimates, ledgers and staff involved in the acquisition section. The hypotheses and data were interpreted and relevant conclusions were drawn to ascertain the relationship between budget allocation and growth of resources among the five university libraries during 2003-2004 to 2012-2013 were analysed and discussed. The data were recorded in MS Excel worksheet, later which was transferred to Statistical Package for Social Sciences for hypothesis testing. The hypotheses were tested using chi-square test. The chi-square test is used to determine if there is a significant relationship between two nominal variables. The results of chi-square test help us to understand whether the budget allocated for books, journals and e-journals and growth of such resources are proportionate or not? If the null hypothesis is accepted, then budget allocated for resources and growths of resources were not proportionate, whereas if it is rejected or rejected to a great extent, then budget allocation for resources and growth of resources were proportion to each other.\nData analysis and hypothesis testing: The data related to budgetary allocation and growth of resources during 2003-2004 to 2012-2013 were collected from the librarians and in-charges of acquisition section of the five selected university libraries. The analysis of data is provided as under.\nImportant findings of the study: The major findings of the study are:\nConclusion and suggestions: Collection development is an important and continuous process in libraries which forms the nucleus of all library services. However, in the current scenario where documents are available in various formats, shortage of financial resources and ever-increasing costs of publications especially in the journals, collection development and budgetary allocation becomes the focus of the librarians the world over. The data analysis shows that in case of books, except one (MDU library), all the other four libraries (PU, PbiU, KU and GNDU) exhibited no significant relationship budget allocated for books and growth of books. Significant relationship between budget allocated for journals and growth of e-journals was found in the case of two university libraries (PbiU and GNDU) covered under the study, whereas no significant relationship was found in the case of three university libraries (PU, KU, MDU). Significant relationship was found between budget allocated for journals and growth of print journals in the case of three university libraries (PbiU, GNDU and MDU), whereas no significant relationship was found in the case of two university libraries (PU and KU).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of the study is to find out the budgetary allocation for books and journals (Print and Electronic) and growth of resources during 2003-2004 to 2012-2013. The study also explored the significant/non-significant relationship for budget allocated for books and journals (Print and Electronic) as well as growth of resources across the libraries. This will help the librarians of such universities to build their collection accordingly.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire. Moreover, information was obtained from the primary library records such as annual reports, budget estimates, ledgers and also the staff involved in the acquisition section. The hypotheses were tested using chi-square test. The relationship between budgetary allocation and growth of resources amongst the five university libraries during 2003-2004 to 2012-2013 were analysed and discussed.\nFindings: Maharishi Dayanand University library had the highest budget for purchase of books (Rs.125 lakh), whereas Panjab University library had the highest budget (Rs.208 lakh) for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2012-2013. Panjab University library allocated Rs.18 lakh for purchase of books and Rs.208 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2012-2013. Punjabi University library allocated 16 lakh for purchase of books and 45 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2012-2013. Guru Nanak Dev University library allocated Rs.16.80 lakh as the budget for purchase of books and Rs.8.30 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) from 2007-2008 to 2012-2013. Kurukshetra University library allocated Rs.9 lakh for purchase of books during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, whereas it had allocated Rs.79.20 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2008-2009. Maharishi Dayanand University library allocated Rs.125 lakh for purchase of books during 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, whereas it allocated Rs.125 lakh for purchase of journals (Print and Electronic) during 2012-2013.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was limited to five universities of Northern India, which comprised Panjab University, Chandigarh (PU); Punjabi University, Patiala (PbiU); Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (GNDU); Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (KU); and Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak (MDU). The data related to budgetary allocation for resources and growth and cumulative growth of books and journals (print and electronic) during 2003-2004 to 2012-2013 were collected and analysed.\nOriginality/value: This is the first of its kind of study in these universities, which provides an overview of how much budget was allocated for collection development in these university libraries. The relation between budget allocation and growth of resources were compared, and their significant/non-significant relationship in five university libraries in North India was found.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Project on school staff health promotion in Poland: the first experiences
|
[
"Health promotion",
"Poland",
"Health-promoting schools",
"Teachers",
"School",
"Staff"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In Poland the health-promoting school (HPS) movement has a 22-year history. It started in January 1992 as a three-year pilot project, established with the support of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. In the same year, Poland became a member of the European Network of Health Promoting Schools, as one of the first seven countries. Regional HPS networks were set up in all 16 regions, comprising about 3,000 schools of different types, 10 per cent of the total number of schools in the country, with elementary schools forming the majority. All the schools have regional HPS certificates. The Health Promoting School National Certificate was established in 2007 (Woynarowska and Sokolowska, 2009) and up to now about 150 schools have received this certificate.\nMethods: The project\nResults: Activities undertaken in the first year of the project\nDiscussion: This paper presents a pilot project which aimed to develop school staff promotion within the HPS framework and the experiences and some results of the first period (1.5 year) of the project implementation. It was the first test for the activities focused on health and occupational well-being of this group of school community during the 22 years of developing the HPS programme in Poland.\nConclusions: The experience from the first period of the presented pilot project developed within the HPS network in Poland indicates that health promotion of school staff is not easy to implement and needs to take some time. There is the necessity:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the concept, methods of implementation, results and experiences from the first stage of the three-year project on school staff health promotion carried out within the framework of the health-promoting school (HPS) network in Poland.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The project was implemented in 2012 in 22 primary and lower secondary schools, with a group of 780 teachers and 276 non-teaching staff. To be eligible for their school to be included, head teachers and at least 60 per cent of school staff members had to volunteer to commit to the project. An action research approach was used. The project is implemented on the basis of an agreement between the Medical University of Warsaw and the Centre of Education Development.\nFindings: Over the first eighteen months of implementing the project, the schools selected priority problems to solve, constructed an action plan for the first year and evaluated their outcomes. Only 7 schools reported that they had achieved their goals. The difficulties experienced by schools were associated with inadequate planning skills, insufficient support from some head teachers, and low involvement of staff members in the project activities. However, openness to change and new learning, and a readiness to participation further in the project was observed across 17 from 22 schools.\nOriginality/value: This pilot project was the first attempt to introduce health promotion among school staff into the HPS network in Poland and provides valuable lessons on implementation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Agile supply chain management (ASCM): a management decision-making approach
|
[
"Resource management",
"Entrepreneurial orientation",
"Supplier relations",
"Agile supply chain management (ASCM)",
"Just-in-time (JIT)",
"Participative management style"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Supply chain management (SCM) is a strategic mechanism to improve firm's competitive edge (Thakkar et al., 2008), and establishing an agile supply chain management (ASCM) system is becoming critical for companies' sustainability. SCM is challenging (Reefke et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2012; Varma et al., 2006) and in an agile supply chain, companies are struggling to identify opportunities that emerge in the form of changes in the market (Palaniappan, 2004). Business environment and market environment are facing many uncertainties and volatility as today's market is very turbulent due to globalization, shifting technology, shorter product life cycle and customers who are more knowledgeable and well informed (Julian et al., 2014; Nagarajan et al., 2013). Examining agility in each stage of process is a desired action for many companies, but it is difficult if not impossible in practice. Therefore, researchers (Rogers and Tibben-Lembke, 1998) have attempted to find approaches that help companies optimize reverse logistics which eventually decrease cost and increase efficiency through mathematical methods.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development: A model developed by Power et al. (2001) determines critical factors in ASCM for manufacturing companies. Other researchers such as Yusuf et al. (2004) have argued about agile supply chain capabilities and determinants of competitive objectives. Martin Christopher (2000) is another researcher who had investigated ASCM and considered ASCM in volatile markets. In addition, variables such as participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU have been found to be more significant in the field of ASCM. Furthermore, supply chain agility enables an organization to enhance its daily operations and assists in diminishing costs as well as raising profitability (Liu et al., 2013; Yang, 2014). Hofman and Cecere (2005) expressed that uncertainty and complexity are two factors that should be considered by companies since they have the potential to harm their operations. Consequently, in agile supply chain systems, it is important that relationship among suppliers and their interactions are flexible in the forms of delivering services or products and responsiveness.\n3. Research method: To empirically test the proposed hypotheses, quantitative methodology was considered using cross-sectional data collection approach. Accordingly, to conduct the statistical analysis for the main study, questionnaires were distributed among SMEs in manufacturing-related services in Malaysia. The measurements of research constructs were adopted from previous studies. To measure EO, questionnaire items were taken from Boso et al. (2012); to measure participative management style, resource management, supplier relations, JIT methodology, TU and ASCM, items were adopted from Power et al. (2001). After the pretest, reliability of the questionnaire was approved through a pilot study of 28 respondents. The list of active SMEs in manufacturing-related services was found in the official site of SME Corporation Malaysia (2013). To determine adequate sample size to test the model using partial least squares (PLS) analysis, power analysis (Chin, 2010) was performed, which recommends minimal sample size of 100 to 130 cases. Since partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is less affected by small sample sizes, the rule of thumb states the use of \"at least 10 times the number of items of the most complex construct\" (Gefen et al., 2000) to determine the adequate sample size. Thus, 250 questionnaires were distributed among SMEs in which a total of 197 valid questionnaires were returned. The summary of the characteristics of SMEs is shown in Table I.\n4. Results: 4.1 Measurement model\n5. Conclusion and discussion: The findings of this study reveal that EO, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU positively influence ASCM while participative management style is not a predictor towards ASCM. Moreover, EO was found to be a second-order formative construct, with the first-order constructs being innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness. Participative management style that referred to the quality of management for conducting ASCM was not important. Evidently, management has a considerable portion in successes, but it might not contribute to ASCM as the empirical results in this study expressed. Supplier relation that was mentioned in supply chain is either agile or normal in nature. Moreover, supplier relationship is very important because supply chain is a network; therefore, all of the members of this chain or network should work together. There are different factors that companies are competing for such as price, cost, quality and new products. Each of these typically depends on a strong SCM. Thus, creating a powerful SCM can ensure success for companies through decreasing cost or improving quality. Sole supply chain that can be adopted in this market is agile and flexible in nature. Currently, companies are devoting more attention to practice that leads to attracting more customers and retaining them. More importantly, competition is between supply chains and not companies, so the failure or success of a supply chain is decided by customers.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine agile supply chain management (ASCM) among SMEs in manufacturing-related services sector. The study propose that entrepreneurial orientation (EO), participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, just-in-time (JIT) methodology and technology utilization (TU) are several drivers of ASCM - an effective management decision-making approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 197 questionnaires were collected among SMEs to empirically test the proposed model. Structural equation modelling was employed using partial least squares approach to assess measurement and structural model for reflective and formative constructs.\nFindings: The results reveal that EO, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU positively influence ASCM while participative management style is not a predictor towards an effective ASCM. Moreover, EO was found to be a second-order formative construct comprising of innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness, and ASCM is a first-order formative construct.\nOriginality/value: Prior literature regarding supply chain management (SCM) has focussed mainly on critical success factors of SCM and green SCM. Limited empirical studies have examined the influence of EO, participative management style, supplier relations, resource management, JIT methodology and TU on ASCM among SMEs in manufacturing-related services sector.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Open for business? An integrative framework and empirical assessment for business model innovation in the gastronomic sector
|
[
"Innovation",
"Entrepreneurship"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: The gastronomic sector is a diverse one without a single clear definition, although it is roughly defined as the practice or art of choosing, cooking, and eating good food (according to the Oxford Dictionary of English). Also the above-mentioned description provides ample room for diverse interpretations and different perspectives. Nevertheless, there is an understanding that gastronomy involves the art of cooking and serving food with possible connections to (geographically or culturally determined) local or regional aspect and with more or less connection to the underlying science of food and eating.\nThe concept of business model in the gastronomic sector: A business model describes the logic with which a company creates and captures value (Afuah, 2014; Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010; Zott et al., 2011). Several perspectives on business models have been put forward (e.g. Chesbrough and Rosenbloom, 2002; Osterwalder et al., 2005; Teece, 2010), which essentially highlight the role of different capabilities and activities (including relations and partnerships) that support a cost structure and revenue model in line with the value proposition for a particular customer segment. For better understanding and further exploring business models Figure 1 proposes a generic framework, which includes an internal (left-hand side) and external (right-hand side) orientation - based on the literature with specific reference to Afuah (2014).\nEmpirical methodology to explore business models in the gastronomic sector: The general business model framework outlined above has been adapted to the Danish gastronomic sector in order to explore the variation in business models in that sector.\nResults: CCC, pseudo-F, and pseudo-t2 indicators suggested a cut-off of 12 clusters as an appropriate grouping of the restaurants. However, careful inspection of the 12 clusters revealed that some rather small clusters were very similar to other clusters (e.g. they were almost identical for all variables except degree of urbanization). Hence, the 12 clusters were aggregated to 9. In particular, two high-price categories - only differing with respect to geographical location - were aggregated to 1. And three of the 12 clusters (comprising high-priced restaurants located close to nature attractions, and restaurants with relatively unclear profiles in terms of cuisine or customer targeting and located in the capital or in the provinces, respectively) had so few members that they were aggregated to 1 residual cluster.\nDiscussion: assessment of growth potential of gastronomic sector in Denmark: The cluster analysis suggests that the vast majority of Danish restaurants are within the \"mainstream\" category, and that restaurants in other categories seek to differentiate themselves from this. The available data for the restaurants do not allow for assessment of their economic performance, and hence one business model bears a greater economic potential than another under given circumstances (e.g. degree of urbanization or tourist attractions in the surroundings). Nevertheless, the observation of the localization of different types of restaurants in different locations may give an indication about their economic viability and comparative advantages. For example, a larger share of high-price restaurants are located in the larger towns outside the capital and a smaller percentage is located in small towns or rural areas than for restaurants in general, which suggests that these restaurants enjoy a comparative advantage in these larger towns. In contrast, the representation of tourism-oriented high-price restaurants is relatively strong outside the capital and larger towns, which might indicate a comparative advantage for this type of restaurants in small- and medium-sized towns - or that high-price restaurants in these areas tend to collaborate with local tourism attractions to become economically viable. Lunch restaurants are (perhaps unsurprisingly) relatively strongly represented among restaurants with affiliation to adult-targeted tourist attraction but (perhaps more surprisingly) less strongly represented among restaurants related to child-oriented tourist attractions. Whether this is a trend or a coincidence could be a topic for further research.\nConclusions and implications for practice and research: The study has identified nine different business models in the Danish gastronomic sector: one \"mainstream\" and eight alternative business models which attempt to differentiate themselves from the mainstream category by utilizing specific resources or opportunities, such as nearby tourist attractions, or by targeting specific customer segments, e.g., through high-priced gourmet services or focus on organic ingredients.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore different business models that are active in the gastronomic industry and assess where there may be opportunities and limitations for innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors develop a conceptualization of the business model concept and some of its main components - considering an internal and external orientation - and how they can be applied to the gastronomic sector. On this basis, the authors propose, develop and test an empirical framework for the economic sustainability of gastronomic enterprises. Based on data from a publicly available database of the Danish hospitality sector, the authors conduct hierarchical cluster analysis to identify different business models for the Danish gastronomic sector.\nFindings: Given the diversity of the gastronomic sector, there can be a multitude of alternative business models and characteristics, which may enable the sector to create value through, for example, product differentiation, market segmentation, and so on. The analysis revealed nine different clusters, which represent different business models in terms of value creation, segmentation, and resource utilization - highlighting either more closed or open business models. These business models offer a basis for considering the opportunities and barriers for business model innovation - for both startups and incumbent firms - within gastronomy and agri-food more generally.\nOriginality/value: The gastronomic sector is diverse and heterogeneous with a multitude of possible alternative business models. This paper provides a basis for considering the key enablers of business model development in this sector. The integrative framework and empirical assessment provides a basis for further exploring business model innovation in the gastronomic sector in particular and the agri-food sector more generally.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The development and validation of a two-staged adoption model of RFID technology in livestock businesses
|
[
"Diffusion",
"RFID",
"Technology adoption",
"Behavioural theories"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years, consumers exhibit a consistent and growing awareness of, and demand for, precise methods of meat traceability (Kelepouris et al., 2007). The occurrence of a numbers of \"mad cow\" disease outbreaks around the globe gave impetus to a lifetime traceable system of animals. Such system would identify an animal, record its movement history, and thus trace back the source animal during a disease-outbreak incident (Hossain and Quaddus, 2011). Consequently, international markets, particularly Japan, Europe, and Korea, are now more serious about food safety and animal traceability than before, and refuse to import meat and meat products if they are not \"lifetime traceable.\" Responding to the market requirement, major livestock-supplying countries employed RFID technology over ear or tail tags because RFID allows \"more precise identification of individual animals and for the tracing of those animals throughout their lives from birth until purchase by a consumer\" (Bowling et al., 2008, p. 1).\nLiterature background: Adoption of innovation in organizations\nResearch methodology: Driven by the \"explaining and predicting\" nature of the study, within the positivist paradigm, a mixed-method research approach involving sequential application of qualitative and quantitative methods was applied believing that \"a combination of methodological techniques assists in exploring the RFID adoption phenomenon more fully;\" further, \"[t]he mixed method approach is appropriate as RFID research is still in its infancy\" (Brown and Russell, 2007, p. 252). In order to understand the nature of RFID adoption in agricultural setting, a cross-sectional field study was conducted. Similarly, the motivation to adopt RFID technology might be different from one farm to others while multitude simultaneous factors may contribute to such decision. Thus, interviewing a number of farms that can represent the whole industry is time consuming and effort driven and also can generate social desirability bias (Podsakoff et al., 2012). A mixed method utilizes the capability of various data collection and enhances the validity of research measurements; the combination of methods compensate for the mutual and overlapping weaknesses of the individual method. While selecting the order of the application of the methods, driven by the exploratory nature, our research starts with qualitative data and then builds to the quantitative phase (Creswell, 2013). Both of the studies were conducted in Australia, one of the countries having most sophisticated and largest livestock information system. Also, Australia is the world's largest exported of beef (MLA, 2016) and reputed for its \"clean and green\" livestock products. In both cases, more responses were collected from family-owned-operated farms than corporate farms because of the largest share of the earlier groups in Australian farming sector (Green, 2009).\nThe qualitative study and development of the research model: The field study\nThe quantitative study: Data collection\nDiscussion and implications: Summary of findings\nConclusion: The objective of this study was to identify the factors related to RFID adoption in Australian livestock industry and investigate their effect on two different stages of adoption, namely, acceptance and extension. We argued that there is need for such research explaining technology adoption in livestock industry as agricultural sector as a whole is a dominant customer of technologies (including RFID, GPS, satellite, and farming machineries) and also an important element of a country for economic development. We conducted two studies to accomplish this objective. The qualitative data developed the research model comprising two variables each from TOE themes: interoperability, technology readiness; organizational readiness, market scope; and competitive market pressure, data inconsistency. The quantitative results established that, the predicted antecedents have different roles in acceptance and extension whereas data inconsistency had a different-directioned role - it had a positive effect on acceptance but negative impact on selecting the extent of RFID use. These findings have important implications for theory and practice related to technology adoption in general.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Grounded on the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework, the purpose of this paper is to develop a two-stage model of radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption in livestock businesses. RFID adoption is divided into two stages, acceptance and extension. It is argued that RFID adoption in livestock businesses is influenced by technological (interoperability, technology readiness), organizational (readiness, market scope), and environmental (competitive market pressure, data inconsistency) factors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: From a qualitative field study, along with the support of existing literature, the authors developed a research model, which was then validated with survey data of 318 livestock businesses in Australia. Data analysis used partial least squares structural equation modeling.\nFindings: Empirical results showed that interoperability, organizational readiness, and competitive market pressure, and data inconsistency significantly influence acceptance of RFID technology in livestock businesses. In addition, the extended use of RFID is determined mainly by interoperability, technology readiness, organizational market scope, and data inconsistency. The results suggested differential effect of data inconsistency- it had a negative influence on RFID acceptance but a positive impact on the extent of its use.\nOriginality/value: This is one of the first studies to examine RFID adoption as a two-stage process. The theoretical basis was based on TOE framework and the factors were developed from a field study. The results of this study will provide insights for different livestock industry including technologists, farm managers, and market players.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A framework for implementing cost and quality practices within manufacturing
|
[
"Operations and production management",
"Manufacturing industries",
"Operating costs",
"Quality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Operations management is an enabler for all types of manufacturing organisation to meet their corporate goals; both for implementing corporate strategies and continuously sustaining and periodically refreshing the organisation's competitive advantage. Operations management, the direction and control of the processes that transform inputs into finished goods and services, is determined by the actions of people: managers, supervisors, operators, and the decision areas they individually and collectively address. The types of decisions in which operations management is concerned can be classified into: strategy, process, cost, quality, capacity, location and layout, operating decisions (Krajewski and Ritzman, 2002).Cost and quality are influential factors of success in the product/service of many industries, particularly as customers increasingly expect higher quality at a reduced cost. This paper focuses on operations management in a manufacturing industry application; the term operations management will be used here in the context of the manufacturing industry definition.The research reported here is concerned with realising better cost and quality operations management practice through an enhancement in the effectiveness of the roles of the supervisors and operations managers (OMs). The thesis is that cost and quality operations management effectiveness and efficiency is significantly determined by where management decisions are made and what management decisions are addressed at each organisational level. There are numerous, widespread, diverse and often fashionable initiatives that potentially help manufacturing organisations in implementing various best practices in operations management. Examples of these initiatives include total productive maintenance (TPM), total quality management (TQM), Kanban, 5S, six sigma, Kaizen and business process re-engineering (BPR). There are success stories that outline the achievements of companies through the implementation of these initiatives; there are many projects where these initiatives at least partially failed. The result is scepticism and confusion about what to adopt and how to adapt these disparate and generic initiatives in a specific environment. This challenge assumes greater significance as the capability of the operations management team moves up towards World Class level (Wheelwright and Hayes, 1985). The type of operations management environment to be realised after adopting one of the performance initiatives may be relatively well defined; the operating environment currently pertaining in a manufacturing company is usually not at all well defined. The gap between current practice and \"best practice\" for any individual initiative is fuzzy. In the context of a suite of initiatives the best practice gap is not at all clear. Hence, the risk of initiative failure is high and the unwillingness to adopt new initiatives is entirely reasonable.There is a need to identify cost and quality manufacturing operations management best practices at the right level of granularity, and then implement these based on a clear understanding of the existing operations/structure in the company. A critical factor in the success of operations management projects is a fast but comprehensive analysis of the current practices/structure in the company. This can then be mapped to a comparative analysis of appropriate best practice companies and a quantified operations management gap identified.This paper proposes a framework for achieving and maintaining better cost and quality operations management practice within a complex manufacturing environment. The new framework proposes a recommended set of activities for all the shop managers; team leaders (TLs), cell leaders (CLs), OMs, based on a thorough comparative analysis of the current company practices with better practices in other enterprises. The quantified best practice/current practice gap is then utilised to develop a cascade of deployable cost and quality actions for the company.Specifically, the objectives of this paper are to:* propose a framework for carrying out an appropriate granularity comparative analysis of the shop manager roles and the best practices, in order to develop a template of recommended cost and quality activities for each of these roles.* develop a cascade of deployable recommendations/actions based on the proposed good practice scenario; and* validate the framework using a case study within a complex high-performance manufacturing environment.This section presents the problem statement, and the aim, objectives and structure of this paper. The next section establishes and presents the research gap that this paper is addressing. The proposed framework is then explained and illustrated using a real-life case study. Finally, the key advantages and limitations of this work, and the conclusions are discussed, respectively, in the last two sections.\nResearch gap: A brief description of the seven most popular best practice initiatives is identified by BenchmarkIndex (2002b) and augmented by the authors of this paper. A summary of these initiatives is presented in Table I.These well-established initiatives are typically disparate and generic in nature. Implementation processes are initiative specific and stand alone. The importance of the joint implementation of these initiatives is demonstrated by Cua et al. (2001). There is a general assumption that the target organisation is currently at a low operations management performance level and implementation is therefore simple. The long timescales and significant sustained operations management team effort required to realise class leading performance level in any one initiative is overlooked.Strategy implementation initiatives such as the Balanced Scorecard and Hoshin Kanri (detailed in Table II) do offer an interactive method of executing an actionable plan for the operation of the organisation. Though, both methods are, like many best practice initiatives, quite generic in their application. Hoshin Kanri can be used with TQM efforts (Witcher and Butterworth, 1999) though it is not designed to identify the correct best practice techniques for use within different parts of an organisation. Similarly the Balanced Scorecard, while valuable for communicating strategic organisational policy (Mooraj et al., 1999), though is perhaps not as flexible as the framework detailed in this paper in the accommodation and coordination of other quality initiatives employed within an organisation. It is the recognition, selection, promotion and control of existing best practice initiatives that, in the opinion of the authors of this paper, sets the proposed framework apart from other best practice methods.It is the opinion of the authors of this paper that the practice of operations management within a manufacturing environment requires a level of fine grain analysis that is not possible using just one of the above methods (from either Table I or Table II)The implementation guidance for manufacturing organisations already deploying a suite of initiatives and operating at a competitive performance level is neglected. Baxter and Hirschhauser (2004) note that the tools and techniques used for cost and quality programmes can be implemented in a way that is superficial and trivial, and it is difficult to associate improving operations with them. In particular, there is a lack of decision support on who in the operations management team should do what in respect of any initiative. Tari and Sabater (2004) argue that cost and quality initiatives need to be across multiple levels of the organisation and involve as many employees as possible for maximum benefit to the organisation. The cost and quality operations management characteristics required to achieve each individual initiative are reasonably well defined in general terms; the need to clearly define the current state of manufacturing operation management in the target cost and quality environment is largely ignored. Hence, there is a need to identify integrated suite best practices at the right level of granularity, and support the implementation over time. Support needs to be based on a clear definition of the existing and developing operations management practices in the target organisation. There is a lack of methodologies in literature for proposing a recommended set of cost and quality activities for multiple levels of operations management.This paper addresses the above research gap (Figure 1) by developing a framework for:* exhaustively capturing the existing roles of the OMs (AS-IS);* formulating leading cost and quality practices in a structure that enables direct comparison with AS-IS;* proposing a recommended set of activities for the supervisors and OMs (TO-BE) based on a detailed comparative analysis of AS-IS and best practices; and* developing a cascade of deployable cost and quality recommendations based on the proposed TO-BE.\nMethodology: Our methodology provides an updateable framework for achieving and maintaining better cost and quality operations management practice for an evolving manufacturing organisation. The output will be a recommended set of activities for the supervisors and OMs and a cascade of deployable recommendations that collectively narrow the gap between the existing and better practices, shown in Figure 2.AS-IS capture\nCase study: The case study focuses on the cost and quality activities within a high-performance complex manufacturing environment. The Company is a leading supplier to the world's most advanced industries, specialising in solutions for gases, services and equipment to the semiconductor industry, and vacuum products for a variety of industries. The case study addresses the product ranges that are manufactured and assembled, primarily, in the UK. Four UK manufacturing sites and cell-centric units were within this scope. The case study included the OM, CL and TL organisational levels within the company.This case study validates the proposed framework by:* carrying out a thorough comparative analysis of the activities of the company OMs, CLs and TLs with the better practices;* proposing a recommended set of activities for the company OMs, CLs and TLs based on the results of the above comparative analysis; and* developing a cascade of deployable recommendations for the company.AS-IS capture\nDiscussion: The above case study illustrates that the main advantages of the framework are:* AS-IS capture. The framework develops an AS-IS matrix that provides a definition of the existing practices/structure in the company in the context of operations management and at the right level of granularity.* Best practice capture and re-formulation. The framework re-formulates the generic best practice initiatives in such a way that the activities are captured at the right level of granularity. The resulting best practice matrix can be directly compared with the operations management AS-IS of manufacturing company.* Operational effectiveness through best practice adoption. The framework presents a novel approach for developing a deployable TO-BE matrix based on the comparison of AS-IS with best practice. This promotes best practice adoption.* Operational standardisation and consistency. The framework develops detailed activity recommendations for the roles of the supervisors and OMs in a manufacturing firm.* Operational efficiency. The implementation of proposed standardised processes will enable better resource utilisation.* Flexibility. The project will provide an updateable infrastructure for achieving and maintaining better operations management practice.The main limitations are as follows:* The framework does not deal with re-designing cells, teams or operations; organisational level hierarchies were assumed to be fixed.* Behavioural studies are outside the scope of the framework.* The framework does not recommend a fixed timetable of activities for OMs, CLs or TLs.* There are many interacting and complex factors that achieve what can be considered as best practice (Sackett et al., 2005a, b). The framework has been drawn as a \"stepping stone\" for manufacturing environment given its current management of operations. It is not a comprehensive consideration of all the factors contributing to best practice. For instance, there are fundamental aspects such as corporate culture, management styles and technological issues which have not been dealt with within the scope of this paper. However, the framework provides useable solutions that a manufacturing firm already operating at good operations management performance may consider implementing to further enhance its business.\nConclusions: Realisation of better cost and quality operations management practice through an enhancement in the effectiveness of the roles of the supervisors and OMs is an enabler for a manufacturing organisation to meet its corporate goals. There are numerous, widespread, diverse and often fashionable initiatives that potentially help manufacturing organisations in implementing various best practices in operations management. However, the guidance for manufacturing organisations already deploying a suite of initiatives and operating at a competitive performance level is neglected. Initiative implementation support for these organisations needs to be updateable, based on a clear definition of the existing and evolving operations management practices in the target organisation. The novel framework proposed in this paper has been developed as a response to these requirements.This paper has proposed a framework for achieving and maintaining cost and quality operations management good practice within a manufacturing environment. The authors use a new approach for identifying the profile of current activities and integrated best practice activities for the roles of TLs, CLs and OMs within a manufacturing company. Based on a thorough comparative analysis of the current company practices with the best practices, the authors provide a recommended set of activities for the TLs, CLs and OMs. These recommended activities are then utilised to develop a cascade of deployable recommendations. This paper has validated the framework within a high-performance complex manufacturing environment.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The techniques that help organisations implement leading edge cost and quality practices in manufacturing operations management are typically disparate and generic in nature. There is a need to identify integrated practices at the right level of granularity, based on a clear definition of the existing operations practices. This paper proposes a novel framework for achieving and maintaining good cost and quality operations management practice within a manufacturing environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The framework uses a new approach for identifying the profile of current activities and better practice activities for the roles of team leaders, cell leaders and operations managers within a manufacturing company.\nFindings: - The paper proposes a recommended set of context-specific activities for these roles. These recommended activities are utilised to develop a cascade of deployable recommendations.\nOriginality/value: - The framework is illustrated within a manufacturing environment producing complex product ranges. The implementation of the framework enables improved operational efficiency and effectiveness. It also enables the benefits of improved operational standardisation and consistency.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Our digital heritage as source material to end-users: collection of and access to net publications in the National Library of Norway
|
[
"Digital storage",
"Internet",
"Publications",
"Information retrieval",
"National libraries",
"Norway"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A researcher working on the Norwegian press history recently contacted the National Library for information. He was conducting a comparison between the news presentation in printed newspapers, broadcasting and in internet newspapers, and he wanted access to the source material. This episode might illustrate a typical end-user request. The question is: \"Can the National Library provide this kind of information?\".The National Library of Norway is the nation's memory, and it is a multimedia knowledge centre, as stated in the Library's vision. The National Library shall preserve and make available the Norwegian cultural heritage and make records of Norwegian cultural and social life available as source material for current and future users.So the answer to the question is yes - the National Library is expected to provide our end-user with source material in any medium. Our main tool to achieve this is the Legal Deposit Act[1].When the current Legal Deposit Act came into force in 1990, Norway was among the first countries in the world that got a legal deposit legislation that included digital documents. The Act is based on the principle that all generally available information, regardless of form or medium, must be preserved and made available as source material for purposes of research and documentation. Although the internet as we know it today did not exist in 1990, documents made generally available on the internet are subject to legal deposit according to the present Act. This is the foundation for the National Library of Norway's activity with regard to collecting net publications.\nCollection of net publications: Trial harvesting of net publications has been carried out since the mid 1990s, and the first total harvesting of the entire Norwegian web space was carried out in December 2002. It was, however, in 2005 that the National Library started the regular operation of harvesting the Norwegian internet domain.Our selection strategy is based on harvesting all generally available documents from the Norwegian web space, that is the .no domain. Since the Legal Deposit Act applies to all generally available documents either produced by a Norwegian publisher or specially adapted to the Norwegian public, documents on other domains such as .org and .com might also be subject to legal deposit. This means that we plan to include other domains in the longer term. We also include web sites with robots.txt. This means that our harvester ignores the robots.txt protocol. This decision is a result of a thorough discussion.As you may be aware of robots.txt is a standard protocol which is used to ensure that search engines do not overload a web site or download material which the Webmaster consider irrelevant to search engines. It is common etiquette on the Internet to respect robots.txt. But when it comes to the National Library and our responsibility to preserve all generally available documents on the internet, we have to ignore the robots.txt to ensure that important documents actually are being preserved. Our experience has shown us that losing whole web sites might be the consequence if we were to follow robots.txt. This would not be in accordance with the Legal Deposit Act. It has, however, lead to discussions among net publishers, and the National Library had to argue in favour of this practice and explain that our harvesting activities are legally motivated, as distinct from any other search engine.We execute the harvesting using Heritrix[2] - a web crawler developed by the Internet Archive[3] in collaboration with, among others, the Norwegian National Library. Our first round of harvesting net publications with Heritrix started in February 2005, and initially our ambition was to harvest the complete.no domain foour times a year. This was based on the calculation that each harvesting session of the Norwegian internet domain would go on for about three weeks and collect approximately 10 million documents, that is URLs. We soon experienced, however, that these calculations cracked completely. After the planned three weeks of harvesting, the web crawler had discovered more than three times as many documents as calculated, and the amount increased by the hour.The final result from the 2005 harvesting projects, where two rounds of harvesting were conducted, was an acquisition of more than 300 million URLs to the Library's web archive.The harvesting of the entire internet domain ensures the preservation of snapshots of how the Norwegian internet domain looked liked at a specific moment in time. This is important source material for end-users. But it is also important to be able to preserve the entire history of one specific document. For instance, all issues of a magazine, all report in one series, and updates on a daily basis of a newspapers. The selective approach is an important supplement to the total harvesting of all the Norwegian web sites. This selective approach is step two and our second goal regarding harvesting of net publications. The harvesting of all Norwegian internet newspapers on a daily basis will be initiated in 2006. We also intend to start frequently harvesting all Norwegian net periodicals in 2006.In addition, the Library has to some extent conducted event based harvesting from the internet. This harvesting is about events that are of national importance, such as elections to the Parliament, i.e. the Norwegian Storting, and weddings in the Norwegian Royal family.\nInternational cooperation: The National Library of Norway participates in various projects on an international level in the matter of archiving the internet. The Library is part of the International Preservation Consortium (IIPC)[4], where we cooperate with other national libraries and the Internet Archive in the USA.In addition, the Library is part of the Nordic Web Archive (NWA)[5] Project, which is the Nordic national libraries' forum for coordination of activities regarding harvesting and archiving of documents on the internet Although the name of the forum might indicate that we have a common web archive, this is not the case. The Nordic national libraries do separate harvests and have separate web archives. However, the NWA Project has developed a tool for accessing web archives, called the NWA Toolset.\nPreservation of net publications: The National Library has a perspective of 1,000 years regarding preservation. That is, our aim is that the information on documents in any format shall be available as source material a 1,000 years from now. Whether this is a realistic aim only our future end-users will know, but anyway this is our goal and we plan the preservation activities accordingly. The net publications harvested by Heritrix are stored in the National Library's Digital Long Term Preservation Repository.\nAccess to net publications: How does the end-user get access to net publications in the internet archive for purposes of research and documentation? There are at least two aspects that should be taken under consideration regarding this question: metadata and legislation.Metadata\nConclusion: Over time the Norwegian Internet Archive will consist of billions of URLs that the National Library must enable the end-user to navigate among. The challenges regarding harvesting, preservation and access to web documents are huge, but the National Library believes that we have the infrastructure, the services and the organisation to accomplish this.Net publications can from a technological point of view easily be made available to the public. Access is however limited by existing legislation, and it is vital to the National Library to ensure that all use of the Internet archive is in accordance with the Legal Deposit Act, the Copyright Act and the Personal Data Act.This must however not prevent net publications, as records of Norwegian cultural and social life, from being available to end-users as source material for purposes of research and documentation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to look at the collecting of internet documents in The National Library of Norway.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper discusses the collecting of internet documents in The National Library of Norway in accordance with the Norwegian Legal Deposit Act and how these documents will be made available for end-users.\nFindings: - The paper finds that this harvesting of the Norwegian internet domain will provide access for users to many documents. The documents will be available via free text search and via a timeline of the history of the document that the user might follow.\nOriginality/value: - This paper discusses the Norwegian experience, which should be relevant to institutions planning similar activities, and also to those who want to know more about harvesting and archiving net publications.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Skill-based pay in practice: An interactional justice perspective
|
[
"Trust",
"Competence",
"Interactional justice",
"Procedural justice",
"Front-line managers",
"Skill-based pay"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Skill-based pay (SBP) plans are remuneration systems in which pay is linked wholly or in part to the acquisition of new skills. Initially, several studies surveyed the prevalence and basic characteristics of skill-based plans (Jenkins et al., 1992; Ledford, 1991). A good number of commentators also focused on the potential benefits of such plans. These advocates of SBPs have traditionally attributed several positive effects on organizational performance to these plans, including improved productivity, reduced operating costs, increased flexibility and improvements in the quality of goods and services, among other things (Johnson and Ray, 1993). However, studies demonstrating the effectiveness of SBPs are rather more scarce (Long, 1993; Murray and Gerhart, 1998). The longitudinal study by Long (1993) showed that, compared with firms that had not introduced a competence-based remuneration regime, productivity in firms that had introduced such a system improved more during the period under investigation. Murray and Gerhart (1998), using time series data in an organization, examine productivity and labour cost outcomes over 37 months. The results indicate greater productivity, lower labour cost per part and favourable quality outcomes with SBP. Nevertheless, quantitative evaluation of these effects poses a certain number of methodological problems (St-Onge et al., 2004). It is very difficult to isolate the \"skill\" factor to make it an independent variable. Subsequently, as SBPs came into more widespread use, many case studies revealed the difficulties of implementing SBPs (Ledford and Bergel, 1991; Mericle and Kim, 1999), some indeed having failed altogether. Actually, there is little consensus regarding the effectiveness of SBP.\n1. Literature review and theoretical framework: 1.1 SBP: definition, basic concepts and background\n2. Research methodology: 2.1 Design and data collection\n3. Results: 3.1 Implementation: initial success and arising problems\n4. Discussion: Most previous studies on SBP have mentioned distributive and procedural justice issues. Few studies have examined the relationship between SBP plans and interactional justice. By uncovering the mechanisms by which SBP plans are linked to interactional justice and how this, in turn, affects employee attitudes, this research was intended to redress this imbalance. Overall, our study found that employees felt that the evaluation process systems were unfair in some key respects. Several researchers have asserted that the success of appraisal systems may well depend on ratees' perceptions of fairness and reactions to important aspects of the appraisal process (Jawahar, 2007; Palaiologos et al., 2011). With feelings of unfairness in process and inequity in evaluations, any appraisal system will be doomed to failure. The appraisal process can become a source of extreme dissatisfaction when employees believe the system is biased or irrelevant (Skarlicki and Folger, 1997). The present research confirms that employee perceptions towards the skill certification process are a crucial element in determining the SBP effectiveness, and our research also shows that the front-line managers' role in the interactional justice is fundamental. With respect to procedural justice, there were some deficiencies in the provision of adequate judgement based on evidence. But, with respect to interactional justice, there were very many complaints of derogatory judgements or inadequate treatment. The results of this study confirm that interactions between manager and subordinate can generate feelings of injustice, quite separate from any deficiencies in formal procedures.\n5. Conclusion and practical implications: This paper has highlighted the complexity of SBP implementation. Much of the practitioner literature explains why SBP is relevant in terms of workforce flexibility and employee motivation. There is evidence that in some cases, SBP can provide positive benefits to organizations. However, we show in our research that firms that decide to put in place SBP plans may find themselves facing considerable tensions. The evaluation of skills is decentralized and contextualized; it follows from this that there is no guarantee that their employer will recognize the skills they acquire. In a situation characterized by uncertainty, each of the parties may be led to adopt a strategy aimed at reducing their own risks: policies restricting recognition of skills on the part of top management, informal local compromises intended to limit tensions on the part of front-line managers and withdrawal behaviour on the part of employees. The disappointment that may be felt by employees, when they do not receive what they believe they are entitled to, undermines the very foundations of this type of contract.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how the employees and managers experienced skill-based pay (SBP) plans through the lens of the organizational justice perspective. The article investigates SBP plans and highlights the difficulties encountered in implementing them. SBP plans take a number of different forms that may diverge from the declared model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study investigates the SBP plan implementation in situ. Following Yin's case study design method, documents were collected, semi-structured interviews were conducted and observations were recorded in two different companies in France.\nFindings: The organizational justice concepts allow the authors to shed light on the mechanisms through which SBP implementation may lead to negative outcomes. First, the authors argue that injustice perceptions are a critical element in the SBP implementation. Second, they argue that the way SBP plans are implemented by front-line managers influence employee attitudes and behaviours. When employees consider that the decisions are established on the basis of criteria that lack legitimacy, they adopt withdrawal behaviour.\nResearch limitations/implications: The majority of studies on SBP are largely atheoretical in nature. It is suggested that the organizational justice framework should be utilized to improve the authors' understanding of what shapes the reaction of workers towards such plans. The authors consider that justice and trust are a particularly useful duo of lenses through which to examine the motivation of workers to be engaged in such plans.\nPractical implications: The implications for the practice of management surround the issue of unanticipated results of actions. It is not simply a question of designing the most appropriate SBP plans. The key issue is how they are actually implemented by front-line managers. Specifically, the findings highlight the pivotal role front-line managers play in building trust towards employees. Training in procedural justice should accompany SBP implementation.\nOriginality/value: This paper highlights the complexity of implementation of SBP. By examining SBP implementation through the lenses of the organizational justice concepts, it sheds light on the under-theorized reactions to SBP implementation, and advances understanding of the mechanisms through which it affects employee attitudes and behaviours.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Improving healthcare practice behaviors: An exploratory study identifying effective and ineffective behaviors in healthcare
|
[
"User involvement",
"Patient perception",
"Patient centredness",
"Quality healthcare",
"Education",
"Service quality"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Understanding what behaviors are valued by consumers is critical to success in the service industry, including healthcare. At present, it is unclear what behaviors are desired by healthcare consumers (Birken et al., 2013). If healthcare educators were aware of desirable behaviors, they would be in a better position to improve the medical practice training offered in their programs. If practitioners were aware of desirable behaviors they would be able to better satisfy their customers. And it is the practitioners, not the administrators, who are important to customer satisfaction (Huerta et al., 2016).\nMethodology: Sofaer (2002) states that \"qualitative research methods can enhance [...] quality improvement efforts.\" One such qualitative method, the critical incident technique (CIT), was first described by Flanagan (1954, 1959) for identifying effective and ineffective performance behaviors of individuals in organizations. CIT has been shown to develop content-valid behavioral measures (Levine et al., 1983). The technique consists of obtaining reports by observers of actual situations that are judged by those observers as being particularly effective or ineffective. Relevance is assured by having the observers report-specific details of the situations. Further, retrospective data is unobtrusive thus assuring more honesty in reports. Identifying both effective and ineffective behaviors leads to sets that can readily be applied in training and development since specific areas for remedial action are identified (Davis, 2006; Isalkar, 2015). Whitlock (1963) showed that the observation of performance specimens is the basis of performance evaluation. Schurr (2007) and Voon (2006) showed that CIT can be used to study buyer-seller relationships and service quality. Smith et al. (2013) examined common factors or themes that led or contributed to patient safety incidents. Therefore, identifying specific effective and ineffective behaviors of medical practitioners and providing training based on those behaviors should improve the performance of those practitioners.\nProcedure: The specific usage of CIT has varied somewhat with the investigator using it. Prosser et al. (2003) used CIT to study general practitioner's decision making regarding new drugs. Shao and Skarlicki (2014) used it to develop a behavioral measure of customer mistreatment. Koehn (2007) used CIT slightly differently in studying sexual-abuse counseling. Woodrow and Guest (2014) and Van Fleet and Van Fleet (2012) used it to study bullying behavior. Prezant and Marshak (2006) used yet another variation in studying the helpful actions of healthcare practitioners regarding children with disabilities. Because the use of CIT varies somewhat from study to study, researchers need to identify the specific way in which it is used in any given study. The procedure followed here, then, was as follows.\nResults: The raw frequencies for the complete set of effective and ineffective behaviors are shown in Table I. Table AI contains a sample of the specific behavioral specimens for the three largest groupings.\nDiscussion: The first finding from the analysis is that some of the common core values do not seem to be related significantly to consumer-provider relationships in the healthcare field. Values such as teamwork and social profit do not show up very often in these behavioral specimens. This does not mean that these values are unimportant to the practice, the clinic or the hospital. It may mean they do not seem to be central to direct consumer-provider interactions or that they are integral but unobserved by a consumer in a brief or one-time visit. Similarly, \"Effective Treatment\" does not appear very frequently in these behavioral specimens; and when it does, the specimens invariably involve emergencies or waiting time in offices.\nSummary: Berry (1999) has argued that the overriding importance in building a lasting service business is human values. This exploratory study has shown how critical incident analysis can be used to determine both effective and ineffective practices of different medical providers. It also provides guidelines as to what are effective and ineffective behaviors in healthcare. Our findings would indicate that the human values of excellence, innovation, joy, respect and integrity play a significant role in building a strong service relationship between consumer and healthcare provider. This study also provides initial preliminary findings on how different types of medical practices relate to the common core values held by highly successful service companies outside the medical field. These results, then, could be one more step in determining learning objectives for use in medical education, including web-based instruction (Morcke et al., 2006; Olmosk and Chandra, 2006). After all, what the consumer values is critical to success in the healthcare industry.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the results of exploratory research designed to develop an awareness of healthcare behaviors, with a view toward improving the customer satisfaction with healthcare services. It examines the relationship between healthcare providers and their consumers/patients/clients.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses a critical incident methodology, with both effective and ineffective behavioral specimens examined across different provider groups.\nFindings: The effects of these different behaviors on what Berry (1999) identified as the common core values of service organizations are examined, as those values are required to build a lasting service relationship. Also examined are categories of healthcare practice based on the National Quality Strategy priorities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The most obvious is the retrospective nature of the method used. How accurate are patient or consumer memories? Are they capable of making valid judgments of healthcare experiences (Berry and Bendapudi, 2003)? While an obvious limitation, such recollections are clearly important as they may be paramount in following the healthcare practitioners' instructions, loyalty for repeat business, making recommendations to others and the like. Further, studies have shown retrospective reports to be accurate and useful (Miller et al., 1997).\nPractical implications: With this information, healthcare educators should be in a better position to improve the training offered in their programs and practitioners to better serve their customers.\nSocial implications: The findings would indicate that the human values of excellence, innovation, joy, respect and integrity play a significant role in building a strong service relationship between consumer and healthcare provider.\nOriginality/value: Berry (1999) has argued that the overriding importance in building a lasting service business is human values. This exploratory study has shown how critical incident analysis can be used to determine both effective and ineffective practices of different medical providers. It also provides guidelines as to what are effective and ineffective behaviors in healthcare.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
"... with a little help from my friends": friendship, effort norms, and group motivation gain
|
[
"Team working",
"Group behaviour",
"Performance management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: There is considerable evidence that under the right conditions, members of task groups or teams can be more strongly motivated and more productive than comparable individual performers (see Baron and Kerr, 2003). For example, it has been shown that superior team members may boost their efforts if this is required to socially compensate for the anticipated poor performance of inferior-ability members (e.g. Williams and Karau, 1991). The present study focuses on one such group motivation-gain phenomenon, the Kohler motivation gain effect (Kohler, 1926) - a tendency - primarily by inferior team members - to perform better than comparable individuals when they are members of a team working under conjunctive task demands, where it is the performance of the least capable member that defines the group's level of performance (Steiner, 1972). Our immediate focus is on whether and how this motivation gain is affected by the social ties among group members. Specifically, we seek to better understand if being friends with co-workers - liking one another, being well acquainted, having continuing interdependent relationships - makes a difference in worker motivation.\nMethod: Design overview and experimental task\nResults: Checks of experimental manipulations\nDiscussion: Our prior research indicated that simple liking of unacquainted strangers has little effect on either component of the Kohler motivation gain effect (Kerr, 2006). However, the results of the present experiment show that working with a friend does have an effect. Specifically, working with a friend boosted the indispensability component of the Kohler effect. As anticipated from prior research (Kerr, 2006; Kerr et al., 2008), the reliance on a coactor as a basis for social comparison at this physical persistence task was not affected by whether or not that coactor was a friend. But one cares more about being the \"weak link\" and holding back one's group when one's team-mate is a friend vs. a stranger. It is interesting to note that contrary to our expectations, this effect was not further moderated by normative expectations. The moderation of the indispensability component by team-mate friendship was equally strong whether that team-mate (and other peers) expected high or low effort at the task.As we have noted, our prior research (Kerr, 2006) suggests that the moderating effect of friendship is not simply attributable to liking a friend more than a stranger. However, there are several other aspects of friendship that could explain it:* We are likely to be interdependent with friends in the future, and feel that current efforts on friends' behalf might result in reciprocated help in those future interactions.* In that same vein, we have a past with friends during which they may have assisted us, and we may feel obligated to reciprocate such acts when a new opportunity presents itself (e.g. as in our experiment).* Strangers are unlikely to interact, whereas friends are quite likely to interact. For example, it is likely that the friends who arrived at our experiment together would leave together, and would compare and evaluate one another's experience in the study. Prior research (e.g. Kerr et al., 2005; Hertel et al., 2008; Lount et al., 2008b) has shown that the Kohler effect is stronger when co-workers can monitor and evaluate one another's efforts than when they cannot.* Being in a friendship means caring for each other's welfare, and thus, attaching greater importance to collective success when working with a friend.It is not possible with our experimental design to determine which (if any) of these aspects of friendship is, separately or collectively, responsible for the larger indispensability component of the motivation gain observed in teams of friends, but it would clearly be interesting to tease apart their effects in future research.We also showed that the Kohler effect is moderated by normative expectations for performance. When the prescriptive social norm was for high effort, we observed both components of the effect (see Figure 1). It is noteworthy that before any information was supplied to our participants about the performance expectations of their peers, Ps reported that they expected people to work very hard at the task, and receiving the high norm manipulation strengthened that expectation of high effort only slightly (mean difference was only 0.18). Thus, the default expectation in our experimental context, where maximal-effort is stressed, by the experimenter, is that participants will exert very high effort. It is not surprising, therefore, that giving participants additional information that simply corroborates their usual expectations produces the usual results. That is, with norms prescribing high effort, both components of the Kohler effect are evident (which seems particularly typical for female Ps, as in the current study, cf. Kerr et al., 2007). But the low norm feedback altered the Ps' normative expectations dramatically (mean of 4.37 on the seven-point norm expectation scale). When Ps learned that their peers expected relatively low levels of effort at the task, the indispensability component vanished (see Figure 1). We suspect that Ps interpreted this normative feedback as suggesting that success at the task was relatively unimportant for their peers, including their team-mate. If one's team-mate cares little about good group task performance, then there is little to be gained by exerting extra effort to optimize that group performance. But regardless of their peers' effort expectations and task evaluation, participants still relied on a coacting partner as a basis for social comparison, producing a significant motivation gain in the coaction condition (see Figure 1).It is clear that the present research has a number of limitations, particularly before its results could be safely generalized to actual work teams. First, our work groups only work together for a short time, and it is quite possible that the motivation gains we observe would attenuate with time. This was indeed found to be the case in a recent study by Lount et al. (2008a), but they also found that it was only the social comparison mechanism that showed this attenuation effect. Since we find here that friendship bolsters the indispensability mechanism, Lount et al.'s results suggest that such group friendship effects may not attenuate as groups continue to work together. Second, our study examines females only. It appears that the indispensability component of the Kohler effect is less important for males than for females (see Kerr et al., 2007; Weber and Hertel, 2007). Thus, it is quite possible that the moderation of the indispensability component by partner friendship and peer performance norms observed here for females might not characterize all-male work groups or mixed-sex groups (the latter of which involve a number of additional complications; see Lount et al., 2000).Mindful of such limitations, it is interesting to speculate on the implications of our research for the management of actual work teams. First, it suggests that composing teams of pre-existing friends or promoting friendships within teams can boost motivation of the less capable workers if they see their efforts as indispensible to the team's success. It may be important to remember that close personal ties between workers can also interfere with productivity, for instance if there are well established anti-production norms and/or if workers devote more time to socializing than to work. The particular conditions of our experiment may have minimized such potential drawbacks of friendship, e.g. by preventing any socializing \"on the job\" and by maintaining close experimenter/supervisor surveillance on workers' performance, reducing the impact of shared low-effort performance norms among the workers. It may be that such workplace conditions are especially congenial to making friendship important for worker effort. Second, our study suggests that social norms prescribing low levels of effort can indeed attenuate a less-capable team member's effort, and that this occurs primarily because such norms undercut the indispensability component of the Kohler effect, not by making him/her any less indispensible for good group performance, but rather by reducing the perceived social incentives for hard work. Under the present experimental conditions, and in particular working with a superior partner for only a short time, low performance norms did not affect the social-comparison component of the effect, but it seems likely that such low-effort norms could also undermine this component under other, more typical work conditions, e.g. when working together for an extended period of time (Lount et al., 2008a).If a manager's focus is on maximizing effort among inferior-ability workers, then, the present study contributes to a growing list of facilitating conditions. To maximize the indispensability component, one would:1. Make the inferior worker's efforts crucial for team success, e.g. try to structure the task to have conjunctive task demands (e.g. Kerr et al., 2007; Hertel et al., 2008), provide continuous performance feedback that confirmed their inferiority (Kerr et al., 2005), and minimize the size of the team (Kerr and Bruun, 1983).2. Maximize the value workers placed on team success or on being positively evaluated by the team, e.g. offer high incentives for team success, maximize identification with the work team (Worchel et al., 1998) and social ties between team-mates (Kerr et al., 2008; the present study), and promote high-effort performance norms (the present study).To maximize the social-comparison component, one would:3. Make the discrepancy between team-mates' abilities moderate, neither too small or too large (e.g. Messe et al., 2002);4. Promote uncertainty and insecurity about personal task efficacy among the inferior group members (Kerr et al., 2007);5. Change team composition regularly, so that the inferior team member was not always inferior to the same team-mates (Lount et al., 2008a).Finally, one could boost both components by:6. Making it easy for team-mates to monitor and evaluate each others' performances (Hertel et al., 2008; Kerr et al., 2005; Lount et al., 2008b);7. Making the superior team-mates people for who an inferiority in performance would especially rankle, e.g. an outgroup member (Lount and Phillips, 2007) or a female for an inferior male worker (Lount et al., 2000).All of these potentially useful implications highlight the pressing need for more systematic fieldwork on such questions. We clearly need to observe the effects of varying liking, friendship, and other as-yet-unexamined aspects of group member relations (e.g. familiarity, trust, future interdependence) on team member motivation in actual work teams working at tasks likely to invite both group motivation losses (e.g. where team member efforts are not identifiable or are dispensable) or group motivation gains (e.g. where team member efforts are highly indispensible for group success). Such an applied research literature could build on and complement the substantial body of basic research currently available on task motivation in groups.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to report on new research that explores the effect of co-worker friendship and performance norms on the Kohler motivation gain effect.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Females worked at a motor persistence task with either a more capable coactor or with a more capable team-mate (where the group's task had conjunctive task demands; i.e. the performance of the weaker team-mate defined the group's score). The co-workers (coactors or team-mates) were either friends or strangers. Participants were also led to believe that their co-workers and peers endorsed social norms prescribing either high or low level of effort at the task.\nFindings: - Compared to comparable individual control workers, the inferior-ability coactors showed a significant motivation gain (attributable to social-comparison processes); this gain was not moderated by either friendship or performance norms. Inferior-ability members of the collaborative teams worked significantly harder than the coactors (attributable to the indispensability of their efforts under these work conditions), but only when their partners were friends or the performance norms prescribed high effort.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research focuses on short-term laboratory groups of females working together for a very brief period. The applicability of the findings to more typical work teams will require further research.\nPractical implications: - The research suggests that the task motivation of particular team members (namely, those with the least ability) can be increased by strengthening social ties between team-mates and promoting high effort social norms.\nOriginality/value: - The research adds to a growing literature that identifies when and why members of work groups will work harder than comparable individual workers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Mediation effects financial performance toward influences of corporate growth and assets utilization
|
[
"Financial performance",
"Corporate growth",
"Asset utilization",
"Corporate market value"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Companies are established to achieve the main function, improving shareholders' wealth through the improvement of corporate market value (Keown et al., 1999, p. 2). The board of managers is trusted to manage a company in order to obtain profits that eventually increase the wealth of company owners. Companies use private equity and debt at the same time, including short-term debts and long-term debts for fund operational activities of the companies.\n2. Conceptual framework and hypothesis building: This research was carried out to measure and explain the influences of corporate growth, company asset utilization toward the corporate financial performance and corporate market value (Y2), as illustrated in Figure 1. Theoretical foundation underlying the hypothesis formulation in this study is presented in this section.\n3. Research method: This research is an explanatory research that describes the influences of one or more variables on other variables based on secondary data. This research took place in Indonesia and was carried out from 2011 to 2016. The period of 2011-2016 was chosen to be studied because, during the years, Indonesia experienced a lot of economic turmoil. A purposive sampling was employed to select samples that matched these following criteria: samples were manufacturing companies as classified by Indonesia Stock Exchange, samples were registered as permanent manufacturing companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2011-2016, samples regularly published their yearly financial reports during 2010-2016. A total of 146 companies were selected from the multi-stage sampling using the purposive sampling and saturated sampling techniques. Purposive sampling is a sampling technique that allows researchers to select their samples based on certain criteria or objectives as determined by the researchers (Indriantoro and Supomo, 1999). From the list of research population, the researcher determined the number of samples from the population. Since there were only 84 companies matching the criteria, all of them were taken as research samples (saturated sampling). The 84 companies were then observed for six years, resulting in 504 yearly financial reports to be analyzed. Codes of the 84 sample companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange are shown in Table II.\n4. Results of data analysis: There were four variables used in this research, namely, Corporate Growth, Asset Utilization, Corporate Financial Performance and Corporate Market Value. Each variable was measured by several indicators. The results of the descriptive statistical test are shown in Table III.\n5. Discussions: The effect of financial performance in mediating the influence of corporate growth on the corporate market value\n6. Research findings and contributions: Research findings\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure the effects of corporate financial performance toward the influences of corporate growth and company asset utilization on the corporate market value.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is an explanatory research that describes the influences of one or more variables on other variables based on secondary data. This research took place in Indonesia and was carried out from 2011 to 2016.\nFindings: The findings of this study are corporate growth has a significant influence on the corporate market value, implying that companies should consider the short-term and long-term profitabilities before making any investment decision; asset utilization has been confirmed to have a positive and significant influence on financial performance. Insights into asset utilization effectiveness and efficiency are important for company managers to consider in making strategic decisions upon operational activities of the company. Also, financial performance has a positive and significant influence on the corporate market value.\nOriginality/value: Research originality offered in this research is in the form of empirical evidence upon the influence of company asset utilization on the financial performance and corporate market value of a company. The finding of this research is expected to provide a better understanding on the role of company asset utilization in determining corporate financial performance which is known to be certain.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Graduates' job satisfaction across domains of study
|
[
"Job satisfaction",
"Economics",
"Education",
"Graduates",
"Higher education",
"Employability",
"Domains of study"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the last decade the number of students in the EU-27 grew by almost 30 per cent (from 15 million in 1998 up to more than 19 million in 2009). The most dynamic changes occurred in the new member states (mainly Central and Eastern Europe), where the number of students grew two- or even threefold, however, the upward trend prevailed in all EU member countries. As a result, the problem of tertiary education graduates' employability became a central issue in labour market policy in most EU countries.\n2. Theoretical background and empirical context: There are several theoretical frameworks that allow us to link characteristics of educational process and professional career success. Most prominent theories include theory of human capital and signalling theory. Educational experience is one of the crucial factors impacting employer's assessment of potential worker's productivity. Education may also influence search efficiency and therefore lead to shorter search duration, better match of employee and employer and higher job satisfaction (in the context of search and matching theory of unemployment).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data sources\n4. Regression results: the determinants of job satisfaction of graduates across study domains: As for the presentation of the results, we report which variables for each group of explanatory variables have significant influence on job satisfaction. We focus on the significance and direction of the relationship without paying much attention to the actual value of the parameter. The nature of the dependent variable makes numerical results not directly interpretable. This approach is adopted comparatively for all domains.\n5. Conclusions: Summing up all the findings, it can be stated that significant differences are found in the determinants of job satisfaction across study domains. These differences refer both to the statistical significance of particular variables and to the sign of the coefficients. Differences in job satisfaction determinants can be linked to the dissimilarities in the characteristics of the labour markets where graduates from different domains of study search for work. Differences in labour market conditions reflect various aspects of labour demand such as employers' requirements, working conditions, workers' rotation, etc.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of job satisfaction determinants of higher education graduates across six selected study domains.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the theoretical considerations, derived from human capital theory and signalling theory, the authors formulate the model explaining job satisfaction as a broad measure of labour market success. Explanatory variables include various socio-demographic characteristics as well as market environment and process of learning, modes of teaching and study programme characteristics. Data used in the analysis comes from two special surveys of European research projects REFLEX and HEGESCO. Principal component analysis method and OLS regression were used to estimate model parameters.\nFindings: The results of our research show the important role of characteristics of educational process, as well as individual graduates' early work-related experience in predicting job satisfaction. Differences in job satisfaction determinants across domains may be to some extent explained by the differences in the labour market characteristics for graduates in given discipline. Variety of education-related characteristics taken into account in the empirical analysis of determinants of job satisfaction is a key valuable contribution to the research in the field.\nOriginality/value: Research findings indicate the areas of potential actions aimed at improving future job satisfaction which can be undertaken by higher education institutions' management bodies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Corporate governance and information asymmetry between managers and investors
|
[
"Corporate governance",
"Disclosure",
"Information control",
"Information transfer",
"Canada"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Financial scandals such as Enron, WorldCom or Hollinger International raise many questions about the potential relation between a firm's governance and its value or performance. For instance, in appearance, these firms had all the attributes of good governance, such as an independent board, an independent audit committee, etc. However, information transpiring in the aftermath of their failure reveals that these firms' actual governance processes were ineffective and dominated by management. It would have been hard to reach such a diagnostic solely on the basis of mandated disclosure.This paper investigates how a firm's governance maps into the level of information asymmetry between managers and investors. Our investigation is based on information economics theory, which suggests that voluntary disclosure reduces information asymmetry between managers and investors. In that regard, information economics research attempts to address one of the key challenges underlying any relationship between investors and managers, which is the information differential between a principal and its agent, that is typically to the advantage of the agent (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). A key aspect of the information differential relates to a firm's governance. In that regard, governance encompasses two complementary dimensions:1. formal monitoring attributes; and2. voluntary disclosure about board processes.Most prior research defines governance in terms of visible formal board attributes such as the proportion of independent directors (e.g. Ashbaugh-Skaife et al., 2006; Larcker et al., 2007). However, there is evidence that voluntary disclosure about governance issues can enhance a firm's overall governance (e.g. Craighead et al., 2004, on executive compensation disclosure). In this study, we estimate simultaneously the determinants of governance disclosure and the impact of governance disclosure on information asymmetry.An underlying investors' concern about corporate governance is its potential impact on value creation. While recent research efforts are consistent with that definition of governance, they tend to focus on formal governance attributes (e.g. Bhagat and Bolton, 2008). Within such a perspective, the key task facing boards of directors is to put forward and monitor a value creation agenda. Building upon that view, the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, a group representing large institutional investors, argues that effective monitoring will reassure investors that a Company's board and management have appropriate strategies, structures and controls in place to maximize shareholder value (Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, 2005, p. 2). In contrast, our paper rests on the assumption that governance key contribution goes beyond the enhancement of firm value through decisions on strategic and business issues and is actually about the reduction in information asymmetry between managers and investors.We focus on a sample of large Canadian firms, many of which are cross-listed in the USA. Information about governance, both mandated and voluntary, is obtained from the firms' web sites. The Canadian legal and audit environments offer investors with very high protection of their interests but are not as litigious as in the USA, thus providing firms with a unique opportunity to issue voluntary information about their governance without the fear of exposing themselves to legal consequences.Results show that the extent of corporate governance disclosure, board size and audit committee size reduce information asymmetry. This suggests that governance disclosure may serve as a complement of a firms' governance mechanism in reducing stock market asymmetry, especially in a country like Canada where legal protection of investors is high. In other words, voluntary disclosure about corporate governance is more likely to be credible within an effective legal regime. In addition, it appears that firms consider ultimate costs and benefits to shareholders when determining the corporate governance disclosure.To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate the impact of voluntary governance disclosure on information asymmetry between management and investors, taking into account corporate governance attributes.The remainder of the paper is organised as follows. Section 2 contains a theoretical background. The study's methodology is described in section 3. Results are presented in section 4. Finally, section 5 provides a discussion of the results' potential implication.\nGovernance disclosure: determinants and implications: Governance and information asymmetry\nMethod: Sample\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nConclusion: Overall, our results suggest that governance disclosure complements a firm's governance monitoring attributes in reducing stock market asymmetry. While the study focuses on Canada, we believe that our results extend to other jurisdictions where there is strong investor protection. We also find that managers take into account ultimate costs and benefits to stockholders when determining the extent of their governance disclosure. For example, we show that diffuse ownership leads managers to release more information about its governance, thus enhancing investors' ability to assess firm value.The paper's contribution is four-fold. First, our findings highlight the limited insights from most prior research that infers the quality of a firm's governance from formal and observable attributes (e.g. number of independent directors, expertise of board members). Thus, the widespread reliance on indices to assess a firm's governance can be questioned as they typically sum up formal governance attributes without any nuance. Moreover, these indices treat disclosure as one among many governance elements, which contrasts with our findings that disclosure is actually complementary. Our results comfort the argument put forward by Bhagat et al. (2008). Second, by documenting that governance, as measured by formal attributes, may be insufficient for investors to assess its effectiveness, we build upon the stream of research that looks into the impact of corporate governance on firm value and information asymmetry (e.g. Bhagat and Bolton, 2008; Hutchison and Gul, 2003). Third, by focusing on governance disclosure, we extend the literature on voluntary disclosure into a new realm. Up until now, most prior research has focused on contrasting voluntary financial, social or environmental disclosures with formal governance attributes, thus circumventing the issue of governance disclosure itself (e.g. Sanders and Boivie, 2003). Finally, we show that voluntary governance disclosure provides additional insights into how a firm creates value, information deemed useful by investors (e.g. Bushman et al., 2004). In that sense, we extend prior findings by Collett and Hrasky (2005) that voluntary governance disclosure does influence capital markets' participants.Our findings have some implications for investors and corporate governance. For instance, to assess a firm's value, investors must look beyond standardized governance attributes and carefully analyze the process behind them, as revealed by voluntary disclosure. In addition, boards of directors have a clear incentive to provide additional disclosure on their methods and processes. Finally, regulators should consider expanding the scope of mandatory disclosure about governance to include softer information about underlying decisions and practices.The results of this study should be interpreted with caution at least for two reasons. First, our measure of governance disclosure is based upon a coding instrument that makes some explicit assumptions about the value and relevance of information. However, such an approach is consistent with recent research efforts (e.g. Clarkson et al., 2008). Second, sample size may be an issue. However, sample firms do represent a wide cross-section of Canada's industries as well as a significant proportion of the country's total stock market capitalization.Future research may explore the impact of governance disclosure within a context where financial reporting encompasses more formal and comparable disclosure, for example following the adoption of international accounting standards. In addition, it may be interesting to extend the study to a multi-country setting.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of governance on information asymmetry between managers and investors. Hence, the paper seeks to extend prior voluntary disclosure research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper investigates how a firm's governance maps into the level of information asymmetry between managers and investors. Governance encompasses two complementary dimensions: formal monitoring attributes and voluntary disclosure about board processes. Information asymmetry is measured by either share price volatility or Tobin's Q.\nFindings: - The results show that some formal monitoring attributes (board and audit committee size) as well as the extent of voluntary governance disclosure reduce information asymmetry. This suggests that governance disclosure may complement a firm's governance monitoring attributes, especially in a country such as Canada where investors have good legal protection. It appears also that firms take into account ultimate costs and benefits to shareholders when determining their governance disclosure.\nOriginality/value: - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the impact of voluntary governance disclosure on information asymmetry.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Scenarios and possible futures for hospitality and tourism
|
[
"Futures markets",
"Tourism management",
"Hospitality management",
"Portugal"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The identification of future trends and the anticipation of market changes have become determinant to the competitiveness of organizations. These are critical in dealing with uncertainty, adapting creatively and quickly to major changes, taking advantage of unexpected opportunities and staying ahead in a dynamic economy.Several innovative methods, including scenario planning[1], have been recommended as tools towards the improvement of decision making and are useful in dealing with change and uncertainty[2]. Scenarios improve decision making by helping managers to broaden their horizons and to recognize, consider and reflect on the uncertainties they are likely to face[3] (Schoemaker, 1995; van der Heijden, 1996; Eisenhardt, 1999). The consequences of the decisions taken now can be hypothetically explored under alternative possible futures (Martelli, 2001). In more recent years, scenario planning in particular has enjoyed a clear revival which is apparent in the \"boom\" in published research on the matter (Chermack et al., 2001; Bradfield et al., 2005; Amorim Varum and Melo, 2010).In this paper we derive possible futures for the Portuguese tourism and hospitality industries with a 2020 horizon. We build scenarios as a mean to explore the uncertainties surrounding the future and the development of external factors that the intended target group, in one way or another, may have to take into consideration in the future (\"What can happen scenarios\", Borjesson et al., 2006, p. 727). This was the first stage of a broader exercise (Enterprise of the Future (EdF) Project), conducted with the aim to identify internal factors that would determine hotels' competitiveness under different scenarios.The use and importance of future studies for tourism related activities is being acknowledged by academic and other stakeholders related to the industry (e.g. Yong et al., 1989; Altinay et al., 2000; Olsen and Connolly, 2000; Hay and Yeoman, 2005; Yeoman and Lederer, 2005; Yeoman et al., 2005; Yeoman, Brass and McMahon-Beattie, 2007; Yeoman, Lennon, Blakec, Galtd, Greenwooda, and McMahon-Beattiee, 2007; Liu et al., 2008; Pan et al., 2008), but much of the work done in the field has not been published[4]. Hence, our paper adds value to the knowledge in the field, by focusing on the process and content results of a scenario exercise applied to the tourism and hospitality industry in Portugal, where few incursions in this area have been made. The results are innovative and challenging with practical implications for policy makers and professionals somehow related to the tourism field. The external scenarios can help managers and policy makers to take decisions and to develop robust strategies, i.e. strategies that will survive several kinds of external development (Borjesson et al., 2006, 727-728). This paper is also a means to raising awareness with regard to future analytical methods, and in particular, to the use of scenario planning and its potential contribution to the competitiveness of firms. The work is also valuable for the international foresight community by discussing the method and addressing some drawbacks of the scenario exercise and recommendations for practice.The paper is organized as follows. Next we report the process and the results from our exercise. In the last section we discuss our results.\n2. Possible futures for the hotel industry in Portugal: 2.1 Empirical setting: Portugal's tourism and hospitality industries\n4. Discussion and implications: This paper presents results on four possible scenarios for the Portuguese hospitality industry with a 2020 horizon. Through a intuitive-logical process we developed four alternative scenarios based on the evolution of external factors, i.e. factors beyond the control of the relevant actors. The exercise involved workshops, with the participation of a group of experts, academics, representatives from industry, tourism associations and local government.Based on the nature and dynamics of the key forces and trends, the four scenarios identified are:1. southern experience;2. global emotions;3. \"sin surprise\"; and4. non-charming.The scenarios achieved explore developments in external factors that the intended target group, in one way or another, may have to take into consideration. These scenarios are of practical use for managers, policy makers and other practitioners as they provide a framework for the development and assessment of robust strategies and policies, i.e. strategies that will survive several kinds of external development (Borjesson et al., 2006, p. 27). Within all of the scenarios, tourism exists. The challenge for Portugal is to maximize its potential.The four scenarios for Portugal focus very much around customer future trends, namely between loyalty or global screening, focus on tradition or the desire for new experiences. But as Butler (2009) wrote:... at the core of tourism the basic purpose will remain the same, ... , namely the pursuit of enjoyment and relaxation in a multitude of forms away from home for a limited period of time (Butler, 2009, p. 348).Overall, the importance of developing client loyalty goes unchallenged. However, the evidence regarding the effectiveness of loyalty programmes remains mixed and often inconsistent. There is a lack of understanding of what factors drive a successful loyalty programme but:... the successful hospitality purveyor of the future will be the one that can use technology to meet the customer's needs on the customer's terms (McCall and Voorhees, 2010, p. 57).For all scenarios it seems also important to exploit the opportunities of new markets as the dependence on traditional segments may erode. The application of portfolio analysis, as an instrument of decision-making support, may help on the selection of priority market segments for Portugal (Aguas et al., 2000).The relationship between tourism and the environment is a distinctive feature of the global scenarios (Southern experience and Global emotions). The relationship between sun and beach and low-cost is a key feature of the proximity and tradition scenarios (Sin surprise and Non-charming). In all scenarios there is increased global competition amongst tourist destinations. There is in all scenarios a search for authenticity, that is, for authentic experiences and for avoiding areas and activities where there is agglomeration of other tourists, indicating a desire to explore the unique. There is high association with nature, culture and history. In at least three scenarios there is a connection to heritage seeking. It is a destination's food, people, culture and places which make up its heritage and its character that determine a destination's own authenticity (Yeoman, Brass and McMahon-Beattie, 2007). Portugal can explore its potential in this regard to offer authentic experiences and improve its attractiveness as a touristic destination.Also, managers, policy makers and other actors related to the tourism sector must be aware of the need to control demand because over-exploration and over-concentration in certain areas may result in the loss of the attraction of Portuguese internationally recognized destinies. Also, because internationalization and changes in legislation and fashion may dilute the originality and homogenize countries in the long run, the future demands visionary managerial solutions and visionary public policy to retain authenticity. Indeed, practitioners and managers cannot do this all alone. Because of their indirect effects over tourism and hospitality industries special attention must be diverted towards the environment, to planning of the territory, to the need to control real estate pressures, (Videira et al., 2006), and to the improvement of the qualifications of the workforce. Existing sectoral regulation (towards hospitality, restaurants and other services/products directly related to tourism) needs also some improvement, but, even more, stability, vision and sound enforcement. Strategic planning for tourism development in specific should not only select markets and organize supply, but also cover the strategic modernization of several sub-sectors integrated in tourism, such as the travel and rent-a-car businesses, food and accommodation, as well as promote the networking with leisure activities. For example, further attention must be given to the integration and management of museums, historic buildings and galleries, as demand for them from educated customers is expected to increase.Finally, from our experience we may derive some suggestions for future practice regarding the processes and contents of scenarios. Overall the explorative intuitive-logical scenario process developed well and produced good results. During the exercise participants acknowledged the importance of an accurate assessment of the future of the business environment for the development of a corporate strategy. Participants were rather enthusiastic about the process. It was possible to achieve fast results without consuming expert time excessively. By using qualitative techniques we were able to explore the future informed by opinions and judgments based on subjective and creative interpretations of the changes influencing the future.However, at the same time, because intuitive-logical methods are considered to be methodologically more relaxed as opposed to the rigorousness of statistical scenarios, futures exercises of this type may complement the analysis with more quantitative data and use of quantitative models (e.g. CGE models, see Yeoman, Lennon, Blakec, Galtd, Greenwooda, and McMahon-Beattiee, 2007, p. 1359). Piirainen and Lindqvist (2010) for example, discuss traditional scenario practice and present alternatives such as the electronically mediated scenario processes.Scenarios are based on the assumption that the business world is unpredictable but certain events are predetermined. However, in the current external environment of organizations, \"complexity is growing, causality relationships may be ambiguous, and changes are speeding up\" (Postma and Liebl, 2005, p. 165). We observe simultaneity of complex trends and countertrends, some of which had not been thought of beforehand. In the context of tourism, Butler (2009) argues that a rather confused pattern of tourism development is setting in, and a major dichotomy exists in tourism, namely, that between its dynamism and its inertia. Accordingly to him, these tensions make difficult to predict the future patterns of tourism. Because scenario planning deals mainly with predetermined uncertainties it may leave these unknowables out of the discussion (Postma and Liebl, 2005, p. 165). In our case, when analyzing the process and the content of our results, it is evident how difficult it was to identify trends/events not visible yet. For example, while our scenario planning exercise could deal with a number of uncertainties, events like the abrupt 2008 world crisis and the subsequent social and economic consequences were simply not included or considered as possible. It is surprising how in our exercise not much attention was given to possible major shocks, such as terrorism, diseases and epidemics, oil and energy price rises, the failure of the euro currency, the breakdown of the global financial markets, or to aspects such as changes in taxes or on air passenger duty, a crash or a decline in internet use. Our scenarios could be more receptive for and oriented towards exploring and discussing unconceivable elements. This may reflect certain weaknesses of the process of the scenarios or the facilitators' lack of creativity and imagination.Facilitators could have pressured to include unbelievable scenarios and could have been more sceptical with the first set of scenarios created. Alternative scenarios could have been formulated by introducing wildcards (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2003), that is, unusual events that maybe disruptive to the base-case, surprise-free scenario. A wildcard scenario (Baldock, 1999) \"that disregards all conventional wisdom and turns most assumptions on their heads\" (Wright, 2005, p. 98) could also have been considered.Overall, and in spite of its limitations, the exercise offered the opportunity for hospitality managers and academic researchers to collaborate on a mutually beneficial topic that has both theoretical and practical importance. It also made them more aware about the usefulness of thinking about the future. Our scenarios also proved to be useful in the second stage when we explored the critical internal competitiveness factors for hotels in the future.In the future, when evaluating the effectiveness of the exercise one should not ask \"did we get it right?\" Rather we should seek to reflect upon how the scenarios influenced managers in making better and more effective decisions (Wack, 1985; Schwartz, 1996; Ringland, 2002). Additionally, for policy, decision makers need a framework to drive thinking and actions forward. Exercises, such as the one reported here, may support that purpose. However, if tourism is to be a prominent industry in Portugal, scenario planning exercises should be used but not as on-off projects. They must be part of continuous process, where work can be continued, expanded and improved.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to discuss the process and results of a scenario exercise applied to the Portuguese tourism and hospitality industries with a 2020 horizon.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Through an intuitive-logical process adapted to the specific purposes of the research, four alternative scenarios of the evolution of the industry were developed. The exercise involved three workshops, with the participation of a group of experts, academics, representatives from industry and local government.\nFindings: - Based on the nature and dynamics of the key forces and trends, the four scenarios identified are: southern experience; global emotions; \"sin surprise\"; and non-charming Portugal. In all scenarios there is increased global competition amongst tourist destinations. A desire for authenticity opens the opportunity for Portugal as a tourist destination but it also poses challenges for managers and policy makers. These scenarios are of practical use for managers, policy makers and other practitioners as they provide a framework for the development and assessment of robust strategies and policies, i.e. strategies that will survive several kinds of external development.\nOriginality/value: - The paper contributes to the knowledge of scenario methods in practice and to help policy planners and managers recognize, consider and reflect on uncertainties they are likely to face. The work is also valuable for the international foresight community by discussing the method and addressing some drawbacks of the scenario exercise and recommendations for practice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How consumer involvement influences beer flavour preferences
|
[
"Marketing",
"Consumer behaviour",
"Individual perception",
"Alcoholic drinks",
"Survey research",
"Brewing",
"ANOVA analysis",
"Consumer",
"Involvement",
"Flavour",
"Beer",
"Preferences"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Food product flavours are constantly evolving, partially because of food product innovations, and food companies need to understand the influencing factors in food preference and choice.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Flavour, taste and food liking\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sampling and fieldwork\n4. Results: 4.1 Beer flavour dimensions\n5. Discussion: The objectives of this study are twofold. First, this research aims to analyse beer flavours, providing a beer flavour categorisation. In this context, two flavour categories have been identified, namely, \"conventional\" and \"unconventional/flamboyant\" flavours. Secondly, we aim to examine whether the consumers' preferences of beer flavours are related to their involvement with the product.\n6. Conclusions, implications, limitations and future research: The level of consumer involvement with the beverage product influences product flavour preferences. In general terms it can be stated that consumers primarily prefer traditional flavours to unconventional flavours, regardless of their level of product involvement, being the \"cereals\", \"yeast\" and \"hop\" flavours the most preferred ones. Similarly, highly involved consumers show a higher preference for unconventional or flamboyant flavours.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Much of the innovation in the beer sector has focussed on flavour, resulting in a proliferation of flavoured beers. In this paper, the understanding of consumers' flavour preferences is a relevant question for the beer industry; however, little is known whether consumer involvement influences beer flavour preferences, and the purpose of the present study is directed to shed light on this area yet under-investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research was conducted in Spain, where a total amount of 565 beer consumers were classified based on their level of involvement with beer. Data were analysed by analysis of variance, Tukey test, principal component analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS) to examine consumers' preferences for different beer flavours using a consumer hedonic approach based on like and dislike evaluation.\nFindings: The findings support the existence of a homogeneous pattern in beer-flavour preferences, regardless of consumer involvement, showing a greater liking for conventional flavours. Further, highly involved consumers show a higher preference for unconventional or flamboyant beer flavours, than low or medium involved consumers.\nOriginality/value: Derived from the findings it can be stated that consumers do not accept all kinds of flavours and that their level of product involvement affects their flavour preferences.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Followership behaviors and barriers to wealth creation
|
[
"Employee behaviour",
"Leadership",
"Organizational effectiveness",
"Trust",
"Commitment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Although it has been widely acknowledged that follower trust is the glue that holds organizations together and is the foundation of commerce (Covey, 2004; Kouzes and Posner, 2011), the challenge facing leaders to earn employee trust has been the subject of thousands of books, articles, and scholarly research (Balliet and Van Lange, 2012; Vanneste, et al., 2012; Dirks and Ferrin, 2002). Over the past decade, the credibility of leaders has suffered worldwide as those who would seek to lead fail to demonstrate integrity, competence, and vision (Kouzes and Posner, 2012) - the essential leadership qualities that organizations desperately need to survive in an increasingly competitive global economy (Cameron, 2003). Despite extensive research that has offered insights into the importance of building relationships with others, many leaders persist in attempting to impose \"command and control\" models that no longer are effective in today's economic and social context (Covey, 2004). Consequently, despite the need for increased collaboration, cooperation, and commitment, leaders are often ineffective in building the cultures of high trust (Den Hartog and Verburg, 2004) that their organizations require and that their followers yearn for in leaders (Kouzes and Posner, 2011). The inevitable outcome for leaders is that followership is incomplete and that the level of commitment and buy-in required in the new economy is insufficient for many organizations to survive (Pfeffer, 1998).\nUnderstanding followership: Although the study of followership has enjoyed a major resurgence in the academic literature in the last decade (Baker, 2007; Blanchard, 2009; Bjugstad, et al., 2006; Shondrick et al., 2010), the importance of followership in the leader-follower relationship was clearly articulated in 1938 by Chester Barnard (1938) in one of the most influential management books of the twentieth century (Wren and Bedeian 2009). Barnard (1938) explained that authority was a behavioral choice exhibited by followers to leaders, rather than a compliance requirement demanded by those who hold positions of power. Followers, Barnard (1948, p. 11) explained, \"don't ascribe infallibility to leaders or management, (but) (w)hat does disturb them is insincerity and the appearance of insincerity when the facts are not in their possession.\" A follower's lack of cooperative effort reflects lack of confidence in the integrity and sincerity of a leader (Barnard, 1938, p. 43-44). Leadership is ultimately dependent upon moral commitment and the responsibility to achieve the purposes for which an organization is created to accomplish (Mayer et al., 2012) - and the leader's responsibility is to obtain follower cooperation by honoring high ideals (Barnard, 1938, p. 282).\nZone of indifference: Barnard (1938, pp. 165-167) explained that organization members accept a leader's communications as authoritative when four factors are present: when the individual can understand the communication, when (s)he believes that it is not inconsistent with the purposes for which the organization exists; when (s)he believes that the communication is compatible with his/her personal self-interests; and when (s)he is able to physically and mentally comply with that communication. Barnard (1938, p. 163) explained that \"the decision as to whether an order has authority or not lies with the persons to whom it is addressed and does not lie with 'persons of authority' or those who issue these orders.\"\nZone of acceptance: Herbert Simon, the Nobel laureate adapted Barnard's zone of indifference by labeling it a zone of acceptance. In defining this zone, Simon (1997, p. 131) explained that it was that area \"within which a subordinate is willing to accept the attempts of a superior to influence his opinions or behavior.\" Simon acknowledged that this acceptance of a leader's efforts may range from reluctant compliance to a more significant personal commitment. Both Simon and Barnard had addressed the importance of a follower's willingness to accept the leader's request to cooperate, comply, and coordinate efforts in the pursuit of common objectives. Both describe the follower as relinquishing his/her personal choice as part of the decision to cooperate. Simon (1997, p. 133) explained that the follower or subordinate \"establishes an area of acceptance in behavior within which the subordinate is willing to accept the decisions made for him by his superior.\" This zone of acceptance varies based upon individual \"expectations of the authority relations of their position\" and their own individual competence (Simon, 1997, p. 131). Thus, this zone of acceptance is a level of personal commitment based upon the subjective perceptions of each individual.\nZone of trust: In addressing the degree to which followers support a leader's decisions, Caldwell and colleagues have suggested that followers who relinquish their power to a leader and participate as cooperative partners do so by entering a zone of trust. Caldwell and Hayes (2007, p. 263) defined this zone as encompassing those boundaries in which people choose to willingly follow leaders and includes the degree to which these followers feel personal ownership about an organization's rules and its goals. Although there has been much debate about the nature of trust in the scholarly literature, trust as the relinquishing of personal control to another clearly fits with the needs of organizations and the desire of leaders. Trust as a belief (Kramer, 1999), a propensity (Colquitt et al., 2007), an intention (McKnight et al. 1998), an attitude (McAllister, 1995), or as a willingness (Tyler et al., 1996; Mayer et al., 1995) to cooperate adds little wealth creating value to an organization until those affective and conative qualities of a follower are translated into cooperative actions that benefit an organization (Kouzes and Posner, 2012).\nZone of commitment: Like trust, commitment, and compliance are also measured on a continuum, although there is \"a world of difference\" between the two (Senge, 2006, p. 221). Senge (2006, pp. 216-221) emphasized that the goal of organizations is to create high follower commitment - a critical element for building a learning organization and a vital requirement to sustaining a competitive advantage. This high level of employee commitment was also identified by Pfeffer (1998) as a key to creativity, improved customer service, increased profitability, and the successful management of change. As Senge (2006, p. 221) noted, commitment creates \"energy, passion, and excitement\" that far exceeds the personal investment generated by being merely compliant, \"even genuinely compliant.\"\nZone of stewardship: Although the zone of stewardship is not a term that has heretofore been a part of the leader-follower lexicon, we introduce this term as it relates to stewardship theory and ethical stewardship which are now frequently addressed in governance and leadership articles and books. Block's (1993) book about stewardship identified the moral and interpersonal obligations of leaders and their obligation to treat employees as \"owners and partners.\" Block (1993) explained that the leader's obligation was to accept responsibility for the creation of value for the whole community, rather than simply seeking self-interest. In stewardship theory, \"pro-organizational, collectivist behaviors have higher utility than individualistic, self-serving behaviors\" (Davis et al., 1997, p. 25). Hernandez (2012, p. 173) explained that stewards \"hold a covenantal relationship with their organizations that represents a moral commitment and binds both parties to work toward a common goal, without taking advantage of each other.\" Ethical stewardship advocates that \"the maximization of long-term wealth\" will ultimately serve the best interests of all stakeholders and is founded on a principle-based \"virtue ethics model\" (Caldwell et al., 2008, p. 154).\nBarriers to creating followership: One of the most common problems of leaders in organizations is their reliance upon \"conventional wisdom\" that is neither empirically validated nor a sound basis for building strong and effective organizational cultures (Caldwell and Hansen, 2010). The result of this reliance on ineffective management practices is that they actually undermine the ability of leaders to create the high trust and high performance organizations that Pfeffer explained help to build employee commitment and citizenship behavior (Pfeffer, 1998). The purpose of this section is to identify eight often-repeated mistakes made by organizational leaders that create barriers for creating followership, and to explain how those barriers destroy trust, diminish commitment, and reduce stewardship and organizational citizenship behavior.\nContributions of our paper: Followership and the willingness of those who follow to commit themselves to their organizations is the essence of cooperation and essential for every organization (Covey, 2004) Although the academic literature about leadership, followership, trust, and competitive advantage has provided the foundation for the contents of this paper, we suggest that our paper makes five useful contributions to the scholarly and practitioner literature:\nConclusion: In addition to providing 12 testable propositions, this research about followership adds to a fast-growing body of literature that confirms the importance of understanding more about the importance of employee commitment, the concept of ethical stewardship, organizational citizenship behavior, and the value of high performance/high trust work systems. Our introduction of the zone of stewardship provides a special opportunity for practitioners and scholars to develop an understanding of the importance of that new concept as well.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to further research in the leader-follower relationship by focussing on followership. Given the need to increase organizational collaboration and cooperation, this research identifies the nature of follower buy-in behaviors and characteristics and develops a continuum of increasing follower compliance to stewardship with the organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research integrates the insights of highly regarded researchers into a continuum of follower compliance to stewardship and proposes 12 propositions of leaders and followers that address the importance of creating an environment for improved collaboration and cooperation which ultimately leads to increased organizational competitiveness and profitability.\nFindings: A continuum of increasing follower buy-in is proposed with the first four zones drawn from past literature (indifference, acceptance, trust, and commitment) and a fifth zone, follower stewardship, being introduced in the paper. The authors argue that understanding and fostering follower behaviors along the continuum improves organizational effectiveness.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research offers a framework of follower behaviors and characteristics and proposes 12 hypotheses of leaders and followers to improve competitiveness and profitability that can be tested in future research.\nPractical implications: This paper provides valuable insights to scholars and practitioners by creating a framework of follower buy-in behaviors and characteristics that will allow leaders to increase the effectiveness of organizational culture, practices, and procedures. The research proposes 12 hypotheses of leaders and followers that can be tested for improving organizational competitiveness and profitability.\nSocial implications: The paper identifies barriers to creating followership including under-investing in human capital, treating followers as means rather than as ends, thinking short-term, breaking commitments, and so on.\nOriginality/value: The research develops a solid theoretical background for categorizing and measuring follower buy-in to organizations and introduces follower stewardship to management research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Quality higher education drives employability in the Middle East
|
[
"Middle East",
"Employability",
"Higher education",
"Quality",
"Liberal arts",
"Soft skills"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The general outlook for youth employment in the Middle East is often thought to be poor (International Labour Organisation, 2015). While reliable statistics are scarce, a leading think tank estimates youth unemployment to be over 21 per cent (World Bank, 2017b). Low rates of development, largely unaccountable and corrupt elites (Deets and Skulte-Ouaiss, 2016), high fertility rates and underdeveloped economies have combined to create a picture of a region that cannot meet the desires of even educated young people for decent jobs with decent pay (International Labour Organization, 2015). Concurrently, population growth continues unabated, leaving too many young people without good employment prospects. According to the Arab Youth Survey (2017), \"more than one in three young Arabs (35 per cent) believe that the biggest obstacle to the development of the Middle East is unemployment\". Yet in this bleak picture, there are bright spots of successful quality higher education that prepares its graduates for the jobs of today and the careers of tomorrow.\nOverview of the Lebanese labour market: The Lebanese labour market is service-dominated, with high under-employment and unemployment rates and a remarkably low labour force participation rate for women (World Bank, 2017a, b; Abou Jaoude, 2015). In this paper, we define \"under-employment\" as a situation in which an individual seeking full-time employment is unable to secure it and instead works less than full-time or when an individual's level of education and/or training is greater than that required for his/her employment. For \"unemployment\", we define it as a situation in which an individual is actively searching for paid employment but is unable to secure it.\nEmigration and employment: Lebanon has long been a country of migration. Up until the Lebanese Civil War, migration usually meant permanent emigration (Skulte-Ouaiss and Tabar, 2015); however this changed with the war and the development of circular migration (Cassarino, 2008). The trend in the past 20 years has been for many Lebanese - particularly university graduates - to seek work in the Gulf or further higher education in Europe or North America following graduation from a university in Lebanon. The most recent estimates are that approximately 32,000 Lebanese emigrated each year on an average between 1996 and 2010 for a variety of reasons (Kawar and Tzannatos, 2013).\nEducation and employability: The value of education, in particular higher education, can be measured to some extent by the degree to which a higher education institution prepares its graduates for the jobs of today and the careers of the future. The most recent government data for unemployment in 2015 was just over 6 per cent (Central Administration of Statistics, 2015) but unofficially it is estimated to be much higher due to what is referred to as hidden unemployment, which does not include all unemployed and underemployed workers in the official unemployment figures. In 2014, when Minister of Labour estimated the real unemployment rate to range between 22 and 23 per cent and approximately 33 per cent amongst the youth (Women's Economic Empowerment Portal, 2014). The inability of youth, even educated youth, to find opportunities for gainful employment is attributed to many factors such as low economic development, political and social instability, poor linkages between education and industry, shifts in labour market and skill needs and lack of youth entrepreneurialism amongst others (International Labour Organisation, 2015).\nThe Lebanese higher education system: The higher education sector in Lebanon is predominantly private, and the sector has grown substantially over the past 20 years. Currently, there are 48 private institutions of higher learning in Lebanon of which 36 are officially recognised as universities and the remaining 12 are colleges (Higheredu, 2017). Another two private institutions have been licensed but they are still not fully operational. Lebanon has only one public university with branches dispersed across the country and in which one third of Lebanon's higher education student population is enrolled. Each of the universities has adopted a different educational model including the American, British, French, Egyptian and German amongst others.\nPurpose: In this paper, the employability prospects of the graduates of a private university in Lebanon, University X, is investigated. University X is a leading private, not-for-profit, co-educational institution accredited in the USA. The university has expanded significantly over the past decades in response to the growing educational needs of Lebanon and the Middle East, offering a range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs through seven academic schools.\nResearch method: The study employed elements of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A thematic approach was adopted when using qualitative methodologies that were designed to provide an in-depth description of the career prospects of University X's graduates based on the job availability and labour market needs as conveyed by employers, key syndicate and organisational figures. Quantitative methodologies were used to validate qualitative ones. They were used to quantify the gainful employment of University X's graduates and labour market needs. Performance measures such as employment rates, time of first employment after graduation, geographical distribution of employment opportunities, amongst others were also calculated. By using such a combination of approaches, the advantages of certain research techniques would offset the weakness of others thus increasing the validity and reliability of the findings.\nResults: Positive aspects of the Lebanese labour market for University X graduates\nDiscussion: The high youth unemployment rate and the high rate of skilled emigration, particularly of those 15-34 (Chaaban, 2009) make clear that only some Lebanese youth are finding their places in the Lebanese labour market. What are the reasons for this? We identify three explanations that are rooted in the professional and scholarly literature as well as in almost 30 years in Lebanese higher education experience. However, we must then make two caveats applicable to all university graduates in Lebanon - University X alumni and others alike.\nHow to improve upon the current situation: Given that employment rates of their graduates are key performance indicators of almost all higher education institutions, universities in Lebanon want to see their alumni find good jobs in the fields in which they were trained. University X has found that to a greater extent than was expected, this is happening. University X and other Lebanese universities recognised by the government must better publicise that there is good coming out of and happening inside of the Arab region - particularly concerning science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields so in demand in Europe and North America.\nConclusion: This paper has used a recent labour market survey of a private university in Lebanon (University X) to describe and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of higher education preparation for employment in Lebanon and the Arab world. While one case cannot provide a generalisable assessment, we argue that this case is indicative of the overall picture of the regional labour market in that while it continues to fail to meet the needs of the region's youth for employment and growth, there are some bright spots: there is a demand for graduates of quality higher education institutions who have both professional and technical knowledge as well as \"soft skills\".\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse and explain the high rates of employability of one group of Middle East youth by focussing on liberal arts and soft skills education as an integral part of quality higher education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper employs the survey research method using questionnaires, focus groups and interviews to understand the labour market dynamics in Lebanon and explore factors that correlate positively with gainful employment with a special focus on the graduates of an institution that emphasises the liberal arts and soft skills training.\nFindings: The paper finds that quality higher education - particularly with a focus on soft skills and internships - boosts the potential of graduates to secure their first jobs after graduation.\nResearch limitations/implications: Reliable data on higher education, employability and youth are scarce in Lebanon and the region. The paper is based on one labour market study in Lebanon while seeking to extrapolate to Lebanese youth as a whole as well as reflect on employability and youth in the Middle East region.\nPractical implications: The paper demonstrates support for improving quality in higher education as well as making soft skills training and the liberal arts critical components for increased employability of youth in Lebanon and the Middle East.\nOriginality/value: The paper is innovative in its reliance on primary data from a labour market survey as such data are scarce in Lebanon. In addition, advocacy for soft skills training and the liberal arts in the midst of focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics and other professional education at the university level is rare in the Middle East.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Beverage capsule consumption: a laddering study
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Brands",
"Laddering",
"Beverage capsules",
"Chain means-end"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The consumption behaviors of the consumers of capsule-obtained beverages are mainly represented by the associations between them and producing companies in terms of forming market trends. Consumers are selective regarding the exposure to messages from companies, meaning their perception and memorization is selective (Wolf, 1995). Therefore, research on companies should go beyond attributes and product features, and target traits that represent a strong and positive association with consumers, thus reinforcing the perspective of personal values.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Values of modern food consumption and brand image\n3. Research methodology: Scheduling techniques and the construction of a hierarchical value map (HVM) were used in our study as part of a technique called laddering. This technique follows the theory of MEC (Reynolds and Gutman, 1988). Its main objective is to go from the lowest (surface/concrete) to the highest level of consumer values (deep/abstract).\n4. Results and discussion: The discursive production of the respondents allowed identifying 54 elements, 10 attributes (five concrete and five abstract), 34 consequences (11 functional and 23 psychosocial), and 10 values (six instrumental and four terminal).\n5. Concluding remarks: Recently, in the food sector, there are changes in consumer demand to be considered, such as regulation system changes and the expansion markets for functional and organic products (Falguera et al., 2012). As demonstrated in this paper, while representing functional products, CBM consumption presents itself as a growing trend worldwide. Therefore, this paper brings presents a picture of this market through studying Brazilian consumers.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze consumer behavior based on the structures of attributes, consequences, and values identified by consumers of beverages obtained from capsules. Consumers of the brands Nescafe Dolce Gusto and Nespresso capsule-based beverages were selected, and comparatively analyzed to understand the possible differences perceived by the consumers of each brand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a soft laddering technique, 27 in-depth interviews were carried out among the users of Nespresso and Dolce Gusto. This technique allowed differentiating the attributes of each brand, as well as defining common/cumulative elements.\nFindings: Individual values of achievement and personal pleasure, mainly reached through better living standards, were dominant for all consumers. Dominant chain analysis results showed the perceptions of consumers were different for each brand. Generally, both brands' consumers seek quality and practicality. However, Dolce Gusto delivers a product perceived as having more functional benefits, thus serving consumers seeking more variety when it comes to different types of beverages. On the other hand, Nespresso serves a more selective niche market, whose consumers rather value brand quality and reliability.\nOriginality/value: The characteristics and product specifications show similarities with food consumption trends, which justify the growth of this market in recent years. Therefore, strategies and the consumers' demand for the capsule market show a promising trend on the coffee and drinks market in Brazil, deserving special attention from both companies and producers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
SMED: for quick changeovers in foundry SMEs
|
[
"Lead times",
"Foundry engineering",
"Small to medium‐sized enterprises",
"Productivity rate"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Achieving \"manufacturing excellence\" is essential to survival and economic growth for any country in this age of globalization. The \"industrial age\" of the last century has given way to the \"information age\" which in manufacturing terms enhances capability (Banerjee, 2000) and reduces product cycle times (CTs) (Perry and Sohal, 2001). The development of new technology, sophisticated high-production systems and assembly lines has ushered in a new era in manufacturing. Competition, productivity and profitability are the buzz words associated with this technological turbulence. High technology costs are to be justified with higher rates of productivity and flexibility. Productivity can be enhanced by exercising economy at all levels of the organization, thereby controlling the quantity of resource inputs as well as by increasing outputs with the same or reduced levels of inputs. Set-up time is one of the vital parameters used in any manufacturing industry and is a form of necessary input to every machine or workstation. Because set ups are a collection of sequence dependent changeover activities which are carried out before starting the production of any product, so productive time for a machine can be increased by reducing its set-up time. Manufacturers need to be more responsive to the dynamic customer demands to maintain their competitive edge over others (Burman and Gershwin, 1996). So \"economical production of smaller lot sizes\" should be a key strategy to achieve flexible and shorter production lead-times. This is possible only if changeover becomes quick, efficient and foolproof. According to Pannesi (1995), shorter set-ups bring the following impacts to any type of production system:* make feasible the production of smaller lots;* reduce set-up scrap;* decrease set-up labour cost;* make production system flexible;* reduce product lead time;* enhance productivity and utilization of assets; and* reduce manufacturing cost.Every set-up has a basic \"work content\" which is a combination of sequence of irreducible activities. The time this takes is known as basic set-up time and depends upon the type of product to be manufactured and its production system constraints. It is not possible to escape from this time, but in actual practice there are almost always additional activities, which inflate the set-up time as a result of factors such as lack of standardization, too close tolerance, design of machine, measurability of set-up parameters, management fallacies and human limitations. Common reasons for the existence of these factors are:* Less emphasis is being paid to this set-up area and consequently less effort is made at the production planning and scheduling stage, resulting in haphazard way of execution of different orders in the shop floor.* Lack of standardized procedures for set-ups. In many organizations, every person tends to do the set-up in his own way - undermining the cost of quality and quantity of product.* There is little awareness about the quantitative techniques that can be used to calculate requirements of having shorter changeovers. There is a lack of knowledge on the part of concerned persons about the impact and importance of shorter setups. There is also a general scarcity of knowledge about the technique of cost-benefit analysis.* Poor level of house keeping and cleanliness. It is needed to implement the 5S concepts on shop floor especially in die-repair section of foundry.* The non-existence of special tool-kits for set-up fitters causes unwanted and unexpected delay in set-ups. A tool kit having all necessary tools, fixtures and spares managed in specific sequence of their use is urgently needed to make available the required set-up tooling on time.According to Womack and Jones (1996), a requirement for heavy customization of product causes every customer to want his \"bells and whistles\" on the product, so only those manufacturers who can meet these ever-changing demands from the market can survive. The reduction of set-up times of a machine or line is a cost effective contribution to flexible and lean manufacturing (Gung and Studel, 1990).Quantitatively, set up time for every machine can be defined as the function of three major elements: method, organization and production constraints. \"Method\" refers to the way in which the set-up is performed and should be suggested by the designer. Standardization and simplification are the characteristics of an ideal set-up procedure. To reduce set-up time, non-value adding activities should be avoided and online activities should be externalized to off line. For effective and efficient set-ups, clear organization of manpower is needed so that every body involved in these crucial activities knows about their respective jobs and authorities.\nSingle minute exchange of die (SMED): basic technique for set-up time reduction: Shingo, a Japanese Industrial Engineer, developed the sophisticated technique of SMED in 1987 when he applied this technique to large body molding presses at Mazda Automobile Industry and successfully achieved 57 per cent of set-up time reduction. Now, SMED is becoming a universal approach, which can be made compatible to any type of industry with the use of some additional industrial engineering tools (Hurley, 2000; Kim, 1997). Shingo (2000) explained that before applying SMED to any resource (machine or equipment, etc.) it is necessary to analyze the targeted resource from the theory of constraints point of view which distinguishes the given resource as a bottleneck or non-bottleneck resource. If SMED is applied to a non-bottleneck resource, then it is of limited value because non-bottleneck resources are already idle and working with excess capacities. SMED should only be applied to bottleneck resources that have lower capacity than required and need immediate attention. After identifying the bottleneck machine or equipment, data regarding present changeover duration, method, equipment or tools used during set-ups should be collected.Three steps in SMED are:1. Often all set-up activities are carried out after the production of prior product. To improve this situation and reduce set-up times, activities should be divided into off-line and online activities. Off-line activities can be carried out during the production of prior product or along with the production of present product and off-line activities are performed after production of prior-product. Then set-up down time is restricted to the time taken to carry out these online activities. According to Shingo (2000), this step can typically yield a reduction in set-up time from 30 to 50 per cent of the previous set-up time.2. This step commences when set-up moves from split phase to transferred phase of tooling or when a die is uninstalled and a new die is installed on the given machine. Here, effort is focused on externalizing the online activities as far as possible. This is achieved mostly by carrying out technical modifications to set-up processes. It is found that reduction in set-up times can go up to 75 per cent with such an approach.3. It is the final step, which minimizes and streamlines the online and off-line activities. SMED can use some industrial engineering tools like method study, value stream mapping, cause and effect analysis or Pareto charts to simplify and standardize all the set-up activities (Chao, 2001). This step generates a standard set-up procedure, which may reduce set-up downtime up to 90 per cent of total previous set-up time.The above approach can be successfully applied to single machine and single operator situations. It cannot be applied to a workstation, where two or more operators are working on the same machine or a single operator is working on two or more machines. For example, when two workers are working on the same machine, work is required to be balanced between these persons. If 50 per cent of the time needed by one worker is eliminated, then it does not mean that overall downtime of the workstation is reduced by 50 per cent, because the remaining activities are needed to be re-assigned among available persons. In this case, this can lead to a reduction of 25 per cent only. In such situations, we need integration of industrial engineering tools like multi-activity charts, Pareto analysis, cause and effect analysis, etc. with SMED technology.\nImplementing SMED for productivity management: a case study of foundry SME: In India, 95 per cent of industrial units are in the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector with 40 per cent value addition in the manufacturing sector (Times of India, 2002) and in these units productivity levels are alarmingly low due to a host of problems. Average growth rate of productivity in manufacturing for India has been 4.95 per cent in comparison to 7.31 per cent for China, 9.45 per cent for Singapore and 8.65 per cent for Pakistan (Times of India, 2005). This reflects a low utilization of productive capacity and this includes a failure to address and reduce set-up times. A typical industry in India spends less than 0.6 per cent on average, of its turnover on R&D as against the world average of 2.5 per cent (Garg et al., 2003). In a small unit, which has investment in plant and machinery of less than rupees 10 million (Singh et al., 2003), productivity and profitability are indispensable to assess the performance of an organization. Singh et al. (2004) in their study have observed that a reduction in cost and product rejection rate are among the main pressures on small units. The main barriers to being competitive for these units are inadequate technologies and poor human expertise (Armstrong and Coyle, 1999) and scarcity of resources impairs their ability to internationalize (Moen, 1999). According to Prahlad and Hamel (1990) core competencies of a unit are built on intangible assets and as per Chaston et al. (2001), basic related areas are unit productivity, human resources and total quality management (TQM). The owners, in most of the small and medium units, invest money from all possible resources and hence are desperate to increase various profit ratios. Unlike for big industrial organizations, increased profits and high production rate become the only primary objectives for most of the small units. Noble (1997) suggests that present small and medium scale industries have different objectives than those in the past.A case study was carried out at Escort's Piston Foundry at Bhadurgarh, India (a medium scale unit) to reduce product CT by implementing SMED technique in the integrated manner and the results were highly encouraging.Methodology\nConclusions: To achieve \"manufacturing excellence\", SMEs must exploit all available decision-support-systems to supplement production planning for greater productivity. Since levels of productivity and profitability ought to be the major indices for sustainability in today's dynamic and competitive environment, techniques like SMED offer a great potential to reduce product CT and so aid competitiveness. To make such improvements, industrial engineering tools like time study, Pareto charts, cause and effect analysis, cost-benefit techniques, etc. can be used to identify required changes, eliminations and externalizations of set-up activities and then more refined set-ups can be developed to save production time. Appendix 2, Table AII gives a detailed account of the various techniques used to improve the existing set up by proposing some remedial measures. There is significant saving in overall product CT and this improves the productivity and profitability levels of the organization.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to uncover the significance of quick changeovers in die-casting foundry environments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper gives set-up instructions and guidelines to prepare the standardized set-up procedure without ignoring actual constraints in foundries. It uses a case study in a medium scale piston foundry to generate an integrated set-up reduction approach, utilizing single minute exchange of die (SMED)-based industrial engineering tools to achieve faster set-ups. It describes the feasibility of quick changeovers in foundry small and medium enterprises based on a \"SMED\" approach. Finally, the paper carries out empirical analysis of the financial/non-financial benefits incurred from set-up reductions.\nFindings: - Set-up activities are a vital part of the production lead-time of any product and so affect overall product cost. Tools like Pareto analysis, root-cause analysis and method study have been used to analyze the existing procedure of set-ups. A SMED approach can help eliminate unwanted activities, externalize the internal activities, if possible and reduce them by simplification or standardization. The application of other tools such as 5S, Poke-Yoke and specific tool-kits are suggested to further reduce set-up times.\nOriginality/value: - The paper demonstrates the practical application of SMED showing how it can bring real breakthroughs in productivity to small and medium scale foundries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Defining and developing a scale to measure strategic thinking
|
[
"Strategic management",
"Learning organizations",
"Thinking"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Strategic thinking has been recognized as a focal point of success of an organization for a long time now, and yet, there are discrepancies in its theoretical definition and chief constructs. It has been dwelt upon at length and has been bifurcated and defined differently by academicians and professional researchers. The existing literature has compiled various dimensions of strategic thinking; however, there is lot of overlapping in the way different researchers have defined the construct.\n2. Conceptual gap: 2.1 Defining strategy\n3. Research methodology and data collection: Research model investigates major dimensions and constructs to build the scale of strategic thinking and their effect on the \"perceived contribution\". Key constructs would be categorized using \"EFA\" to understand the major dimensions.\n4. Conclusion and discussion: Our research began with the objective of presenting a strategic thinking scale in light of our findings through our exploration of strategy and strategic thinking. This examination has critical implications for both the scholarly world and the corporate world, as a robust instrument has been used to quantify strategic thinking. As the sample for our strategic thinking questionnaire (STQ) has been collected from all across the country cross-sectioning different culture, gender and position of responsibility, the scale has significant robustness and implicative potential. The usage of both qualitative and quantitative methodology in the study expands the cogency and strength of outcome. It is no surprise that India with its diversified culture is disparate from most countries in the world. The fact that the study was situated in India ascertains its focus group and its direct implementation in India. The strategic thinking scale is blind to the problem set, and along these lines, it can be universal in nature. The experts would profit by this scale as well. Strategic decision-making is an essential employment for all managers regardless of their work range and responsibilities. Supervisors are involved in strategic decision-making in a formal setting and in other settings of their work life. This study will furnish them with a comprehensive of the idea of strategic thinking and give them an instrument to analyze it. This study would help the organization to plan their tutoring and training programs to ingrain this attribute.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to derive a sound definition of strategic thinking by horizontal analysis of past research and discussions with professionals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research design includes three broad stages: item generation, scale development and assessment of scale's psychometric properties.\nFindings: The eclectic composition cuts across vocations, religions, sex and age strengthen the flexibility of application of the scale. The resulting scale shows strong psychometric properties and is expected to be useful for academics, practitioners and organizations alike.\nResearch limitations/implications: The information on strategic thinking was self-reported through strategic thinking questionnaire (STQ) and is consequently at risk to be influenced by self-bias.\nPractical implications: Using the scale of strategic thinking will empower strategic thinkers to draw a more extensive scope of strategies at all levels. This will additionally bring about higher-quality procedures, increased performance and greater competitive advantage.\nSocial implications: The study represents to be an imperative predecessor to strategic decision-making and may give a key to better comprehend authoritative change marvels and at last survival.\nOriginality/value: As the sample for our STQ has been collected from all across the country cross-sectioning different culture, gender and position of responsibility, the scale has significant robustness and implicative potential.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Leading complex change with post-conventional consciousness
|
[
"Management",
"Leadership",
"Leader development",
"Sustainability",
"Adult development",
"Change management",
"Metacognition",
"Organizational change"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: For humanity to achieve important objectives like the Millennium Development Goals and mitigating impact on the climate, significant changes in organizations and social systems are needed. Experience suggests that some change efforts toward a more sustainable world will work, while many may fail (Kotter, 1995). A crucial driver for the success of a change initiative is its design (Doppelt, 2010; Kotter, 1996), and an important influence is the designer's worldview (Doppelt, 2010; Sharma, 2000). That is the focus of this research. I specifically studied how leaders with very mature worldviews, or meaning-making systems, design and engage in sustainability initiatives. By understanding how such individuals respond to complex challenges, other leaders can be trained to be more effective. This paper details the context, methodology, and findings of the study, and is a further analysis of data collected for my PhD research (Brown, 2011, 2012).Decades of adult development research, specifically in the field of constructive-developmentalism (Cook-Greuter, 1999; Fingarette, 1963; Kegan, 1980; Kohlberg, 1969; Loevinger, 1966; Perry, 1970; Selman, 1974) provide insight into how different ways of meaning-making impact leadership. Scholars who take a constructive-developmental view of leadership (e.g. Harris and Kuhnert, 2008; Joiner and Josephs, 2007; Torbert et al., 2004; Wagner and Kegan, 2006) question the underlying assumptions of many traditional leadership theories. They contend that what makes a difference in leadership is how one epistemologically makes sense of the content that underlies behavior or leadership style. That is, the actual surface content - what the leader does or believes - is less important than the deep structures from which it arises (Eigel, 1998). In sum, how a leader knows is at least as important if not more important than what a leader knows.Constructive-developmental research shows that human meaning-making develops and becomes more complex over time, roughly growing from pre-conventional to conventional to post-conventional worldviews (Cook-Greuter, 2004; Kegan, 1982; Loevinger, 1976; O'Fallon, 2012). As individuals develop into post-conventional stages of meaning-making, novel capacities arise. These include increased cognitive functioning, strengthened personal and interpersonal awareness, increased understanding of emotions, and more accurate empathy (Kegan, 1994; Loevinger, 1976; Manners and Durkin, 2001). This increase in capacity - in turn - has been correlated with greater leadership effectiveness (Kegan, 1994; McCauley et al., 2006; Rooke and Torbert, 1998; Strang and Kuhnert, 2009; Torbert et al., 2004). As compared with leaders who hold conventional stages of meaning-making, leaders with post-conventional meaning-making are perceived as more effective. This is because they tend to think more strategically, collaborate more, seek out feedback more often, resolve conflicts better, make greater efforts to develop subordinates, and are more likely to redefine challenges so as to capitalize on connections across them (Joiner and Josephs, 2007). Thus, leaders with mature, post-conventional meaning-making systems have access to enhanced and new capacities that others may not. This seems strengthen their ability to respond to complex, ambiguous, and sophisticated challenges.In this study I use the action logics framework created by Torbert and colleagues (Fisher et al., 1987; Torbert, 1987; Torbert et al., 2004). Based upon Loevinger's (1966, 1976) research into ego-development and self-identity, it was expanded upon by Cook-Greuter (1999, 2004). An \"action logic\" represents how we organize and interpret reality. It describes the developmental stage of meaning-making that informs and drives reasoning and behavior. It includes what we see as the purpose of life, what needs we act upon, what ends we move toward, our emotions and our experience of being, and how we think about ourselves and the world (Cook-Greuter, 1999; Torbert et al., 2004). There are eight action logics prevalent in the adult population (see Table I).My research focused on very rare leaders who hold one of the three latest, or most mature, action logics (i.e. Strategist, Alchemist, and Ironist). These individuals represent approximately 5-6 percent of the adult population in the US (n=4,510; Cook-Greuter, 1999, 2004). At these very complex stages of development, many metacognitive (Metcalfe and Shimamura, 1994) and metaemotional (Gottman et al., 1997) capacities arise, beyond those previously mentioned. These include the ability to: take a systems view and even a unitive view on reality; simultaneously hold and manage conflicting frames, perspectives and emotions; and deeply accept oneself, others, and the moment, without judgment. Such individuals also report deep access to intuition and perceive their rational mind as a tool, not as the principal way to understand reality. They appear to heavily tolerate uncertainty and even collaboratively engage with ambiguity to create. Finally, they experience frequent \"flow\" and \"witnessing\" states of consciousness (Cook-Greuter, 1999, 2000, 2005; Joiner and Josephs, 2007; Nicolaides, 2008). I was curious about how leaders with such complex action logics and access to these advanced capacities engage in change initiatives.Besides constructive-developmentalism, I also drew upon sustainability leadership theory (Ferdig, 2007; Parkin, 2010; Quinn and Dalton, 2009). This field goes by various names, including corporate social responsibility leadership (D'Amato et al., 2009; Maon et al., 2009), ecocentric leadership (Shrivastava, 1994), environmental leadership (Berry and Gordon, 1993; Egri and Herman, 2000), ethical leadership (Banerjea, 2010; Ciulla, 1998), and green entrepreneurship (Pastakia, 1998; Walley and Taylor, 2002). Although there is are calls for strong and courageous leadership to drive sustainability (Kakabadse and Kakabadse, 2007; Senge, 2008), few studies describe it in action (Cox, 2005; Van Velsor, 2009). I reviewed literature concerning sustainability leaders' values and worldviews (Boiral et al., 2009; Shrivastava, 1994; Visser and Crane, 2010), competencies (Boiral et al., 2009; Cox, 2005; Hind et al., 2009; Kakabadse et al., 2009; Wilson et al., 2006), and behaviors (Doppelt, 2010; Hardman, 2009; Portugal and Yukl, 1994; Quinn and Dalton, 2009). Most of that research was exploratory and none of it empirically measured the influence of complex meaning-making on sustainability leadership. Nonetheless, some studies strongly advocate for and describe the behaviors of sustainability leaders that have a sophisticated worldview (Boiral et al., 2009; Doppelt, 2010; Hames, 2007; Hardman, 2009) or intellect (Waldman et al., 2006).\n2. Methodology and participant sample: This qualitative study employed semi-structured, open-ended interviews and was based upon Lincoln and Guba's (1985) naturalistic inquiry. Participants enrolled through a nomination process underwent psychological assessment to determine their action logic. My sample consisted of leaders and change agents who had designed and implemented major sustainability initiatives within the past two years. This was defined as a program, intervention, or strategic project that aimed to improve social, economic, and/or environmental metrics for at least 1,000 people. The participants came from the private, public, and civil society sectors, and held mid- or senior-level positions.I used a variation of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Loevinger and Wessler, 1970) to assess the meaning-making capacity, or action logic, of 32 leaders and change agents. The WUSCT has been extensively refined and validated (Cohn and Westenberg, 2004; Hauser, 1976; Loevinger, 1979; Manners and Durkin, 2001), and has been revised several times (Cook-Greuter, 1999; Hy and Loevinger, 1996). It is one of the most widely used measures of human development (Bartunek et al., 1983; Cohn and Westenberg, 2004). From my original sample of 32, 13 assessed at the three latest stages measured by the instrument, resulting in a final sample of six Strategists, five Alchemists, and two Ironists. No other leadership study has had as many participants with documented, advanced meaning-making capacity. The five female and eight male participants came from the European Union, North America, Oceania, and South America. Eight were from the private sector (including consultancies), one from the public sector, and four from civil society, with an average age of 43.6. I conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews about their experience designing and engaging in sustainability initiatives. Through thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998) of the data, and building upon constructive-developmental and sustainability leadership theory, I developed my findings.\n3. Summary of findings and discussion: I make three major propositions based upon the study. These leaders:1. design from a deep inner foundation;2. access powerful internal resources and theories to distill and evolve the design; and3. adaptively manage the design.Each proposition is supported by two or three major findings (see Figure 1).Design from a deep inner foundation with profound trust\n4. Conclusion and implications for theory and practice: This is the first empirical research that describes leadership at the intersection of sustainability and advanced adult development. It offers new insights into the behaviors and competencies of leaders who hold the very complex meaning-making systems. This exploratory data can be used to help guide the development of leaders into post-conventional meaning-making which may, in turn, aid them to more effectively address global challenges.Although exploratory, these findings have significant implications for leadership theory in general and sustainability leadership theory in particular. With few exceptions, leadership researchers regularly build frameworks and competency models, and study exemplars, without accounting for the vast differences in meaning-making amongst their sample and target populations. However, the development of a leader's meaning-making system is a key determinant of leadership effectiveness. This primary and secondary research has demonstrated important variances in how leaders with different meaning-making systems engage in complex change. These findings call into question the credibility of leadership theory that has not incorporated a constructive-developmental perspective. More importantly, they highlight the opportunity to strengthen the efficacy of future leadership research. Findings from constructive-developmentalism should therefore be incorporated into leadership studies and leader development practice.If society is to achieve the difficult and complex objectives of global sustainability, we will likely need myriad leaders with advanced meaning-making capacities. Numerous resources explore how to cultivate these capacities; interested parties are encouraged to review them (see, Chandler, 1990; Eigel, 1998; Gauthier and Fowler, 2008; Harris and Kuhnert, 2008; Kegan and Lahey, 2001, 2009; Pfaffenberger, 2005, 2006; Reams, 2002; Rooke and Torbert, 1998; Scott, 2009; Wagner and Kegan, 2006; Wilber et al., 2008).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to document how leaders with a highly-developed meaning-making system design and engage in sustainability initiatives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In total, 32 leaders and change agents were assessed for their meaning-making system, or action logic, using a variation of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test; 13 were identified as holding the three rarest and most complex action logics able to be measured. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews explored their behavior and actions as related to complex change initiatives.\nFindings: - These leaders appear to: design from a deep inner foundation, including grounding their work in transpersonal meaning; access non-rational ways of knowing, and use systems, complexity, and integral theories; and adaptively manage through \"dialogue\" with the system, three distinct roles, and developmental practices. Fifteen leadership competencies and developmental stage distinctions for three dimensions of leadership were identified.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The sample size leads to the findings being propositions that require further validation before broader generalization.\nPractical implications: - The results provide the most granular view to date of how individuals with highly complex meaning-making may think and behave with respect to complex change, offering potential insight into the future of leadership.\nSocial implications: - The study explores how to cultivate leadership with the capacity to address complex social, economic, and environmental challenges.\nOriginality/value: - The paper documents 15 competencies that are largely new to the leadership literature, and that reflect the actions of leaders operating with highly sophisticated meaning-making systems.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Flexibility in service operations: review, synthesis and research agenda
|
[
"Uncertainty",
"Service operations",
"Flexibility",
"Themes",
"Literature review"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Scholars and practitioners have extensively examined how service operations are faced with a high degree of uncertainty and argue that flexibility is essential in multiple fronts for customer value creation (Skalen et al., 2015; Brozovic et al., 2016). Flexibility refers to \"an organization's ability to provide a rapid response mechanism to the uncertainties while simultaneously being adaptive to changes in the environment\" (Dreyer et al., 2012). Many authors have pointed out flexibility as adjustments in service capacity and to deliver customized service rapidly (Saurez et al., 1996; Aranda, 2003). From an assessment point of view, the concepts of flexibility constitute an open system and need an exploration across the value chain. Considerable attention in the field of service operations flexibility has been received in the last two decades (Verdu-Jover et al., 2004; Toni and Tonchia, 2005; Aryee and Potter, 2010). Recent studies have not only emphasized the relevancy of flexibility but also argue that it is vital for sustainability and improved performance (Lucianetti et al., 2018). Therefore, to make the phenomena more visible and organize knowledge for the improved understanding of the field, an assessment of flexibility is required.\n2. Flexibility research: an overview: Over the years, flexibility has aroused considerable interest among scholars and practitioners. Early academic thought on flexibility was centered on devising various plans, identifying the functional areas and utilization of flexibility in the decision-making process (Wilson, 1911; Phi and Kappa, 1947; Massie, 1958; Fleming, 1978). Many authors argue that flexibility is closely related to the environmental uncertainties and reflects the adaptability and responsiveness (Lu et al., 2017; Sushil, 2017). Flexibility has been advocated as an important theme and concept which provides the basis to capture the ambiguity and uncertainty on multiple fronts (Sushil, 2001; Meyer et al., 2015).\n3. Methodology: In this study, articles published in flexibility research were analyzed. We aimed at analyzing subject-specific literature on flexibility and explore the knowledge gap in the field. The articles were retrieved from electronic database of academic journals. There was no time constraint for searching the database, and it included the latest published papers. The keyword for the search included \"flexibility\" from the peer-reviewed academic journals published in \"English\" language. The reference list of the retrieved articles was also scanned to identify other articles that fit the criteria (Hogreve and Gremler, 2009). A total of 125 articles met the criteria. A similar technique is used by some recent studies (cf. Mccoll-kennedy et al., 2017).\n4. Implications for theory: what we still need to know: The review of the literature reveals that despite a consistent focus of researchers there is a dearth of information regarding the assessment of flexibility in service operations. The objective of the current study is to capture the essence of flexibility in service operations. The study identified ten different themes that have encountered in the literature. The themes highlight important areas of inquiry designed to help advance understanding of flexibility in service operations. This study should help future researchers to provide key insights to map the potential of the field. Flexibility has largely been studied at various levels such as strategic, operations and tactical. However, the trend suggests that future works should attempt to extricate the dynamics of flexibility and to identify the regions in which flexibility could be developed. Although many authors in the field of flexibility have proposed several dimensions, an agreement among the scholars lacks regarding its multi-dimensionality. Recent studies indicate that exploring the dimensions and the interplay between different dimensions for customer value creation is required. Therefore the research questions can be outlined as follows:\n5. Conclusion: For the success of the organizations in a current dynamic environment, the assessment of service operations flexibility is considered critical. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature on flexibility and proposes a conceptual framework of flexibility in service operations. Although there have been attempts to review the field of flexibility, most of these reviews are lacking in a systematic and scientific approach. The current study incorporates a thematic analysis approach to derive major themes and enhance the understanding of flexibility inductively. The study identifies a set of ten distinct themes which are analyzed to provide a future direction of research in the field. The analysis highlights key potential areas and provides a set of research questions to be addressed in future research. Therefore, much remains unanswered and a compelling research agenda is therefore provided along with an integrative framework for the assessment of flexibility in service operations.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic review of flexibility, to identify the gaps in theory and to propose a future research agenda.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper combines a systematic review and thematic analysis of scholarly articles of flexibility. The articles are analyzed to explicate the dynamics of flexibility in service operations. Thematic analysis was done using NVIVO 10.0 to identify key approaches, trends and future research agenda.\nFindings: The review reveals ten different themes that highlight the future research avenues and points out that an integrative framework to assess the field of flexibility, particularly in developing countries, is largely missing in the literature. The study also provides a set of research questions to enhance its explanatory power.\nResearch limitations/implications: Articles that explicitly mention \"flexibility\" were only included, however, there may be several unexploited areas regarding the influence of different variables on flexibility. The study is based on the inductive analysis of 650 published articles on flexibility retrieved from the electronic database. The framework proposed in the study is conceptual and requires empirical testing in future research.\nOriginality/value: The study synthesizes the flexibility literature and contributes to a set of ten distinct themes that extricate the dynamics of flexibility. The study provides a comprehensive review of the relevant articles and identifies the theoretical gaps in the research area of service operations flexibility that can be used by academia and industry for promoting flexibility.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Ensuring access to theses in the Arab speaking world - University of Jordan initiatives
|
[
"Academic libraries",
"Digitization",
"Theses",
"Digital collection preservation",
"Theses repositories",
"University of Jordan"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The past two decades have witnessed great growth in the number of information resources. As part of keeping up with the rapid changes in the information resources environment, many academic libraries around the globe are adopting digitization projects to provide better and wider access of information resources. Besides the \"born digital material\", they have been creating digital sources from the original non-digital material. Digitization is a hot topic. Academic and research libraries have become increasingly interested in using electronic information and resources on the internet. Hughes (2004) defines digitization as \"the conversion of an analogue artefact into a binary representation\". Digitization has become a big business nowadays. Most museums, large libraries, and organizations are currently at some stage of making their materials available in the digital form (Hughes, 2004). This indeed has also arisen the need to preserve digital objects to strengthen the trend of the digital library environment and to be able to survive in it.\n2. Electronic theses and dissertations initiatives: In many universities, it is now mandatory for students to submit an electronic copy of their thesis. Haddow's (2008) study concludes that mandating academic staff to deposit is the only way to get stuff into a repository. Regardless that some disciplines are better at self-archiving than others, and some disciplines run subject-based repositories. Digital repositories are important as they provide a digital archival record of research outputs carried out by the institution.\n3. Digital content preservation: Digital preservation is accorded high priority in many libraries. Digitization is not preservation. It offers instead a new preservation paradigm. Although digitization is being carried out at many academic institutions, many of them do not consider how long the digital content should remain available or what procedures should be taken to update content. Therefore, IFLA (2002) recommended some preservation strategies to ensure long-term maintenance of data and access of resources within the rapid changing environment, these are:\n4. University of Jordan library experience: 4.1 Data collection methods\n5. Conclusions: Managing research within universities is essential especially in such highly competitive and collaborative environment. This paper presents a selection of digitization projects in the literature, along with some measures taken to protect the investment in these projects - focussing on UK institutions' experience. The paper then investigates the University of Jordan library initiatives in digitization. It also examines workflows of theses handling process. Analyzing theses handling process at University of Jordan is essential, as their library is considered the Theses Deposit Center from Arab World Universities. Therefore, attention should be given to enhance the process and ensure accessibility and content preservation. Data was collected through interviews (n = 8) with all library staff involved in digitization and thesis handling. RAD was found easy to enact for illustrating the workflow of theses handling process. It was also used to searchlight some possible improvements. It is highly recommended that the library takes strict action regarding how theses are deposited, managed and accessed. It is also essential to maintain a well-written and updated digital collection preservation policy. Digitization challenges are inevitable; therefore, providing an optimum solution is a hard task; however, some strategies can meet some of the challenges.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine some of the digitization projects at the library of the University of Jordan. As the library acts as the deposit centre for theses from the Arab world universities, an effective management policy for deposit, management and access is required. The paper illustrates some of the existing workflows and considers the challenges and possible improvements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Interviews (n = 8) with library staff in the Information Division provided details about the methods used for the collection and management of print and electronic theses in the University of Jordan, in addition to some digitization projects. In addition, very recent unpublished brochure was collected from one member of staff in the computer applications and databases section to learn about theses deposit statistics from various countries in the Arab world. A business process modelling technique (Riva) (Ould, 2005) using role activity diagram illustrated some of the existing workflows, the challenges and possible improvements.\nFindings: Some Arab universities do not send theses on regular basis; some do not collaborate at all. Workflows vary according to the format of the thesis. The number of digitized print theses has reached 77,885 titles, out of total of 84,043, but it is a slow process. All newly submitted theses from Jordanian universities come in print and on a CD, but other external institutions may use different methods (CD only by mail, or direct uploading to the webpage provided by the University of Jordan). The current online system for uploading theses was last updated in 2017. Deposit rates through the system are very low. Access to theses is relatively limited; print theses can be accessed within the library premises. The online theses repository provides full text and all academic staff; students and researchers can access these from any workstation within the university campus. Only registered users may access theses databases (read only) outside the network. Resourcing for digitization is limited, and the digitization itself is currently outsourced although other processes are done in-house.\nPractical implications: The paper encourages the use of a practical online theses' repository to deposit theses from the higher education within the Arab world.\nSocial implications: Establishing theses repository and ensuring proper and smooth deposit process by Arab universities libraries, would enhance communication and collaboration amongst them.\nOriginality/value: The paper supports the theme of the primacy of global access to information for learning and scholarship. The paper adds value in the context of theses access amongst Arab universities. As the library acts as the deposit centre for theses from the Arab world universities, an effective management policy for deposit, management, access and preservation is required. The paper provides a set of recommendations that would contribute to raise the visibility of research produced by Arab higher education, through a single source of access to theses.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Mining and livelihood: a microanalysis in Odisha, India
|
[
"Sustainable",
"Mining",
"Capital",
"Agricultural land",
"Asset",
"Iron ore",
"Livelihood"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Does mining ensure sustainable livelihoods to local communities? There are ample opportunities for the nation that are blessed with rich mineral deposits. Minerals are the natural resource which cannot be produced or created artificially. Mining plays an important role in the development process by converting mineral resources into a form of capital that contributes to a nation's output (Davis and Tilton, 2005). Thus, the exploration of mineral resources can pave the way for the development of a nation (Ofensu-Mensah, 2011). It not only generates revenue to state treasury and export earning to the mineral-producing country (Ofensu-Mensah, 2011; Mishra, 2009; Bogdetsky et al., 2005; Akabzaa and Darimani, 2001) but also creates employment opportunities for the local community (Ejdemo and Soderholm, 2011; Ye, 2008; Brunnschweiler, 2006; Mcmohan and Remy, 2001; Stilwell et al., 2000; Clements et al., 1996).\n2. Study area and research design: 2.1 Definition of livelihood\n3. Result and discussion: Livelihoods are considered as a group of economic activities undertaken by the household regularly to satisfy their basic needs (Maliganya et al., 2013). It can be achieved through an array of resources called asset/capitals. SLF identifies financial, physical, social, natural and human capital upon which livelihoods are built. For this, people necessitate a basket of assets to achieve positive livelihood outcome. Though all these five capitals are essential for sustainable livelihood, physical and financial capitals are the prominent requirement for livelihood. Therefore, these two important aspects of livelihood strategies are addressed in the present paper for the people of both mining and nonmining area of Keonjhar district of Odisha.\n4. Conclusion and recommendation: To conclude, the present study shows that households in mining villages enjoy higher average annual and per capita income than in nonmining villages. Furthermore, the closer the village is to the mine site, the higher the income it enjoys. Even the financial capital index of mining is significantly different from nonmining villages. Discriminant analysis of components shows that the higher the sources of income from undisclosed income and bonus, the more likely the area to be a mining village, whereas the higher the source of income from farming on land and casual agricultural labour, the more likely the area to be a nonmining village. Owning of assets is significantly higher in mining than in nonmining villages. Thus, mining in the study area has helped in augmentation of financial and physical capital, but it fails to improve infrastructure facilities and has left most of the farming land uncultivated. The finding of the present study extend its support to those studies that argue mining has a positive impact on financial capital (Fisher et al., 2009; Mishra, 2009) and owning of consumer durables (Ofensu-Mensah, 2011; Mishra, 2009; Brubacher and Associates, 2002) and negative impact on agricultural land (Ocansey, 2013; Adetayo, 2012; Schueler et al., 2011). But the findings contradict some studies that reveal that mining contributes to the improvement of infrastructural facilities in the region (Koku and Singh, 2005; Brubacher and Associates, 2002).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of mining on the livelihood of the inhabitants of Keonjhar district in Odisha, through creation of physical and financial capital using the sustainable livelihoods framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Principal component analysis technique and discriminant analysis were used to assess the impact of mining on the financial capital. A cross-tabulation analysis with kh2-test has also been carried out to find its impact on physical capital.\nFindings: The study reveals that though iron ore mining helps in the augmentation of financial capital of the households, its impact on physical capital is mixed. Households in mining villages enjoy higher average annual and per capita income than those in nonmining villages. There is also a significant difference in the financial capital index of mining and nonmining villages. Even owning of physical assets like TV and motorcycle is significantly higher in mining villages than its nonmining counterparts. But mining has failed to develop the infrastructural facilities and has rendered most of the agricultural land uncultivated.\nOriginality/value: It is difficult to sustain the benefits arising out of mining over long run due to its finite life span and calls for policy interventions that can lead to sustainable livelihood to the local inhabitants.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A test of interventions for security threats from social engineering
|
[
"Data security",
"Systems analysis",
"Risk analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A rising technique to violate information security involves social engineering in which people are manipulated into performing actions or divulging confidential information to perpetrators for illicit financial gains (Mitnick and Simon, 2002). Our previous research (Workman et al., 2008; Workman, 2008) developed a formative model of social engineering factors that were examined in a field setting. In this study, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the model followed by randomized experiment of recommended treatments to determine their efficacies.\nTheory and hypotheses: Social engineering and information security\nMethod: We chose a field study because these have strong ecological validity, and because we wanted to generalize our findings to the world of practice. Before testing the hypotheses, we wanted to ensure that the model fit our social engineering research question and hence we first conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the threat assessment and control model, followed by an assessment of treatment effects. The data were gathered using a questionnaire containing antecedent factors, and samples of social engineering security behaviors were observed.The organization in which we conducted the field study was an international government-regulated Fortune 500 entity that had serious security breaches in the past. The organization is headquartered in the USA, but has offices in Canada, in the UK, and parts of Europe. In the public interest, they encouraged us to study the problem and acceded to our requirement that participation would be anonymous and the data gathered held in strict confidence so that we could better protect the participants and improve the response rate. Since we dealt with such sensitive matters, prior to the study, we received institutional human-subjects review approval, and received guidance from the company's attorneys and human resources department.The company monitors data and communication as a standard practice and requires employees to sign an employment agreement that includes their consent to monitoring when they are hired. Laws in the USA and the EU support the right of corporations to inspect and monitor work and workers, which arises from needs related to business emergencies and a corporation's rights to protect its interests and assets (Keck, 2005; Losey, 1998; Borrull and Oppenheim, 2004). Companies can monitor employees, and while advisable to take overt action to notify its employees of the practice, it is not generally required by law (Scholz, 1997).Instrumentation: sample and data collection\nResults: Before construct validation and hypotheses tests, we needed to determine whether the measures of security behaviors (phishing and pretext) were relatively independent or if they represented an underlying security behavior construct, hence we conducted an exploratory factor analysis. This analysis showed that the behaviors loaded onto a single factor and the reliability of the items was high (a=0.88) (Stevens, 1990). Accordingly, we standardized the observed items and reverse coded them in Z-score form for the frequency that the person responded to an adverse social engineering behavior. We then created a single measure referred to as \"social engineering behavior.\"Having centered on phishing and pretext as a conceptually congruent measure, we then examined the model for validity and fit (Table I). To examine the model for validity, we ran a Varimax rotated principal components analysis. With eigenvalues set at 1.00, ten items were removed according to Kaiser's rule (Stevens, 1992; Tabachnick and Fidell, 1996). Remaining items cross loadings were all under 0.27 indicating good validity among items and their constructs (Stevens, 1992), and multicollinearity tolerances for the components all exceeded 0.80.We then examined the four indices for fit (Kline, 1998). The adjusted goodness of fit (AGFI) index measures the amount of variances and co-variances jointly accounted for by the model adjusting for the degrees of freedom. The range for AGFI is from 0 (worst fit) to 1 (best fit); an AGFI > 0.8 is desirable (Table II). The likelihood ratio is the value of kh2 divided by the degrees of freedom; less than 3 is desired. The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) measures model accuracy according to population discrepancy in relation to degrees of freedom; an RMSEA < 0.05 is desired, and a kh2 probability score > 0.05 is desired (Nunnally and Berstein, 1994).We then turned our investigation to determine whether using both the self-reported social engineering behaviors and the objective social engineering behavior measures were separable or whether they were representative of a unified construct. In the current study, the self-report and objective measures very highly correlated (r=0.98). With this high degree of correlation combined with a good model fit, and all significant correlation coefficients, we were able to assume that the measures were sufficiently interchangeable to be combined (Bommer et al., 1995). Thus, we combined the objective and subjective measures so that the hypotheses could be tested in a straightforward manner.The test of the final model is shown in Figure 1. All correlation coefficients were significant in determining susceptibility to social engineering supporting each hypothesis, and the adjusted R2=0.52. Given these results, we randomly selected and randomly assigned participants to treatment groups and tested the treatment effectiveness in relation to each factor hypothesized in H6 as a null hypothesis.The test of the treatment conditions and their interactions was conducted using factorial ANCOVA, using pretest scores as the covariate. We hypothesized a null for economy; however, we tested factors and treatment interactions using directional tests. The first of tests asserted that people who experienced greater fear would more positively benefit from the punishment treatment condition versus ethics or training treatments. The ANCOVA was significant, F(53,535)=3.06, p<0.001. A post hoc analysis indicated that indeed people who experienced greater fear responded best to the punishment condition versus ethics training (p<0.001) and versus social engineering training (p=0.002).Next, we tested the efficacy of interactions with treatment and the perceptions of vulnerability and severity of threat. The ANCOVAs of these tests indicated that none of the treatments made a statistical difference in the perception of threat severity, F(65,523)=1.50, p=0.31 or vulnerability, F(71,517)=1.69, p=0.06. These results indicate that perceptions of threat severity and vulnerability are very resilient, possibly as a result of the constant reinforcement of threats by organizations and media. Finally, we tested whether commitment and trust factors would interact with treatment groups. The ANCOVA indicated significant results for both factors, F(60,528)=1.45, p=0.046, F(58,530)=2.13, p<0.001, respectively. The post hoc analysis revealed that neither commitment (p=0.861) nor trust (p=0.732) was affected by the ethics training; however, both commitment (p<0.001) and trust (p<0.001) were positively affected by social engineering training.\nDiscussion: In summary, our study found that punishment as a deterrent was most beneficial on social engineering threats for those who perceived greater fear, and social engineering training was most beneficial for those who had higher levels of commitment and trust tendencies. None of the treatment conditions affected perceptions of threat vulnerability or severity. It appears from this study at least, people perceive that social engineering poses a significant and present danger regardless of training that might help them to prevent it.Ethics training had no impact on social engineering behavior in this study. Other research (Calluzzo and Cante, 2004; Simpson et al., 1994) has drawn similar conclusions about ethics training in other contexts. However, while this study suggests that ethics training might not be effective in helping people proactively address social engineering threats, we recognize this as a productive behavior. Some research (Harrington, 1996; Workman and Gathegi, 2007) has shown that ethics training might be helpful in correcting counterproductive behaviors such as cheating or intentional contravention such as stealing software.Limitations\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Recently, the role of human behavior has become a focal point in the study of information security countermeasures. However, few empirical studies have been conducted to test social engineering theory and the reasons why people may or may not fall victim, and even fewer have tested recommended treatments. Building on theory using threat control factors, the purpose of this paper is to compare the efficacy of recommended treatment protocols.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A confirmatory factor analysis of a threat control model was conducted, followed by a randomized assessment of treatment effects using the model. The data were gathered using a questionnaire containing antecedent factors, and samples of social engineering security behaviors were observed.\nFindings: - It was found that threat assessment, commitment, trust, and obedience to authority were strong indicators of social engineering threat success, and that treatment efficacy depends on which factors are most prominent.\nOriginality/value: - This empirical study provides evidence for certain posited theoretical factors, but also shows that treatment efficacy for social engineering depends on targeting the appropriate factor. Researchers should investigate methods for factor assessment, and practitioners must develop interventions accordingly.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Food-system actors' perspectives on trust: an international comparison
|
[
"Social media",
"Consumer",
"Trust",
"Food scare",
"Food system"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Maintaining consumer trust in food is an ongoing challenge for national and global food systems. The scale of modern, globalised food systems is immense, complex and fragmented (Kjaernes, 2012; Poppe and Kjaernes, 2003). Consequently, the knowledge of the food system is argued to be difficult for the public to access and engage with (Meyer et al., 2012). As such, public trust in the institutions responsible for ensuring food systems are managed in line with their expectations is critical (see our earlier work for expanded conceptualisations of trust in food (Henderson et al., 2012; Meyer et al., 2012; Tonkin et al., 2015). Food incidents, however, such as food scares and scandals, are critical tests of the public's trust in food. Food system management of such incidents has been shown to influence both public trust and intention to purchase food (Jacob et al., 2011; Mazzocchi et al., 2008; Yamoah and Yawson, 2014). Notable food incidents occurring in recent history include the Garibaldi food poisoning incident in Australia in 1995, the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) crisis in the UK in 1996, the dioxin crisis involving the IOI in 2008 and the Fonterra infant formula incident in New Zealand (NZ) in 2014 (Dey and Montet, 2017; Thomson et al., 2012). All of these incidents had unique aetiology, media reporting and responses from the relevant food industries and regional food governance bodies (Dey and Montet, 2017; Jacob et al., 2011; Regan et al., 2016; Thomson et al., 2012; Yamoah and Yawson, 2014). As such, all had different impacts on consumer trust in food. Research comparing how actors within these different regions manage food incidents in order to maintain and rebuild (if necessary) public trust in the food system in each country may, therefore, lead to learnings which can be applied internationally. The purpose of the present research was, therefore, to compare the perspectives of actors who contribute to trust in the food system from Australia, NZ, the UK and the IOI regarding (re)building public trust in food before, during and following a food incident.\nMethods: Data were collected in two separate studies: the first in Australia, NZ and the UK (Study 1), and the second on the IOI (Study 2). Study 2 adopted the methodology used in Study 1, enabling a comparative analysis. Here, we describe the participant sampling and data collection methods used for Studies 1 and 2, followed by a description of data analysis. For the purposes of consistency in reporting of this study, we use the term \"region\" to refer to the localities examined (e.g. the region of Australia).\nFindings: In this section, we compare the perspectives of actors who contribute to trust in the food system in four high income countries which have diverse food incident histories regarding (re)building public trust in food before, during and following a food incident. There were two predefined areas of focus, namely, communication with the public, and food system interrelationships. With regard to communication with the public, the subtheme of the use, advantages and disadvantages of social media was strong, detailed and offered important contrasts and as such we have chosen to focus the results on these findings. Regarding food system interrelationships, the sub-themes of regulator-industry relationships, media-regulatory/industry relationships and attitudes towards relationships were the strongest sub-themes, and are, therefore, the focus of this section.\nDiscussion: The aim of this research was to compare the perspectives of actors who contribute to trust in the food system from Australia, NZ, the UK and the IOI regarding their approaches to public communication and food system interrelationships before, during and following a food incident. While there were many similarities in the way food system actors discussed these focal points for public trust, their perceptions differed in a number of critical ways regarding food system actor use of social media, and the attitudes and approaches taken towards relationships between food system actors. Although the results themselves provide specific opportunities for learning for food system actors, this discussion explores key points of difference in approaches to social media use and food system interrelationships.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare the perspectives of actors who contribute to trust in the food system in four high income countries which have diverse food incident histories: Australia, New Zealand (NZ), the United Kingdom (UK) and the Island of Ireland (IOI), focussing on their communication with the public, and their approach to food system interrelationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected in two separate studies: the first in Australia, NZ and the UK (Study 1); and the second on the IOI (Study 2). In-depth interviews were conducted with media, food industry and food regulatory actors across the four regions (n=105, Study 1; n=50, Study 2). Analysis focussed on identifying similarities and differences in the perspectives of actors from the four regions regarding the key themes of communication with the public, and relationships between media, industry and regulators.\nFindings: While there were many similarities in the way food system actors from the four regions discussed (re)building trust in the context of a food incident, their perceptions differed in a number of critical ways regarding food system actor use of social media, and the attitudes and approaches towards relationships between food system actors.\nOriginality/value: This paper outlines opportunities for the regions studied to learn from each other when looking for practical strategies to maximise consumer trust in the food system, particularly relating to the use of social media and attitudes towards role definition in industry-regulator relationships.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
On system reliability with single strength and multi-component stress model
|
[
"Manufacturing systems",
"Stress (materials)",
"Strength of materials",
"Exponential distribution",
"Product reliability"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Reliability of a consumer or engineering product has always been a big concern for manufacturers. The customer expects to use products over a certain period of time without any problems. This leads to the problem of addressing the risks involved in perceived quality and reliability levels by eliminating or at least reducing the risk impact at the design phase. In reliability engineering, the workload is interpreted as \"stress\" applied on a system and capacity to with stand the stress as the \"strength\" of the system. Reliability evaluation in the frame work of probabilistic \"stress-strength\" models is based on the expression of reliability function for a given mission time, i.e. R=P(Y>X), where the random variable X (\"Stress\") is the peak value of stress and Y is its strength. As such, when the distribution function of both strength and stress variables are known, studies like Church and Harris (1970), Mazumdar (1970), Dowton (1973), Bhattacharya and Johnson (1974), Kapoor and Lamberson (1977), Beg and Singh (1979), Reiser and Guttman (1986), Jaisingh (1988), Pandey and Uddin (1990), Nandi and Aich (1994) and Rehman et al. (2000) have analytically determined the system reliability.Recently Alam and Roohi (2002, 2003) have studied the problem of \"stress-strength\" reliability in a different way. Instead of finding P(Y>X) for a given set of distributions of X and Y, they have found the required parametric values of the assumed distribution so that a desired level of strength reliability may be achieved. For this purpose they used exponential stress against the exponential/power function strength. Later, Khan and Islam (2007a, b) dealt with the same problem for Rayleigh and generalised Weibull stress. In this paper, we have considered the reliability of an item when n-stresses, each with identical exponential probability distribution act on it.\n2. Strength-reliability for multi-component stress: The designed lifetime (strength) of equipment should only be limited to a finite range. This is so because the strength of an engineering product is always a function of a combination of a set of subcomponent and as we know that the strength of a chain lies in its weakest link; not all the subcomponents are likely to have an infinite lifetime. A highly reliable product is only as good as the inherent reliability of the product and the quality of the manufacturing process.Let the strength variable Y follow the power function distribution with probability density function (pdf): Equation 1 where th is the scale parameter and c is the shape parameter.However, the choice of the stress distribution with infinite range may be justified, as it is genuinely possible to face a very huge stress that may be regarded as tending to infinity.Let the stress variables (Xi; i=1, 2, 3, ..., n) be independent and identically distributed (iid) as exponential with pdf: Equation 2 In general, the combined effect of n-stresses is given by: Equation 3 which is a gamma distribution with parameters b and n.Since the maximum possible value of Y(strength) is th, Y cannot exceed Z if Z exceeds th. Thus a=P[Z>th] gives the unreliability of the strength Y against the n-stresses. Hence under the given circumstances: Equation 4 For fixed th and known b, let m=th/b, then Equation 5 By choosing a and n suitably, the parameters of stress and strength distribution can be determined to ensure the desired level of reliability and a can be computed by using Incomplete Gamma function: Equation 6 Finally here, we find the strength-reliability of the item having the statistical formulation expressed through equations (1) and (2). Using result of Nandi and Aich (1994), the strength reliability of an item is given by: Equation 7 where v=y/x.However, in this case: Equation 8 where m=th/b. It can be easily seen that: Equation 9 It is not easy to evaluate Rn even for given values of c, m, and n. However, it can be approximated by using a table of incomplete gamma function (Pearson, 1957) or by appropriate statistical package. For selected values of c and m, Tables I-III present the strength-reliability of an item for n=2, 3, 5 respectively.Suppose that possible values of th may have an upper limit, say th0, as we know that the capacity of accelerating an engine must be subjected to a maximum possible speed. For a fixed tolerance level a, suppose tha is the desired value of th. In case tha<=th0, we may obtain the required value of m say ma, by using Tables I-III. So that the manufactured item has the parameters (ma,tha) and then we find the desired level of strength-reliability. However, if tha>th0, we adjust the parameter a, or go for an alternate item.\n3. Discussion: In the process of developing a new product, the engineer is often faced with the task of designing a system that conforms to a set of reliability specifications. The engineer is given the goal for the system and must then develop a design that will achieve the desired reliability of the system, while performing all of the system's intended functions at a minimum cost. This involves a balancing act of determining how to distribute reliability to the components in the system so that the system will meet its reliability goal while at the same time ensuring that the system meets all of the other associated performance specifications. An electric engine pulling a number of compartments of identical nature may be a practical example representing the situation. Let us take another example; the number of users of mobile cellular network has increased rapidly in recent years. The load of the network varies in different areas and times, exceeding network capacity occasionally. When the number of mobile users (stresses) exceeds the network capacity (strength), then the network congestion problem may occur. Here reliability is network's ability to perform a designated set of functions under certain conditions for specified operational times.If a system with five components in series has a reliability objective of 90 per cent for a given operating time, the uniform allocation of the objective to all components could require each component to have a reliability of 98 per cent for the specified operating time, since 0.985[?]0.90. While this manner of allocation is easy for calculations, it is generally not the best way to allocate reliability for a system facing a stress. The optimum method of allocating reliability in that case would be to take into account the cost or relative difficulty of improving the reliability of different subsystems or components. Clearly, in such cases the tables provided in section 2 may be useful, if available, otherwise the result (2.4) may be utilised for particular cases. For example, the above example corresponds to n=5. Table III, is therefore the relevant table. Even for the simple case of c=1 (uniform strength), we get m=2.25 approximately, which implies that the components may face 2.25 times average stress as that of the single stress so as to have a 90 per cent reliability against it. If n=1, i.e. single stress is working against strength, as obtained by Alam and Roohi (2003).In comparison with the results obtained by Khan and Islam (2007b), we find that the reference paper failed to obtain the strength reliability of an item when many number of components with exponential failure law are acting on single strength. In this situation, this method is useful in obtaining the strength-reliability of an item.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The main objective of this paper is to consider the problem of strength of a manufactured item against an array of stresses, when each component follows exponential failure law.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study considers a system consisting of n components in a series with lifetimes that follow exponential failure law and applies a competing failure model to examine the strength reliability of the system.\nFindings: - In process of developing a new product, the engineer is given the goal for the system and must then develop a design that will achieve the desired reliability of the system, while performing all of the system's intended functions at a minimum cost. The paper involves a balancing act of determining how to distribute reliability to the components in the system, so that the system will meet all the other associated performance specifications.\nOriginality/value: - The application of the proposed technique will not only help the reliability engineers/managers/system engineers to understand the design methodology of the system, but also lead to the problem of addressing the risks involved in perceived quality and reliability levels by eliminating or at least reducing the risk-impact at the design phase.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Stakeholder accountability: A field study of the implementation of a governance improvement plan
|
[
"Stakeholder analysis",
"Management accountability",
"Governance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Corporate governance has been defined as \"the processes by which organizations are directed, controlled, and held to account ... concerned with structures and processes for decision-making, accountability, control and behaviour at the top of organizations\" (International Federation of Accountants, 2001, p. 3). Corporate governance has also been more broadly defined to include \"the social organization of firms and their relation to their environments including their relations to states\" (Fligstein and Freeland, 1995, p. 22) combining an economic concern with efficiency and a broader sociological concern with social, political and cultural factors.In the UK, a series of reports (Cadbury Code, 1992; Greenbury, 1995; Committee on Corporate Governance, 1998, Hampel) has had a marked influence on the development of the Combined Code on Corporate Governance (Financial Reporting Council, 2003). Subsequent reports on internal control (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, 1999, Turnbull) non-executive directors (Higgs, 2003) and the role of audit committees (Smith, 2003) have been embedded in the combined code. Similar approaches were adopted in other countries (International Federation of Accountants, 2006). Like the 2002 enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the USA, improving corporate governance has been a response to various financial and accounting scandals.There is a need to better understand governance in non-profit (Jegers and Lapsley, 2001) or non-governmental (Unerman and O'Dwyer, 2006) organizations where there is no single model of public management. This is particularly so in the quasi-public sector, a sector defined by Collier (2005) as a public sector organization in private sector clothing. Quasi-public organizations occupy a space between public and private sector organizations, a result of the withdrawal by government from direct service provision and the subcontracting of those services to the private sector or to non-governmental organizations. In this \"privatized\" non-profit distributing sector, there is a mix of public and private sources of funding, superimposed by a high degree of government regulation. The growth of these organizations may evidence a shift from a New Public Management paradigm to a governance paradigm which includes a range of different stakeholders, a greater use of networks rather than markets or hierarchies, and a greater partnership between public, private and civic actors (Ferlie and Andresani, 2006; Osborne, 2006).Corporate governance has an important role to play in balancing the competing stakes of capital markets, the regulatory system, and the product/factor markets in which an organization operates (Jensen, 1993). This is particularly so in the quasi-public sector where accountability mechanisms have tended to focus on upward accountability to funders rather than downward to the recipients of services (Unerman and O'Dwyer, 2006). An absence of shareholders in the traditional sense from quasi-public organizations makes stakeholder theory a viable perspective from which to understand accountabilities to multiple stakeholders where power differentials in capital and factor markets and in regulation mean that differing interests need to be implicitly or explicitly prioritised.This paper is the result of a four-year field study of a non-profit distributing quasi-public organization providing \"affordable housing\" to low-income tenants. There were no shareholders in the traditional sense, but there was a tripartite accountability: to the industry regulator, private sector financial institutions, and tenants. The study of Q Group is a study of the relations between subsidiary boards and the parent board and how a governance improvement plan (GIP) affected the internal dynamics of the organization and helped to clarify the differing demands of multiple stakeholders.Within stakeholder theory generally, stakeholder-agency theory (Hill and Jones, 1992) provides a more explicit linkage between stakeholders and governance in which the firm is a nexus of contracts which encompasses implicit and explicit contractual relations between all stakeholders but in which power differentials are evident. Hill and Jones (1992) argued that managers are the only group of stakeholders who enter into a contractual relationship with all other stakeholders and so can be seen as the agents of other stakeholders, being policed by governance structures. This paper brings together elements from the stakeholder theory literature to develop and enhance the stakeholder-agency approach. In doing so, the paper explains the accountability by a governing body to multiple stakeholders with differential power, emphasising the importance of structure and process, and the culture or ethos of boards in which multiple stakeholders may have compatible rather than competing interests.In the first section, the theoretical framework of stakeholder theory is described. The second section describes the research method. This is followed by the field study. In the fourth section, the findings are discussed against the governance and stakeholder literatures and in the final section the conclusions are summarised.\nStakeholder theory and the stakeholder-agency approach: Four forces operate on companies: capital markets; the legal/political/regulatory system; product and factor markets; and internal control systems headed by the board of directors (Jensen, 1993). There is substantial data to support the proposition that the internal control systems of publicly held corporations have generally failed to cause managers to maximize efficiency and value, further evidenced by the failure of firms to restructure themselves or engage in major strategic redirection without a crisis either in capital markets, the regulatory system or product/factor markets (Jensen, 1993). The legal and regulatory system is too blunt to handle the problems of wasteful management behaviour, whilst despite their eventual discipline, product and factor markets are slow to act as a control force (Jensen, 1993). By contrast, changes motivated by the capital market are generally accomplished quickly. Jensen (1993, p. 854) argued that ineffective governance was a major part of the problem with internal control mechanisms, concluding that:[...] the infrequency with which large corporate organizations restructure or redirect themselves solely on the basis of the internal control mechanisms in the absence of crises in the product, factor, or capital markets or the regulatory sector is strong testimony to the inadequacy of these control mechanisms.The primary focus of this paper is the role of corporate governance in balancing the differing stakes of the other three forces.Stakeholder theory\nResearch method: The normative theory of stakeholder identification explains why managers should recognize certain groups as stakeholders. By contrast, a descriptive theory explains the conditions under which managers do consider certain groups as stakeholders (Mitchell et al., 1997). The approach in this study is a descriptive one, although future research could test the propositions shown in Figure 1 through survey.Contextual evidence was obtained from prior studies of affordable housing (Whitehead, 1999; Williams et al., 1999; Mullins et al., 2001; Boyne and Walker, 1999; Walker and Jeanes, 2002; Collier, 2005) supplemented by websites of the Housing Corporation (the industry regulator) and the National Housing Federation (the industry trade association).The primary source was field research with Q Group (the name has been changed for reasons of confidentiality), in which the researcher was an independent board member with access to board meetings, other informal meetings, other board members and senior executives. The organization was aware of the research that was being carried out. The data were gathered from participant-observation of formal board meetings and informal board meetings (e.g. single topic meetings to discuss strategic issues without the formality of agendas and minutes), working parties and away days, emphasising the motivation for and content of decisions and the process by which decisions were made. Data were also derived from board papers and verified by the minutes of those meetings and by subsequent progress reports. Rather than a study of individual board members, the study explicitly took the board-in-aggregate as the unit of analysis. The field study was therefore an ethnography of the board.These observations took place over a four-year period. Approximately, one hundred meetings were observed over this period, lasting from two hours to a whole day (mean 2.4 hours). Detailed handwritten notes were taken during and immediately after the meeting and subsequently transcribed for analysis. These field notes were integrated with analysis of board papers which filled four four-drawer filing cabinets. The process took place throughout the four-year period, during which time the researcher was an active board member.Participant observation is the primary tool of the ethnographer. The advantage of contemporary historical observation is that it captures a record of events as they occur, from the researcher's perspective, together with the organizational portrayal of those events as found in documentary research. These insider accounts (Ackroyd and Hughes, 1992) can be read in two ways - the information provided, and knowledge about the perspectives and cultures of those providing the information (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1995). This latter perspective is essential in interpreting the data collected.The role of the researcher has been categorised as complete participant, participant as observer, observer as participant, and complete observer (Junker, 1960). In this study, the researcher was participant as observer, actively participating in board meetings with other board members being aware that there was a fieldwork relationship (Ackroyd and Hughes, 1992).Little attention is given in the research literature to the difficulties and value of meetings as a particular form of participant observation. Formal organizational meetings provide a valuable source of data that are less subjectively-influenced than a one-on-one interview. Meetings allow the interactions between various organizational actors to be observed and recorded. These meetings have their own agenda and are therefore not focused on the researcher's own agenda. In representing part of the daily life of organizations, meetings can provide multiple perspectives on issues of importance to the researcher.Although stakeholder theory was the principal theoretical framework, the research did not undertake a stakeholder analysis approach (Burgoyne, 1995). There was no interview or observation of stakeholders per se, except insofar as they were \"represented\" on the board of directors. The level of analysis was the board and its internal relationships and the approach taken in relation to stakeholders was to focus on the role of the board and its accountability to three main stakeholders groups: the Housing Corporation as regulator; lenders; and tenants. This involved a bracketing-off of other stakeholders, including employees and suppliers. Given the absence of shareholders in the traditional sense, the research question was to discover how governance processes reconciled the competing interests and accountability to these three primary stakeholder groups.\nField study: Q Group\nDiscussion: Q was not a non-profit organization. Rather it was a non-profit distributing organization that needed to generate an accounting surplus to ensure reinvestment in property maintenance and future development activity. However, its status as quasi-public was clear, given its transfer from the public sector and its function in providing affordable housing to those who could not afford market rents. Despite Q being quasi-public, government funding continued (albeit reduced) through the housing grant for new home construction and the payment of housing benefit to many tenants, which was a significant contributor to the rental income earned by Q. However, the majority of investment funds were contributed by private sector financial institutions. As a result of this status, the field study of Q Group is more representative of non governmental organizations, existing at the intersection of both private and public models. The uniqueness of Q Group's structure was the absence of a strict hierarchical structure of board control. This provided a rich description but should not invalidate generalisation to more typical organizational structures.Stakeholders\nConclusions: This study has focused on the broader accountability of organizations in terms of the power of stakeholders with their differing interests. Accountability requires governance and a stakeholder accountability perspective is the only available option for organizations like Q Group, non-profit distributing, quasi-public organizations with social welfare objects. Q Group aimed to transform its governance structure to improve its efficiency and effectiveness, with one of its intentions being to improve its ability to satisfy its multiple but not mutually exclusive accountabilities. However, not all stakeholders were equal and on each of the dimensions of power, legitimacy and urgency (Mitchell et al., 1997) the board explicitly or implicitly identified and prioritised the salience of each stakeholder. Improvements in governance were aimed at, and largely successful in improving the internal relationships within the structure of semi-autonomous boards. Appropriate strategies were implemented to meet external stakeholder demands in a changing environment, as much as the changes were concerned with improving efficiency.It has been argued that these stakeholder claims, whilst being different, were not competing but complementary given the social ethos of the organization. In the field study, different boards within Q Group gave voice to different stakeholders, which in some sense they saw themselves as \"representing\". Board culture was clearly important (Jensen, 1993) and the changes brought about by the GIP in Q Group showed that board performance could be improved.The firm is a nexus of contracts between all stakeholders in which there are power differentials. Stakeholder-agency theory (Hill and Jones, 1992) has been developed by identifying governance at the centre of differing rather than competing contractual relationships with stakeholders. Boards of directors in quasi-public organizations have both an economic concern with efficiency and a broader social concern. Stakeholder-agency theory is re-focused on the role of the board as being accountable to multiple stakeholders, prioritising explicitly or implicitly the different (rather than competing) claims of those stakeholders. The relative power, legitimacy and urgency of stakeholder claims are factors that can change over time. Whilst board accountabilities may be multiple, these accountabilities may not be mutually exclusive but may be mutually reinforcing.The stakeholder-agency approach involves a combination of structures and processes but also highlights the importance of an appropriate board culture. Although restructuring may not necessarily be driven by crisis, a desire for incremental improvement is important to bring about change in how differing stakes are managed by the board.There are research opportunities that emerge from this study. Firstly, this has been an exploratory study, in a single setting with some unique characteristics that could be tested through field studies or by a broader survey-based approach. The structural novelty of this case has been as an example of internal (boards) and external stakeholder relationships with no dominant parent-subsidiary relationship and no shareholders. Whether there is a contingent explanation for the present field study, or whether its structural novelty is irrelevant to the development of stakeholder-agency theory is a second opportunity for further research.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study aims to focus on the accountability of organizations to multiple stakeholders with differing interests and power, where there is an absence of accountability towards shareholders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Longitudinal field study via participant-observation.\nFindings: - The study focuses on the relations between the subsidiary and the parent boards and how a governance improvement plan affected the internal dynamics of the organization and helped to clarify the demands of multiple stakeholders. A stakeholder-agency model is developed which emphasises the role of governance, the importance of structure and process, and the culture or ethos of boards in which multiple stakeholders may have compatible rather than competing interests.\nOriginality/value: - The paper focuses on the quasi-public sector and develops stakeholder-agency theory by identifying governance at the centre of differing relationships with stakeholders with unequal salience where there is both an economic concern with efficiency and a broader social concern.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in an emerging economy: evidence from commercial banks of Kazakhstan
|
[
"Banking sector",
"Kazakhstan",
"Board characteristics",
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Emerging markets",
"Ownership structures"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent decades, growing and widespread interest has been paid to corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting both in academic studies and business practice (Benlemlih and Girerd-Potin, 2017). While traditionally, CSR reporting issues have attracted considerable attention in developed markets, recent studies have identified the need for extensive CSR reporting studies in emerging markets as well (Ali et al., 2017; Kansal et al., 2014). As noted by Beck et al. (2010), emerging markets are growing rapidly and commercial banks play a crucial role in the economic and financial development of these markets. However, international research related to CSR reporting practices is still limited because very few studies have been carried out to analyze CSR reporting issues in the banking sectors of emerging markets (Khan, 2010). The financial crisis of 2007-2008 has led to a growing importance of CSR activities by commercial banks (Vogler and Gisler, 2016). Banks and other financial companies have been prompted to act more ethically and in a socially responsible manner in their lending, financing, and investing activities to protect the legitimate interests of depositors and other stakeholders (Chiu, 2014). Commercial banks are being held responsible and accountable for the impact of their services and activities on the society, especially after the financial crisis (Coulson, 2009). As a result, the level of voluntary information reported by commercial banks has substantially increased due to high pressure from the society (Kilic et al., 2015). In other words, in recent years, commercial banks have enriched their reporting practices by providing more information on environmental, social and other aspects of CSR.\n2. The banking sector of Kazakhstan, corporate governance and CSR: The banking system of Kazakhstan is substantially different from those of other emerging markets in the CIS and Central Asian regions due to the country's unique economic, geographical, social and cultural characteristics. The National Bank of Kazakhstan is the central bank of Kazakhstan and represents the first tier in a two-tier banking system. All commercial banks represent the second tier. The banking sector plays a crucial role in the development of the country's economy and represents about 50 per cent of the country's GDP as of January 1, 2018. Since independence in 1991, the banking sector of Kazakhstan has undergone significant ownership changes and reforms. The banking sector of Kazakhstan was represented mainly by private financial institutions before the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The crisis led to the bankruptcy of three major commercial banks including Alliance Bank, BTA bank and TemirBank in 2008 and 2009. The government injected more than US$5bn into these banks to stabilize the banking sector and support a quick recovery from the crisis. Additionally, the government spent more than US$1bn to refinance high-interest mortgage loans with low-interest loans (Prodengi, 2010). Although the financial crisis of 2007-2008 had negative impacts on the structure, solvency, development of the banking sector of Kazakhstan, it helped to uncover weaknesses and defects of the national financial system. Due to the immediate response and important financial supports from the government, significant banking reforms, and other measures to stabilize the national financial system, the banking sector could successfully overcome the consequences of the financial crisis. Currently, the banking sector of Kazakhstan is represented by a mix of domestic, privately owned, state-owned banks and foreign-owned banks.\n3. Literature review and hypothesis development: Prior studies have used different theories to examine underlying factors that affect the level of CSR information. In the present study, the essence of resource dependency theory, stakeholder theory, and legitimacy theory are adopted to examine the effects of board characteristics on CSR reporting. From the resource dependency theory perspective, directors may bring valuable economic resources, information, skills, knowledge and recommendations for organizational success (Kesner and Johnson, 1990; Pfeffer and Salancik, 2003). Thus, the resource dependency theory suggests that board directors are likely to serve as a link between a firm and its external resources, helping to mitigate uncertainty via transparent and extensive CSR information, which is important for sustainable development (Kiel and Nicholson, 2003).\n4. Data and methodology: 4.1 Sample selection\n5. Findings and analysis: Table III reports the descriptive statistics on individual aspects of CSR reporting and the overall CSR index for each year for the period 2010-2016. The yearly mean values of the CSR index show that the overall CSR reporting practices of Kazakh banks consistently improved across the survey years. Similarly, the reported mean values of COMM, ENVN, EMPL and SOCL show a clear pattern that CSR disclosure practices of Kazakh banks improved from 2010 to 2016 in all dimensions. For all survey years, the mean values for COMM, EMPL and SOCL are 38.80, 44.57 and 42.21 per cent, respectively. However, the results show that ENVN has a mean value of 7.59 per cent for the period 2010-2016, indicating that CSR reporting in terms of environmental activities is not of primary concern to Kazakh banks, and therefore needs improvement. Overall, the results support the view that reforms related to CSR reporting practices in the banking sector of Kazakhstan are gradually gaining momentum.\n6. Concluding remarks: The present study explores the extent and nature of CSR reporting practices in the banking sector of Kazakhstan and investigates the effects of board characteristics on the level of CSR disclosures in the given emerging market. The banking sector is selected as there are very few descriptive and qualitative studies examining CSR practices in Kazakhstan that provide no empirical evidence on the effects of possible underlying factors on the level of CSR disclosures reported by commercial banks. The results show a steady improvement in the extent of CSR reporting during the period of 2010-2016 in all individual dimensions including community involvement, environment, human resources, and products and customer services. The empirical findings indicate that board gender diversity has a positive impact on CSR reporting while board size and board independence have no influence on the level of CSR disclosures. Furthermore, the results show that bank size and bank age are significant factors in the dissemination of CSR disclosures in the context of Kazakhstan. Additionally, the findings indicate that banks with a share of foreign ownership disclose more extensive and transparent information on CSR activities than banks owned by local investors and state-owned banks.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the extent and nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting practices in the banking sector of Kazakhstan and investigates the effects of board characteristics on CSR disclosures in the given emerging economy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data on CSR disclosures were manually collected from annual reports of all commercial banks listed in the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) for the period 2010-2016. Financial data were obtained from audited financial statements available on bank websites and the Web page of the National Bank of Kazakhstan.\nFindings: The empirical results reveal that board gender diversity has a positive influence on CSR reposting, while board size and board independence have no impact on the level of CSR disclosures. Furthermore, the results show that bank size and bank age are significant factors in the dissemination of CSR disclosures. Additionally, the findings suggest that banks with a share of foreign ownership disclose more extensive and transparent information on CSR activities than banks owned by local investors and state-owned banks.\nOriginality/value: The study provides evidence on the relationship between corporate governance and the level of CSR in the context of an emerging economy such as Kazakhstan, representing the Central Asian region. The study contributes to the current literature by focusing on the banking sector of Kazakhstan as a research context due to its substantial representation in the capital market of the given emerging economy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Analysing the impacts of ICT on knowledge work productivity
|
[
"Knowledge work",
"ICT",
"Measurement",
"Productivity",
"Service",
"Knowledge management",
"Communication technologies",
"Europe"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: While the significance of knowledge work has been continuously increasing it still represents a particularly challenging context from productivity improvement point-of-view (see e.g. Drucker, 1999; Haas and Hansen, 2007; Bosch-Sijtsema et al., 2009). A key challenge is that many of the knowledge workers' tasks are labor-intensive, i.e. knowledge workers are required to use their personal work time to think, communicate, read and carry out other knowledge-related tasks. As the daily work time is limited the allocation of knowledge workers' time to important versus non-value-adding activities is critical from productivity perspective. Thus, there is a need to explore ways to reduce the time knowledge workers use for unnecessary tasks in order to maximize their productive activities.Information and communication technology (ICT) provides potential means for improving knowledge work productivity, for example, through helping knowledge workers perform certain routine (i.e. non-value-adding) tasks faster and through supporting knowledge sharing among professionals (Ahuja and Shankar, 2009; Norton, 1995; Rodriguez Casal et al., 2005; Sigala, 2003). Thus, companies are eager to purchase various ICT services in order to improve the productivity of their knowledge workers.It is not self-evident that a given ICT service will lead to the expected productivity impacts. In fact, the large sum of money spent on ICT projects in general and the high degree of uncertainty associated with the adoption of new technology (benefits, risks, and costs) implies that the measurement of such projects should assume great importance (Irani and Love, 2002; Gunasekaran et al., 2006). ICT investments have often been based on beliefs in the benefits rather than on any sound attempts to measure such benefits (Fitzgerald, 1998). The lack of understanding of the holistic implications of adopting new technology may lead decision-makers to invest in unproductive technology and at the same time to refuse to implement a technology that could be beneficial to their long-term competitiveness (Irani and Love, 2002; Gunasekaran et al., 2006).There is a fair amount of prior studies examining the benefits of ICT on knowledge work productivity as well as those examining the related measurement issues (a review of relevant literature is provided in the following section). This prior research provides a generic understanding on the topic. However, within the vast scope of different ICT products and services available it is difficult to identify which ones would be most beneficial in a specific knowledge work context. Furthermore, measuring the productivity impacts of ICT services has proven to be a challenge in practice (e.g. due to the time lags before the impacts are achieved and the problems of identifying non-financial and intangible benefits). Therefore, there is still a need for further analytical insights on the impacts of ICT on the productivity of knowledge work.In this paper, the authors focus on the context-specific analysis of the impacts of ICT services on knowledge work. In particular, the authors pose the following two research questions concerning the measurement of impacts:RQ1. How to identify - in a particular knowledge work context - the factors that can be impacted by the ICT service?RQ2. How to obtain information about the expected impacts in practice?In order to reach these objectives the phenomenon is first examined conceptually through a review of earlier literature. This section is divided into two parts in line with the research questions. Then, an empirical case study is carried out. The case study is conducted in TeliaSonera, which is a medium-sized European teleoperator that provides ICT services for the consumer and enterprise markets. The ICT service examined in this study aims at improving work processes and local mobility for office workers. Within the case study the productivity impacts of ICT are approached through a performance measurement process that takes into account both tangible and intangible impact elements (Vuolle, 2011).This study makes a contribution to the prior literature on ICT and knowledge work productivity by explaining and illustrating with the case study how the impacts of ICT can be analyzed in a given empirical context. Thus, the novelty value of the paper lies in the operationalization of the impact analysis. The results of the paper will be useful for managers studying the impacts of ICT investments in their organizations and for scholars conducting further empirical studies on the impacts of ICT on knowledge work productivity.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Potential of ICT in knowledge work productivity improvement\n3. Empirical examination: 3.1 Introduction to the empirical research setting\n4. Conclusions: ICT is a potential source of knowledge work productivity improvement. ICT can be used to eliminate non-value-adding tasks or make them more efficient, thus giving time for the most important tasks. In addition, taking into use new ICT services, which function better than existing ones, can result in improving employee welfare through decreasing dissatisfaction towards ICT systems and through transforming the content of work by deleting unimportant activities. Therefore, ICT clearly has potential as means to transform knowledge work processes. However, this potential must be realized by context-specific applications. In order to learn whether the benefits are realized in a particular case there is a need for measurement solutions.The starting point of this study was the lack of knowledge on how to assess - in a given empirical context - the impacts of ICT on knowledge work. The empirical study showed that contrary to the view presented in the prior literature it does not seem that difficult to measure the impacts of ICT on knowledge work productivity. Of course, it is always a question of the level of how precise (valid and reliable) information is required. Nevertheless, practically useful measurement of impacts does not necessary have to be difficult or costly.The case study demonstrated how the impact factors can be identified and how the measurements can be conducted in a given context. Objective measurement seemed to suit well in capturing concrete issues such as time saving while subjective measurement capture complex and qualitative phenomena such as perceptions towards the usability of an ICT system. Naturally, the detailed solutions only apply in this case but a similar procedure will likely be useful in the context of other ICT services and other knowledge work organizations also.To conclude, this paper contributes to the prior literature on ICT and knowledge work productivity by explaining how the impacts of ICT can be analysed in a given empirical context. Specifically, the novelty value of the study lies in the new knowledge concerning the identification of the impact factors. The list of generic impact factors, summarized based on prior literature (Table I), acts as a basis for identifying the impacts in a specific context. The identification of case-specific impact factors by examining the characteristics of the ICT service and the organizational setting was illustrated in detail with the case study. After the identification of the impact factors, the measurement process itself was fairly straightforward.The results of the paper open up new research avenues for scholars conducting further empirical studies on the impacts of ICT on knowledge work productivity. For example, more detailed empirical studies concerning which kinds of ICT solutions work in a given type of knowledge work context, and which do not, and why they work or do not work, are some of the possible research questions for the future. The results - and the detailed case description - may also be useful as a benchmark for managers studying the impacts of ICT investments in their organizations. Considering the implications from the perspective of knowledge management research more widely, the measurement practices proposed in this paper might be adapted to many other research settings in which the impacts of a knowledge management initiative are to be determined. Providing measured evidence of the impacts of any new managerial approach or tool is likely to enhance its managerial credibility.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The potential of information and communication technology (ICT) in improving knowledge work productivity is well-documented in the existing literature. However, prior research fails to provide means for analyzing whether the potential can be realized in a specific organizational context. Thus, this paper aims to focus on the context-specific analysis of the impacts of ICT services on knowledge work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper uses a literature review and a case study conducted in a medium-sized European teleoperator company. The case study examines the measurement process for capturing the knowledge work productivity impacts produced by a new ICT service used by the company.\nFindings: - ICT can be used to eliminate non-value-adding tasks or to make them more efficient. ICT can also improve employee welfare, for example, through transforming the content of work by deleting unimportant activities. The empirical study showed that, contrary to the view presented in the prior literature, it does not seem that difficult to measure the impacts of ICT on knowledge work productivity. A key point in the measurement is identification of case-specific impact factors by examining the characteristics of the ICT service and the organisational setting.\nPractical implications: - The results of the paper will be useful for managers studying the impacts of ICT investments in their organizations.\nOriginality/value: - This paper contributes to the prior literature on ICT and knowledge work productivity by explaining how the impacts of ICT can be analysed in a given empirical context. The specific novelty value of the study lies in the new knowledge concerning the identification of the impact factors.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The impact of teenagers' gender and product importance on family decisions to purchase game consoles in Malaysia
|
[
"Malaysia",
"Teenagers",
"Influence",
"Purchase decision",
"Games consoles",
"Young adults",
"Video games",
"Buying behaviour",
"Market segmentation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A study by Farrand et al. (2006) has revealed that 83 percent of people play some form of computer or video games two or three times a week in Europe. In America, 67 percent of the American household plays computer or video games. Of that, 25 percent of these Americans are under 18 years old (Entertainment Software Association, 2010). Also, Sony, which was previously known for its Walkman, has even generated a bigger sale through its Sony Play Station (Farrand et al., 2006). All of these facts indicate the growth of the game console market, including in Asia.Teenagers in technology market\nLiterature review: Teenagers' product importance and family purchase decision\nMethodology: Research design\nResearch findings: Demographic profiles of respondent\nConclusion: Noting the lucrative benefits in the teenagers' market, marketers and content designers need to grab the opportunity by fulfilling the needs of these teenagers. They should understand what these teenagers crave by matching their wants to their specific segmentation in order for the product to be a hot selling item.\nSuggestions for future research: The sample size used was limited to 150 respondents only. Thus, caution must be applied as the results of this study cannot be generalized. Future studies can utilize larger sample size to obtain more generalized outcomes.Besides, the use of a specific technological product (i.e. video game console for teen's self use) limits the outcome of this study to other industries. However, its use is believed to provide a different approach in understanding the teens' influence on family purchase decision. Previous research has indicated that teens greatly influenced family purchase decision for the products that were highly related to them (Beatty and Talpade, 1994; Belch et al., 1985; Fikry, 2009; Mangleburg, 1990). The use of a specific product for the teens' self use was an attempt to better understand their influence on this specific product. In line with the need to understand consumer trends and lifestyles, the use of this technological product was selected to better understand the universe of electronic entertainment products in family research.\nImplication for practitioners: The results revealed that male teenagers felt that the video game console was more important to them, as compared to their counterparts. Noting this, companies targeting the male teenager market may take this opportunity to embed their brand in this game console. In addition, companies marketing men's grooming products (such as hair creme and deodorant) and health based products (such as multivitamins, health tonic and dairy products) may promote their products' brands in the sports video games such as in football games. This is due to the association between health care and sports, where a sportsman is usually perceived as having a fit and healthy lifestyle. However, the brands embedded in these games must not be too many, as this will create confusion and information overload among these male game players.Government bodies wanting to create awareness on health related issues (such as drugs and cigarettes) may put in awareness campaigns in horror related games. This will certainly relate to the effect that not taking care of one's own health may result in death, which is often seen virtually in horror games.Besides, the use of gaming celebrities will also help to boost the sales of certain types of products. For example, Lara Croft is well-known in video games, and is associated with Lucozade British's health tonic drink (Farrand et al., 2006). Thus, the video game console is not only able to promote products embedded in the video games itself, but could also be used to promote products in real life.Furthermore, given that the majority of male teenagers felt that the video game console was important to them, thus video game manufacturers could produce more action and sports games to suit the male teenagers' active and challenging lifestyles. Moreover, these genres were the top two best-selling games in 2009 (Entertainment Software Association, 2010).Children usually love to learn when it is not forced upon them and they are attracted to the learning contents provided in the games (Prensky, 2003). Thus, educational institutions may plug in some educational elements into these two genres of games (sports and action) to increase active learning motivation among the male teenagers in secondary schools. Sports games will be able to inculcate the value of teamwork in achieving success among these teenagers, while action-related games will be able to inculcate patience and being goal oriented among the teenagers. Both of these positive attitudes are very important during their development, thus making it very important for education bodies to collaborate with video game content developers to produce these edutainment games to instill positive attitudes on these future leaders.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to examine the extent of teenagers' influence on family purchase decision of the video game console.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper analyzes the significant impact of teenagers' gender and product importance toward their family purchase decision of the video game console. Altogether, 150 respondents (comprising school-aged teenagers) participated in this survey. Various marketing strategies are suggested to market the video game console to the specific market segment, thus fulfilling these teenagers' wants toward the video game console.\nFindings: - This research discovers some significant differences between the teenagers' gender and product importance toward their family purchase decision of the video game console. Therefore, there is a need for marketers and managers to understand what these teenagers want. Only then can these marketers be able to direct their marketing strategies to fulfill this teenager segment.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Results are limited to practitioners involved in the electronic games and education industries only.\nPractical implications: - Managerial implication suggests several strategies to market the game console to these teenagers, with a great emphasis on the impact of technological means toward this particular market.\nOriginality/value: - New approaches are proposed as a means to market electronic games to the teenager segment. A majority of the studies on the game console as one of a number of electronic games have focused on the USA, UK and Japanese markets; thus, there is a lack of studies that focus on the game console in the Malaysian market, which may be due to an underestimation of this young consumer sector.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Towards a more comprehensive accounting framework for hotels in China
|
[
"Financial analysis",
"China",
"Accounting"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nExisting performance reporting in China's hotels: Since China's open door policy in the early 1980s, the pace of tourism development has been accelerating yearly. This tourism growth has not only brought an increase in the number of international visitors but also has boosted the number of domestic travellers, especially during the rapid economic development in the past decade. This tourism surge has also led to the expansion of lodging facilities. Table I shows the number of hotels and beds in the extracted interval in the past 25 years. By 2020 the annual arrivals to China are forecast to reach 130 million and would place China as the world's number-one tourist destination (WTO, 1999).Performance measurement is one of the most vital activities in hotel operations. It is routinely executed for the evaluation of departmental and overall hotel performance. A number of researchers have suggested that measuring hotel performance should not only focus on financial indicators, but also on non-financial criteria such as customer and staff satisfaction, staff development, teamwork, and so on (Fitzgerald et al., 1991; Kaplan and Norton, 1992; Phillips, 1999a, b; Phillips and Louvieris, 2005). Various performance measurement frameworks have been developed for service industries by researchers incorporating a balance of both financial and non-financial measures. Examples are the \"Balanced Scorecard\" (Kaplan and Norton, 1992) and \"Results and Determinants Model\" (Fitzgerald et al., 1991). In 2005, Phillips and Louvieris proposed a balanced scorecard template for the measurement of hotel performance. As suggested by these researchers, a balanced framework is crucial in order to have a more comprehensive evaluation of a hotel's performance. Nevertheless, hotel owners and practitioners tend to examine hotel performance from a financial perspective primarily.An effective evaluation can provide important information for assessing performance of individual profit and cost centres as well as the performance of the General Manager and corresponding departmental managers (Mia and Patiar, 2001). Parkan (1996) remarked that reliable performance evaluation enhances control and fosters improvement of hotel operations. The evaluation results could pinpoint areas of the operation that need improvement and support in both short- and long-term management decision-making (Parkan, 1996; Mia and Patiar, 2001). Therefore, having a performance measuring system that can fully reflect the business situation in reality is imperative to a business, as it may affect subsequent decisions of the organisation and in the worse case, losing its competitive advantages (Phillips, 1999a).Haktanir and Harris (2005) mentioned that the context of the business is one of the essential elements of performance management systems. Thereby, performance management systems should vary with organisations operating in different environments, particularly in different business districts. Owners and operators having businesses in different areas may experience differences in local cultures, lifestyles, and needs of customers. In order to remain competitive, continuous improvements on existing products and introductions of new products and services to provide localised services are important. Thus, new opportunities and businesses are consistently emerging from the market.To ensure sound management and measure the local performance of these hotels, a proper income statement is indispensable. Presently, there are two sets of performance statement format - one is required by commercial bureaus and another is originated from international hotel firms. The former is mainly for statistical purposes whereas the latter is mainly derived from the US uniform system of accounts for the lodging industry (USALI), which is a guide detailing schedules (i.e. departmental accounts and accounting treatments). The format merely reflects the US's need and the latest version was published a decade ago. The time lapse of ten years plus rapidly changing business environment and regional variations in China have further weakened the usefulness and comprehensiveness of the currently used statement format.Pine (2002) remarked that if international hotel firms would like to prosper in China, they have to appreciate China's social, regulatory, and financial systems. Pine and Phillips (2005), also commented that adapting to the local \"unique business practices\" was essential for those who do business in China. Therefore, a review on the existing financial reporting system and the current business situation of Mainland hotels is necessary to enhance the applicability of USALI in China.To strive towards improving the existing version to reflect local need is not just limited to China. Field (2002) highlighted some significant problems when applying this version in the UK including allocation of package price to various departments, sales tax, commission accounting treatment practice, the composition of alcoholic drinks, and so on. Therefore, a detailed examination on cost, revenue, and profit of Mainland hotels should be conducted. The major reason was that the growth of Chinese tourism during the last two decades has created a highly competitive environment within the industry. This has led to vast development of product differentiations and new businesses (i.e. formations of new profit and cost centres in hotels). In order to provide essential and accurate information for further financial performance evaluation, financial statements should be comprehensive and reflect the latest situations of business units and consist of components that are specific to individual industry characteristics. Consequently, the performance of these new profit and cost centres in hotels should be reflected in the performance reporting system.\nObjectives: In light of the above situation, the main objective of this research is to enhance the level, scope, and detail of management information under the current accounting format by:* Ascertaining the significance of the emerging diverse products/services in Chinese hotels;* Identifying new hotel business drivers associated with these activities; and* Reviewing the status of reporting on new business drivers and suggesting future reporting frameworks for these new business drivers.\nMethodology: Given the paucity of existing information about new business revenue/cost drivers in Chinese society, and the exploratory nature of this study, the intensive qualitative approach was adopted. Walsh (2003) believed that qualitative research aimed at \"understanding how and why an organisation's members view a particular issue\". Therefore, the qualitative method enhances the understanding of the current situation of financial reporting in Chinese hotels. Focus group was selected due to the nature of this research and its advantages over other methods. Focus group interview is \"an unstructured, free-flowing interview with a small group of people\" (Zikmund, 2003). It encourages participants to contribute and express their true feelings freely in the discussion that is conducted in a flexible way. It can explore people's beliefs and their feedback towards something new (Procter, 2000). Thus, focus groups are often used by researchers to conduct exploratory research.Zikmund (2003) further mentioned that focus group interviews were \"relatively fast\", \"easy to execute\" and \"inexpensive\". He commented that focus groups may yield more complete and richer information. They provide synergy that combines the output of participants to create new ideas, concepts and themes that are greater than the summation of an individual's effort. Moreover, a response from a particular participant often encouraged a series of subsequent discussions in focus groups causing a snowball effect. Thus, focus group interviews have been selected as the tool to collect preliminary ideas.As the literature on reporting financial performance in China was not rich enough to provide sufficient groundwork, exploratory focus group interviews were conducted with four groups of part-time postgraduate students of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University who have a considerable number of years' worth of hotel working experience to help establish the framework of new business drivers. They have more or less similar educational backgrounds and had been working in the hospitality industry between six to 35 years at the executive level or above. A total of 110 participants were involved in the study. Among the participants, there were 41 department heads, 57 executives, and 12 senior executives who work in hotel group offices. In total, 37 participants, who accounted for about 34 percent of the total, were accounting professionals. The remaining were mainly general management and operational heads of various functional units.Each group consists of 20 to 30 students, which was further divided into four focus groups. The resultant group was comprised of six to eight participants per group following the ideal size of the focus group, which is six to ten participants as recommended by Zikmund (2003). Participants of the same hotel or hotel of similar type were arranged into the same group if possible. These homogeneous groups allowed the researcher to focus on the discussion topics by avoiding unnecessary arguments. In view of the fact that the students are not professional accountants, but are users of the USALI who are not quite sure about the content and mechanism of USALI, all participants received a three-hour lecture and a one-hour tutorial on USALI before the group discussions took place.The discussions were held in a seminar room environment covering three broad headings tabulated under \"Discussion Topic\":1. Development on revenue/cost drivers.2. Full reporting progress.3. Report design idea.The discussions were completed in 20-25 minutes. A moderator, who was the researcher with extensive knowledge and industrial experience in the field, led the discussions. A moderator's guide was prepared in advance listing the discussion topics, which served as a basis for the direction of the discussions. However, specific questions were not asked in order to avoid misleading and distorting the ideas yielded. Participants were encouraged to share their thoughts freely in a non-directed manner. The researcher also promoted interaction among the participants and ensured equal opportunity for every participant to speak.The ideas generated and detailed results were recorded and transcribed verbatim. For information collected from the discussions, it was processed by using content analysis (Neuendorf, 2002). Patton (1987) identified that content analysis involves dividing data into \"coherent categories, patterns and themes\" by labelling them. Sivesind (1999) suggested that theme-coding is to select text-bits that are relevant to a specific theme and assigning a particular code to them. The purpose was to examine the relationship between the text-bits that are attached with the same code and enable the researcher to identify different features of the text-bits. The information collected was reviewed repeatedly, coded, and then summarised into categories based on the objectives of this research. New drivers were identified by synthesising discussion results from the focus group interviews. The expanded concept about drivers was presented as a foundation for the design of quantitative surveys that would be done at a later stage. The chief objective was to gather more information from a broader source of entities within the industry, so as to obtain a better understanding of the up-to-date situation.To ensure the reliability of the information collected, extensive literature including research periodicals, statistics, and books, was used either to validate or to justify the interviewees' viewpoints. Rather than reporting exhaustive details, the paper presents representative illustrations and synthesised patterns (elements) to demonstrate the consistency of views.\nNew hotel business drivers and their significance: The analysis of the discussions revealed that nine schedules appeared to be essential in reflecting the development of Chinese hotels, namely spa centre, foot reflexology and treatment centre, meeting/convention facilities, member club, outsourcing, security department, taxi fleet department, and festival products.Spa centre\nProgress on reporting new business drivers: Table II reveals the limited progress on reporting the nine drivers. Currently, no drivers have been fully reported in the financial statements. A majority of the new business drivers have been insufficiently reported. About half of the drivers have been reported in the income statement, but the reporting is only limited to a lump sum income figure. For the remaining drivers, it is apparent that there is a need to either develop a new prototype or to modify the existing one to enhance the representability of the financial statements.\nSuggested features in reporting framework: In order to provide a framework for future prototype development, the revenue and cost drivers were analysed. They were broken down into detailed revenue or cost items as shown in Table III. Spa centre and meeting/convention function are examples of major revenue drivers, while security department and outsourcing represent major cost drivers in a hotel. These suggested features could serve as the groundwork for the modification and development of a prototype for the industry. However, identification of common revenue and cost drivers is only the first step. More surveys and meetings with relevant trade associations should be conducted so as to reach a common consensus among the industrial professionals and entities.\nConclusion: Discussions with experienced professionals from the industry revealed that the USALI, even the latest 10th edition, is not sufficiently adaptable to the situation in China. To ensure the information gathered is representative, 110 professionals of various departments from more than 25 hotels in different cities were interviewed. Opinions and comments were collected and new ideas as well as possible ways to modify the existing Chinese hotel performance statement were explored. Nine new business revenue/cost drivers were identified and the preparation of relevant schedules was recommended. Additionally, new features for the development of the schedules were also suggested.This research definitely provides certain influence on the existing format of the income statement in order to increase its applicability. First, it reveals that there are new revenue/cost drivers, which are currently not fully reported in the financial statements. This influence is particularly important to some new expatriate managers who are not yet familiar with local business conditions and customs. Second, this research also demonstrated the varied attention placed on these new drivers by domestic and international hotel management. It provided valuable insights into the business contexts of different types of hotel management. Third, the researcher also provided ideas for future reporting design and development. Eventually, it is hoped that the future report may provide enriched managerial information to managers to make decisions. Last, a preliminary research framework on development of China-based uniform hotel accounts was formed.In addition, an update and reflective accounting framework may reduce the dispute between the hotel owning company and the hotel operating company, which could arise from different views on the typical way of calculating the management fee, which is based on the definition of revenue stipulated in the management agreement. A guide with clear classification guidelines would help to minimise disagreement from occurring. Also, outlet managers could be more aware of the controlling in expense within their responsibility by reading this type of recognised accounting schedule. A more clear definition of outlet profit and performance should be available. It is hoped that the proposed framework not only enriches the required managerial information content but also provides a reference for the re-structuring of hotel performance assessment framework fit for China's hotel situation and the format of hotel statistics.However, there were limitations to this research. The number of participants in the research skewed towards hotel management. Accounting professionals interviewed were of smaller proportion among the interviewees. Therefore, the results tended to reflect the managerial perspective rather than the accounting perspective. In addition, qualitative research restricted the opportunity to collect information from a large sample due to its nature. Thus, small sample size may limit the usefulness of the result. Based on these limitations, it is suggested that quantitative methods should be applied in future research as a complement to offset the drawbacks of qualitative research, and a larger proportion of accounting professionals in the sample should be adopted in order to gain a broader, more comprehensive view of the issue.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This purpose of this paper is to enhance the level, scope, and detail of management information under the current accounting format in hotels in China, and suggests a preliminary research framework on development of China-based uniform hotel accounts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Focus group interviews with industrial executives were carried out to give a deeper insight of the issue and to gather more information for a better understanding of the up-to-date situation.\nFindings: - The preliminary findings of this paper reveal that there are nine new hotel business drivers that are currently not fully reported in the financial statements.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limitation of the paper is that the number of accounting professionals interviewed was of smaller proportion among the interviewees.\nPractical implications: - The findings in this paper provide informative details on the existing financial performance reporting in Mainland hotels from a managerial perspective, and point out limitations of adopting the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry in China.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that identifying the current financial reporting system in Mainland hotels is important to some new expatriate managers who are unfamiliar with local business conditions. A comprehensive and meaningful accounting framework could provide enriched managerial information to managers to make decisions and reduce dispute between hotel owning company and hotel operating company arising from different views on the typical way of calculating management fee that is based on the definition of revenue stipulated in the management agreement.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Trends and directions in service triads research
|
[
"Systematic literature review",
"Service triad",
"Component services"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Contemporary literature views supply chains as value co-creation networks in which service is the primary basis of exchange (Maas et al., 2014; Lusch, 2011; Vargo and Lusch, 2004). This stems from an overarching service-dominant view of logistics and supply chain management (Niranjan and Weaver, 2011; Lusch and Vargo, 2006). A supply chain comprises an array of specialised third-party providers that are responsible for delivering services such as logistics and distribution, supply chain financing, information management, system integration, installation and maintenance, and professional training (Wuyts et al., 2015; Maas et al., 2014). The service providers are the key enablers of the smooth functioning of the supply chains they serve in (Maas et al., 2014).\nMethodology: Systematic literature review (SLR) method was selected to understand the trends of research in service triads and, in turn, to identify the gaps and future research opportunities (Habib et al., 2015; Khan et al., 2003; Durach et al., 2017). SLR has been used to understand the path and progress of emerging streams in other research fields such as urban logistics (Lagorio et al., 2016), logistics capabilities in achieving supply chain agility (Wilding et al., 2012) or sustainable supply chain management (Touboulic and Walker, 2015). A review is considered systematic only if \"it is based on a clearly formulated question, identifies relevant studies, appraises their quality and summarises the evidence by the use of an explicit methodology\" (Khan et al., 2003, p. 118). SLR overcomes the weaknesses that are linked with the narrative review and provides a research protocol that is replicable (Touboulic and Walker, 2015; Tranfield et al., 2003). To design a replicable and robust study and for methodological rigour, this paper adopted a three-step procedure from the literature, so that the pool of core articles on service triads could be selected (Lagorio et al., 2016).\nRelevant themes studied in service triads: Relationships\nTheories and methodologies employed: When conducting a systematic review concerning a phenomenon, theoretical divergence can lead to difficulties in knowledge development. This is because, the use of different theories may result in different interpretations of the findings (Durach et al., 2017). Nevertheless, this study finds coherence in the theoretical perspectives concerning the various themes in service triads research.\nUnder-researched areas and future directions: The SLR shows that the early studies on service triads explored the relationships in triads, the role of the providers, the challenges that emerged from the providers' access to the clients' customers and the necessary control mechanisms. Over time, the focus shifted towards the network aspect of the triad, namely, the interactions, interconnectedness and contracting. The paper identifies nine neglected but important aspects in the literature, which warrant further research. These are presented in the following subsections. The intention of this paper is not to provide an exhaustive literature review of each of these aspects but to convey their importance in service triad research.\nConclusions: Traditionally, supply chain proponents argued that in order to be successful, firms should focus on one particular aspect of production and services (e.g. either cost-competitiveness or high quality, but not both) (Brewer et al., 2013). Today, it is argued that firms, in order to compete and sustain, struggle to achieve some level of excellence in all aspects (Brewer et al., 2013). The manufacturer's (or client's) role today is more of a systems integrator and solution provider. The manufacturers partner with several specialised third-party service providers to improve the effectiveness of their supply chain. While some of these providers are responsible for back-end operations, some are responsible for front-end customer-facing services. The recent literature has recognised the complex nature of front-end service provision. Studies in client-provider-customer service triads, therefore, have gained momentum. Service triads, because of their unique characteristics and associated risks, are considered to be an under-researched subject that warrants further research and understanding. This study presents an SLR of this recent and growing field and informs supply chain and logistics scholars and professionals of the complexities of operating within service triads and networks. It provides an account of the research objectives, the methods that have been undertaken and the theories that have been used in the research on service triads. This study finds ten research themes that have been studied over the years, some of which have gained more attention than others, and identifies gaps in the research.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Service triads refer to tripartite relationships in which client firms serve their customers through third-party service providers. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the nascent but fast-growing literature on service triads to explore the broad themes along which the literature has grown, and to identify the gaps and future research opportunities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Systematic literature review (SLR) approach is adopted to retrieve, select, and synthesise relevant service triads studies. A citation network analysis on the corpus resulting from the SLR identified the core articles of the literature.\nFindings: The SLR uncovered ten themes of research along the articles' objectives, theories and methodologies. The classification framework of service triads, the roles of customers and providers, the size of the provider, triadic risks, controlling service delivery and service quality, regulated triads, the stability of the triads, and cross-country, cross-culture triads emerged as significant under-researched areas.\nOriginality/value: The paper illustrates research trends and provides insights into the neglected and under-researched problems of service triads. This is the first SLR on service triads.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Cost assessment of complex repairable system consisting two subsystems in series configuration using Gumbel Hougaard family copula
|
[
"Reliability",
"Availability",
"MTTF",
"Cost analysis",
"Repairable system",
"Gumbel–Hougaard family copula"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nomenclature\n1. Introduction: Maintenance is an essential activity for appropriate and reliable performance from repairable systems. It is relevant for large engineering plants where the direct or indirect costs of unreliability are practically unaffordable for the owners of industrial plants. In order to render cost-effective maintenance, a number of research programs are organized across the world. Researchers have applied various types of repair/maintenance policies and have proclaimed the validation through outputs of the policies. A manufacturing industry is basically a setup for the purpose of profit-making, and no organization can survive without achieving minimum required financial return for the investment. Maintaining a financial aspect is necessary for the reputation of any industry and for their customer satisfaction. System reliability measures play a very important role in maintaining reputation and customer satisfaction. Various researchers have designed different types of systems and have proclaimed the better performances. The analysis of better performances can only be specified based on computational results. However, the introduction of redundant units, adequate maintenance and repair at the time of need leads to the increase of system reliability. The occurrence of complete failure stops production and any further operation may result in a greater loss. Initially, redundant parts are design to improve the reliability of the system, meaning that some additional paths are created for proper functioning of the system. Redundancies can be categorized as follows: active redundancy, hot redundancy and cold redundancy. An active redundant system with n-units is one that operates with every unit. On the contrary, a standby redundant system is the one in which one operating unit is used followed by spare units called standbys, whereas if two or more redundant units are required to perform function of k-out-of-m, then it is called partial redundancy. k-out-of-m models are the most useful models to enhance the reliability of electrical and electronics devices/systems.\n2. Notations, assumptions and description of system: 2.1 Assumptions\n3. Analytical study of the model as particular cases: 3.1 Availability analysis\n4. Conclusions through result discussion: Table II and Figure 3 provide information on how the availability of the complex repairable system changes with respect to time when failure rates are fixed at different values. When failure rates are fixed at lower values l1=0.12, l2=0.13, lh=0.14, the availability of the system decreases as the value of time t increases, with the passage of time, and ultimately becomes steady to the value zero after a sufficiently long interval of time. Table III and the corresponding Figure 4 present the availability of the system when repairs follow general distribution. Evidently, the values of availability are less when repairs follow general distribution. Conclusively, copula repair is more effective repair policy for a better performance from repairable systems. Table IV and Figure 5 give the information of the reliability of the system for different values of time by fixing failure rates of the systems. Hence, one can safely predict future behavior of a complex system at any time for any given set of parametric values, as is evident by the graphical consideration of the model. Table II and Table IV evidently show that corresponding values of availability are greater than the values of reliability that highlight the necessity of regular repair for repairable systems for best performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to covenant with the cost assessment of a complex repairable system, consisting of two subsystems (Subsystem 1 and Subsystem 2) connected in series configuration and being operated by a human operator. Each subsystem has two identical units in parallel configuration and has different types of failure and two types of repairs (general repair and copula repair). Through the transition diagram, the system of first-order partial differential equations is derived and solved using a supplementary variable technique, Laplace transforms. All failures are assumed to follow exponential distribution, whereas repairs follow two types of distributions that are general and Gumbel-Hougaard family copula. In this paper, explicit expressions for reliability, availability, mean time to failure (MTTF) and cost analysis functions have been obtained. In this paper, two types of repairs (copula repair and general repair) have been studied, and it has been concluded that copula repair is more reliable as compared to general repair. Some computations are taken as particular case by evaluating: reliability, availability, MTTF and cost analysis, so as to capture the effect of both failure and repair rates to reliability measures. The results have been shown in tables and graphs. The convincing part has been discussed in last section of this study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is focused on the cost assessment of a system consisting two subsystem series configuration. Each subsystem has two identical units in parallel configuration. The performance of the system has been analyzed by supplementary variable techniques and Laplace transforms. Various measures of the reliability have been discussed by evaluations. Software called Maple 13 is used for computations.\nFindings: In this research paper, the authors have evaluated the operational cost and incurred profit of the system together with other reliability measures for various situations and different types of failures and two types of repairs using Gumbel-Hougaard family copula distribution.\nResearch limitations/implications: The present research focuses on the series and parallel configured complex systems that is used everywhere in industry and other sectors. The authors main aim is to claim that repair through the joint probability distribution copula is far better than general repair. Copula repair for a completely failed system is more beneficial for industrial system operations that will increase profit to the industrial sector.\nPractical implications: The authors have observed that when repair follows general distribution the values of reliability obtained of the system are less compared to the those obtained when the authors apply copula repair, a joint probability distribution. It is a clear implication for industrial sector and organization to use the policy for a better generate revenue.\nSocial implications: According to the best of authors' knowledge, there is no social implication as this study is meant for reliability section. The study in management and case study matters is considered to have social implication.\nOriginality/value: This research is the original work of authors. Nothing has been copied from any paper or book. The references are cited according to the relevance of study.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Workplace spirituality and employee well-being: an empirical examination
|
[
"Psychological well-being",
"Workplace spirituality",
"Employee well-being",
"Multiple well-being forms",
"Emotional well-being",
"Social well-being",
"Spiritual well-being"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Employee well-being and workplace spirituality: an overview\nThis paper: To address the above indicated research gap, this paper carries out an empirical examination of the relationship of workplace spirituality with four forms of employee well-being in the overall life context, namely; emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being, and spiritual well-being. In doing so, it addresses the significant issue of employee well-being and also contributes to the literature on employee well-being and literature on workplace spirituality.\nRelevance of employee well-being for organizations: \"Well-being is a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning\" (Ryan and Deci, 2001, p. 141). Thus, employee well-being can be regarded as the quality of employees' experience and functioning. Employee well-being can take various forms such as physical well-being, psychological well-being, and social well-being (e.g. Grant et al., 2007). Employee well-being is of relevance to organizations because it characterizes organizational health. The definition of a healthy organization provided by Wilson et al. (2004, p. 567) notes, \"A healthy organization is one characterized by intentional, systematic, and collaborative efforts to maximize employee well-being and productivity by providing well-designed and meaningful jobs, a supportive social-organizational environment, and accessible and equitable opportunities for career and work-life enhancement.\" This definition suggests that maximized employee well-being is one of the outcomes characterizing a healthy organization. Further, employee well-being can also affect employee productivity which is the second outcome feature of a healthy organization in the above referred definition.\nWorkplace spirituality as an antecedent of employee well-being: The need for examining an antecedent of multiple forms of employee well-being\nPotential contributions of this study: This study makes quite a few potential contributions. First, in light of the importance of employee well-being, as a feature of organizational health (e.g. Wilson et al., 2004), a determinant of organizational flourishing (Ilies et al., 2015a, b), and a critical requirement for organizational survival and development (Zheng et al., 2015, p. 621), it is important to explore the possible actions for enhancing employee well-being. The present study responds to this requirement by examining the possible role of workplace spirituality in enhancing employee well-being.\nHypotheses: This paper focusses on four forms of employee well-being - emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being, and spiritual well-being - in employees' overall life, which may be referred to as the context-free (e.g. Warr, 2005) well-being or well-being in the life rather than on employee well-being in the specific context of the workplace, which may constitute context-specific (e.g. Warr, 2005) form of employee well-being. Each of the four forms of employee well-being covered in this study is briefly described below.\nHypotheses: workplace spirituality and four well-being forms: An earlier conceptual work (Pawar, 2012) has outlined some likely relationships between workplace spirituality and various forms of employee well-being. However, the conceptual work of Pawar (2012) had three limitations. The first limitation of Pawar (2012) is that at the beginning of hypothesis specification, Pawar (2012, p. 455) noted, \"The task of outlining the empirically observed or theoretically plausible relationships between workplace spirituality and employee well-being is likely to be difficult for at least two reasons. First, workplace spirituality research itself is in the early stages (e.g. Kolodinsky et al., 2008). Second, empirical research in workplace spirituality has not been extensive, and more empirical research is needed (e.g. de Klerk, 2005). In light of these constraints, an attempt is made in this section to suggest some tentative relationships between workplace spirituality and employee well-being\" (emphasis added). Further, toward the end of his work and while outlining the limitations pertaining to hypothesis specification, Pawar (2012, p. 459) acknowledged the limitation that \"the description of well-being and of likely relationships between workplace spirituality and employee well-being are based on a very limited review of literature. As a result, the likely relationships proposed in this chapter should be regarded as tentative at best.\" The second limitation of Pawar (2012) is that while relationships between workplace spirituality and various forms of employee well-being were outlined in Pawar (2012), explicit and separate hypotheses were not specified. The third limitation of Pawar (2012) is that it did not examine empirical support for the tentative relationships between workplace spirituality and employee well-being outlined by him. The present paper builds on, extends, and goes beyond Pawar's (2012) conceptual work as it addresses the above three limitations by specifying explicit hypotheses about the likely relationships between workplace spirituality and employee well-being and by carrying out an empirical examination of the hypotheses.\nMethods: Sample and procedures\nMeasures: Workplace spirituality measures\nResults: Descriptive statistics, reliability, and correlations for study variables\nResults for H1-H4: In order to assess support for the study hypotheses, one regression analysis for each of the four hypotheses was performed. Thus, emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being, and spiritual well-being variables were formed, as is the practice, by adding the scale item scores within each scale and dividing the sum by the number of items in the scale. Subsequently, in four separate regression analyses, each of the four dependent variables - emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being, and spiritual well-being - was regressed on the independent variables of workplace spirituality in order to test each of the four study hypotheses. As the hypotheses are specified for workplace spirituality as a work feature and not for its individual dimensions of meaning and community, the main focus of the discussion of results is on the independent variable of overall workplace spirituality and not its specific individual dimensions of meaning and community. The results of this analysis for each of the four hypotheses are presented in Table III.\nDiscussion: Contributions to facilitating organizational health and to the literature on employee well-being and workplace spirituality\nConclusion: This study, through the empirical support received for its hypotheses, pointed out the existence of a positive relationship between workplace spirituality and four forms of employee well-being. In doing so, it has contributed to the literature on employee well-being by covering, in a single study, four forms of employee well-being. The study findings that workplace spirituality has a positive association with all four forms of employee well-being addresses a serious concern expressed in the existing literature that some organizational or HRM practices enhance some forms of employee well-being but lower other forms of employee well-being (e.g. Canibano, 2013; Grant et al., 2007). It has also contributed to the workplace spirituality literature by addressing the need for more empirical research and by suggesting, based on its empirical findings, that workplace spirituality can be a potential organizational intervention that can have a positive effect simultaneously on four forms of employee well-being without having a negative effect on any of these four well-being forms. While making such contributions to the existing literature, the study has also suggested multiple directions for future research that may provide fruitful research avenues for future research to pursue. In addition, it has also suggested implications for practice in terms of considering workplace spirituality implementation as a means of simultaneously enhancing four forms of employee well-being, namely; emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being, and spiritual well-being.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The existing literature suggests that employee well-being is an important concern for organizations. The purpose of this paper is to carry out an empirical examination to assess whether employee experience of workplace spirituality has positive relationships with multiple forms of employee well-being.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper focussed on four forms of employee well-being, namely: emotional well-being, psychological well-being, social well-being, and spiritual well-being. It specified and empirically tested, using a survey design, four hypotheses, each proposing a positive relationship between workplace spirituality and one of the four forms of employee well-being.\nFindings: All four hypotheses were supported indicating that workplace spirituality has a positive relationship with emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper may encourage future research to assess whether various forms of employee well-being result from specific dimensions of workplace spirituality.\nPractical implications: Organizations may implement workplace spirituality for simultaneously enhancing multiple forms of employee well-being.\nSocial implications: As employee well-being is a matter of social concern, the findings of this study indicating a positive association between workplace spirituality and employee well-being have a social relevance.\nOriginality/value: To the author's knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between workplace spirituality and four forms of employee well-being, namely; emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being. As employee well-being is an important concern for organizations, the contribution of the study findings is that workplace spirituality implementation can simultaneously enhance multiple forms of employee well-being.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Burnout syndrome during residency in internal medicine and pediatrics in a country without working time directive
|
[
"Burnout",
"Turkey",
"Medicine",
"Depression",
"Pediatrics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Burnout is a syndrome characterised by depersonalisation, emotional exhaustion and a low sense of personal accomplishment, which decreases work performance (Maslach et al., 1996). Burnout follows prolonged exposure to chronic personal and interpersonal job stressors. It has three dimensions: emotional exhaustion; depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach et al., 1996). Burnout is commonly encountered amongst physicians, with rates up to 76 per cent. Staff in medical specialties like oncology having a higher risk (Shanafelt et al., 2002; Blanchard et al., 2010; Gundersen, 2001; Whippen and Canellos, 1991; Martini et al., 2004; Lemkau et al., 1994; Deckard et al., 1992; Grassi and Magnani, 2000). A large internal-medicine resident cohort in the USA was reported to have a high burnout rate (51.5 per cent) and a low quality of life, which correlated with the educational debt (West et al., 2011). Burnout in Turkish physicians has been reported to be associated with vacations and shift work, and working in state hospitals (Ozyurt et al., 2006). Burnout has detrimental effects on personal, service quality and job performance (Dyrbye et al., 2008; Prins et al., 2007). Documenting burnout and defining the risk factors may reduce some preventable factors and decrease its prevalence.\nPurpose: We aimed to: investigate burnout among internal medicine and pediatrics residents in a country without the working time directive (WTD) for these professionals; and determine the risk factors and consequent impacts on clinical functioning.\nMethods: A self-administered, confidential questionnaire was given to 50 internal medicine residents and 50 pediatrics residents working in an Ankara university hospital. The questionnaire included:\nFindings: Among 100 residents, 38 from internal medicine and 28 from pediatrics completed the questionnaire (66 per cent response). Eleven residents (17 per cent), six from pediatrics and five from internal medicine with BDI scores > 17 were excluded from the study to rule out overt depression effects. Depression prevalence was no different between the two resident-groups. Response from 22 pediatrics and 33 internal medicine residents were evaluated. The BDI results were 7.5 (IQR=9.25) and 7 (IQR=10) respectively. Demographics were similar between the two groups (see Table III). Depersonalisation, emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment scores were also similar (see Table IV). Hobbies, social activities and book reading unrelated to medicine (see Table V) were also related. Six pediatrics residents (27.3 per cent) and 11 internal medicine residents (33.3 per cent) met the criteria for clinically significant burnout. There were no burnout differences between the two groups. All participants had personal accomplishment scores < 33 and reading books unrelated to medicine were two factors related to burnout [OR=1.216 (95 per cent CI: 1.032-1.432] and [OR=0.421 (95 per cent CI: 0.212-0.837)] respectively). Residents with burnout answered yes to the statement \"I felt guilty about how I treated a patient, from a humanitarian standpoint\" more frequently (p=0.002).\nDiscussion: We show that nearly one third of the responding residents had burnout syndrome in a country that does not have a physician WTD. Moreover, all participants had low personal accomplishment scores. Residents with burn out more commonly admitted that they felt guilty about how they treated patients, from a humanitarian standpoint. Burnout places medical professionals at great risk to physical and psychological dependence, including substance abuse, reduces care quality and subsequently compromises patient safety (Tyssen et al., 2000). The Maslach burnout scale's three dimensions can coexist to varying degrees, making burnout a heterogeneous construct (Maslach et al., 1996).\nConclusions: Depression and burnout are common among internal medicine and pediatrics residents in a country where WTDs are not implemented, which are associated with decreased well-being and career satisfaction. These results need exploring on a larger scale using prospective and interventional studies to improve residents' well-being and work performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate burnout syndrome among internal medicine and pediatrics residents in a country that does not have the working time directive (WTD) and also to determine the risk factors and consequent impact on efficient functioning in clinical areas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 57-item questionnaire was given to internal medicine and pediatrics residents. Responses from 22 pediatrics and 33 internal medicine residents were evaluated.\nFindings: Demographic findings, burnout scores, having hobbies, social activities and reading books unrelated to medicine were similar between the two groups. Six pediatrics residents (27.3 per cent) and 11 (33.3 per cent) internal medicine residents met the criteria for clinically significant burnout. Personal accomplishment scores and reading books unrelated to medicine were found to be related to burnout.\nOriginality/value: Burnout is a syndrome characterized by depersonalization, emotional exhaustion and a low sense of personal accomplishment. It is important to document burnout in countries where WTDs are not implemented. Further studies might demonstrate burnout's effect on patient safety, service quality and physician's performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Gaps in customer satisfaction with digital wallets: challenge for sustainability
|
[
"Digital payment systems",
"Digital wallets",
"E-wallets",
"Mobile wallets"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With a massive drive to go digital in all walks of life, digital modes of payment are becoming popular. Digital wallets have seen an exponential growth in India after recent demonetization and the resultant cash crunch. Such initiatives of the Indian Government will enhance the adoption of all digital payment systems including digital wallets and will help in the transition from a cash-based economy to cashless economy (Sen, 2016).\nLiterature review: With the above focus area in view, the existing literature on the subject was studied, which brings out the following prominent factors contributing to the growth of digital payment wallets. Some of these factors may pose a challenge as well for growth and sustainability of digital wallets if not handled judiciously.\nGaps in the existing literature: The review of existing litertaure shows that no study has effectively demonstrated the relative importance of various factors considered by the users for adopting digital wallets. Moreover, no study has been found that has focused on the gaps between customer expectations and service delivery by digital payment wallets in India which may pose serious challenges for future growth and sustainiblity of digital payment wallets. This study has attempted to address these gap areas in the existing literature.\nObjectives: to study the preferred mode of payment for different transactions;\nMethodology: The research followed exploratory and descriptive research methodology to find an answer to the research question:\nResults: To achieve the first objective of the study, the respondents were asked about preferred mode of payment for different types of transactions. The results of the study show that the cash remains the most popular mode of payment for local shopping, grocery shopping, cab/auto fares, recharging metro card and payment of other services like doctor's fees, etc. Debit and credit cards are widely used for online shopping and booking movie tickets. Net banking is most popular in case of transferring funds to family and friends. Checks remain the most preferred mode of payment for periodic payments like insurance premium, etc.\nConclusions: The results of the study show that cash is still the most preferred mode of payment in India which means that there is still a very good potential for growth of digital wallets. The demonetization in November 2016 gave digital wallet industry a boost. Many people started using digital wallets due to the cash crunch after demonetization. The reasons for using the digital wallets in order of priority are instant transfer of money, wide acceptability, cashback and rewards, easy user-interface, no need to carry cash, minimum risk, no transaction fees and forced to use by merchants or service provider.\nImplications for research, practice and society: As the study is limited to National Capital Region of Delhi, further research may be undertaken for a wider geographical area to further validate the findings of this study.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors responsible for growing popularity of digital wallets in India and sustainibility challenges faced by this innovative product on account of gaps between expectations of the users and their satisfaction level with leading wallet brands like Paytm, Freecharge, Mobikwik and Oxigen.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The descriptive research is based on primary data collected with the help of a structured questionnaire from 313 respondents in National Capital Region of Delhi chosen through non-probability convenience sampling. The collected data were converted into data matrix using SPSS 23.0 software and inferential analysis was done.\nFindings: Attractive cashback and rewards, ease of use, instant money transfer without using cash, relatively higher transaction security as compared to credit/debit cards and absence of any transaction fee are the factors responsible for growing use of digital wallets. However, there are gaps between customers' expectations and the satisfaction level which pose a challenge for sustainibility of digital wallets.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is limited to National Capital Region of Delhi for a specified set of factors considered important for customers' satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers fresh insights into the gaps between Indian customers' expectations their satisfaction level with the leading digital wallet brands operating in India, which can be used to bridge these gaps for ensuring their long-term sustainability in a competitive environment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Inter-company learning: using the 5 E's to promote interaction
|
[
"Social interaction",
"Learning",
"Team development",
"Learning cycle"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Marquardt (2011) asserts \"organizations that learn faster will be able to adapt more quickly and thereby achieve significant strategic advantages in the global world of business\" (p. 2). As described by Watkins and Marsick (1993) and Marquardt (2011), the learning organization is a system that learns in successively more complex levels beginning with individuals, moving to teams and the organization, and finally reaching the system in entirety. The system in its entirety expands beyond the organization itself and touches through the service channel to the end-consumers. Throughout these progressive steps, learning occurs within and through social interactions.\nWholesale distribution model: Manufacturers continue to expand use of wholesale distributors and resellers to manage the customization associated with competing in local markets. The wholesale distribution network provides efficiency in reaching the local markets at a lower cost. The wholesalers possess the local market knowledge and business acumen that manufacturers cannot always deploy efficiently. Conversely, the manufacturer possesses the product R&D knowledge and marketing expertise that the wholesale distributor cannot effectively afford to replicate. The organizations are reliant upon one-another for mutual success. Unfortunately, since the wholesale distributor is a separate entity often supporting multiple different and sometimes competing manufacturers, the manufacturer's influence on the wholesalers' behavior is not always toward the interest of the wholesaler. Therefore, manufacturer must impart on the wholesale distributor the importance of learning and applying that learning before the wholesale distributor will implement even the best-designed learning plans.\nThe 5 E's: The 5 E model described here is an adaptation to the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5 E instructional model. The BSCS 5 E model includes: engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation. Table I outlines the 5 E instructional model.\nEvaluate: Evaluation in the BSCS steps is all about ensuring that the participant has understood the material. In this version of the 5 Es the evaluation follows a similar path; however, evaluation can support changes in any area. So, not only will evaluation measure execution of the next day applicable task, evaluation will assess all other aspects of the training program. Outcomes from the evaluation can change the excitement and execution steps if the incentives or promotions are not having impact. Or, outcomes could change the experience phase if the training program is not resulting in useful experiences. Keep the evaluation discussion open to any aspect of the 5 E system.\nBenefits of the 5 E's: After redesigning the training program around the 5 E's, the manufacturer began to witness increased engagement while simultaneously reducing the number of on-site training courses being offered. During the base year, the manufacturer conducted 61 on-site training events for wholesale distributors. After implementing the 5 E's, the manufacturer reduced to 32 training events and reached over 1,000 wholesale distributor participants. The second year after the implementation of the 5 E's the manufacturer further reduced to 30 training events and continued to reach close to 1,000 wholesale distributors.\nThe new interactions: By following the 5 E's the manufacturer and wholesale distributor designed a learning environment that promoted social interaction and joint success. The simple 5 E's brought about clarity in how separate organizations could learn together to come together.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate steps that a manufacturer can deploy to improve social interaction, learning, and application while facilitating a system of learning across a wholesale distribution channel.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper provides a model of how a manufacturer-improved social interaction, learning, and application with their wholesale distribution network using five simple and consistent steps: Excite, Engage, Experience, Execute, and Evaluate.\nFindings: The 5 E's provided a consistent method for the manufacturer to engage the wholesale distributor in social interactions centered around learning, the L&D practitioner should evaluate the use of the 5 E's as they integrate learning into sales and marketing initiatives.\nPractical implications: Using the 5 E's to create social interactions within the learning system allows the manufacturer to manage knowledge sharing and knowledge application with the wholesale distributor.\nOriginality/value: The conceptual paper outlines the 5 E's utilized by a manufacturer and provides a checklist of practical elements in each step. The model and checklist provides the L&D professional methods which she can use to expand traditional learning environments across sales and marketing.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The emergence of student accommodation as an institutionalised property sector
|
[
"Institutional investors",
"Risk-adjusted returns",
"Asset allocation",
"UK property sector",
"Institutionalized property sector"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recent years have seen the alternative property sectors take on increased importance with institutional investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. This includes the alternative property sectors of healthcare, self-storage, data centres, childcare centres, education facilities, farmland, timberland and university student accommodation. This has seen the institutionalising of several of these alternative property sectors in many countries.\nSignificance of student accommodation: Context\nMethodology: UK student accommodation series\nUK student accommodation performance analysis: Risk-adjusted returns\nProperty investment implications for student accommodation: This paper has addressed two key research questions and empirically highlighted the added-value role of student accommodation, particularly in the risk-adjusted performance of UK student accommodation compared to direct property, stocks and REITs. This saw a significant role for student accommodation in a UK mixed-asset portfolio across the full portfolio risk spectrum for both small investor and large investor scenarios, as well as student accommodation not being seen as a proxy for residential property exposure for institutional investors.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Amongst the alternative property sectors, student accommodation has recently become an important institutionalised property sector for pension funds and sovereign wealth funds in the global property landscape, particularly in the UK. The purpose of this paper is to assess the significance, risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of student accommodation in a UK property and mixed-asset portfolio over 2011-2017. Drivers and risk factors for the ongoing development of the student accommodation sector are also identified. The question of student accommodation being a proxy for residential property exposure by institutional investors is also assessed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using annual total returns, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of UK student accommodation over 2011-2017 is assessed. Asset allocation diagrams are used to assess the role of student accommodation in a UK property portfolio and in a UK mixed-asset portfolio for a range of property investor types.\nFindings: UK student accommodation delivered superior risk-adjusted returns compared to UK property, stocks and REITs over 2011-2017, with portfolio diversification benefits. Importantly, this sees UK student accommodation as strongly contributing to the UK property and mixed-asset portfolios across the entire portfolio risk spectrum and validating the property industry perspective of student accommodation being low risk and providing diversification benefits. Student accommodation is also not seen to be a proxy for residential exposure by institutional investors.\nPractical implications: Student accommodation is an alternative property sector that has become increasingly institutionalised in recent years. The results highlight the important role of student accommodation in a UK property portfolio and in a UK mixed-asset portfolio. The strong risk-adjusted performance of UK student accommodation compared to UK property, stocks and REITs over this timeframe sees UK student accommodation contributing to the mixed-asset portfolio across the entire portfolio risk spectrum. This is particularly important, as many investors (e.g. pension funds, sovereign wealth funds) now see student accommodation as an important property sector in their overall portfolio.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first published empirical research analysis of the risk-adjusted performance of UK student accommodation, and the role of student accommodation in a UK property portfolio and in a UK mixed-asset portfolio. This research enables empirically validated, more informed and practical property investment decision making regarding the strategic role of student accommodation as an alternative property sector in a portfolio.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Making the mission visible: altmetrics and nontraditional publishing
|
[
"Altmetrics",
"Impact",
"Institutional repository",
"Scholarly communication",
"Library instruction and outreach",
"Nontraditional publishing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: What is considered scholarship at a rural, land and sea grant university? Whereas traditional book and journal publishing remain the gold standard for many postsecondary institutions, nontraditional publishing is just as prolific at the flagship university in Maine. As a research-intensive institution, familiar outputs like journal articles are produced alongside nontraditional outputs and derivative materials, such as videos, websites, policy documents and newsletters. This broad view of scholarship reflects the university's foundations in the Morrill Act (Library of Congress, 2015), and aligns with a university mission dedicated to public service and outreach within Maine's communities. Campus priorities are manifold, but regional priorities are clear: \"Using research-based knowledge, outreach efforts promote sustainable use of Maine's abundant natural resources, and build intellectual, cultural, and economic capacity throughout Maine and beyond\" (University of Maine, 2010).An expansive view of scholarly work is challenging in an educational environment that emphasizes traditional publishing structures for promotion, tenure and review. Contributions by researchers to local discussions on everything from public policy and the environment, to public health and community relations, are unlikely to be accurately reflected in evaluations. Alternative metrics, or altmetrics, that focus on tracking the impact of online interactions for a range of academic and non-academic works hold promise for these types of outputs. This paper will discuss the approach that the University of Maine library is taking to raise awareness of altmetrics, in an effort to increase attention to its possible role in assessment. Ultimately, the library hopes to provide support for researchers who are not only publishing on the national stage but also raising the visibility of the university mission at local and regional levels.\nBrief overview of altmetrics: Traditional measures of academic impact tend to rely on citation counts to evaluate the influence of a work within a discipline. This method of impact tracking emphasizes the value of research as it correlates to the publication in which it is disseminated, and reflects the primary mode of scholarly communication throughout the twentieth century: print publication (Roemer and Borchardt, 2015). With the advent of the internet, digital tools have enabled a proliferation of research outputs (Priem and Hemminger, 2010). In this environment, articles are often disaggregated from their publications, and scholarship comes in many forms that are easily published in online communities outside of academe.This shift in how academics, and the public, view and access scholarly outputs has led to expanded discussions of what impact looks like in the twenty-first century. According to the National Information Standards Organization (2016), scholarly impact is an evolving concept based on the values of diverse stakeholders in the research enterprise. At present, there are calls to move away from prioritizing journals alone as markers of excellence to focus more specifically on article-level metrics (ALMs). When Neylon and Wu (2009) coined the phrase \"article-level metrics\" in the Public Library of Science, there were over 800,000 individual articles uploaded to PubMed the previous year. This influx of articles sparked conversations about the need for alternate tools to evaluate article importance and quality.According to Tanenbaum (2013, p. 4), ALMs have the potential to complement traditional methods of impact tracking by \"open[ing] the door to measures of both the immediacy and the socialization of an article\". Essential to this evolution of impact tracking is altmetrics, a term conceived by Priem (2010). Altmetrics is a suite of indicators for gauging the impact of scholarly and creative works by attending to how people interact with these works in online environments. Examples include social media sharing through platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Reddit, bookmarking in reference managers like Mendeley, and online mentions or discussions of works in news outlets or policy documents. Several altmetrics tracking services exist with free and fee-based options, including Altmetric (2016), Plum Analytics (2016) and Impactstory (2016). These tools allow stakeholders to track impact from heterogeneous data points, providing insights into a broader swath of scholarly and creative work that can be utilized to meet a diversity of goals (Tanenbaum, 2013; Roemer and Borchardt, 2015). As Priem et al. (2010) stated, \"altmetrics will track impact outside the academy, impact of influential but uncited work and impact from sources that are not peer-reviewed\".\nBackground: Altmetrics' capacity for identifying impact beyond traditional modes of publication and outreach is beginning to resonate with researchers at the University of Maine. This is largely due to a university environment where much of the nontraditional publishing activity has an underlying focus on creating works that are accessible to communities throughout the state. Scholarly and creative outputs may include videos on how to harvest seasonal fruits, podcasts about science instruction in higher education, news articles on presidential politics or white papers on community-university solutions to local problems. This diversity of outputs raises questions about how best to capture and display the impact that these contributions have within academic and non-academic communities (Figure 1).The nature of these works poses challenges to the measurement-driven approach within many promotion, tenure and review processes. Most measurements that focus on bibliometrics are geared toward traditional scholarly works, such as journal articles. Recent conversations among University of Maine librarians, staff and faculty have revealed a desire to meaningfully assess the scope and variety of researchers' scholarly and creative outputs beyond the journal article alone. However, there is a paucity of awareness regarding the use of altmetrics and its potential to contribute to the impact stories of campus researchers, departments, colleges and units.To address this gap, two university librarians designed an introductory workshop to familiarize campus constituents with the goals of altmetrics, and to underscore the potential of the social web in capturing insights into scholarly influence beyond academe. Building on this initial workshop, the authors collaborated with the campus's Cooperative Extension office to tailor two additional workshops to their specific needs. The authors hope to continue providing similarly situated altmetrics workshops to help university partners communicate scholarly findings and identify methods for measuring their impact.\nInitial approach: In May 2016, the University of Maine library provided an altmetrics workshop to interested faculty, staff and students that centered on the relationship between scholarly impact tracking and the social web. The workshop began with an overview of the bibliometric tools commonly used in scholarly communication, an introduction to altmetrics as a complementary tool to traditional impact measures, and a discussion on ways altmetrics can function within and beyond the university landscape. The librarians then shared examples of how altmetrics is applied to content in library databases and to the university's institutional repository (IR). To conclude the workshop, attendees participated in a facilitated discussion of the potential advantages and drawbacks of altmetrics implementation and use (Figure 2).Indispensable to any workshop or library event is publicity. Given the novelty of altmetrics, the librarians worked with the library's public relations manager to create visually appealing yet informative marketing materials (Figures 3 and 4).Workshop participants included disciplinary faculty from Anthropology, Communication and Journalism, Economics, Forestry, Marine Sciences, Climate Science and Engineering, as well as Cooperative Extension faculty, several librarians and multiple graduate students in Anthropology and Journalism. Many of the attendees worked in areas that share research goals related to meeting the needs of Maine communities, with outcomes aimed at both scholarly and non-scholarly audiences. This diverse gathering of researchers succeeded in seeding a conversation about the role of scholarly impact beyond the university, and produced compelling questions, such as:\nFollow-up workshops: Specific training for Cooperative Extension faculty and staff took the form of a two-part workshop series. Two-hour workshops were provided on separate, consecutive days and were designed with the knowledge that a primary goal for Extension researchers is to make their findings available to the local community. The intersection between self-archiving and altmetrics was made explicit, as was the possibility for increased visibility of outputs in multiple contexts.The first session was similar to the one described previously. The librarians focused on novel ways to track impact online and to assess the reach of diverse types of scholarly and creative outputs. Altmetrics is especially resonant for Cooperative Extension given that traditional bibliometric methods for measuring impact do not always serve the types of publications they produce. For this workshop, the librarians added a section about scholarly communication workflows and how the research life cycle can be a guide to thinking holistically about altmetrics and impact assessment (Figure 5).The second session focused on making research findings available to the local community through the University's IR, Digital Commons (University of Maine, 2016). An IR staff member facilitated this hands-on workshop, which included: instruction on the goals of the IR, steps to submitting materials, and time for participants to upload content. At the end of the session, there was a discussion of the role of good metadata in optimizing the discoverability and trackability of one's work, and participants were given time to ask questions.Key insights from evaluations of this series revealed that the IR is a preferred platform for publishing. Participants were keen to learn that the IR could accommodate two sets of alternative metrics related to their publications: data gathered through Google Analytics (e.g., usage data and site traffic), and social web data gathered through altmetrics. At the same time, the librarians learned that although many Extension faculty make derivative works from their published findings, and dissemination of this work is paramount, it is the administrative staff that are responsible for making these derivatives available to stakeholders.It was then no surprise to learn from evaluations that additional training in the use of the IR would benefit administrative staff. This additional training will go a long way in building the volume of Extension content and expanding impact tracking ability. Evaluations also signaled an appreciation of the range of expertise and support available through the library, which will open the door for future discussions around scholarly communication:\nDiscussion: For University of Maine researchers whose work is not well captured through traditional bibliometrics, altmetrics has considerable potential. The altmetrics workshops succeeded not only in facilitating an appreciation for impact tracking on the social web, but also an understanding of how heterogeneous outputs fit into academic workflows. Analyzing these outputs through the lens of assessment provides an avenue for measuring the reach of scholarly and creative works in an online environment (Tanenbaum, 2013), and is one way for librarians to promote platforms that can help give visibility to datasets, publications, non-traditional scholarly objects and self-published works such as those in the University of Maine's IR.Although there are mission-driven centers that have been utilizing University of Maine's Digital Commons for publication and outreach, most notably the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center (Margaret Chase Policy Center, 2016a) through its publication, Maine Policy Review (Margaret Chase Policy Center, 2016b), University of Maine's IR has not factored into the workflows of most researchers who participated in the altmetrics workshops. However, after attending the May 2016 session, key faculty members involved with the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions spearheaded an effort to include the IR into their workflow. Similar to the Cooperative Extension, the Mitchell Center's mission statement is rooted in the University of Maine's public service mission (see http://umaine.edu/mitchellcenter/about/at-a-glance).Not only did the Mitchell Center create an instance in the IR, but they also hired a student employee to assist with the time-consuming process of uploading documents with the appropriate metadata for discoverability. Utilizing the IR for green open access measures increases the visibility of community engagement outside of academe (Konkiel, 2014). Additionally, making the research output of the Mitchell Center available to the public through self-archiving allows for an increased ability to measure the Center's impact beyond traditional bibliometrics. The newly created IR instances for both the Mitchell Center and Cooperative Extension illustrate the librarians' success in advancing their position as a supportive partner in the research enterprise.\nConclusion: The diversification of research demands that librarians enable researchers to distinguish the various ways they are able to communicate scholarly impact within and beyond higher education. Altmetrics outreach provides a platform through which librarians can familiarize university partners with different types of metrics that factor into the academic environment, and help researchers optimize the measurable impact of their work. Altmetrics is ideally situated to facilitate conversations that address an increasingly broad array of assessment tools because the metrics themselves vary, taking into account data points from multiple communities on the web (Priem et al., 2010). For many campus centers, altmetrics has the potential to render visible measurements of community impact outside of academe that account for a range of faculty outreach often missing from traditional bibliometric assessments (Bornmann, 2014).The library's role in facilitating connections between how research is disseminated and which metrics may illustrate impact is becoming more relevant within the profession at-large (Roemer and Borchardt, 2015). At the University of Maine, librarians are just entering this dialogue. Altmetrics workshops have provided opportunities to help researchers consider a range of impact measures and outline workflows that meet their personal and professional goals. Engaging with these researchers has allowed librarians to gain a better understanding of how campus partners utilize scholarly tools and has expanded conversations about research publishing and dissemination. Future initiatives include a semester-long scholarly communication workshop series and a half-day conference. These efforts show promise for a variety of departments and centers within and outside of campus, and buy-in is growing. As the library continues to become attuned to the needs of a diverse constituency, it is clear that the land and sea grant missions that are woven into the fabric of research at the University of Maine position altmetrics to sit at the center of nontraditional scholarly impact.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Whereas traditional book and journal publishing remain the gold standard for many post-secondary institutions, nontraditional publishing is just as prolific at the flagship university in Maine. The university has strong land and sea grant missions that drive a broad research agenda, with an emphasis on community outreach and engagement. However, the impact of researchers' contributions outside of academe is unlikely to be accurately reflected in promotion, tenure or review processes. Thus, the authors designed a series of altmetrics workshops aimed at seeding conversations around novel ways to track the impact of researchers' diverse scholarly and creative outputs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents a case study of the instructional approach taken at the University of Maine library to facilitate discussions of alternative impact assessments that reach beyond traditional publications.\nFindings: Evaluations revealed an increased awareness of, and interest in, impact tracking tools that capture both traditional scholarship, like journal articles, and nontraditional scholarly and creative outputs, such as videos, podcasts and newsletters. The authors learned that altmetrics provides an entry point into a broader conversation about scholarly impact, and was best received by those whose scholarly output is not always captured by traditional metrics.\nPractical implications: Scholars are equipped with novel methods for describing the value of their work and discovering a broader audience for their research. Future initiatives will target the needs identified through initial conversations around altmetrics.\nOriginality/value: Altmetrics workshops provide spaces to explore the potential for new tools that capture a range of previously unconsidered measures of impact, and to discuss the implications of those measures.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A transitional approach to the study of the information behavior of domestic migrant workers: A narrative inquiry
|
[
"Internet",
"Women",
"Research methods",
"Behaviour",
"User studies",
"Information research"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's globalized world, the magnitude and scope of labor migration have increased precipitously. Economic hardship, geopolitical crises and dramatic climate change leading to the lack of decent work are resulting in growing and diverse migratory movements. The term \"migrant worker\" refers to all international migrants currently employed or unemployed and seeking employment in their present country of residence (International Labour Organization, 2015). At present there are 150.3m migrant workers in the world. Of these, 11.5m are migrant domestic workers. The majority of domestic migrant workers (73.5 percent) are women. Migrant workers are a subset of the 258m people currently living outside their country of birth or citizenship who choose to emigrate mostly for economic reasons; refugees, on the contrary, are forced to leave their country of origin because of armed conflict or war and are unable to return for fear of persecution (The UN Refugee Agency, 2017).\nInformation behavior of migrants: There is a growing body of research that examines different aspects of the information behavior of migrants. These studies could be organized around three overlapping topics: the first one comprises studies mapping the information sources used by migrant workers. These studies report that internet websites and social media are main sources of formal and informal information (George and Chaze, 2009; Khoir et al., 2015; Machet and Govender, 2012; Shankar et al., 2016; Sibal and Foo, 2016). Traditional media, such as television and printed newspapers also function as information sources for current news (Caidi et al., 2008; Komito and Bates, 2011; Tirosh and Schejter, 2017). The reliance of migrants on online and offline social networks for informal information and social support at their country of origin (Allard and Caidi, 2018; Lingel, 2011; Fisher et al., 2004; Mehra and Papajohn, 2007) and at their host country (Baird and Boyle, 2012; Bronstein, 2017; Courtright, 2004; Hynie et al., 2011; Komito and Bates, 2011; Ryan, 2011) has been highlighted in the literature.\nTransition theory as a theoretical framework: The theory of transition \"concerns the process that bridges from a reality which has been disrupted to a newly constructed or surfacing reality\" (Selder, 1989, p. 431). This process requires \"the abandonment of one set of assumptions and the development of a fresh set to enable the individual to cope with the new altered life space\" (Parkes, 1971, p. 103). Lloyd (2014, p. 48) describes the rupture with the old reality that migrants experience at the moment of migration, as \"the disestablishment of their local information landscapes and knowledge practices as they are forced to move away from their familiar environments, social alignments, information sources and ways of knowing.\" To re-establish their rupture information landscapes migrants need to acquire language and cultural and social competences that are translated into cultural mastery and ultimately in a sense of belonging (Bronstein, 2017).\nResearch methods: Narrative inquiry as a methodology\nFindings: Process\nPerceptions: The third element in the transition framework relates to the perceptions that participants have of themselves as migrant workers belonging to a marginalized group, and of the world around them that affect their ability to confront the challenges posed by the need to adapt to a new society. Perceptional and affective elements resulting from a state of liminality impact and delimit the information behavior of people in experiencing a transition. This category represents findings from the content analysis that reflected the participants' perception of social exclusion.\nPatterns of response: Meleis (2010) defines mastery as a positive outcome of a transition process. To gain the cultural mastery they need for a successful transition participants exhibit different patterns of response by engaging with formal and informal information sources. The patterns of response translated into information practices aimed at fulfilling information needs and achieving a sense of belonging are included in this element. The categories are: markers and means, and engaging with social environments.\nDiscussion: The transitional theory of information behavior\nLimitations and further research: A number of limitations to this study should be acknowledged. First, as in many qualitative studies, the number of participants was small and is in no way representative of the whole population of migrant workers in Israel. Moreover, limiting the population of the study to Spanish-speaking migrants, limits the scope of its findings. Second, since the narrative interview is a co-construct of a unique encounter between the participant and the researcher it presents a story told in a specific point in time. That is, by allowing participants to 'tell their story' and to focus on the experiences they wanted to relate the story told in the data collected is unique to a specific point in time and reflects the experiential information that was relevant to them at that specific time.\nConclusion: Migration dismantles people's social and life contexts, changes their relationship with their information landscapes and influences both the external and internal factors that shape their information behavior. Migrants not only relocate geographically but also culturally and socially. The story told by participants in their narratives reflects an ongoing, recurring and unending transition that requires them to constantly acquire new skills and knowledge, renegotiate their perception of self and their sense of belonging that is an integral element of social inclusion. Through their narratives, participants told a story of social exclusion and liminality that resulted in a need to belong that characterizes so much of the human experience. Findings from the study highlight the significance of the perceptional and affective elements of information behavior. That is, information might be available but it is not accessible to the individual because of stigma, discrimination and a perception of exclusion.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the life stories of migrant workers in Israel by analyzing different aspects of the information behavior that emerged from their narratives through a transitional perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Narratives are a human way of communication that focuses on the stories people tell about themselves, their inner thoughts, their states of mind and how they perceive their own reality. In total, 20 Spanish-speaking domestic migrant workers were interviewed. The data collected form the narratives were study draws from the transitional theory.\nFindings: The holistic phase of the content analysis revealed that participants experienced information poverty based on socioeconomic factors and perceptions of social exclusion, vulnerability and hostile surroundings. The content analysis yielded a theory of transitional information behavior that reflects the three stages of the migration process: ending of a new reality, a period of confusion and a sense of belonging. The theory encompasses four elements: process, disconnectedness, perceptions and patterns of response.\nOriginality/value: The study proposes an innovative look at information behavior of migrants by integrating a transitional perspective into the life stories of participants.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Lakesmere builds a quality workforce for the future: Managers learn to see things from other people's points of view
|
[
"Construction industry",
"Training",
"Awards",
"Health and safety"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A Scottish building contractor, working in an increasingly competitive market, developed a team-oriented training program delivered at its own purpose-built training center.\nConsiderable time and investment: \"Our greatest challenge was preparing the training center and the trainer to meet our needs,\" explained Mo Morgan, marketing and communications manager. \"This involved considerable time and investment. Product samples for training also had to be sourced continually. This was achieved by maintaining excellent relationships with our supply chain.\"The company spent PS90,000 on workforce training in 2009. Some PS30,000 of funding was generated from the industry's training board, Construction Skills. Plant and supervisory training was outsourced and would represent further significant investment.The firm trained more than 70 of its employees and inducted them into Team Lakesmere through the training center. The company processed 17 National Vocational Qualifications in 2010 and a further 20 in 2011.The resulting 50 percent improvement in health and safety and 66 percent fall in reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences helped the company to achieve lower insurance premiums and to be awarded Scotland's National Federation of Roofing Contractors' safety, health and environment award. The Lakesmere training also won a Scottish National Training Award (NTA).As a result of the program, the company's entire workforce has been trained for safety in working at height. \"Having our own bespoke course and trainer will allow us to maintain this,\" explained Mo Morgan. The training is ongoing and changes to meet new site and project needs.\"Our workforce has welcomed the Team Lakesmere initiative,\" she continued. \"Their participation has provided a forum through which their opinions and suggestions can be voiced.\"Feedback from the trainees was integrated into the program as it developed. The long-term success was measured by reviews of competence and quality, annual remedial-work expenses, labor-force retention, accident reports, repeat business and profit.\nInclusion of subcontractors: Subcontractors constitute around 70 percent of Lakesmere's labor force. The company selected more than 80 subcontractors it wished to put through the Team Lakesmere program on the basis of potential.\"Before the training, they had some of the skills that we desired, but they required further development and formal qualifications to help them to achieve Team Lakesmere standards,\" said Mo Morgan.The subcontractors were graded at the first stage of training and reassessed for improvement and development at planned intervals. The success of the training was monitored through communication with trainees. \"Team Lakesmere is a reciprocal process where improvement is facilitated through collaboration,\" explained Mo Morgan.The company has seen 100 percent of its selected subcontractors undertaking the National Vocational Qualification training they were offered. The aim is to qualify all of them to Level 2. \"The opportunity to obtain this recognizable qualification would not previously have been possible for most of our subcontractors,\" commented Mo Morgan.\"We made it clear from the outset that we wanted to learn from our subcontractors. This reciprocal approach has significantly improved relations. Our subcontractors not only understand, but also appreciate, why we ask for work to be done in a certain way. They are aware of our key objective to reduce remedial work and accept that they have a crucial part to play in this. Subcontractor feedback tells us that the Team Lakesmere program has been successful. Morale has improved.\"Subcontracting is a tenuous profession but inclusion in Team Lakesmere offers a level of job security to our subcontractors that is rare in this industry. They have become familiar faces in our offices, liaising openly and directly with staff at all levels.\"\nLooking to the future: Lakesmere now aims to prepare its training center for a new National Vocational Qualification process geared around the more efficient achievement of targets. The company is also seeking approval for its trainer from the International Powered Access Federation, an organization for industry safety. Through this, Lakesmere hopes it will soon be able to deliver its own internationally recognized training and qualifications.\"This program has required considerable investment and the recession has resulted in further funding cuts. In consultation with our subcontractors, we have now introduced a training levy. This will ensure that we can continue to meet the training needs of our workforce and industry,\" said Mo Morgan. \"We believe that an ongoing commitment to, and investment in, training is not an option but a necessity in today's economic climate. Our reputation rests with the quality of work that our labor force provides.\"\"Establishing the Team Lakesmere initiative has proved to be an extremely rewarding challenge,\" concluded managing director David Gray \"Our objective is to build partnerships with our supply-chain which result in an ongoing and meaningful learning process.\"\nNote: Michael Pollitt, a freelance writer specializing in human resource management, wrote this article.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe an award-winning training program at Scottish building contractor Lakesmere.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper explores the reasons for the program, the form it takes and the results it has achieved.\nFindings: - The paper explains that the company constructed its own purpose-built training center as a base for much of the so-called Team Lakesmere training, which aims to boost quality practice among the labor force, reduce annual costs resulting from remedial work, improve health and safety and provide the labor force with recognized qualifications and transferable skills.\nPractical implications: - The paper highlights a 50 percent improvement in health and safety and 66 percent fall in reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences.\nSocial implications: - The paper reveals that the company has kept up its commitment to training despite the recession.\nOriginality/value: - The paper describes how, unusually for this type of program, a number of the firm's subcontractors were invited to take part in the training.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Does leader-member similarity in prosocial personality affect informal learning transfer?
|
[
"Informal learning",
"Positive affect",
"Learning motivation",
"Agreeableness"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Skilled and committed employees are a firm's most important asset. Companies invest heavily in employees' training and development to improve business processes to achieve organizational performance goals (Eker and Eker, 2009). However, scholars note that return on training investment is extremely low as trainees' application of training to work has been hampered by various organizational and personal variables (Bates et al., 2014; Burke and Boldwin, 1999; Galagan, 2008). Companies, therefore, have started to invest more in on-demand and work-embedded informal learning (Marsick and Watkins, 2015; Poell, 2014). Informal learning is defined as a type of incidental learning as the learner controls the learning and learning process (Marsick and Watkins, 2001). Examples of informal learning include learning from completing tasks, Web search, interpersonal communication, getting familiarized with the organizational culture and trial-and-errors.\nResearch framework of the study: In conceptualizing our research framework that examines the major factors influencing transfer of learning in informal learning contexts, we have adopted the similarity attraction theory (Byrne, 1971) and also the broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson, 2001) to examine the combinatorial influence of prosocial personality and positive affect.\nLiterature review and research hypotheses: Informal learning in the workplace\nMethods: Participants and data collection\nDiscussion: There are few transfer models or frameworks for informal learning. Marsick and Watkins (2015) noted that:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine a structural relationship among agreeableness, similarity in agreeableness, positive affect and transfer of informal learning. Also, it investigates the mediating role of motivation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected by a survey via snowball sampling. In total, 742 respondents at 72 companies from multiple industries in South Korea participated. The authors performed exploratory confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling to test the research model and hypotheses.\nFindings: The results showed that agreeableness made a dual impact as a personal and a relational trait enhancing the employee's positive affect, and motivation to learn fully mediated the relationship between agreeableness and transfer of informal learning. This supports that prosocial personality traits enhance the employee's motivation, learning and learning application. The full mediation of motivation to learn between positive affect and informal learning transfer emphasizes the importance of intentionality on the part of employees in informal learning contexts.\nOriginality/value: Organizational research pays little attention to social perspectives of informal learning (Varela et al., 2011). The results highlight that workplace informal learning is a socio-psychological process; thus, examining social and psychological factors together would be beneficial.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Risk management in SMEs: a systematic review of available evidence
|
[
"Risk management",
"SME",
"Small and medium-sized enterprises"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in most economies worldwide (Ayyagari et al., 2007; Burgstaller and Wagner, 2015)[1]. For instance, in the European Union, around 99 per cent of the economic activities can be traced back to SMEs, which account for two-third of all jobs in the private sector (Gama and Geraldes, 2012). Compared to larger firms, SMEs are usually seen as having simpler internal organization and, thus, as being more flexible and faster at responding and adapting to change (Lavia Lopez and Hiebl, 2014).\n2. Methods: This paper adopts the basic guidelines set out by Tranfield et al. (2003) for conducting systematic reviews of the literature in the fields of business and management. A systematic literature review is divided into three steps:\n3. Review findings: 3.1 Characteristics of articles reviewed\n4. Conclusions and further research avenues: This paper aimed to provide a systematic review of the existing literature on risk management in SMEs. From this analysis of the literature, three clusters of research emerged. These three clusters along with the main results in the current literature can be found in Table III, which summarizes this review's main findings.\n5. Limitations: Like any piece of research, this review paper has limitations, which are to be acknowledged. First, the findings of any systematic literature review are contingent to the selection and inclusion criteria set out. We deliberately focused our key word search on the actual management of risk and on a small set of related key words. In our key word search, we thus excluded types of risks and risk-related issues, such as moral hazard, information asymmetry or adverse selection. This comes with the limitation that including key words on these issues might have resulted in a broader set of literature on risks in SMEs, but probably at the price that many articles found would not deal with the actual management thereof. Other or additional key words might have led to different review results. The same applies to defining a quality threshold for papers to be included in our review (Section 2). Obviously, without such a threshold, a larger number of papers would have been included in this review, but with the potential downside that the results reported in these papers might not have undergone similar strict quality controls and might, therefore, be less reliable than those in the papers we analyzed. In addition, our article selection process also focused exclusively on journal articles and thus excluded other types of literature such as books, book chapters and gray literature. Although these other literature types may also contain interesting findings, we confined our review to journal articles because these are the usual means of communicating novel scientific findings and are more easily accessible in key word-based database searches.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review of available research evidence on risk management in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The authors aim to reveal ambiguities, gaps and contradictions in the literature, and to sketch avenues for further research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors follow the tenets of Tranfield et al. (2003) for conducting a systematic literature review. Following a key word search and an assessment of fit for this review, 27 papers were analyzed with respect to bibliographical information, research design and findings.\nFindings: The review identified various types of risks that may occur in SMEs. In addition, the publication analysis demonstrates the importance of a risk management process in SMEs and that the characteristics of SME owners have a significant impact on their business strategies.\nResearch limitations/implications: Additional empirical research on risk identification, risk analysis, strategy implementation and control in the SME risk management process is needed.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first comprehensive review of the body of literature on risk management in SMEs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Antecedents of brand love in online network-based communities. A social identity perspective
|
[
"Social identity",
"Facebook",
"Structural equation modelling",
"Brand love",
"Consumer engagement",
"Online network-based communities",
"Social-interactive engagement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nIntroduction: Social technologies allow brands to build online network-based communities that are \"specialized, geographically dispersed communities based on a structured, relatively sparse and dynamic network of relationships among participants sharing a common focus\" (Dholakia et al., 2004, p. 248). Brand pages on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are pivotal examples of these communities, where the common focus is the brand. Such interactive, personalised and participatory communication environments stimulate consumer engagement, allow users to satisfy self-definitional needs and have an important role in the consumer-brand's affective relationship-building processes (Wallace et al., 2012, 2014).\nConceptual model and development of hypotheses: Social-interactive engagement\nMethod: Data collection and sample\nData analysis and results: Exploratory factor analysis\nDiscussion and implications for research: In response to the call for an integrated analysis of consumer engagement and social identity in virtual communities (Brodie et al., 2013), this study is the first to attempt to:\nManagerial implications: The confirmation of the hypothesised linkages has implications for managers, who are encouraged to recognise the strategic importance of creating social experiences to enhance social-interactive engagement and stimulate consumers' social identity in the online network-based communities. As the results show, the effects of these strategies are reflected in a reinforced emotional bond with the brand. Online as offline, this enhanced brand love is an important managerial intermediate outcome, representing a means of building stronger consumer-brand relationships and strategic results, such as brand acceptance, brand loyalty, engagement in positive WOM and resistance to negative information (Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006; Batra et al., 2012; Wallace et al., 2014).\nLimitations and further research: Despite these contributions, our study has room for improvements. First, although the analyses in this study only took Facebook into account (which is the social network that is currently most preferred by customers to connect with brands), future research may consider other social media, such as micro-blogs, professional social networks or interest-based social networks, thereby increasing the external validity of the model. We invite future research also to consider the effect of the size of the respondents' networks and/or the extent to which they have strong ties, as suggested in previous studies (Jones and Volpe, 2011; Wallace et al., 2012), to check whether those with stronger ties to communities' members have greater social-interactive engagement. Similarly, we used brand fan pages as empirical context of analysis for this study. We invite future research to include and analyse anti-brand communities, to assess the magnitude of the hypothesised causal paths when the overall emotion towards the brand is a negative one.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the antecedents of brand love in online network-based communities and to develop an integrative conceptual model in which social-interactive engagement influences brand love via the mediating effects of social identity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted on the Facebook fan pages of 20 leading international brands. A total of 387 responses were collected from consumers living primarily in Europe and the USA. Structural equation modelling was performed to test the hypothesised linkages.\nFindings: The results confirmed that the positive influence of social-interactive engagement on brand love is mediated by the psychological effects related to how members perceive their self-concept based on belonging to the social group of the brand fan page.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study considered Facebook, the favourite social network used by customers to connect with brands. Future research is invited to consider other social media to increase the external validity of the model.\nPractical implications: To strengthen the emotional bond with a brand in online network-based communities, managers should stimulate consumers' social identity by leveraging on the experiences which influence social-interactive engagement.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to investigate the effects of social-interactive engagement on social identity to enhance the understanding of brand love's antecedents in specific online social environments.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Forward Looking: Structural change and institutions in highest-income countries and globally
|
[
"Institutional change",
"Austria",
"Global megatrends",
"High-income countries",
"Luxembourg",
"Reorganization",
"Administration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Any attempt to reorganise institutions poses questions about how best to perform such restructuring tasks, given the long-term prevalence of institutional patterns.\n2. \"Forward looking\" means to account for global megatrends (GMTs): The term \"forward looking\" is among others used in the European Environment Agency's (EEA) regular exercise to assess GMTs within their \"State of the Environment Reports\" (SOER), officially entitled \"The European environment - state and outlook\" and appearing every five years; the next report is scheduled for 2015. In this framework the EEA has defined the programme \"Knowledge base for Forward-Looking Information and Services\" (FLIS, 2011) including a communication-oriented exchange platform between member states' administrations.\n3. The case of Luxembourg: structural shifts in institutions and economics: In the nineteenth century, Luxembourg has acquired \"neutrality\" between competing military powers and cultures and mastered to preserve both their perceptions of values - due to its geopolitical position between two historical forces (Germany and France) and driven both by its smallness as decided by active political action.\n4. Considering additional organisational principles: 4.1 Structuring topics in three dimensions\n5. Treatment of examples for environmental issues: This chapter considers how (on the basis of the above considerations) the complexity of environmental issues can be presented.\n6. Conclusions: In this analysis based on several approaches, possible long-term trends (megatrends) are considered and strategic conclusions for the future requirements of an environmental administration such as the AEL are drawn.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Structural economic shifts are a key sign of development in all stages globally; and these shifts may also result in the changing roles of institutions. The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively analyse trends that may be used for so-called forward looking and makes use of them to recommend strategies for reorganising institutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The requirements and opportunities of environmental administrations in high-income countries are used as case studies to illustrate the overall context of institutional restructuring. Luxembourg, as a present-day centre of political and strategic power within the European Union and Austria, as a neutral country formerly situated between military blocks are shown to exhibit structural and strategic similarities.\nFindings: Two types of quantitative assessments may support any type of institutional restructuring: first, analyses of mega-trends within the global techno-socio-economic evolution and second, options for specific action at the local site of previously industrial settlements that may be converted into centres of innovative service orientation.\nPractical implications: On the occasion of the recent resettlement of the Luxembourg Environmental Administration at a new site in Esch-sur-Alzette - in an area of bolder modern urbanisation built on the foundations of the former local industrial use considered - this text deliberates options to propose strategically pioneering innovations on administrative levels.\nOriginality/value: The paper combines global analyses and local experiences in an action-oriented manner.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Introducing a new business course: "Global business and sustainability"
|
[
"Business development",
"Education",
"Sustainable development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable increase in attention to courses in graduate and undergraduate business curricula dealing with the topic of environmental and social issues (WRI, 2001). Courses such as environmental management, design for the environment, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability metrics are increasingly finding their way into business programs[1]. However, as of yet, there appear to be few business courses for which the primary focus is on the topics of sustainable development and sustainability. In fall 2003, the Master of International Management program at Portland State University took its first step in this direction. A new option was introduced titled Global sustainability, which included one required course by the same name, and three additional courses. The two objectives of this paper is to highlight some key issues in designing and delivering the core course, and, by describing the themes and topics covered, provide educators some insights on how sustainability can be effectively integrated into business curricula.In designing this course, there were two main considerations. First, the continuing intractability of the conceptualization and practice of sustainability needed to be dealt with in this course. This issue was compounded by the general recognition that graduate-level business students are increasingly in search of immediately applicable skills and knowledge. Thus, a significant challenge for this course was to establish conceptualizations of sustainable development and sustainability that effectively linked social, environmental and economic issues from a global perspective, and ensured the relevance of this conceptualization to operations of global corporations.Second, in terms of class composition, the MIM program generally has an equal enrollment of international and domestic (US) students. Further, the majority of the international students come from developing countries. In attempt to avoid a developed country-centered perspective in the course, key issues that would likely arise due to differing perspectives on development policy were identified and integrated into the curriculum. Although there is a plethora of potential issues, the two that were identified and of key focus throughout the course were intra-generational equity and trade flows, dependencies and policies. The third section of this paper explains how sustainable development and sustainability were conceptualized for this course and the importance of providing a balanced approach in light of different perspectives held by international students.Before discussing the course design, a brief background on how the course, Global business and sustainability, entered into the Master of International Management curriculum, along with a description of the structure of this course, is provided. In addition, the other three courses that comprise the option in Global business and sustainability are summarized.\n2 Background: The Master of International Program at Portland State University offers similar courses as a traditional MBA, but each course has an international focus. It also includes courses on cross-cultural negotiations and international trade practices, and requires students to take a full year of either Chinese or Japanese language. The terms of the MIM program are eight-weeks long, in which courses are delivered in eight four-hour sessions. The intensive nature of the program permits full-time students to complete the program in one year and part-time students to finish in two years.In Fall 2002, the Executive Director of the MIM program and one of the MIM faculty began discussing the possibility of an option focused on sustainability. A comprehensive study was undertaken of existing business programs dealing with sustainability issues, as well as more specific social and environmental issues, at US and international universities. Further, meetings were held to discuss what the potential content and market interest would be in such an option with a number of stakeholders, including representatives from the private, public and non-profit sectors, as well as the MIM program's Corporate Advisory Board. Discussions with external stakeholders, as well as MIM alumni suggested that latent demand existed among students, particularly for the domestic students. Corporate representatives expressed the general opinion that interest in an option in sustainability was minimal at this time, but was likely to grow over the next five years. Although no formal market research was conducted beyond these discussions, the strategic decision was made to move ahead with the option and establish the program as an early mover in integrating sustainability into the existing curriculum.Following the in-depth discussions with a variety of stakeholders, a significant literature review was conducted to develop a proposal for the option. Literature across multiple disciplines, including business, international relations, public policy, and development and environmental economics, was studied. By the end of fall term, an option proposal was drafted with one core course and three option courses, and sent back to key stakeholders for review and comment. After the final edits and deletions, the Global business and sustainability option was joined with a number of other proposed curricular changes, and sent through the numerous channels within the university for approval. By spring 2003, the Executive Director had received approval for all curricular changes, including the Global business and sustainability option to be offered in fall term of that year.2.1 The Global business and sustainability option\n3 Course structure and reference material: In the first term of the MIM program all student are required to take the core course, Global business and sustainability. Table I provides a brief overview of the structure of this course, and the topic areas covered in each class (Table II). Table III shows the course outline by topic and the primary source materials used to build the class content, respectively. Designing a course on sustainability that was global in nature and business-oriented required a broad and varied source list, including books, academic and practitioner articles, and websites. The purpose of providing this information is that, although this course is unique in its purpose and audience, the topic areas covered and materials used may be adapted into other courses that address sustainability in a business context.\n4 Challenges presented in designing the Global business and sustainability course: Throughout the process of designing the themes, and the topics to be covered and the materials to be used in each class, two key challenges were ever present. First, conceptualizations of sustainable development and sustainability needed to be global in nature and business-oriented. Second, the course was to be attended by an equal number of students from developed and developing countries and their diverse perspectives had to be taken into consideration.4.1 Challenge one: conceptualizing sustainable development and sustainability for international business students\n5 Discussion and conclusion: In the academic, business and policy arenas sustainability and sustainable development are becoming mainstream concepts. Yet, the interpretation and applications of these ideas varies widely and as a consequence the design and delivery of a business course on this topic can present many challenges. Integrative conceptual frameworks that attend to the multi-level, systemic aspects of sustainability and that are accessible to a broad student audience need to be developed in order for business-focused sustainability courses to become more common components of business curricula. With the development of such frameworks, it seems likely that new businesses courses on the topics of sustainability will continue to emerge. We hope that our discussions of the key challenges and conceptual frameworks related to the new course, Global business and sustainability, bring the business academy closer to this possibility and we conclude with a few key observations in the hopes that sustainability will become more effectively integrated into business curricula.One of the primary intentions of the Global business and sustainability course was to give students new insights into how global businesses address global environmental and social issues they confront. Thus, the course context was initially framed around global sustainability issues, such as global warming, deforestation, desertification, extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS virus. From a business student's perspective, this approach puts the students into different country contexts based on the relevance of these issues to different countries. The overarching framework shown in Figure 1 (Conceptualization of the intersection of global sustainability issues) helped students to envision the interdependence of countries based on environmental and social issues, in addition to the more traditionally considered economic issues. Further, this framework established a mental model for students to consider the multiplex dimensions of domestic and international decision-making by business managers and policy-makers. We strongly believe that building such a mental model is an essential aspect of introducing a student, whether from a more or less developed country, to sustainability in a global business context.When teaching a business course, it is important to establish the business perspective that considers a diverse set of circumstances impacting trade and investment decisions, including political, technological, economic, societal and industry factors. Teaching the conceptual background and practical application of sustainability in a business course demands similar attention to multiple factors. However, compared to a more traditional business course, there is greater need for delineating the relationships between institutional, industry and corporate level factors linked to sustainability issues. Thus, we believe that effective integration of sustainability into business curricula will depend, in part, on the ability of instructors to demonstrate multi-level interactions and illustrate themes, topics and company examples to continual reinforce this aspect of sustainable development and sustainability. A more prevalent approach in current business courses is to diagram a company's external environment such that dimensions of the broader society and industry competition are disconnected and non-interactive. Figure 2 (Global sustainability issue, industry and corporation framework) places the company in a dynamic relationship with its industrial and institutional contexts. Based on the interrelationships of the company with multiple constituencies, therefore, this framework provides important conceptual clarity for understanding the institutional limits and consequences of corporate strategy, structure and competitive actions, in particular as they relate to sustainability issues.A business course developed around the principles of sustainability is similar to any other course in the business curriculum in that it needs to demonstrate the link between competitive actions and outcomes. The model offered in Figure 3 (Sustainability and the global firm) looks specifically at sustainability-driven corporate strategy. In this sense, the strategic management process is viewed as a \"set of commitments, decisions, and actions required by the firm to achieve strategic competitiveness\"(Hitt et al., 2005, p. 5) based on the interconnection between social, environmental and economic factors. We offer this model as a means for illustrating how a business can enhance its competitiveness through strategic and operational actions focused on the triple-bottom line. The importance of effective stakeholder engagement, the pursuit of eco-efficiency in manufacturing, distribution and packaging, and the opportunities presented by targeting disenfranchised segments of the customer market, are all examples that derive from this model. Importantly, these examples, and the model itself, apply equally to companies in more and less developed economies.Our final observation is that sustainable development and sustainability are concepts that, in principle, should have universal appeal and application. In fact, the Brundtland Commission report (WCED - World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) explicitly notes the need for recognizing the common purpose of development approaches that assess and attempt to resolve social, environmental, and economic challenges in both developed and developing regions of the world. But, the asymmetric trade dependencies between these regions and the lack of stable political systems and efficient infrastructures in most developing regions leads to differing perspectives on the application of sustainable development principles. It is recommended that business courses incorporating sustainable development and sustainability into the curriculum should clearly distinguish the issues faced by different regions of the world, unique methods for dealing with this issues, and provide clear illustrations of sustainable and non-sustainable approaches to development.From the elaboration of the challenges of designing the Global business and sustainability course, as well as the value of the three key frameworks, it is hoped that business educators interested in teaching this topic gain greater insights into how to build the ideas and principles of sustainability into business courses. Perhaps, one of the greatest challenges of business educators today is to find effective methods for integrating the concepts of sustainable development and sustainability into their curricula. Currently, a textbook on the topic of sustainability-oriented textbook is not available. The recent introduction of a number of sustainability-oriented courses into university curricula suggests that there is a pressing need for unifying frameworks for teaching and talking about sustainability. With the development of such frameworks, it seems quite plausible that over the course of the next five years the principle ideas of sustainability will be incorporated into mainstream business textbooks and course material. The globalization of economies and policy-making and the transboundary impacts of our industrial societies suggest that there is neither an independent policy decision by regulators, nor strategic action by a global corporation. Sustainability and sustainable development provide a valuable means for communicating the inherent systemic nature of the world's economic, social and environmental system, and, thus, it is of utmost importance that business educators discover effective means for integrating sustainability into course content.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To outline the themes, topics and material used in a new course, Global business and sustainability, for business educators interested in integrating this emergingparadigm into their courses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The structure, design and reference materials for the Global business and sustainability course are reviewed. Specific challenges in designing the course are discussed. Recommendations are provided on how key frameworks developed for this course can aid in the delivery of a business course integrating sustainability concepts.\nFindings: - Compared to a more traditional business course, in a business course integrating sustainability concepts there is greater need for delineating the relationships between institutional, industry and corporate level factors linked to sustainability issues. However, a business course developed around the principles of sustainability is also similar to any other course in the business curriculum in that it needs to demonstrate the link between competitive actions and outcomes. Finally, sustainable development and sustainability are concepts that, in principle, should appeal and apply across cultural and national boundaries.\nPractical implications: - A useful source of information for business educators planning to integrate sustainability issues and concepts into their courses.\nOriginality/value: - This paper addresses an important emerging paradigm and offers practical advice on how to incorporate this paradigm into business curriculum.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Age differences in mobile service perceptions: comparison of Generation Y and baby boomers
|
[
"Baby boomer generation",
"Customer loyalty",
"Customer satisfaction",
"Customer services quality",
"Mobile communications systems"
] |
[
{
"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.\nA conceptual model of consumer loyalty intention: Consumer perceptions of service quality, value and satisfaction have been extensively studied as antecedents of loyalty intention (e.g. Cronin et al., 2000). Previous studies proposed quality and value as antecedents of customer satisfaction, and in turn, satisfaction as a mediator between quality and/or value and customer retention (e.g. McDougall and Levesque, 2000; Olsen, 2002; Parasuraman and Grewal, 2000). In this section, we provide a brief summary of an overall model that conceptualizes the following constructs:* service quality;* perceived value (i.e. economic, emotional);* satisfaction; and* loyalty intention.The hierarchical relationship among these constructs are supported by the expectancy-value theory of cognition (perceived quality)-affect (satisfaction)-behavior (Olsen, 2002). A conceptual model for this study is presented in Figure 1.Overall service quality\nAge differences: Age is a widely used demographic variable to characterize the adoption of technologies between two or more consumer groups (Morris and Venkatesh, 2000). This study explores the differences in mobile service usage between two particular generations of consumers - Gen Y and baby boomers. These two generations are prominent users of mobile services and certain differences exist in their mobile service usage behavior because of their inherent motivational needs (Pedersen and Ling, 2003). A comparison of the satisfaction and loyalty determinants of mobile services between these two groups is expected to offer insights to mobile service providers about effectively targeting their services.Gen Y\nMethods: Sample and data collection\nResults: Factor analysis\nDiscussion and implications: The findings of this study provide valuable insights to mobile service providers regarding the difference in service perceptions between Gen Y and baby boomers. The results show that network quality is an important core attribute of mobile services for both Gen Y and baby boomers. The rise in competition and an increase in calling volume imply that carriers should offer superior network quality to attract new customers and retain their existing customers. Thus, mobile service providers need to monitor their efforts to improve the quality and reliability of their network.The effect of data services on perceived value provides interesting results. Given that Gen Y are the main user group of mobile data services (e.g. text messaging services, music downloads), perceived quality of data services were expected to have a greater impact on perceived value for Gen Y-ers than for baby boomers. Contrary to our expectations, however, data services were not a significant contributor to both economic and emotional value for Gen Y. A possible reason for this finding can be attributed to measures of data services in this study. During CFA, certain items of data services that are popular with Gen Y (e.g. SMS, online calendar, online gaming) were discarded. The elimination of these popular data services could have resulted in the construct \"data services\" having a non-significant effect on perceived value for Gen Y.Functional service quality appears to be important for both Gen Y and baby boomers. Billing services were significantly related to perceived economic and emotional value for both groups. Mobile service providers may design billing statements in such a way that it provides accurate and clear information about fees and charges. Currently, data services are collectively billed in statements with no demarcation in service nature. Billing services can be improved by differentiating between types of data services and billing in such a manner that connects to the user in a clear manner - for example, a fixed charge for one music download, one click of web browsing, one minute of streaming video, one ring tone or a prefixed size of an e-mail transfer, to name a few.Customer service quality was related only to perceived emotional value for Gen Y. This result could have been obtained as it is possible that the sample used in this study may not have experienced problems with their service and hence not contacted their mobile service provider to obtain customer assistance. This could have limited their ability to evaluate their mobile service provider's customer service quality. However, a possible avenue to improve perceived emotional value is by offering a more understanding and flexible customer service program.The result of invariance testing confirms that the relationship between emotional value and satisfaction is stronger for Gen Y than baby boomers. This finding suggests that marketers need to consider young consumers' emotional responses in their marketing efforts. For example, advertisements and promotions aimed at giving the young user a mobile service with increased features such as faster music downloads, the ability to instant message, and internet friendly devices would interest the youth psyche. Collaborating mobile phones and services with leading youth-centric brands, offering customizable exteriors to match clothing styles and colors, providing discounts to members of youth groups are possible avenues to increase Gen Y-ers' emotional value.Another interesting observation in this study is the insignificant relationship between economic value and satisfaction for Gen Y. This implies that Gen Y-ers' economic value does not have as much impact on satisfaction toward their mobile service and service providers. As hypothesized, economic value had a significant relationship toward satisfaction in the case of baby boomers. This could correlate with the established common knowledge that baby boomers are known to expect value for money. Thus, mobile service providers may place emphasis on their pricing plans when targeting baby boomers. Service providers might consider marketing data services at a lower cost to baby boomers, to increase their experimenting with data services. In order to encourage baby boomers to try the new data services, service providers can offer a trial period with no obligations attached.In general, our results indicate that various attributes of mobile services contribute to consumers' perceived economic and emotional value, which leads to satisfaction and loyalty. Also, age of the user has an apparent effect on mobile service perceptions and loyalty decisions. This study portrays the importance of mobile service quality on perceived value for both Gen Y and baby boomers. As emotional value has a greater effect on satisfaction for Gen Y and economic value has a greater effect on satisfaction for baby boomers, mobile service providers need to forego their \"one-service-fits-all\" attitude and focus on developing strategies based on the age of their consumers. Also, our findings provide mobile service carriers with insights into their advertising strategy. According to these findings, mobile service providers are recommended to appeal to the emotional value for Gen Y-ers. For baby boomers, emphasis can be placed on economic value that can be obtained from their services.\nLimitations: This study aims at measuring the differences in perceptions of service between college students and older age group consumers. The measures of service quality for mobile data services were measured on a five-point semantic differential scale ranging from poor (1) to excellent (5). This scale, however, did not specifically present respondents with a neutral or \"don't know\" option. This may have been a limitation when respondents were not aware of certain services provided by their service providers.Another limitation lies on the different methods of data collection for the two groups. The data from baby boomers were collected by a web-based survey whereas the data for Gen Y was collected by a pen-and-paper survey. Significant differences, in certain cases, have been found in the answers that respondents give to different survey modes (Dillman, 2000). The usage of mixed-mode survey technique in this study may have skewed the results. This can be avoided in the future by incorporating a single survey technique for both the groups.Also, this study examines only age differences in mobile service loyalty decisions. Future researchers may consider the evaluation of perceptional differences between other generations such as Generation X and Generation Y, and between different ethnic groups such as African Americans and Hispanics. Other demographic variables such as gender, income and education can be used as a demarcation variable in understanding loyalty toward mobile service providers.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This study aims to investigate the effects of age on mobile service quality perceptions and its impact on perceived value, satisfaction and loyalty between two significant mobile service user segments - Generation Y and baby boomers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A multiple group structural equation modeling approach is utilized to assess the proposed model.\nFindings: - The results identify the mobile service quality attributes that are important to Generation Y-ers and baby boomers. The study also finds significant differences between the two groups in terms of the effect of perceived economic and emotional value on satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A limitation lies in the measurement of service quality. Another limitation is different methods of data collection between two age groups. Future research is recommended to examine differences between other generations, between different ethnic groups, and other demographic variables.\nPractical implications: - This study strongly suggest the effect of age on mobile service perceptions and loyalty decisions. It is suggested that marketers appeal to the emotional value for Gen Y-ers while placing an emphasis on economic value for baby boomers.\nOriginality/value: - The proposed role of gender in loyalty decisions provides insights to marketers on how to promote their services for diverse consumer segments.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Travelers' behavioral intention toward hotel self-service kiosks usage
|
[
"Satisfaction",
"Compatibility",
"Hotel self-service kiosks",
"Perceived risks",
"Technology acceptance model (TAM)"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The hotel industry has gradually increased its investment in information technology (IT) to improve operational efficiency and productivity, reduce cost, and increase hotel guests' satisfaction in order to enhance service quality (Camison, 2000; Ham et al., 2005; Lam et al., 2007; Law and Jogaratnam, 2005). As advances in technology continue to impact business strategy, many traditional interpersonal encounters (i.e. \"High-touch and low-tech\") have been supplemented or replaced by technological interfaces (i.e. \"High-tech and low-touch). One of the most common technological interfaces is self-service technologies (SSTs) (Froehle and Roth, 2004; Rust and Espinoza, 2006).\nLiterature review: Theoretical framework and hypotheses\nMethod: A self-administered questionnaire was developed, containing three sections. The first section asked about travelers' socio-demographic profile, such as travel times per year, experience of airlines' self-service kiosks, hotel reservation methods, and times of hotel self-service kiosk usage. The second section included twenty-three items measuring travelers' perspectives on hotel self-service kiosk usage, including perceived usefulness (three items), perceived ease of use (three items), compatibility (three items), perceived risks (three items), travelers' attitude toward using self-service technology (four items), satisfaction (four items), and travelers' behavior intention to use hotel self-service kiosks (three items). All items and measurement scales were constructed based on previous works (Adams et al., 1992; Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989; Lam et al., 2007; Lin and Hsieh, 2006; Meuter et al., 2005; Moore and Benbasat, 1991). All items were measured by a seven-point Likert-type scale, ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). The final section assessed travelers' demographic information, such as age, gender, education, occupation, and annual household income.\nResults: Profile of respondents\nConclusion: The purpose of this study is to refine TAM and empirically examine travelers' acceptance behavior toward hotel self-service kiosks. Results suggested that all external variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, compatibility, and perceived risks) have significant direct effects on travelers' attitude toward using hotel self-service kiosks (Butcher et al., 2001; Davis, 1989; Rogers, 1995; Moore and Benbasat, 1991). In particular, the coefficients indicated that compatibility was the most important factor influencing travelers' attitude toward using the hotel self-service kiosks, followed by perceived ease of use. The results indicated that travelers are more likely to have a favorable attitude toward using hotel self-service kiosks if they perceive that using them is compatible with their lifestyle. Furthermore, they regard hotel self-service kiosks as a useful tool if they perceive that using them is not complicated.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose a refined technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine the relationship between factors that affect travelers' use of hotel self-service kiosks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The target population of the study is domestic travelers whose e-mail addresses are in a publicly available database. The measures in this study were developed based on a thorough review of the previous literature. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and distributed through online, and a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted by LISREL 8.0 to test the proposed extended technology acceptance model (TAM).\nFindings: Results suggested that all external variables (i.e. perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, compatibility, and perceived risks) have significant direct effects on travelers' attitude toward using hotel self-service kiosks. However, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use did not have significant effects on travelers' satisfaction. Specifically, compatibility was the most important factor that influences travelers' attitude toward using hotel self-service kiosks, followed by perceived ease of use. Further, perceived risks have a significant influence on travelers' satisfaction, followed by compatibility.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper provides guidance which will be useful to hotel managers and marketers seeking to improve travelers' acceptance of hotel self-service kiosks when utilizing these in their service delivery as well as to manage travelers' satisfaction of their experience with hotel self-service kiosks.\nOriginality/value: The new refined model of factors affecting travelers' use of hotel self-service kiosks comprises three new factors, including compatibility, perceived risks, and satisfaction.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Dynamic supply chain capabilities: How market sensing, supply chain agility and adaptability affect supply chain ambidexterity
|
[
"Survey",
"Supply chain agility"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today's companies compete in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable marketplace (Christopher and Holweg, 2011; Dubey et al., 2018). To remain competitive, companies need to explore for new market opportunities and exploit existing efficiencies within their operations (March, 1991; Wu et al., 2017). Exploration includes the search for new possibilities, the discovery of innovative ideas and the flexibility to respond to new opportunities as they arise (March, 1991). Exploitation refers to selecting, refining and implementing standardized procedures to achieve efficiencies in a firm's operations (March, 1991).\n2. Literature review and hypothetical model: 2.1 Dynamic supply chain capabilities\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Research design\n4. Research findings: In this study, we developed a hypothesised model to identify the underpinning constructs of supply chain ambidexterity. To do so, we positioned market sensing, supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability as three dynamic supply chain capabilities. We then considered the interrelationship between these three constructs and their impact on supply chain ambidexterity. Furthermore, we considered the mediating role of supply chain agility in the relationship between adaptability and ambidexterity.\n5. Discussion: Meta-analytic studies have called for more empirical studies investigating the implications of dynamic capabilities (Wilden et al., 2016). Even though there seems to be a consensus that dynamic capabilities should have a positive relationship with performance outcomes, Pezeshkan et al. (2016) suggested that empirical evidence regarding this relationship is mixed, at best. Given the popularity of dynamic capabilities as a research area, there is significant criticism surrounding this debate (Schilke, 2014). In support of earlier arguments by Teece (2007), we have gathered empirical data to show that, like firm-level dynamic capabilities, dynamic supply chain capabilities exist in clusters of sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities. Specifically, supply chain agility allows firm's to seize opportunities in the marketplace by providing a short-term supply chain response. Supply chain adaptability allows firms to provide a longer-term response to marketplace changes by transforming the resource base and structure of the supply chain.\n6. Contribution and future research directions: 6.1 Theoretical and managerial contribution\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper positions market sensing, supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability as a coherent cluster of dynamic supply chain capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to understand how dynamic supply chain capabilities interrelate and their effect on supply chain ambidexterity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a survey of Pakistani manufacturing firms, a theoretically-derived model was tested in a structural equation model.\nFindings: The results of the study show that a market-sensing capability is an antecedent of supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability. Furthermore, supply chain agility, directly, and supply chain adaptability, indirectly, affect supply chain ambidexterity. Supply chain agility, therefore, mediates the relationship between supply chain adaptability and supply chain ambidexterity.\nOriginality/value: The contribution of this study lies in: first, identifying dynamic capability clusters relevant for achieving supply chain ambidexterity; second, evaluating performance implications of dynamic capabilities in the supply chain, specifically supply chain agility and adaptability; and third, proposing a unique measurement of supply chain ambidexterity in the light supply chain theory, and empirically evaluating the relationship between dynamic capabilities and supply chain ambidexterity.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Terrorism: a guide to resources
|
[
"Terrorism",
"Collections management",
"Books",
"Digital libraries"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Terrorism research and politics changed irrevocably after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The links between religion and terrorism and the rise of transnational terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda became a significant focus of terrorism research and counter-terrorism efforts. The political landscape in the USA, and arguably the world, also changed after 9/11 with the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, the introduction of the Patriot Act, and the subsequent global war on terror waged by the Bush administration. These shifts in research and politics precipitated by the 9/11 attacks raised further questions around how terrorism is defined and addressed.\nPrint and electronic reference sources: Atkins, S.E. (2008), The 9/11 Encyclopedia, Praeger Security International, Westport, CT, 2 vols\nBook-length sources: General overviews of terrorism\nPeriodicals: Coalition Bulletin, available at www.centcom.mil/en/newsletters/coalition-bulletins\nDatabases: The following databases provide access to terrorism-related encyclopedias.Gale Virtual Reference Library, Gale, Farmington Hills, MI\nWeb resources: The following is just brief list of websites that provide terrorism-related information. For a more comprehensive overview of web resources about terrorism, see Kay Collins's guide to locating online information on terrorism (Collins, 2008).American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), available at www.aclu.org\nDissertations and theses: Searching the Dissertations and Theses database (ProQuest, Ann Arbor, MI) reveals just how vibrant terrorism-related research is. Whereas only eight dissertations from the year 2001 list \"terrorism\" as one of their keywords, 83 dissertations defended in 2009 include \"terrorism\" not just as a keyword but as a word in their title.\nKeeping up to date on terrorism: Various feeds and alerting services are available for keeping current. Bowker's Global Books in Print (available at www.globalbooksinprint.com) has an alerting service called \"BIP Alert\" which lists new books and videos based on the search parameters set by users. Similarly, subscription article databases such as Criminal Justice Abstracts (CSA Illumina), Criminal Justice Periodicals Index (ProQuest), Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, and Praeger Security International Online offer e-mail and/or RSS alerts for user-selected search terms. Jane's also provides free weekly e-mail alerts covering defense, security and law enforcement news (available at www2.janes.com/public/login/nb_freeRegister.html). The International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, the publisher of the Journal of Counter Terrorism and Homeland Security International, has a free mailing list (available at www.iacsp.com). Journals such as Terrorism & Political Violence, Studies in Conflict, and Terrorism provide table of contents feeds from their publisher's site (Taylor & Francis; available at www.taylorandfrancisgroup.com). Also, the US Department of Homeland Security lists a number of feeds at www.dhs.gov/xutil/feeds.shtmCollins's (2008) guide to locating online information on terrorism lists additional RSS feeds and useful websites.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Prior to 9/11, terrorism was subject to political, scholarly, and media debates. A large body of literature on the topic reflected researchers' long-standing interest in the topic. In the near decade since 9/11, terrorism and its threat have only gained urgency. This paper aims to provide a selected bibliography of resources, in print and electronic format, that focus on terrorism. Public and academic libraries have been providing access to terrorism-related resources, but no thematic bibliography has been published in professional journals since 2001. This guide aims to aid librarians in making decisions about developing and maintaining collections on the topic.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors consulted a variety of sources, including the Library of Congress catalog, WorldCat, Bowker's Global Books in Print database, book reviews in Choice, Booklist, and in journals within terrorism studies. As John Jay College of Criminal Justice is home to The Center on Terrorism and the college offers an MA Certificate Program in Terrorism Studies, the authors also consulted the college library collection that supports these scholarly activities on terrorism at the college.\nPractical implications: - Because of the volume of terrorism-related scholarship and the number of available resources on the topic, this bibliography does not purport to be complete.\nFindings: - Included in this guide are print and electronic encyclopedias, books, periodicals, databases, and websites covering terrorism.\nOriginality/value: - This guide aims to assist students, faculty, and the general public in navigating the vast array of terrorism-related resources. Focusing on research conducted and published since 2001, it is also intended as a guide for public and academic librarians who develop, maintain, or evaluate a collection on the topic.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Reliability analysis of underground mining equipment using genetic algorithms: A case study of two mine hoists
|
[
"Genetic algorithms",
"GenRel",
"Mine hoist",
"Reliability analysis and prediction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With more and more technological advances made available nowadays, the manufacturing industry is producing various types of equipment worth billions of dollars for use by the mining sector throughout the world. For instance, as per the US Census Bureau, in 2008 American mining equipment manufacturers shipped around $4.0 billion worth of goods (US Census Bureau, 2010), compared to $2 billion in 2005 (Dhillon, 2008). Among these figures in 2008, underground mining machinery (except parts sold separately) accounted for $1.0 billion, or 25 percent. In some mines maintenance cost might take up to 50-60 percent of total costs (Jardine and Tsang, 2006; Vayenas et al., 1997). Today, surging resources demands from emerging economic entities urge mining companies to modernize their operations through increased mechanization and automation. To this end, it is desirable to design and utilize mining equipment systems with better reliability and maintainability.\n2. Mining equipment reliability-related measures: There are many mining-equipment-reliability-related measures. Some of these used in this research are presented below (Dhillon, 2008; Vayenas et al., 1997; Dunn, 1997; Paraszczak, 2005).\n3. GenRel and its improvements: 3.1 Overview of GenRel\n4. Case study of two mine hoists: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether or not GenRel can be utilized to assess reliability of mine hoists in real-life mine operations.\n5. Conclusion: The case study discussed in this paper demonstrates successful application of a GAs-based software called GenRel to analyze and predict dynamic reliability characteristics of two hoist systems. Two separate studies (Mine A and Mine B) at a time interval of three months present acceptable prediction results at a given level of confidence, 5 percent.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: While increased mechanization and automation make considerable contributions to mine productivity, unexpected equipment failures and imperfect planned or routine maintenance prohibit the maximum possible utilization of sophisticated mining equipment and require significant amount of extra capital investment. Traditional preventive/planned maintenance is usually scheduled at a fixed interval based on maintenance personnel's experience and it can result in decreasing reliability. This paper deals with reliability analysis and prediction for mining machinery. A software tool called GenRel is discussed with its theoretical background, applied algorithms and its current improvements. In GenRel, it is assumed that failures of mining equipment caused by an array of factors (e.g. age of equipment, operating environment) follow the biological evolution theory. GenRel then simulates the failure occurrences during a time period of interest based on Genetic Algorithms (GAs) combined with a number of statistical procedures. The paper also discusses a case study of two mine hoists. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether or not GenRel can be applied for reliability analysis of mine hoists in real life.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Statistical testing methods are applied to examine the similarity between the predicted data set with the real-life data set in the same time period. The data employed in this case study is compiled from two mine hoists from the Sudbury area in Ontario, Canada. Potential applications of the reliability assessment results yielded from GenRel include reliability-centered maintenance planning and production simulation.\nFindings: The case studies shown in this paper demonstrate successful applications of a GAs-based software, GenRel, to analyze and predict dynamic reliability characteristics of two hoist systems. Two separate case studies in Mine A and Mine B at a time interval of three months both present acceptable prediction results at a given level of confidence, 5 percent.\nPractical implications: Potential applications of the reliability assessment results yielded from GenRel include reliability-centered maintenance planning and production simulation.\nOriginality/value: Compared to conventional mathematical models, GAs offer several key advantages. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there has not been a wide application of GAs in hoist reliability assessment and prediction. In addition, the authors bring discrete distribution functions to the software tool (GenRel) for the first time and significantly improve computing efficiency. The results of the case studies demonstrate successful application of GenRel in assessing and predicting hoist reliability, and this may lead to better preventative maintenance management in the industry.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Union pay premium in China: an individual-level analysis
|
[
"Earnings",
"Compensation",
"Industrial relations",
"Pay"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A number of recent studies provide rich documentation of the role of unions in China and the rapidly changing legal environment in which unions operate, as China makes the transition toward a more market-oriented economy[1]. There is a dearth of empirical studies, however, that focus on the impact of unions on wages and other forms of compensation in China. While most studies have focussed on the wage impact at the enterprise level, to our knowledge, ours is the first to use data at the level of the individual worker. Theoretically, this adds to our understanding of the function of unions in China and the impact of enterprise unions at the individual level.\n2. Institutional framework: union formation in China: Union formation in China is different from that in most Western developed countries. In Western countries individuals typically vote on whether to have a union in their organization, usually with strong resistance from management. If a union is certified, it represents all workers in the bargaining unit whether they voted for the union or not. There may be more than one union in the company depending on their different community of interests, and some workers in the company may be in jobs that are non-union. Management is typically excluded from being in the union in Western countries.\n3. Methodology: Our methodology involves different estimation procedures as appropriate for the nature of the data and the dependent variables. After presenting the descriptive statistics in Table I, we estimate conventional (ln) earnings equations with a union dummy variable:\n4. Data: Our data are taken from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a nationally representative survey in China, conducted by the Institute of Social Science Survey of Peking University. It is designed to capture both the economic and non-economic status and well-being of Chinese communities, families and individuals. The survey contains a wealth of information such as economic activities, education outcomes, family dynamics and relationships, migration, and health.\n5. Results: 5.1. Summary statistics\n6. Summary and concluding observations: Overall, we regard the main contribution of our paper as using individual data to provide a number of empirical facts toward understanding unions in China. Those main facts are: first, the gross union-nonunion pay gap (wages + bonuses) of 42 percent, drops to a pure union premium of 12 percent after controlling for the effect of other pay determining factors highlighting that union workers have a wide array of other characteristics that are associated with higher pay; second, specifically, union workers tend to be in higher paying industries, provinces and occupations, and they tend to be male, older, long-tenured and most importantly, more educated; third, the pure union impact on wages is only 8 percent, but bonuses are about twice as high for union workers; fourth, the union impact varies considerably by ownership type being essentially zero for SOEs and for foreign-owned firms but 16 percent for private firms and 22 percent for government agencies; fifth, of the overall pay gap of 42 percent, about three-quarters is attributable to differences in their endowments of pay determining characteristics and about one-quarter to differences in the returns for the same endowments of characteristics; sixth, the single most important factor explaining the overall pay gap is years of schooling both because union workers have more schooling and especially because they receive higher returns to their schooling; seventh, the pure or adjusted union wage premium exhibits a u-shaped pattern being highest in the bottom and to a lesser extent the top of the pay distribution; Eighth, many of these patterns are consistent with the situation in China where unions are prominent in higher paying administrative jobs in government agencies, and they are often in professional and managerial positions occupying union leadership positions. We did offer explanations for many of those patterns, but understanding the behavior of unions in China remains somewhat of a black box.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate the union-nonunion pay gap impact separately for wages and bonuses as well as total compensation to include both wages and bonuses in China. The way in which the impact varies as control variables are added is illustrated as is how the impact varies by the type of firm ownership. The overall pay gap is also decomposed into a component due to differences in their pay determining characteristics as well as a component due to differences in their returns to those characteristics. These separate components are also calculated throughout the pay distribution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using the 2010 China Family Panel Studies Survey, a nationally representative survey in China, the methodology involves different estimation procedures as appropriate for the nature of the data and the dependent variables. First the authors estimate a single equation to determine the union-nonunion pay gap. Then the authors estimate the union impact on the various components of compensation (wages and bonuses). Next the authors decompose the relative contribution of each factor in explaining the wage gap. Finally, quantile regressions are used to examine the union impact across various levels of the pay distribution.\nFindings: The authors find a gross union-nonunion pay gap (wages + bonuses) of 42 percent, dropping to 12 percent after controlling for the effect of other pay determining factors. The union impact on wages is only 8 percent, but bonuses are about twice as high for union workers. The union impact is essentially zero for (state-owned firms) SOEs and for foreign-owned firms but it is large at 16 percent for private firms and even larger at 22 percent for government agencies. Of the overall pay gap of 42 percent, about three-quarters is attributable to differences in their endowments of pay determining characteristics and about one-quarter to differences in the returns for the same endowments of characteristics. Quantile regressions reveal that the pure or adjusted union wage premium exhibits a u-shaped pattern being highest in the bottom and to a lesser extent the top of the pay distribution.\nOriginality/value: There are a dearth of studies examining the union-nonunion pay gap in China. Of the studies that examine this issue, all of them are at the enterprise level with no studies at the individual level. Taking a nationally representative dataset at the individual level, the authors are able to estimate the union-nonunion pay gap in China. The authors identify the portion of the gap that reflects differences in endowments of pay determining characteristics and the portion that reflects different returns to those characteristics, and the relative contribution of the different variables to those components; and how these components change over the pay distribution. The authors also offer explanations for many of these patterns.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Employee communication for engaging workplaces
|
[
"Employee engagement",
"Employee relations",
"Human resources management",
"Organizational justice",
"Internal communication",
"Employee communication"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nEmployee engagement: Employee engagement has several positive outcomes related to competitive advantage. In particular, the literature focuses on return on assets, profitability and market value, customer satisfaction, attitudinal, behavioral and performance-related outcomes, employee task and extra-role performance, brand building, company advocacy, innovation, stakeholder relationships and crisis prevention and management. Furthermore, engagement positively affects employee retention, job crafting and the extent to which employees voice their ideas, suggestions and concerns (Mazzei, 2018).\nEmployee communication: The role of employee communication is crucial to configure an inclusive employee relations approach conducive to employee voice, intended as the discretionary communication of ideas, suggestions, concerns or opinions about work-related issues with the intent to improve organizational or unit functioning (Morrison, 2011). In this sense, employee communication is considered an organizational context factor constituting an antecedent of employee engagement (Mazzei, 2018).\nManagerial approaches fostering engagement: The starting assumption of this study is that workplace contexts are affected by managers' decisions: they can equally be conducive to employee engagement or disengagement depending on the kind of practices managers adopt over time in a deliberate and conscious manner. Companies implement one approach rather than another one through levers that are in their hands. Based on a wide literature review, this study explored the relevance of three managerial approaches affecting employee engagement and disengagement: employee relations, human resources management and organizational justice.\nConclusions: Findings from the surveys show that the managerial approaches adopted by organizations in the sample determine a disengaging workplace context leading to poorly engaged and non-supportive employee behavior. Companies with this poor workplace context miss opportunities of value co-creation situations when employees interact with company stakeholders and customers.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the role of employee engagement for competitiveness. In particular, the role of employee communication to create engaging workplaces.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two field surveys were conducted to assess, which are the most relevant leverages that contribute to create engaging (or disengaging) workplaces in Italy: the first one on a statistical sample of large companies, the second one on a snowball sample of employees.\nFindings: Italian companies often miss the opportunity to create engaging workplaces and to exploit the potential of employee communication to foster employee engagement.\nResearch limitations/implications: Further research could focus on a survey on a sample of managers and employees belonging to the same company.\nPractical implications: Companies should pursue an inclusive relational approach, using employee communication appropriately.\nOriginality/value: The study develops and tests a model showing the linkages among managerial approaches and engaging workplace contexts and examines the role of employee communication to foster employee engagement.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Proximity as determinant of business cooperation for technological and non-technological innovations: a study of an agribusiness cluster
|
[
"Innovation",
"Networks",
"Proximity",
"Business cooperation",
"Cluster"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In a complex and dynamic environment, innovation is an alternative to increase the competitiveness of firms (Hall and Rosenberg, 2010; Boehlje et al., 2011; Gunday et al., 2011). However, companies often lack the capacity to innovate due to their size, the absence of qualified personnel, limited export capacities and the high level of investment required and other aspects (Avermaete et al., 2003; Becheikh et al., 2006; Cohen, 2010; Crossan and Apaydin, 2010; Geldes and Felzensztein, 2013). This situation motivates companies to cooperate with other organizations, whether companies, universities, governments or other actors (innovation networks) in a specific territory (Delgado et al., 2010; Dries et al., 2014; Cantu et al., 2015a, 2015b; Dagnino et al., 2015).\n2. Literature review: The definition of a cluster proposed by Porter (1998) is \"geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field, linked for common and complementary elements\". This definition covers a broad range of linked industries and institutions in the competitive field emphasizes the inter-organizational cooperation is central to the innovation process. Along these lines, companies must cooperate and engage in efforts to develop cooperation networks with different actors such as universities, government, trade associations and others to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and agreements (innovation networks) (Burger et al., 2000; Ketels et al., 2006; Boschma and Frenken, 2010; de Faria et al., 2010; Cantu et al., 2015a, 2015b).\n3. Data and method: The data used and the method are the same as that used in Geldes et al. (2015), which analyzes the relationship between proximity and interfirm marketing cooperation, developing and scale to measure the different dimensions of proximity. This method follows the general approach of structural equation modeling (SEM) (Byrne, 2013), and it considers the role of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and SEM in the scale development (Noar, 2003; Sprott et al., 2009; Lemmens et al., 2009). Data were gathered from 312 companies in the agribusiness cluster, which represents 9 per cent of companies in the Province of Limari in Chile (INE, 2014). Data were collected through interviews with site managers at each of the companies surveyed. GPS technology was used to determine each company's spatial location in The universal transverse mercator (UTM) coordinates to estimate geographical proximity as the average Euclidian distance of a given company from the set of enterprises that compose the group (De Smith et al., 2013) (Figure 2).\n4. Results and discussion: First, it is found that 43 per cent (134) of companies cooperate with other organizations and 57 per cent (178) do not cooperate. Also, differences are verified in relation to the size of the company measured in annual sales: 40 per cent microenterprises, 64 per cent small businesses, 63 per cent medium enterprises and 79 per cent large enterprises cooperate with other organizations, respectively. These results indicate particularities of the case study, as it is expected that companies, especially micro-enterprises should cooperate with other actors to innovate due to their low levels of skills and resources, which is more relevant in the agribusiness sector due to low levels of product differentiation (Aylward, 2004; Boehlje et al., 2011; Geldes and Felzensztein, 2013; Dries et al., 2014.). This could be explained by low levels of social capital of Chile and by characteristics of the agribusiness sector in the case study. This situation is unlike developed countries where there is a significant development of agricultural cooperatives based on their social capital (Beltran, 2012) and the social enterprises in Europe and USA, in general (Kerlin, 2006). In sum, this result could mean that results of studies related to proximity and innovation in developed countries do not always generalizable to contexts of emerging economies, due to innovation differs between economics sectors and territories (Hall and Rosenberg, 2010).\n5. Conclusions: First, it is concluded that the proposed scale Geldes et al. (2015) is a good quantitative approach to measure non-spatial (organizational, institutional, social and cognitive) dimensions of proximity geographical proximity and because it presents acceptable levels of fit and validity of the proposed constructs. While it is necessary to deepen the distinction between cognitive and social proximity because of its overlapping. Moreover, the scale could also be applied to other types of cooperation, territories and sectors.\n6. Implications and future research: These results have implications for researchers, public policy makers and business managers, given that business cooperation with other organizations favors innovation in agribusiness clusters. This research has established that it is useful to use the proximity approach to explain inter-organizational business cooperation, given that the proposed scale and model are a good fit. It would be interesting to extend the research to other territories and economic sectors, as innovation differs according to these elements (Hall and Rosenberg 2010), and there are different levels of social capital between developed and emerging economies. Additionally, work could be conducted to examine other types of business cooperation that firms seeks out with buyers, suppliers, competitors and institutions of research and development, due to the process of innovation depends on the social context and by business activities that take place between organizations (Corsaro and Cantu, 2015). Complementarily, it is found that innovation at companies, and technological innovation in particular, is spurred by cooperation with other organizations (Codini, 2015). Along these lines, it would be interesting to analyze whether specific organizations cooperate to achieve a given type of innovation, given that the determinants of different types of innovation (process, product, organizational and marketing) are distinct in the case of agribusiness (Geldes and Felzensztein 2013).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to use the proximity approach of economic geography with its spatial dimension (geographic) and their non-spatial dimensions (social, institutional, cognitive and organizational) to shed light on the determinants of business cooperation with other organizations. It is also examined whetherthis cooperation is a determining factor for business innovation (innovation networks), drawing a distinction between technological and non-technological innovations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study has a quantitative approach; it analyzes the case of 312 companies in a cluster of agribusinesses in an emerging economy (Chile). The proposal model and its interrelations are tested with exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results show that cognitive-organizational proximity is a positive determinant of business cooperation with other organizations, whereas social and institutional proximity are negative determinants. It is also established that business cooperation is a positive determinant of business innovation. It is more relevant in the case of technological innovation unlike non-technological innovations. In addition, it is noted that business cooperation levels are lower in micro-enterprises, a result that differs from developed countries.\nPractical implications: For business managers, it is best to cooperate with companies that are similar in terms of cognitive and organizational levels for innovation. At the same time, it is necessary develop strategies to reduce the social and institutional barriers to cooperation, especially in the agribusiness sector.\nOriginality/value: The contributions of the study are as follows: an in-depth quantitative examination of the relationships of various non-spatial proximities as determinants of business cooperation; an analysis of whether business cooperation with other organizations is a determining factor for business innovation, distinguishing between technological and non-technological innovation; and testing these relationships in the context of agribusiness in an emerging economy such as Chile's because most of studies are related to high-tech sector and developed economies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Work matters: formerly incarcerated men's resiliency in reentry
|
[
"Employment",
"Resilience",
"Qualitative research",
"Reentry",
"Mass incarceration"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Within the last 50 years, America has not only pursued, but also sustained a state of mass incarceration. It has only 5 percent of the world's population and more than 20 percent of the world's prison population (American Civil Liberties Union, 2018), disproportionately comprised of racial-ethnic minority men of lower-income and educational status (Western, 2006; Travis et al., 2014). High levels of incarceration present a serious problem; namely, how to reintegrate this population upon release. Reentry is the term used to denote the act of release from confinement; reintegration, however, suggests not only release, but also building meaningful connections to family, community and the broader society (Maruna, 2001; Travis et al., 2014). With over 700,000 men and women released from state and federal prisons each year (West et al., 2010), attention has expanded to consider the ongoing challenges, namely employment, formerly incarcerated people encounter while attempting to reintegrate into society. Employment is a critical aspect of successful reintegration because it intersects with other life domains and needs, such as housing, transportation, family and economic stability (Visher et al., 2011; Cherney and Fitzgerald, 2016). More importantly, it reinforces the pro-social identity that is so crucial to the desistance process, meaning the cessation of offending (Cherney and Fitzgerald, 2016; Maruna, 2001; Panuccio and Christian, 2017; Western et al., 2015).\nLiterature review: Formerly incarcerated men's employment outcomes are generally perceived as unfavorable due to societal-, organizational- and individual-level impediments that hinder the job-seeking and maintaining process (Pager, 2007; Crutchfield, 2014). Societal barriers include mandated laws and regulations employed at the federal and state level (Mukamal and Samuels, 2002; Fetsch, 2016); organizational barriers consist of industry practices and norms, such as the application of background checks (Holzer et al., 2004); and individual barriers are employers' attitudes and perceptions that impede the hiring of men with a criminal record, as well as the men's inconsistent work histories and lack of skills (Holzer et al., 2003; Pager 2003, 2007; Pager and Quillian, 2005; Visher et al., 2011). Moreover, already classified as a marginalized population due to their race and low-status position, these men have to manage additional stigma and barriers that limit their employment opportunities (Crutchfield, 2014; Pager, 2007).\nData and methods: The current research is part of a broader study about the reentry experiences of formerly incarcerated men in a northeastern urban area. The study was designed within a strengths-based framework, examining the positive and negative aspects of the reentry process and including open-ended questions that allowed participants to identify their most salient experiences. Open and close-ended questions were designed to elicit narratives around key life domains such as housing, community, family, employment, school and training, and incarceration history. The primary research questions guiding our analysis were:\nFindings: Through participants' accounts, we shed light on formerly incarcerated men's reintegration process in their pursuit of legitimate and meaningful employment. Findings illustrated a number of adversities, as well as the resiliency strategies participants employed in order to secure and sustain employment. As shown in Figure 1, in response to the adversities, formerly incarcerated men experienced cycles of anxiety and pressure, yet also developed strategies of resilience that encouraged growth and adaptation. These processes required adept management of adversities such as involvement with the criminal justice system and the attending social stigma. Moreover, in response to these adversities, they engaged in critical resiliency strategies that were instrumental for their reintegration.\nDiscussion: Theoretical implications\nLimitations: Our findings should be considered in light of the limitations of the research. While the variation in length of time since release from prison allowed us to capture the full range of this experience for participants over time, the study is not longitudinal, and we miss the full impact of changes in life circumstances and employment. Additionally, those who have been released for over three years may have less accurate recall of their experiences within prison. The recruitment strategy targeted those who entered a Reentry Center, which over samples segments of the reentry population who are actively seeking guidance and assistance. Further, because the sample is comprised primarily of African American men, future research should include larger samples of Latino and Caucasian men. Studying this process in rural and suburban contexts would also be illuminating, as would complimentary qualitative research about employers' perceptions.\nConclusion: An interdisciplinary lens was used to investigate how formerly incarcerated men remained resilient in the face of adversity while searching for and maintaining employment. Given the growing population of men and women who are released from incarceration each year, future research should continue to examine criminal history and work from an interdisciplinary lens. Specifically, from a management perspective, important questions still remain with regards to employers and employees' perceptions of hiring and retaining this marginalized population. This in conjunction with current findings in criminal justice and desistance literature will better inform reintegration practices and policies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how formerly incarcerated men remained resilient in the face of adversity while searching for and maintaining employment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Grounded theory analysis is used to answer the following research questions: What challenges do formerly incarcerated men encounter in finding and maintaining employment? What strategies do they devise in the face of these barriers? The research entailed 24 face-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews at a Reentry Center in a northeastern state between February 2016 and July 2017.\nFindings: The authors present a model of resiliency in the job-seeking and maintaining process. It illustrates the non-linear and complex nature of employment experiences, in which men encountered cycles of anxiety and pressure, and yet also devised resilience strategies fostering growth and adaptation. These processes required adept management of adversities such as involvement with the criminal justice system and the attending social stigma. Shifting mental and behavioral frameworks, adapting and refining expectations for work and adopting a future orientation were essential for participants' growth. Finally, findings revealed participants' resiliency strategies were bolstered by pro-social outcomes.\nOriginality/value: The challenges and barriers to employment for formerly incarcerated men are well documented, but less is known about the processes men employ in order to gain legitimate employment. This paper explores an understudied area of the criminal justice and employment literature - how men demonstrate agency and tenacity in the reintegration process, specifically related to seeking and maintaining work.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Relationship between building floor and construction labor productivity : A case of structural work
|
[
"Buildings",
"Learning",
"Productivity rate",
"Building construction",
"Construction works"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Construction often has repetitive activities. Productivity for performing these types of construction activities will improve with additional experience and practice (Thomas et al., 1986). In multistory building construction, structural work such as formwork installation, rebar fixing, and concrete pouring are repetitive from floor to floor. Couto and Teixeira (2005) showed evidence of an increase in productivity in building construction for floor repetitions. However, a recent study revealed a little evidence for increased labor productivity as the cycle of recurring floors increased (Jarkas, 2010; Jarkas and Horner, 2011). Further research is required to understand why such differing conclusions with regard to the effects of learning and experience in high-rise building construction exist.\n2. Productivity measurement and analysis: Labor productivity can be defined and measured in different ways. However, it is generally defined as a ratio of output and input while performing a process or creating a product. Inputs and outputs depend on the applications of productivity measurement, from industry level to activity level. Thomas et al. (1990) present the three different models of productivity measurement, namely economic, project-specific, and activity-oriented models. This research uses the activity-oriented models because productivities at the activity level are the subject of the measurement. Specifically, labor productivity is defined as:\n3. Related work: Extensive research has been undertaken in construction labor productivity in the past 35 years. These research works can be grouped in, but be not limited to, the following topics: productivity models and measurement (Kellogg et al., 1981; Business Roundtable, 1982; Thomas and Yiakoumis, 1987; Thomas et al., 1990; AbouRizk et al., 2001; Dunlop and Smith, 2004); productivity improvement (Borcherding, 1976; Borcherding et al., 1980; Maloney, 1983; Oglesby et al., 1989); factors affecting labor productivity (Logcher and Collins, 1978; Thomas et al., 1989; Ibbs and Allen, 1995; Ibbs, 1997; Hanna et al., 1999a b, 2007; Thomas et al., 1999; Ibbs, 2005; Jarkas and Bitar, 2012); learning curve theory and application (Thomas et al., 1986; Everett and Farghal, 1994; Couto and Teixeira, 2005; Jarkas, 2010; Jarkas and Horner, 2011); and productivity analysis for cumulative impact claims (Thomas and Zavrski, 1999; Thomas and Sanvido, 2000; Ibbs and Liu, 2005; Nguyen and Ibbs, 2010).\n4. Research methodology: This study adopts case study as a research method to explore the relationship between floor number and labor productivity in multistory structural work. Productivity data were collected from a building project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This project was selected for the case study because its general contractor was willing to maintain and monitor productivity-related data at the activity-level detail for structural work in a time span of eight months. This was not the case for other projects that the authors had approached for this study. The floor-to-floor productivity data include actual quantity of rebar and formwork, actual manpower profiles and WHs for rebar and formwork. Other major data include construction drawings, daily reports, weekly reports, and the as-built schedule.\n5. Case study: 5.1 Introduction of the case study project\n6. Discussion: With the learning rates above, the effect of learning and experience is significant for the rebar and formwork activities in the case study project. In addition, productivity improvement of the formwork activity stopped more quickly than that of the rebar activity. This can be explained that the formwork activity was more modular than the rebar activity. The learning effect in the formwork activity stopped more quickly. The rebar activity in this case study, on the other hand, including reinforcement fabrication and installation, was more labor extensive and less modular. Its productivity leveled off more slowly. These findings are different from or even contrary to the recent findings in literature.\n7. Conclusions: This paper presents the relationship between building floors and labor productivities of the formwork installation and rebar fabrication/installation activities. An 20-strory building under construction was selected as a case study. Labor productivity of the formwork activity increased more than twice in the first five floors (floor 2-floor 6). If the mezzanine floor (floor 2) is omitted from the analysis, the straight-line learning curve model indicates a learning rate of 83.5 percent. The productivity of the formwork activity tended to level off in the remaining 13 floors. Labor productivity of the rebar activity tended to increase in the first 15 floors. If the mezzanine floor and the next floor (floor 3) are omitted, the straight-line learning curve model indicates a learning rate of 83.6 percent. If only the mezzanine floor is omitted, the learning rate of the rebar activity is 87.9 percent. Productivity of the rebar activity was prone to reduce in the remaining floors (floor 17-floor 19) although three data points were not sufficient to support and establish an obvious trend. The effect of learning and experience is significant for the rebar and formwork activities in the case study project. In addition, productivity improvements of the formwork activity stop more quickly than that of the rebar activity.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between building floor and labor productivity of the structural work including formwork installation and rebar fabrication/installation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The case study methodology and learning curve theory are adopted for the paper. Records from the structural work of a 20-storey apartment building were analyzed to calculate floor-based labor productivities.\nFindings: Labor productivity of the formwork activity increased more than twice in the first five floors. If the first cycle (floor 2) is omitted, the straight-line learning curve model shows a learning rate of 83.5 percent. Labor productivity of the rebar activity tended to increase in the first 15 floors. If the first two cycles are omitted, the straight-line learning curve model indicates a learning rate of 83.6 percent.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research is needed to examine and quantify factors that affect the level of learning in high-rise building construction. The relationship between building floor and labor productivity should be further investigated for other construction activities.\nPractical implications: Practitioners should consider the relationship between building floor and labor productivity and learning effects when planning manpower and construction duration for individual activities and for a building.\nOriginality/value: The paper substantiates the hypothesis that labor productivity does not reach 100 percent of the normal level at the very first floors while they do not support the hypothesis that labor productivity does not reach 100 percent at the top floors.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Chief executive officer compensation, corporate governance and performance: evidence from KSA firms
|
[
"CEO Compensation",
"Firm performance",
"Corporate governance",
"Panel data analysis",
"Multivariate CKSA"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Chief executive officers (CEOs) can simply be defined as the leaders of firms, whose responsibility is to serve as the main link between the board of directors (the board) and the firm's various parties or levels. Moreover, they maintain and implement the corporate policy and they are solely responsible for the firm's success or failure. The relation between CEO Compensation and firm performance has been one of the most widely debated issues and core research area in a burgeoning corporate governance literature as its stimulant mechanism to mitigate agency problem (Raithatha and Surenderrao, 2016; Ashley, 2015; Dodonova and Khoroshilov (2014), Li et al., 2013). Thus, CEO compensation has received considerable critical scrutiny. Defenders of high CEO pay point to skilled CEOs' ability to lead their organizations to exceptionally strong performance. From their perspectives, paying a CEO many millions of dollars annually is a great investment if the CEO rescues a struggling firm from doom or increases a solid company's profits dramatically (Shelley et al., 2013).\n2. Related studies and hypothesis development: This section aims to review the related literature that has examined the relation between CEO compensation, corporate governance, and firm performance. It also discusses the alternative hypotheses.\n3. Research methodology: This section provides a detailed description of the data used in this study. First, the sources where data has been collected from are presented. Second, the sample selection procedure is described in details.\n4. Empirical results: This section deals with the descriptive statistics for the data that used in the analysis of this study (univariate analysis) regression (multivariate analysis), results, and discussion.\n6. Conclusion and implications: Since the present study attempts to highlight the importance of CEO compensation and corporate governance mechanism, the researchers empirically analyzed the effect of CEO on firm performance. The study strives to examine the effect of corporate governance on the relation between CEO compensation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the relation between chief executive officers (CEOs) compensation and organizational performance in KSA listed companies. It also aims at investigating the effect of corporate governance mechanisms according to this relation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The researcher uses unbalanced panel data regression analysis on a sample of 181 KSA listed companies from 2005 to 2014.\nFindings: The estimation result suggests that CEO Compensation is positively associated with firm performance. The results also show that corporate governance positively and significantly affect the relation between CEO Compensation and performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research, like any other, has some limitations that can be addressed by future research. The important limitation of this research is that the generalizability of the results is limited by the fact that the majority of the firms in the sample are from material sector which is represented by 42 (32 per cent) firms versus pharmaceutical sector which is represented by only one (1 per cent) firm. Therefore, a future research can tackle the effect of CEO compensation, corporate governance on future firm performance independently.\nPractical implications: The findings have some important implications for stakeholders such as policymakers, listed firms managers, business owners and academic researchers in the emerging KSA market. Besides, understanding the relation between CEO compensation, corporate governance and firm performance can aid the success of corporate modernization and economic reform in KSA.\nOriginality/value: The research attempts to fill a substantial gap in the literature by providing the first rigorous econometrics evidence on CEO compensation, corporate governance and firm performance. In addition, it provides interesting insight for researches, decision-makers and board members in KSA.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Feature-oriented workflow modelling based on enterprise human resource planning
|
[
"Office automation",
"Design",
"Specifications",
"Modelling",
"Human resource management",
"Business process re‐engineering"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In the field of information systems, workflow modelling has attracted a lot of researchers. Most of the works (van der Aalst et al., 2000; Becker et al., 2000; Desel and Erwin, 2000) on this domain are focused on business processes, and do not take into consideration the concrete execution of their resulting workflows (Dehnert et al., 2002; Eder et al., 1999). This failure to think about the execution of a workflow puts beside the time and resource concepts. The absence of these two concepts does not facilitate the management of resources. This absence is due to the fact that most work carried out in the area of business processes and workflows have been done in developed countries where qualified resources abound, and where new processes are either being put in place or old ones reengineered to satisfy the customer needs. In developing countries, the problem is different: there is a lack of qualified resources and business processes used here are designed in developed countries. As consequence, business processes are required to be understood, and implemented based on the available limited qualified resources. The problem that occurs in the implementation of business processes is that resources are mostly involved in the achievement of work items from different business goals, and even in different organisations. This makes their management very difficult to be achieved. In developing countries, the main focus is not only the understanding of the modelling of business processes but also the thinking about their execution which concerns its correct execution. The correctness, in most works, is syntactical that is the absence of deadlock and livelock (Janowski and Adegboyega, 2002).1.1 Correctness problem\n2 Model-based business process: 2.1 Environment\nDefinition 2.1 (Satisfaction of a condition): Given a state s and a condition c, c is satisfied in s if the value of c in s is true, i.e. val(c, s)=true.\nDefinition 2.2 (Characteristic of a state): Given a state s, the characteristic of s denoted by charact(s) is the set of all conditions satisfied in s.We are not interested in all type of state, but in states within which some conditions may be satisfied. Therefore, having defined what we mean by the characteristic of a state, we can now introduce properties which restrict the concept of state.\nDefinition 2.3 (Useful state): Let s denoted a state, s is useful, i.e. useful(s), if its characteristic is not empty.\nDefinition 2.4 (Equivalent of states): Two states s and s' are equivalent, denoted by the Boolean term equiv(s, s'), if charact(s)=charact(s').\nDefinition 2.5 (Gap between states): Given two states s and s', the gap between s and s' is the set of conditions which values are not the same in s and s'. That is gap(s,s')={c|c: Condition*val(c, s)[?]val(c, s')}.\nDefinition 2.6 (Sub-state): Given two states s and s' be two states, we say that s' is a sub state of s and write is_in(s',s), if s satisfies any condition satisfied by s', i.e. charact(s')[?]charact(s). This relation is required to be a partial order. Readers can have a look on this concept in Burris and Sankappanavar (1981).We need to define for a non empty set of states, the minimum and the maximum state. To meet this goal, we have to associate to the state concept the structure of complete lattice. Therefore, before defining these two concepts, we first introduce this notion.2.1.1 State ordering\nDefinition 2.7 (Weak task different): Tasks ts are weakly different, and we write w_diff_task(ts) if there exists a state s within which they overlap, that is for all task t and t' of ts we have overlap(t,t',s)=true.2.2.2 Strong task different\n3 Modelling execution: Once the business process has been defined, it is necessary to check whether it can fulfil the goal for which it has been designed. This can be checked by defining if there can exist an execution path (R-Moreno et al., n.d.) also called procedure (van der Aalst et al., 1994) which satisfies the associated business goal. A business process may be associated to several execution paths. These execution paths depend on the environment of its execution. When designing a business process, the environment within which it will be executed is unknown. Thus, the designer of the business process must ensure that the associated business process will always be met if the associated resources are available. This may not be true in general. This is why in other approaches, the soundness property (van der Aalst and ter Hofstede, 2000) has been defined. To deal with the soundness property, we should ensure that the business process can be executed. To meet this requirement, we first define what we understand by an implementation of a business process.\nDefinition 3.1 (Implementation): An implementation, the type Implementation', is list of couples composed each by a state S and a set of tasks TS such that orthogonal(TS,S ). Formally, the implementation is captured by the type Implementation=(StatexTask-set)*.\nDefinition 3.2 (Implementation): Let I notes an implementation, I is said to be valid if S and S ' are the kth and the (k+1)th state, respectively, then S' is obtained from the action of the orthogonal tasks TS in S, that is S '=compute(TS,S ).3.1 Execution\nDefinition 3.3 (Run): A run Rn defines a well formed implementation implementation(Rn), and a sequence execution(Rn) of executions.For an execution (run) to be correct, the following requirements are required to be satisfied.Requirement 3.1. The execution periods associated to different shifts are required not to overlap. This is captured by the following axiom:axiom([?] r:Rn, k: Nat, j, j': Task *k[?]inds execution(r)\\{len execution(r)}= let e = execution(r)(k), ex = execperiod(e), e' = execution(r)(k+1), ex' = execperiod(e') (in j[?]dom ex L j'[?]dom ex'=due(ex(j))<=start(ex'(j'))end),Requirement 3.2. Within a shift, each agent is assigned only one task. This is captured by the following axiom:axiom ([?] k: Nat,r:Rn*k[?]inds execution (r)= card dom exec(execution(r)(k))=card rng exec(execution(r)(k)))Requirement 3.3Tasks ts whose executions have been planned within a shift are orthogonal tasks and are the only tasks assigned to resources. The requirement is verified by the axiom that follows:axiom ([?] k: Nat*k[?]inds implementation(r) L k[?]inds execution(r)= dom exec(execution(r)(k))=dom execperiod(execution(r)(k)) L case implementation(r)(k) of (s,ts)-card ts = card dom exec(execution(r)(k)) end)Requirement 3.4. Each agent ag assigned a task t for a given run r should have the skill to deal with the execution of t. That is exists a skill s of ag, i.e. s[?]domquadskills(ag), such that t[?]skills(ag)(s).Requirement 3.5. Each agent ag to whom a task t has been assigned should have enough time to move from his current location to the place where the execution of a task t he has been assigned should be carried out. That is if place(t), and location(ag) denote, respectively, the place of execution t and location(ag) the current location of ag and mobility(location(ag),place(t)) the time to arrive in the place place(t), then mobility(location(ag),place(t))<start(p) if p is the period within which the execution of t should be taken.\nProposition 3.1 (correct execution): Let Rn denotes a run, Rn is said to be correct, i.e. correct(Rn), if and only if the above requirements are satisfied.\n4 Conclusion: This paper provides the foundation for the formalization of business process based on the resource constraints. The formalization gives the core features that are suitable to deal with the organisational aspect of business process management. These features are generic as they can be extended to capture the representation of various stages in the resource and business process management. They may be used in the design of the workflow process definition as well as in the definition of the execution of the workflow, the assignment of work items to resources in an enterprise or a virtual enterprise, the mobility of resources. Requirements for a correct execution of a business process based on the resource constraints have been expressed.This paper does not deal with the concrete assignment of tasks to resources, and does not show how these features can be refined in order to model real world business processes. Future work in this area has several possible directions. First, to further develop the model by adding more features to deal with different levels of abstraction for the delivery of goods and services. Secondly, to define some case studies to confirm the models and to show the applicability of formal methods in the industrial problems. Finally, to compare this model-based approach to other approaches such as Petri nets.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - In the field of information systems, workflow modelling has attracted a lot of researchers. Most works in the domain do not take into consideration the concrete execution of resulting workflows. This failure puts beside the time and resource concepts. The aim of this paper is to develop a model that allows to deal with the execution of workflows based on the constraints of the resources.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on the domain engineering approach, one describes models of a business processes, and resources in an incremental manner. At each step of the modelling, one defines some requirements for the validation of the models.\nFindings: - The formalization gives the core features that are suitable to deal with the organisational aspect of business process management. These features are generic as they can be extended to capture the representation of various stages in the resource and business process management.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This paper does not deal with the concrete assignment of tasks to resources, and does not show how these features can be refined in order to model real world business processes. This work can be extended by defining some case studies, developing a supporting tool and carrying analysis.\nPractical implications: - By applying these models in daily work, enterprises will improve their productivity and deal with the competitive pressure of the network economy.\nOriginality/value: - This paper defines an ontological framework for the business process, resource and correctness of a workflow within an enterprise that may be used by enterprise managers in the delivery of goods and services.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Product and service innovation and discontinuation in manufacturing and service firms in Europe
|
[
"Innovation",
"Manufacturing",
"Services"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper explores the factors affecting a firm's decision to innovate or to discontinue a product/service (or product/service line) and the differences in these decisions across manufacturing and service sectors in European firms. Innovation is essential in determining the long-term growth patterns of economies (OECD, 2005). The firm is viewed as the catalyst of innovation activities and is motivated to innovate in an effort to improve their productivity and market position relative to other market competitors. Baumol (2002) described innovation as a \"life and death matter for a firm\" where maintaining or improving market share against competitors is crucial for the very survival of the firm. Schumpeter's (1934) concept of innovation is also embodied in his idea of creative destruction which is the process of where new products or processes replace existing ones.\n2. Background: Creative destruction is a concept from the work of Schumpeter (1934, 1942). Schumpeter's concept of innovation is also embodied in his idea of creative destruction where:[...] the fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion comes from the new consumers' goods, the new methods of production or transportation, the new markets [...]. [this process] incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism(Schumpeter, 1942, p. 83).\n3. Data and methodology: The data used for the analysis in this paper are firm-level survey data from the BEEPS. The BEEPS data are implemented by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank. BEEPS data are collected by means of face-to-face interviews with managers. The purpose of the survey is to collect information on the quality of the business environment and how it affects the performance of enterprises. The data used for this paper stems from the third round of the BEEPS initiative completed in 2005 (Table I).\n4. Results: The results from the two equations are presented in Tables VI and VII. We find that the innovation output measure has a significant and positive effect on the decision to discontinue a product and service line in both manufacturing and service firms (at the 1 per cent level). Hence, we assert from our empirical finding that firms do go through their own stages of creative destruction over time where they are creating products/services and discontinuing them. It is also the case that R&D expenditure per worker is also significant for product/service innovation (at the 1 per cent level) in both industries.\n5. Conclusions: The purpose of this paper was to examine the factors affecting product/service innovation and product/service discontinuation in a structural production function approach at the firm level. The focus at the firm level in this respect and in particular on the examination of the destructive element of Schumpeter's (1942) creative destruction concept is novel to the empirical firm-level literature. The study took a snapshot of a cross-sectional sample of firms to analyse the factors that affected product origin and product death in firms. Innovation was found to have a significant and positive effect on product discontinuation for both manufacturing and service firms. Hence, there appears to be an evolutionary renewal effect in the portfolio of products/services at the firm level. This is an important finding since discontinuing products/services is as natural to the firm as creating products/services. Hence, from the perspective of the firm - the event of a product/service being discontinued does not necessarily mean the firm will not survive. In fact, 23 per cent of manufacturing firms and 11 per cent of service firms in this sample discontinued a product/service in the previous three years from when the survey was taken and they were still in operation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore product/service innovation and discontinuation using the firm as a unit of analysis. A key objective of the paper is to compare the results between manufacturing and service firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A two-step production function approach is employed to examine first, a firm's decision to innovate and second, a firm's decision to discontinue products/services.\nFindings: The results indicate that the factors affecting product innovation and discontinuation are similar for manufacturing and service firms, where innovation was significant for product/service discontinuation and process innovation was found to be important for innovations. Similarly, monopoly power was important for innovation in both industry types. However, there were also some underlying differences, particularly in relation to firm age and economic geography effects.\nPractical implications: The conclusion of the paper is that it is not appropriate to assume that the process of product innovation and discontinuation will be identical across industry types.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first study in the literature that examines product/service discontinuation at the firm level and the relationship between innovation and product/service discontinuation using the firm as a unit of analysis. This study further adds to the under-researched (relative to manufacturing studies) area of service innovation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Evaluation of patient wristbands and patient identification process in a training hospital in Turkey
|
[
"Service delivery",
"Patient safety",
"Quality improvement",
"Continuous quality improvement",
"Quality assurance",
"Patient wristbands",
"Patient identification",
"Medical error"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Patient identification (PI) is essential for patient safety. It prevents medical errors that can result in negative effects, which may not be easy to treat. \"Do not harm the patient\" lies in the center of patient safety (Hansen et al., 2003). The \"To Err is Human\" report accelerated the number of studies on patient safety by discussing how medical errors caused between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths (Institute of Medicine (IOM), 1999). Medical errors have been discussed as a cause of hospital mortalities for many years around the world (General Patient Association, 2013; Norris et al., 2011; Allworth et al., 2008) and in Turkey (Cakmakci and Akalin, 2011) as well. Almost all these studies have suggested that creating a patient safety culture by providing safe health care services (Korasli et al., 2010) plays an important role in preventing and decreasing medical errors (Singer et al., 2007; Onler, 2010).\nTheoretical framework: This study uses Donabedian's structure-process-outcome model to find the weakest points in the implementation of PI and PW. This three-part approach to quality assessment is possible only because good structure increases the likelihood of good process and good process increases the likelihood of a good outcome (Donabedian, 1988). Implementation of PI and PW was thought to be affected by the behaviors of health care staff members as service practitioners and patients as care seekers in the process.\nMaterial and method: The purpose and sample\nStudy design and data collection tools: The study was carried out in three stages. The aim of the first stage was to develop a checklist that would be used in identifying the weakest points in the PW and PI process in the hospital. The study hospital adopted the PW protocol in 2004, and in 2006, the monitoring of caregivers and recording of medical errors was put into effect. For this study, all reported medical errors that were documented between 2006 and 2012 were examined. Of the reported 2,877 adverse incidences during the six years, 114 medical errors were associated with a wrong PW or PI process. In addition to the examination of medical errors, the PW and PI processes in the hospital were mapped to see all necessary procedures related to it for surgical patients at critical points (patient admission department, admission to surgical clinics, operation room, intensive care unit, back to surgical clinics, and patient discharge). Examining PW and PI errors, checking necessary procedures in PW and PI algorithm at the hospital, and reviewing related literature investigating nature of adverse events risks associated with patient safety (Brennan et al., 1991; Jha et al., 2010; Leape et al., 1991; Localio et al., 1991) led to the development of a checklist with 20 questions. The researcher checked whether a wristband was on the right patient by simply observing and asking questions. Additionally, the participant patients were requested to answer other questions on whether information about PW was provided or on whether PW was checked at critical points. The questions were answered in three categories: \"yes,\" \"no,\" or \"partly\" to find the most risky areas. The category of \"yes\" indicated an adequate action while \"no,\" \"partly,\" or \"nonavailable\" categories in the checklist meant that something was wrong, incorrect, inaccurate, or incomplete with the inspected category of PW and PI process. The checklist was piloted among 50 patients to test the clarity of statements, and minor changes were made based on the views of participants.\nData analysis: Frequency distributions and percentages were used to describe data and to show the magnitude of problems witnessed in the PW and PI process. Statistically significant associations between the views of patients and hospital staff on PW and PI process and their socio-demographic characteristics were further investigated using kh2 test and one-way variance (ANOVA) analysis to prioritize intervention areas and to determine the focus of training activities about PW and PI process.\nResults: It was found that 114 cases (4 percent) of a total of 2,877 medical errors were due to misidentification of patients. Further analysis of the 114 misidentified cases identified medication errors (in 56 cases of 114) as the most common error. Administering the wrong medication and giving medicine to patients with an allergy were the most common medication errors. The remaining 58 reported medical errors were directly related to PW and PI process, where patients were subject to life-threatening situations resulting from misidentification. On continued review of these cases, it was seen that the specimens of 21 patients were mislabeled, mislabeled specimens were sent to wrong patients, and some of the biopsy containers did not have barcodes. Furthermore, ten patients underwent the wrong medical procedure, nine patients did not have wristbands or had wrong wristbands, and three patients mistakenly received blood transfusion.\nThe views of patients of surgical clinics on implementation of PW and PI process: The majority of 251 participant inpatients in surgical clinics were female (60.2 percent) and aged between 19 and 64 years (68.1 percent). Overall, 10 percent of the patients were under 19 years while 21.9 percent were over 65 years. Of the participating patients, 182 patients were using medicine, 218 patients gave blood or were administered blood, and 202 patients were transferred to other departments for different purposes. In addition, 25 patients stated that they had a known allergy while 40 patients were not able to eat regular food.\nThe views of the staff about PW and PI process: Of the total of 419 staff members in the sample, 68.3 percent were female workers, 56.8 percent were between 26 and 35 years of age, 43.2 percent were graduates of different undergraduate programs, 57.2 percent were other health care professionals rather than physician or nurse, 47.2 percent had working experience less than five years, and 51.3 percent were working during regular hours in 20 different units of the hospital (Table II). Almost half of the personnel (48.7 percent) were trained about patient safety and the importance of wristbands for patient safety.\nDiscussion: The results of this study yielded very valuable insights to improve health care quality in the study hospital. According to the results, medical errors due to errors in PW and PI process might be easily avoided by increasing the awareness of patients and hospital staff.\nPractical implications: This study showed that medical errors stemming from wrong PW and PI process might be even more than the reported cases. This finding strongly recommends that the PW and PI process must be strictly implemented according to the standard procedures of patient safety. Both patients and hospital personnel should be trained continuously, and training sections must be held to increase their awareness about the importance of PI in preventing medical errors and negative outcomes. The results also suggest that known and used methods to increase the awareness about PW and PI in this hospital are not effective. So finding new ways and using new methods are necessary, and hospital staff as well as patients have to be encouraged to use these methods and follow the rules of PW and PI. The first measurement that must be taken by the hospital management is to prepare a written PW and PI policy and procedure documents by taking the views of patients and hospital staff and share these with them.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the utilisation of patient wristbands (PWs) and patient identification (PI) process in a training hospital in Ankara, Turkey.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in a training hospital with 640 beds, accreditied by Joint Commission International. The views of 348 patients and 419 hospital personnel on the implementation of patient wristbands and identification process were evaluated.\nFindings: The results indicated that lack of information among patients about the importance of PWs and the misknowledge among staff participants on when, where, and by whom PWs should be put on and verified were the weakest points in this hospital.\nResearch limitations/implications: PI process must be strictly implemented according to the standard procedures of patient safety. Both patients and hospital personnel should be trained continuously, and training sessions must be held to increase their awareness about the importance of PWs and identification process.\nPractical implications: Finding new ways and using new methods for increasing knowledge about PI and PWs are necessary. Hospital management should prepare a written PI and PW policy and procedure documents by taking the views of patients and hospital personnel and share these with them.\nOriginality/value: This study incorporates the views and attitudes of patients and health care personnel in improving health care quality by increasing awareness about PI and wristbands.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The impact of best HRM practices on performance - identifying enabling factors
|
[
"Knowledge management",
"Human resource management",
"Organizational capabilities",
"Organizational performance",
"Organizational learning",
"Best practice"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past several years, there have been intensive discussions about the role of human resource management (HRM) as a key asset in today's organizations. Hence, numerous and highly varied empirical contributions emerged, suggesting specific HRM practices that are expected to positively influence individual employee attitudes and behaviors (e.g. Allen et al., 2003; Fulmer et al., 2003; Zacharatos et al., 2005; Collins and Smith, 2006), or promote such inimitable attributes in human resources that can help an organization to obtain a competitive advantage and enhance its performance (e.g. Huselid, 1995; Guest, 1997; Ahmad and Schroeder, 2003; Sung and Ashton, 2005; Jimenez-Jimenez and Sanz-Valle, 2008).\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 KM and HRM\n3. Proposed research model: Following the previous discussion, the research model, presented in Figure 1, perceives performance primarily as a product of firm-specific capabilities coming out of the best HRM practices, exercised at both strategic and operational levels of any company (with one or multiple business). The main value provided by this framework lies in the reflection of factors and their relationships that seem to play their own unique roles, as mediating processes, into the HRM practices-performance relationship.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Sample and data selection\n5. Data analysis and results: 5.1 Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)\n6. Discussion and conclusions: This paper explores all those organizational concepts that seem to be strongly influenced by people but can also become the drivers of improved performance in a new knowledge era of rapid change, adoption and innovation. The results of the SEM approach provide some empirical evidence to support all hypotheses in the Greek manufacturing sector except one. Even though the direct relationship of OLC with OC is not supported, it is argued that OLC functions as an antecedent of OC through KM (indirect effect). The findings of the study also pinpoint the ambiguous nature of OC, as it is suggested that best HRM practices are not only related directly to OC, but also indirectly, through the processes of OLC and KM.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationships between best human resource management (HRM) practices, knowledge management (KM), organization learning and organizational capabilities (OC), as well as their impact on organizational performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To carry out this research, a structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to 212 manufacturing firms which employ at least 50 employees. The final sample consists of 138 useable questionnaires.\nFindings: Results indicate that manufacturing firms pursuing best HRM practices achieve higher performance through the interaction of these practices with KM and organizational learning capability and the creation of OC.\nResearch limitations/implications: Possible limitations of the study include the measurement of OC, the use of subjective performance indicators and the data collection approach reflecting mainly HRM managers' perceptions.\nPractical implications: HR practitioners and/or managers should focus on establishing the appropriate mechanisms for integrating \"best HRM practices\" with learning, knowledge and OC in order to improve performance.\nOriginality/value: This paper empirically tests a new composite model which elaborates upon the mechanisms that seem to intervene between the best HRM practices - performance relationship. Moreover, the value of the human factor in KM and organizational learning initiatives, as well as on OC, is explored. While this has already been underlined in the past, there is still no complete model simultaneously describing and testing all those relationships.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Triple helix going abroad? The case of Danish experiences in China
|
[
"Innovation networks",
"Internationalization of R&D",
"Triple helix"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Transnational companies (TNCs) are on a continuous global search for exploitative and explorative activities to improve their competitiveness. Related to China, this search took at first the form of outsourcing labor intensive activities in order to lower production costs. Outsourcing on a large scale started in the 1990s and peaked in the first five years of the new millennium. It is still popular but is running out of steam as there is less to outsource. However, the outsourcing wave has made China the world's manufacturing power house. The second form of the global search was that of exploiting the Chinese market, taking advantage of the increase in income as well as the bold policies on industrialization, infrastructure building, etc. This is going on right now and will continue to be on the search agenda as long as the high growth rates remain. The third form of global search is relatively new, which is the internationalization of R&D.\n2. The TH framework: To enhance innovation and to unfold and conceptualize the relatively broad concepts of the knowledge society and knowledge-based economy, several concepts and theories have been launched and discussed, including the national innovation system (Lundvall, 2010; Nelson, 1993); the cluster theory (Porter, 1990); The Mode 2 theory of knowledge production (Gibbons et al., 1994); the global value chain theory focussing on upgrading (Gereffi et al., 2005), and the TH framework (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000; Etzkowitz, 2002; Leydesdorff, 2000). Although analytically different and also different in terms of public policy and firm strategy implications, they also have much in common such as the focus on interaction, networking and learning and in general an institutional approach to understand reality.\n3. The internationalization of the TH: Some studies have noticed that the TH of university-industry-government networks is emerging as a common phenomenon that goes beyond national boundaries (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000; Etzkowitz and De Mello, 2004; Leydesdorff and Sun, 2008). However, the international trend of TH discussed in those literature is usually limited to each sphere's international collaboration, i.e. cross-border technological partnerships between companies; governments act at international levels; cross-border co-authorship and international co-research projects undertaken by universities, etc. Thus, while the TH theory is relatively well established on a national platform, its internationalization is an emerging issue and there are few discussions on it. As a result, there is gap in the literature to be closed.\n4. Method: The main research purpose of this study is to make sense of the internationalization of the TH. This study is exploratory and conceptual in nature, and we have for that reason adopted an inductive approach for qualitative data collection and analysis (Bernard and Ryan, 2010; Glasser and Strauss, 1967). The Danish TH experiences in China are used as empirical evidences to support our analysis. Both primary and secondary data were collected between 2009 and 2013 through various sources (see Table I), which allowed us to triangulate the data (Yin, 2009).\n5. Empirical evidence: 5.1 Pioneering stage\n6. Discussion: The TH framework is overall based on the collaboration of three core spheres. Yet, although the synergies to be obtained through collaboration are theoretically obvious, the road to achieve the synergies in practice is bumpy with a number of challenges. Context is important as it influences the possibilities for the TH internationalization and TH to TH collaboration.\n7. Conclusion: In conclusion, the above discussions indicate that the internationalization of the TH reflects the complexity of the knowledge economy and the R&D activity as partly belonging to the public partly to the business sphere. It is a natural consequence of globalization and may be seen as a step toward building common and more integrated institutions. The establishment of Danish TH in China creates synergies for the innovation activities of Danish TNCs and universities in China, which give us some policy implications. First, companies and universities conducting R&D in a foreign country should not rely on do-it-alone, but cooperate with foreign partners and share experiences with other companies and universities from home country. Second, since TH is not restricted within the national border, government should proactively engage in the establishment of TH aiming at creating synergies among the three spheres in a foreign country, for example, establishing certain governmental unit in a foreign country to promote communications and collaborations among the three TH spheres and with foreign TH partners. Third, the complex TH to TH interaction, i.e. the integration stage of our model, will mobilize innovation resources from both countries, and will bring about significant synergy effects. However, in order to generate synergies rather than bringing in chaos, future researches on how to enhance the performance of a TH in another country, or topics related, are needed.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize and make sense of the internationalization of the triple helix (TH) model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: As this study is exploitative in nature, an inductive approach is adopted in data collection and data analysis. The Danish TH's experiences in China are used as empirical evidences. Primary data are collected from in-depth interviews and discussions, filed observations, and personal experiences. Secondary data such as the government policies and documents, companies' annual reports, and reliable web sites are also included.\nFindings: The paper conceptualizes the internationalization of the TH into three stages: pioneering stage, exploration stage, and integration stage. In the pioneering stage, the authors see the establishment of each of the three helix spheres abroad, i.e. internationalization of companies, universities and governments; in the exploration stage, the three spheres start to interact abroad and collaborate with their counterparts in the host country; in the integration stage, helix to helix collaboration is emerging.\nOriginality/value: This study has both theoretical and practical significance. It expands the existing TH theory by proposing a model for the internationalization of it. On the other hand, this study gives implications regarding utilizing global knowledge resources and enhancing innovation performances overseas.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Broadband videoconferencing as a knowledge management tool
|
[
"Knowledge management",
"Video",
"Communication technologies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Information and knowledge flows are vital in ensuring organizations, work teams and other task-oriented collectives not only keep going but hopefully innovate and progress. When information is transferred among members of an organization or collective, knowledge is then possible when the shared information - in the form of statements of fact, suggestions, agreements, expressions of feeling and beliefs, plans of action, etc. - is acted upon. Acting upon information occurs in many forms, from the auto-response of the brain to sensory inputs and the data of consciousness, to highly complex tasks of acting upon information, as in the designing of an aircraft.One of the most common and effective ways that information is acted upon is through everyday or informal interaction between people. This reality is reflected in the videoconferencing literature where informal interaction is not only deemed critical to knowledge processes, but where a major portion of the research has involved experiments designed precisely to encourage informal interaction between project participants (Fish et al., 1990, 1992, 1993; Gaver et al., 1992; Borning and Travers, 1991; Landauer and Kraut, 1990; Bly et al., 1993; Issacs et al., 2002). It also aligns with a knowledge management (KM) perspective that takes informal interaction as primary because:* of its naturalness and the sheer amount of time we spend in this mode;* it generates variety and is self-organizing;* its transparency as a process normally precludes conscious manipulation; and* it provides the basis of rules and levels of trust required in order for higher forms of learning, planning and action to take place.Adopting a knowledge management approach presented a unique opportunity to examine everyday or informal workplace interaction in a workplace environment supported by internet protocol based videoconferencing. For one thing, mediated informal interaction was deemed timely because advanced IP-based videoconferencing technologies were affording quality of interaction significantly better than those documented in prior studies, and because world events following 9/11/2001 appeared, initially at least, to heighten the need for safer and more cost-effective ways of conducting the nation's business.Four research teams across Canada participated in the study, using differing combinations of small-format (web-cam style units mounted on PCs), medium-format units (large television monitors) and large-format (ceiling-mounted projectors and wall-sized imaging) videoconferencing, using H.323 protocol networking equipment. In addition, the central research team at the University of Calgary installed equipment that enabled membership on the Access Grid community of open-source and scalable videoconferencing applications. In general, the former provided better data transfer rates and stability but restricted the number of participating sites in any one videoconference session. The latter allowed for multiple concurrent connections, and therefore expanded interaction between more sites, but also suffered from often temperamental network connections.It was expected from the outset that the InSite Project would involve interactional dynamics beyond the scope of earlier research that keyed primarily on topical behaviors of users. The earlier research focused mostly on manifest indicators such as gaze control, network latency, turn length and turn taking, etc. (Fish et al., 1993; Whittaker, 1995; Sellen, 1992). Indeed, most of the previous work involved primarily PC interfaces using low-bandwidth telephone networks (Fish et al., 1992, 1993; Carletta et al., 2000; Warkentin et al., 1997; Sellen, 1992; Webster, 1998), with one of the earliest systematic trials conducted at Bell Telephone in the 1970s (\"the picturephone system,\" 1971).That is, deploying broadband equipment and connectivity in University-based research environments comprising high-level knowledge workers raised the expectation that better performance from the technology would encourage informal interaction and be conducive to measurement of collaboration in terms of information and knowledge flows. In addition, having ready and toll-free access to videoconferencing raised the expectation that InSite participants would adopt the technology quickly and continue using it freely to engage in typical knowledge behaviors, including socialization and trust building. Specifically, it raised the expectation of both significant tacit creation and transfer of knowledge, through storytelling, model building and the like, as well as significant explicit knowledge creation and transfer, through sharing notes, planning, organizing and the like. In sum, the KM framework used knowledge creation and transfer as key constructs to both test for self-organizing informal knowledge behaviors and then to measure the output of these behaviors through the communicative interaction comprising them.To operationalize these constructs, technologies and routines were imposed upon partner projects, including a PC server to house a chat room and virtual workspace application. Informal use of the videoconferencing technology itself also was encouraged to enhance the socialization process and bring to life through everyday language impressions, findings, beliefs etc. about participants' videoconferencing experience overall that might not otherwise be captured in formal videoconference sessions or in formal reporting activities. Informal videoconference sessions held at or through the central team at the University of Calgary were audio recorded. MOO logs generated by interaction between technicians were captured and prepared for a comparative analysis.The overall objective of the InSite project was to formally evaluate the technology itself. The objective of the KM component of the project was to augment this evaluation by exploring mediated interaction in a way that attempted to address a central research question: does IP-based videoconferencing enhance collaboration by facilitating informal workplace interaction as indicated by knowledge activities or processes? By using knowledge or knowledge process indicators specifically to assess the quality of informal interaction emergent from videoconference and chat room use, the work addressed an understudied dimension of the visually-mediated collaboration domain.\n2. Research design: 2.1 Data capture\n3. Results: 3.1 Chat room sessions\n4. Summary assessment of the research: 4.1 Limitations of the study\n5. Conclusion: The success of the InSite project was evidenced by participants' perceptions of the utility of the technology to enhance work and knowledge processes, but also by the extent to which cross-fertilization of ideas was allowed to happen. This was evident in the output of the working sessions and was explicit in chat room transcripts that demonstrated an immediate and productive rapport across the project and between all levels of participants who had only briefly or, in many cases, never met in person prior to project start-up.It was also evidenced, however, by the extent to which the language of knowledge management itself began to appear in the conceptualization of work within partner projects. A consideration for a future study that adopts KM factors and/or approaches, however, would be to ensure knowledge management tenets, methodologies and expectations are built into the statement of work at the outset and followed as a strategic plan for managing the project.This would help avoid the possibility that a partner project might adopt the language of knowledge management only to propose courses of action that impose the very command and control functions over information and knowledge flow that KM was conceived to overcome in the first place.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to augment evaluation of the effectiveness of broadband videoconferencing among distributed research teams.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Textual output from informal interaction in videoconferencing and chat room sessions was recorded and analyzed using qualitative and content analysis methods to test for knowledge processes thought to be embedded in informal collaborative interaction. An exit survey used nominal and ordinal data categories to measure participant perceptions of using videoconferencing technologies to enhance knowledge-based collaboration. Indicators of informal interaction and knowledge processes were drawn from the knowledge management (KM) and videoconferencing literatures.\nFindings: - Analysis confirms communication and informal interaction dynamics supportive of knowledge creation and transfer. A summary assessment of the research addresses barriers identified in the study and suggests approaches for future KM research in video-mediated research domain.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Project time and resource constraints imposed research limits in terms of inter-coder reliability and attention to several human factors and behavioral considerations highlighted in the study. The latter, however, are suggestive of further research opportunities, specifically in terms of user expectations and cultures of use of videoconferencing in the organizational setting.\nPractical implications: - The research provides a template for communications-based evaluation of advanced applications using broadband technology and collaborative workwares.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is a first-of-its-kind evaluation of true broadband videoconferencing that advanced a knowledge management perspective based on human communication dynamics over a normative information technology framework.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Positive and negative supervisor developmental feedback and task-performance
|
[
"Task performance",
"Developmental feedback",
"Supervisor feedback"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Leader feedback is essential in every organization, and often employees will seek out feedback from supervisors rather than from colleagues or subordinates (Ashford and Tsui, 1991). Supervisors are supposed to hold expert knowledge about the performance domain and know about performance criteria; their feedback is therefore a credible and useful source of information. Supervisors provide feedback to help employees remedy performance deficits or to reinforce effective or desirable employee performance (Steelman et al., 2004). Much of the work concerning developmental feedback accepts the premise that developmental feedback is unidimental. Absent from extant research is an examination of developmental feedback from supervisors that affirms desirable employee behaviors and developmental feedback that remedies undesirable or ineffective behaviors. This conceptualization requires that researchers examine the possibility that supervisors provide both positive and negative feedback to reinforce desirable behaviors and correct undesirable behavior.\nThe SDF construct and conceptualization: Research concerning how positive and negative feedback affect employees' organizational behaviors is inconsistent. Missing is an empirical examination of positive and negative developmental feedback to understand how it might relate to task performance. Work is needed to develop a measure of positive and negative feedback and to test the predictions made by others (Ilies and Judge, 2005; Nease et al., 1999; Podsakoff and Farh, 1986; Waldersee and Luthans, 1994).\nThe outcomes of positive and negative SDF: Understanding how to maximize employee performance is one of the central concerns of many scholars and practitioners (Cascio and Aguinis, 2005). We suggest that both PSDF and NSDF have a positive impact on employee performance-related outcomes through their developmental nature. When employees received positive performance-based feedback, they likely believe the feedback content is accurate and feel satisfied with the feedback. On the other hand, when receiving negative feedback, subordinates may become doubtful about the feedback content, resulting in unfavorable employee reactions (Ilgen et al. (1979). Yet Podsakoff and Farh (1986) found that negative feedback (in terms of outcomes) motivates people to improve more than positive feedback, and enhance employee performance through employees setting higher and more difficult performance goals. For both Ilgen et al. (1979) and Podsakoff and Farh (1986), the nature of the feedback was performance and outcome based.\nInformation processing and developmental feedback: We suggest that information from developmental feedback is useful and motivating regardless of valence (Kohli and Jaworski, 1994; Wade, 1974). Rolison et al. (2012) for example suggest that multiple cues when people learn and train are desirable above and beyond only single cues. Positive and negative feedback are both desirable above and beyond just positive or just negative feedback. Developmental feedback can be understood as a learning episode (Rolison et al., 2012). If we consider the daily experiences of employees as learning episodes, more feedback (both positive and negative) is desirable from an information richness standpoint.\nJoint influence of PSDF and NSDF: When NSDF is provided, employees will readily make changes to their own behavior because of the critical nature of the feedback. NSDF entails identifying deficiencies in individual task performance (e.g. a focus on problems or shortcomings on the job; what is otherwise known as \"an unwelcome spotlight,\" Kohli and Jaworski, 1994, p. 85). Thus, NSDF from an expert in the performance domain (the supervisor) may explain how NSDF may help employee modify behaviors and subsequently improve performance (Kohli and Jaworski, 1994). NSDF may have certain redeeming explanatory and predictive values (Jacoby et al., 1984; Weitz, 1978). It may make subordinates understand why they were unable to do the work correctly and help employees focus clearly on behaviors they need to enact in the future (which may not be the case with PSDF alone). While NSDF helps subordinates identify deficiencies in their own competence, task, behaviors, and performance to the same extent as PSDF.\nSetting positive and negative developmental feedback apart: Before proceeding with a discussion of the methods and approach to developing and validating the PSDF and NSDF scales, we must first address the need for this scale, and clarify the contribution of this scale to extant measures. Our goal is to advance the fields understanding of how feedback that is framed in a developmental light by one's leader may contribute to employee performance. Consistent with Zhou (2003), we recognize the role of leaders as sense-makers and as a partner in the success of employee (Maslyn and Uhl-Bien, 2001). We agree that developmental feedback may encourage employees to develop their own skills and to take risks and try new approaches or work with more creative means of performing the work (Zhou, 2003). We agree with Steelman et al. (2004), that feedback delivered in an informal setting (outside of the formal performance appraisal period) is informative and motivating for employees. Where we depart from Zhou (2003) is in recognizing that feedback can be positive or negative (not in terms of employee reactions but in terms of pointing out acceptable and unacceptable performance).\nOverview of studies: Study 1 focusses the experiences of employees in two organizations, using qualitative methods; common themes in SDF behaviors reported by employees via interviews are identified. A set of SDF items are developed to represent two valances (positive and negative) of the SDF domain. Study 2 entails administration of those items to respondents, for subsequent quantitative data analysis (exploratory factor analysis; EFA). In Study 3, we examine if positive and negative SDF are conceptually distinct from each other, and from the existing general measure of supervisor feedback (Zhou, 2003), using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Also in Study 3, we also examine the differential predictive validity of positive and negative SDF using an external validation approach (criterion validity of both positive and negative SDF as predictors of supervisor generated task performance ratings).\nStudy 1: SDF scale development: Method\nStudy 2: EFA: Method\nStudy 3: CFA: Method\nStudy 3: criterion-related validity: Measures\nDiscussion: Performance feedback remains a topic of interest in organizational behavior and management research (De Stobbeleir et al., 2011; Northcraft et al., 2011). SDF - and its conceptualization and operationalization provided by Zhou (2003) - is an appealing and interesting construct insofar it can help researchers understand employee reactions to feedback, their motivation, and task performance. Previous work on supervisor feedback and performance remains unclear, especially when the valence of the feedback (e.g. positive and negative) is not taken into account. Our study highlights the need to understand the role feedback plays as a developmental tool. Understanding the extent to which feedback is affirmative of desirable performance behaviors may shed light on how feedback functions to motivate and direct employee efforts. We found that while only positive SDF is positively related to employee task performance, PSDF and NSDF positively reinforce each other in predicting subordinates' task performance.\nTheoretical and practical implications: Extending previous research (Dorfman et al., 1986; Li et al., 2011; Zhou, 2003) our findings suggest that developmental feedback is not one dimensional. The original SDF scale in Zhou (2003) was framed positively and generally. This scale may not have necessarily reflected SDF's internal structure (especially since developmental feedback can have both corrective and positively directed components). Previous scales often focussed on limited employee perceptions insofar as they are framed (e.g. favorable vs unfavorable; credible vs not credible; useful vs not useful; available vs unavailable; promoting feedback seeking vs not promoting feedback seeking; Steelman et al., 2004). Our multi-study research captures employee reports of supervisor behaviors rather than individual employee reactions to supervisor feedback. Focussing on behaviors may have the potential to open new directions of investigation, especially when behavioral reports are combined with employee reactions.\nLimitations: Our research is not without limitations. Because we used a cross-sectional design and did not actually manipulate positive and negative feedback, a causal relationship cannot be determined and needs to be examined either by using quasi-experimental or experimental designs. Relatedly, since our data is cross-sectional, we cannot conclusively rule out the possibility that performance ratings from supervisors predict PSDF and NSDF. It may be the case that higher performers (those who are given higher ratings) are also given higher PSDF and lower NSDF, suggesting that performance predicts SDF.\nFuture research: Future research is necessary to examine the extent to which performance appraisal usage matters (e.g. positive and negative feedback in developmental or formal performance appraisal context). It would be interesting to see how positive and negative feedback operate in the context of performance appraisal and the extent to which positive and negative feedback relates to employee reactions. This research is needed in order to understand if the benefit of positive and negative feedback is conditional on the feedback containing developmental elements or if indeed positive and negative feedback is advantageous in other context where feedback does not need to be developmental.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize, understand, and measure positive and negative aspects of supervisor developmental feedback (SDF) and investigate their relationships with task performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In Study 1, common themes in SDF were identified and a set of SDF items were developed to capture the positive and negative SDF domain. Study 2 entailed the administration of the items to respondents to examine the dimensionality of the items through exploratory factor analysis. In Study 3, using confirmatory factor analysis we further examined the extent to which positive and negative developmental feedback (PSDF and NSDF) were conceptually distinct from each other and different from an existing general measure of supervisor feedback.\nFindings: Study 1 and Study 2 yielded evidence that positive and negative SDF are distinct yet related constructs. Positive SDF predicted employee task performance. The positive SDF by negative SDF interaction predicted task performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors provide criterion-related validity evidence by examining the predictive validity of positive and negative SDF on subordinate task performance (reported by supervisors). Future research should examine the role of positive and negative SDF in predicting job performance in other samples and cultural contexts and for other outcomes, including organizational citizenship.\nOriginality/value: This research refines the SDF domain by identifying positive and negative domains of the SDF construct. The authors propose and test the joint influence of positive and negative SDF. The novel findings point to the importance of supervisors providing both positive and negative feedback to enhance performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The effects of financial and non-financial performances towards the managerial performances with interpersonal trust as a mediation variable
|
[
"Managerial performance",
"Financial performance",
"Interpersonal trust",
"Mediation variable",
"Non-financial performance"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Development of recent issues about research on the performance measurement system has increasingly led to the individual perspective as a comparison from an organizational perspective, one of which is related to the relationship between the performance measurement system with employees' behavioral outcomes. Several research studies in multidimensional performance evaluation system (e.g. Balanced Scorecard) have also expanded its focus from the individual to the organizational level. It showed that researchers have increased their awareness on not only how the performance measurement system influences the organizational outcomes but also how the system is able to influence the outcomes of individuals within an organization.\n2. Theoretical review: 2.1 Financial performance\n3. Materials and methods: 3.1 Materials\n4. Result and discussion: 4.1 Instrument and outer model\n5. Conclusions and recommendations: Based on the analysis result and discussion, the conclusion of this research are follows:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the influence of the importance of measures in the performance measurement systems (non-financial and financial) on managerial performance, with interpersonal trust acting as a mediating variable.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research was conducted at the University of Mulawarman by using a questionnaire among students who were the object of the research. Partial least squares were conducted along with Sobel's test as the mediation test.\nFindings: Interpersonal trust is the mediation effect between financial performance on managerial performance. The positive-marked coefficient indicates that higher financial performance will result in higher managerial performance if it is mediated by interpersonal trust that is also higher. Thus, interpersonal trust acts as a mediation variable of the relationship between financial performance and managerial performance.\nPractical implications: The government should consider formulating a policy that will improve trust among managers, stakeholders and the public.\nSocial implications: The implications for managers include: an increase in interpersonal trust by improving the competence, integrity, reliability, openness and honesty and satisfaction in work.\nOriginality/value: Location of this study is University of Mulawarman, Samarinda, with student being the object of the study. This is the original of location of study means there has been no previous study research in the same location and of the same model. Originality is also shown in the investigation of interpersonal trust as the mediation variable in relationship between financial performance and non-financial performance on managerial performance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Competition rules and health care players: principles and consequences
|
[
"Antitrust",
"Competition law",
"European Union",
"Healthcare quality",
"Health care",
"Competitive strategy",
"Law"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The question is whether competition law, which applies to undertakings (defined by the European Court of Justice as any entity performing economic activities), can in fact be applied to healthcare players and whether specific rules are needed for competition between healthcare undertakings. The answer is important for the way healthcare players act. Competition law aims to protect consumers and enhances, in principle, healthcare quality. If competition rules are applicable to healthcare players then they may have a major impact on the way hospital staff, clinicians, insurers, medicinal product or medical device companies enter into agreement with other healthcare players. Abusing a dominant position is forbidden and agreements between hospital managers, pharmaceutical company or insurance company staff may be invalid. It is obvious that the healthcare sector is special within our society. Whilst consumers in other sectors make informed choices based on their economic well-being, patients have to make choices that matter to their physical well-being, life and death. Moreover, patients often lack all the relevant information. It is paramount, therefore, that patients are well informed about the choices they face (Cannon and Tanner, 2005). Healthcare sector information asymmetry is creating situations where patients lack sufficient information for them to make informed choices. Care providers and health insurers, in turn, often lack sufficient information regarding patients needs (Hyman, 2005; Nationale Zorgautoriteit, 2007). Competition law applies to healthcare players, so this article describes why European or national competition rules apply. We consider countries in which healthcare competition is promoted, have recently and distinctly concluded that a certain government influence in the healthcare market is required.\nRecent initiatives regarding European health care: There is already much jurisprudence regarding reimbursing healthcare delivered abroad. Recently, the European Commission undertook, in its 2007 Annual Policy Strategy, to develop a Community framework for safe, high-quality and efficient health services, by reinforcing cooperation between member states and providing certainty over the way community law is applied to health services. This reflects the aims to develop a systematic approach that identifies and recognises social and health service specific characteristics and to clarify the framework in which they operate, complementing the recent services directive.After a consultation regarding community action on health services, the European Commission recently proposed establishing a community framework for cross-border healthcare, as set out in its proposed directive. This initiative aims at ensuring a clear and transparent framework for providing cross-border healthcare in the EU, for those occasions where the care patients seek is provided in another Member State other than their home country. When this happens, there should be no unjustified obstacles. A directive will make clear the patient's entitlements to have healthcare in another member state, including the limits that member states can place on such healthcare abroad and the financial coverage provided for cross-border healthcare. Competition legislation influence in the healthcare sector is not well known except among pharmaceutical industry staff, recently subjected to a European Commission enquiry. Competition law impact has received widespread attention regarding parallel trade in pharmaceutical products. In its recent GlaxoSmithKline v. Greek wholesaler ruling, the European Court of Justice prevented a pharmaceutical company from restricting supplies that destroy parallel trade involving its product, unless the wholesaler/parallel trader's demands are deemed \"out of the ordinary\". The court did not adopt Advocate General Jacobs' reasoning in the parallel trade case that involved GlaxoSmithKline regarding the pharmaceutical industry's special nature. According to the advocate general, competition legislation cannot be applied in such simple terms. Industry-specific characteristics have to be taken into account. Requiring a pharmaceutical company to supply all export orders would not necessarily promote competition or freely moving goods, but could discourage the pharmaceutical company innovation.Thus, on a European level, several initiatives are opening up competition in the healthcare market and/or clarifying competition law impact on healthcare players. Some European initiatives try to stress the health service's special characteristics. The commission developed a policy initiative specifically targeting health services as a separate issue. It is, however, clear that competition rules apply to many healthcare players like clinicians and hospitals.\nApplying European competition law to healthcare-competition rules: The core idea behind competition is that it protects the consumer from unfair practices. In protecting competition, antitrust law or competition rules maximise consumer welfare by using scarce resources efficiently and thus high output, low prices, high quality, varied services, innovation and production and distribution efficiency (ABA Publishing, 2004). Article 101, paragraph 1 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), prohibits all agreements between undertakings or decisions by associations of undertakings (e.g. physician councils) that prevent, restrict or distort competition within the common market. Article 102 TFEU stipulates that:Any abuse by one or more undertakings of a dominant position within the common market or in a substantial part of it shall be prohibited as incompatible with the common market in so far as it may affect trade between member states.Article 101 and 102 only apply to healthcare sector players defined as undertakings. Any entity with economic activities is an undertaking, regardless of its legal status and the way in which it is financed. There are however, still competitions restricting actions that can escape a ban. Article 101, paragraph 3 stipulates that there are exceptions for agreements or conduct that promote production improvements or product distribution. These improvements must benefit the end users and the agreements or conduct may not impose organisational restrictions that are not inevitable or eliminate competition for a substantial part of the products involved. When several undertakings want to merge into one entity, they have to notify the competition authorities, either national or European. The control intends to prevents forming undertakings that cause or strengthen dominant positions leading to restricted competition. Applying competition law in the pharmaceutical sector has been recognised by the European courts but there has not been much case law on applying competition law to other healthcare players.Pharmaceutical companies and competition\nImproving healthcare quality by applying competition law: Competition has an important role. It ensures that consumers receive high quality care and it informs consumers about costs and benefits of selecting a particular provider or treatment. Competition law promotes quality by encouraging consumer empowerment through information disclosure and preventing market participants from engaging in anticompetitive conduct (Hyman, 2005). Competitive approach advocates assert that competition will both reduce costs and improve quality. Because market structure is a central component of price theory, it is reasonable to believe that quality should also be influenced by competition because, like price, quality is an outcome (Propper et al., 2000). Empirical research, however, is not uniform (Scanlon et al., 2008). Gaynor (2006) states that market studies, where prices are set by firms, are variable. Some show increased competition leading to increased quality while others reveal the opposite. In markets with regulated prices, competition shows a positive impact on quality, e.g. Medicare patient studies. Gaynor (2006) believes that the next research in this area should be sorting the factors that determine whether competition leads to increased quality. According to Sage et al. (2003) and Kauper (1988), certain healthcare characteristics, such as information asymmetry, prevent effective competition. Information regarding quality is useful to consumers, providers, payers, state and federal agencies. Unfortunately, in healthcare, such information is often difficult to obtain and not necessarily reliable (Hyman, 2005; Sage et al., 2003). In the US, several public and private sector initiatives have increased information regarding service quality. For example there's a voluntary public-private program for reporting hospital performance involving hospitals in every state, etc. (Hyman, 2005). Publicly reported quality measures can be a powerful incentive for providers to improve service quality. It is important, however, to keep disclosure costs, limitations and potential adverse consequences in mind. Information technology is important for making information available to consumers, providers and others. The healthcare marketplace does not always employ information technology extensively or effectively (Sage and Hammer, 1999). Current compensation provides little financial reward for improving service quality and may even inadvertently restrict innovation (Custers et al., 2006). For example, when Duke University Hospital managers created an integrated program to treat congestive heart failure, consumers were healthier but managers lost money because admissions declined and patients developed fewer complications. Public and private payers and providers are seeking to address these problems by creating direct economic incentives (pay for performance) for high-quality care (Hyman, 2005). For competition law to enhance service quality, these information and payment barriers have to be removed.There is also little evidence about the courts' practical ability to incorporate quality in the antitrust analysis. In the US, courts failed to develop specific healthcare competition, but instead followed standard economic assumptions that quality and price improve together. Discussions about whether healthcare markets are different in ways that should be accommodated within antitrust doctrine are relatively rare. Looking at European competition law, healthcare quality can be used to a certain extent as an exception to applying competition law. Article 101, Paragraph 3 stipulates there are exceptions for agreements or conduct that improve production or distribution, technical or economic progress; provided that ensuing benefits are fairly shared and that agreements or conduct do not restrict the organisations involved that are not inevitable and offer opportunities to eliminate competition for a substantial part of the products involved. Therefore, agreements that promote service quality can fall under the exception of article 101, Paragraph 3, provided there is a fair share. For healthcare quality to be incorporated adequately into competition law analysis, standardised quality measures are important because healthcare quality is complex and difficult to define by the courts (Wong et al., 2004). However, several challenges have to be faced for standardisation to make a difference, such as healthcare complexity and court scepticism (Hyman, 2004).\nTowards more regulated healthcare competition - lessons from The Netherlands: Judges and legislatures have, at their disposal, limited tools for incorporating quality concerns into antitrust policy. These tools do not connect in a coherent manner. While judges acknowledge the need to be sensitive to quality issues, the law does not have a well-developed framework for addressing these concerns. Courts need a framework with which to analyse service quality and it implications for various market structures, and to understand their implications (Sage and Hammer, 1999). In The Netherlands, the debate about healthcare competition has been introduced. The Dutch are trying to focus on healthcare efficiency, choice, quality and healthcare accessibility by amending existing laws and by introducing the Healthcare Market Organisation Act (Maasdam and Van De Meent, 2007). In The Netherlands, people are realising that the government has an important role safeguarding public interests. The new Healthcare Market Organisation Act led to the National Healthcare Authority (NZa), which monitors the healthcare market. Information asymmetry between healthcare providers, insurers and patients means that NZa is necessary to proactively establish conditions to improve and maintain market forces. The NZa has to ensure patient interests come first. Making an informed and free choice, transparency and legal positions must be guaranteed (Meersma and Verloren Van Themaat, 2005). If these values are guaranteed then the consumer can independently make his/her way through the healthcare market. The NZa has to regulate and ensure market surveillance, which brings the consumer's general interests to the fore. Precisely because the consumer's position is not equal to the insurer and healthcare provider, the consumer's position has to be strengthened. The NZa possess instruments that enable it to carry out its duties (Maasdam and Van De Meent, 2007). Although these instruments are limited, introducing healthcare authority is important for developing healthcare-competition policy - especially if this healthcare authority can work together with the competition authorities. Between the NZa and the National Competition Authority (NMa), a protocol is drafted to regulate each entity's competences. The NMa agreed to refer to NZa when competences coincide.\nConclusion: The European Commission aims to develop a systematic approach that identifies and recognises specific social and health service characteristics and to clarify the framework in which they operate. A consultation regarding community action on health services led to the European Commission proposing establishing a community framework for cross-border healthcare (as a directive). It is clear that competition law applies to pharmaceutical companies, self-employed physicians and to hospital staff. Competition rules seek in principle to maximise consumer welfare by ensuring resources are used efficiently and thus high output, low prices, high quality, varied services, innovation and efficiency. In US and European courts, doctors and hospitals are considered as undertakings so that if they enter into different agreements then they have to comply with Articles 101 and 102. Some member states have taken initiatives to promote healthcare-sector competition. Research findings, however, are not uniform and competition impact on healthcare quality is unproved. There are informational and payment barriers to effective competition. The different factors leading to increased or decreased healthcare quality have to be resolved. For market processes to result in appropriate cost, quality and output, competition law must be proactive. Quality must be fully factored into the competitive mix, allowing consumers to weigh healthcare price and other characteristics. Developing an effective analytical framework requires reconciling opposite quality notions. But there are too many social and political issues involved for healthcare to be governed solely by the marketplace. It is necessary to construct a workable competition policy that understands the interconnections among private markets, public values and professional concerns. A specific healthcare authority has been created in The Netherlands to supervise the healthcare market's proper functioning. This authority can play an important role developing healthcare policy, which integrates healthcare quality into the competition mix.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Competition rules maximise consumer welfare by promoting efficient use of scarce resource and thus high output, low prices, high quality, varied services, innovation, production and distribution. European courts consider doctors and hospital staff as undertakings (any entity that performs economic activities), so that if they enter into agreements then they have to comply with competition rules. This paper's objective is to determine whether competition law, which applies to undertakings, can in fact be applied to different healthcare-sector players and whether specific rules are needed regarding competition between healthcare undertakings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were selected from relevant European and national case law, European institution legal documents (such as regulations, guidelines and communications) and healthcare competition law literature, and then examined.\nFindings: - The paper finds that competition rules are applicable to healthcare players considering the consequences if competition rules are applied to the healthcare market. For market processes to result in the appropriate cost, quality and output, competition law must be proactive. In other words, quality must be fully factored into the competitive mix, allowing consumers to weigh healthcare price and non-price characteristics.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Countries have different healthcare system and competition rules (although similar), competition rule impact is different for each country. Some healthcare systems are more regulated and there will be less opportunity for healthcare players to compete.\nPractical implications: - Efficiently applying competition law to healthcare players means that several challenges need facing, such as healthcare quality complexity and court scepticism.\nOriginality/value: - This article points out the challenges when competition law is applied to the healthcare sector and how these challenges are faced in certain countries such as The Netherlands.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Effects of institutional support on innovation and performance: roles of dysfunctional competition
|
[
"China",
"Institutional support",
"Innovation",
"Performance",
"Dysfunctional competition"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Chinese manufacturing firms have made remarkable achievements on both product and process innovation (Zhang et al., 2016). For example, China now ranks the first worldwide in terms of the number of patent applications by residents and has had the fastest annual growth in the world for several years (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2015). The Chinese government plays a major role in promoting innovation by providing institutional support (Li and Zhang, 2007; Sheng et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2016). For example, national investment in science and technology accounted for 4.4 percent of the government's annual financial expenditure in 2014 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2014). The Chinese government has also introduced policies to transform China into a knowledge-based economy and improve firms' independent innovation in the 15-year medium-to-long-term plan for the development of science and technology (2006-2020) (Parayil and D'Costa, 2009). Institutional support refers to the extent to which government and its agencies give support to firms in order to mitigate the negative effects of inadequate institutional infrastructure (Li and Atuahene-Gima, 2001). Support from the government and its agencies can provide firms with low-cost resources (Qian et al., 2013) and reduce policy uncertainty (Peng et al., 2009) and so promote innovation (Li and Atuahene-Gima, 2001; Qian et al., 2013). However, empirical findings of the effectiveness of institutional support have been inclusive, and some studies show no positive relationship between institutional support and innovation (Sheng et al., 2011; Shu et al., 2015).\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 Institutional support\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Analysis and results: Partial least squares (PLS)-based structural equation modeling is used to test this the research model because of the sample size (Peng and Lai, 2012). SmartPLS software (3.2.1 version) is used to assess the measurement and structural models (Ringle et al., 2015). A bootstrapping estimation procedure is used to examine the significance of the scale factor loadings in the measurement model and that of the path coefficients in the structural model (Peng and Lai, 2012; Wang et al., 2010).\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Theoretical contributions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effects of institutional support on product and process innovation and firm performance and describe how dysfunctional competition influences relevant outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study develops a research model based on institution-based view and tests it using structural equation modeling and empirical data collected from 300 manufacturers in China.\nFindings: The results show that institutional support positively affects product and process innovation and firm performance. Both product and process innovation improve firm performance. The findings reveal that dysfunctional competition significantly reduces the positive effects of institutional support on product and process innovation but leaves the effects of institutional support and product and process innovation on firm performance unaffected.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to innovation literature by providing insights into the impact of China's institutional environment on manufacturing firms' product and process innovation decisions. The findings also contribute to institution-based view literature by providing empirical evidence on the joint effects of institutional support and dysfunctional competition on product and process innovation and firm performance. This study can help manufacturers in China take advantage of institutional environment and adjust product and process innovation decisions accordingly.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How do we start? An approach to learning analytics adoption in higher education
|
[
"Technology led strategy",
"Higher education",
"Technological innovation",
"Learning analytics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The modern landscape in higher education is shaped by several critical drivers, including meeting the needs of a diverse group of students, promoting lifelong learning, enhancing student learning experience and widening access (Davis, 2012; Siemens et al., 2015). The rise of massive open online courses and calls for personalized education have turned the attention of higher education institutions toward new technologies that can provide for greater adaptivity and flexibility. For instance, higher education institutions aiming to scale up educational opportunities while personalizing the student learning experience (e.g. via flipped classroom models) typically turn to technologies as a solution.\n2. State of learning analytics adoption: This section outlines the themes commonly explored in learning analytics and reviews the current state of learning analytics adoption in higher education.\n3. An approach for systemic adoption: While higher education institutions have long expressed much interest in learning analytics, there continues to be a lack of a data-informed culture in decision making in universities (Macfadyen and Dawson, 2012; Manyika et al., 2012). To bridge the divide between interest and application there are numerous lessons that can be learned from business analytics and organizational change that can be helpful for educational institutions. Specifically, we find the approach developed and used by McKinsey and Company (Barton and Court, 2012) is a promising framework for articulating the directions for learning analytics adoption. The approach consists of three elements - data, model and transformation - designed to ease communication with organizations (adopters of analytics) and assist senior leaders to grasp the benefits and challenges associated with analytics in organizational decision making. The approach is summarized in Table I. In the remainder of this section, we make use of this approach to offer directions necessary for systemic adoption of learning analytics by highlighting critical issues specific for education.\n4. Concluding remarks: This paper aimed to outline some of the current state and key directions for learning analytics. The main recommendation for systemic adoption of learning analytics is that institutions need to embrace the complexity of educational systems (Macfadyen et al., 2014) along with internal and external factors established in the literature to shape operation of and experience in educational institutions. Adoption of learning analytics cannot be deemed as a simple fix to address the challenges of contemporary education. Rather, learning analytics must be considered in a broader context of interconnected organizational, social and political structures that form modern educational institutions. Effective adoption and impact of learning analytics can only be achieved if multidisciplinary teams responsible for and representative of all relevant stakeholder groups are formed and charged with implementation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The analysis of data collected from user interactions with educational and information technology has attracted much attention as a promising approach to advancing our understanding of the learning process. This promise motivated the emergence of the field of learning analytics and supported the education sector in moving toward data-informed strategic decision making. Yet, progress to date in embedding such data-informed processes has been limited. The purpose of this paper is to address a commonly posed question asked by educators, managers, administrators and researchers seeking to implement learning analytics - how do we start institutional adoption of learning analytics?\nDesign/methodology/approach: A narrative review is performed to synthesize the existing literature on learning analytics adoption in higher education. The synthesis is based on the established models for the adoption of business analytics and finding two projects performed in Australia and Europe to develop and evaluate approaches to adoption of learning analytics in higher education.\nFindings: The paper first defines learning analytics and touches on lessons learned from some well-known case studies. The paper then reviews the current state of institutional adoption of learning analytics by examining evidence produced in several studies conducted worldwide. The paper next outlines an approach to learning analytics adoption that could aid system-wide institutional transformation. The approach also highlights critical challenges that require close attention in order for learning analytics to make a long-term impact on research and practice of learning and teaching.\nOriginality/value: The paper proposed approach that can be used by senior leaders, practitioners and researchers interested in adoption of learning analytics in higher education. The proposed approach highlights the importance of the socio-technical nature of learning analytics and complexities pertinent to innovation adoption in higher education institutions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Shopping online? The role of imagination and gender
|
[
"Fashion",
"Behavior",
"Mental simulation",
"Imagination",
"E-commerce/internet retailing",
"Retail consumer behavior"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although convenient, the online retail environment lacks the richness of cues available in offline retail settings such as the ability to feel or try the products. This limits online retailers' ability to influence and persuade consumers with vivid details. Newest technologies such as virtual 3D and augmented reality have been devised to address such shortcomings. However, in their nascent stage, such technologies are still rather cumbersome to use and quite costly to implement for the average retailer. Fortunately, the human mind is rather nimble and can frequently be relied on to fill in the missing details. Specifically, when important details are missing, human beings can frequently make out what is missing through their own imagination (Elder and Krishna, 2012; Taylor et al., 1998). Hence, even though consumers are not able to try on a pair of shoes discovered online, they can imagine how that pair of shoes may look on their feet and make the purchase decision accordingly.\nConceptual background: Mental simulation\nStudy 1: Sample and procedures\nStudy 2: Sample and procedures\nPrevious brand experience, mental simulation context and male consumers: Studies 1 and 2 find that the imagination tactic backfired on male consumers and decreased their purchase intention for the focal product. Although the negative impact of imagination experienced specifically by male consumers has not been examined, previous studies within other contexts have proposed a number of factors that can moderate imagination effectiveness such as self vs other referencing, simultaneous demand on cognitive resources and dispositional imagery vividness (Bone and Ellen, 1992; Petrova and Cialdini, 2005). For example, Petrova and Cialdini (2005) show that using imagery appeals decreased product evaluation for consumers with lower dispositional imagery vividness.\nStudy 3: Pretest\nGeneral discussion: Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine gender differences in the impact of imagining product use on purchase decisions. The authors argue that while imagination can enhance purchase intention for female consumers, it can be detrimental to male consumers. This study explores the conditions under which imagination can be turned into a positive device for male consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three experimental studies were conducted. The first two studies illustrate the differential effects of imagination on males vs females. Given the negative effect found among males, the third study focused exclusively on male consumers to identify conditions under which the negative impact of imagination on these consumers can be alleviated.\nFindings: Studies 1 and 2 show that while an imagination tactic has positive or no effect on female consumers, a generic imagination request lowers male consumers' purchase intention. Focusing on potential ways of alleviating this negative effect, Study 3 shows that for males without prior brand ownership experience, imagining product use in a less-typical context can increase purchase intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results provide evidence that gender impacts the effectiveness of imagination in improving product evaluation. Furthermore, the context of imagination and previous brand experience can be used together to determine how male consumers respond to imagination.\nPractical implications: The study's findings warn against the blind use of imagination tactics. Instead, retailers need to customize imagination tactics based on gender, previous brand experience and product usage context.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first papers to examine the impact of gender on the influence of imagination on product evaluation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Powerless positions, silenced voices? - critical views on health and social care management
|
[
"Management",
"Health care",
"Social care",
"Critical management studies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Many countries throughout the world are currently facing serious economic crises, which have direct and indirect effects on the management of their health and social care sectors. The challenging economic situation is compounded by changing demographics, with population ageing among the trickiest problems (see, e.g. Boeckxstaens and De Graaf, 2011). In addition, increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases and long-term and chronic conditions cause growing health expenditures and poses further challenges for managing and organizing health and social care (Bodenheimer et al., 2002; Gress et al., 2009; Rijken et al., 2012).\nCMS invites to see things in a different way: The paradoxical problems of health and social care addressed above challenge scholars to investigate and call into question the conventional theories and practices of health and social care in novel ways. Although basically all research is always critically oriented (Alvesson and Ashcraft, 2009), we emphasize here \"critical questioning of the taken-for-granted\" by drawing loosely on the principles of Critical management studies (see, e.g. Adler et al., 2007; Alvesson et al., 2009). In particular, we want to highlight the basic characteristic of CMS to call into question the self-evident truths and conventional views on management. Inspired by the ways in which diverse representatives of this approach have been able to \"see things in a different way\", we want to promote discussion on how to apply these principles to the field of health and social care, too.\nTowards a critical methodology?: The paradoxical problems of organizing and managing health and social care challenge scholars to investigate and call into question the conventional research practices of health and social care in novel ways (Barry and Hansen, 2008; Alvesson and Skoldberg, 2009). There is a general understanding that qualitative research has to recognize and draw on existing theory while simultaneously distancing itself from it in an attempt to generate something new (Pratt, 2008). Alvesson and Sandberg (2012) have argued that management researchers make extensive use of \"gap-spotting\" in order to generate a research question; that is spotting or constructing gaps in existing theories rather than challenging their assumptions. Swedberg (2012) has stressed that social sciences has made great progress in the kind of methods they use in terms of development of perfect techniques, but often fails to handle theory adeptly and to ask significant questions. Thus, reforming care organizations and developing health and social care management in practice demand new ways of thinking (Kvist and Greve, 2011).\nPapers of this special issue: As mentioned above, this special issue draws on selected papers presented at the 8th International Critical Management Studies Conference, 10-12 July 2013, Manchester, UK. These papers do not necessarily represent CMS explicitly, but are nevertheless critical in the sense that they put forward alternative views on the topics arising from the practice of health and social care. We consider here briefly what these articles add to the critical discussion on health and social care. The first four papers are mainly related to challenges to professionality, while the last two deal with the patient's perspective, though this division does not do full justice to the scope of the articles.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide background to this special issue and consider how critically oriented research can be applied to health and social care management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Basic principles of critical management studies are introduced briefly to frame subsequent papers in this issue.\nFindings: In order to identify the wicked problems and darker sides of the care field, there is a need to study things in alternative ways through critical lenses. Giving a voice to those in less powerful positions may result in redefinition and redesign of conventional roles and agency of patients, volunteers and professionals and call into question the taken-for-granted understanding of health and social care management.\nOriginality/value: The special issue as a whole was designed to enhance critical approaches to the discussion in the field of health and social care. This editorial hopefully raises awareness of CMS and serves as an opening for further discussion on critical views in the research on management and organization in this field.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A theoretical and methodological framework for social economic value theory
|
[
"Bounded rationality",
"Commodified",
"Firm (goods) centric",
"Heuristic capacity",
"Means rationality",
"Methodenstreit controversy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The creation of value is the core purpose and central process of economic exchange(Vargo et al., 2008, p. 146).\n1. Introduction: Vladimir Zwass, distinguished Professor of management and information systems and an Editor-in-Chief of The International Journal of Electronic Commerce, describes the co-creation of value concept as a new theoretical approach to organizational behavior, a new perspective on value theory, and a new theoretical proposition for improving economic performance. The necessity for a more inclusive approach to value theory, according to Zwass, is prompted by the impact of ICT along with the influence of the knowledge-based economy. The transition from the assembly line, laborer, and firm-centered perspective of organizational activity to the knowledge worker, networked, relational, market-oriented approach to improving economic performance (plus the revolutionary impact of ICT) is resulting in new strategies for improving organizational and economic performance: generating knowledge and innovation, increasing the value-added factor, managing value intangibles (internal resources), and managing stakeholder capital (external resources).\n2. Theoretical framework: integrating social and economic value theory: A theoretical framework can be described as a set of underlying assumptions that establish the foundation upon which research in a particular area builds and/or more fully develops plus theory establishes the fundamental concepts or basic principles of a particular field of inquiry (a theoretical frameworks reflects what is considered to be general knowledge in regards to a phenomenon under investigation). In other words a theoretical framework serves as the conceptual or ideational foundation from which a phenomenon is researched. A theoretical framework \"provides a structure for conceptualizing and designing research studies. In particular, a research framework helps determine the principles of discovery and justification allowed for creating \"new knowledge\" about the topic under study (this refers to acceptable research methods)\" (Lester, 2005, p. 458).\n3. Integrative research: the methodology for value creation research: The principles that establish Western Civilization's fundamental views on political economy were established at the foundation of its heritage with Aristotle being considered as one of the first to offer a comprehensive exposition on the topic. Aristotle's works are, in fact, regarded as political economy because his emphasis was on managing a social unit (chrematistike and oikonomike or the political economic aspects of managing the polis). The basis of his methodology is clearly logical positivism (what in more accurate detail could be referred to as a combination of science and metaphysics). Aristotle established the viability of the integrative approach to economic methodology in that his strategy for political economy included social psychology, theories on social formation (koinonia politike), management and acquisition, plus metaphysics (ontology, epistemology, teleology, ethics, and logic).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to research on the impact that the creation of value theory has on professional, organizational, and economic performance. However, a special emphasis is on explicating the theoretical foundation of the concept.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a hermeneutic study of the relationship between value creation and managing economic resources. The paper traces the value creation concept to its roots from the foundation of Western Civilization through the value theory of Adam Smith and up to recent technological age advancements in value theory.\nFindings: Since its emergence the value concept has been explicated in an abundance of literature. However, there has been very little in regards to explanations detailing the theoretical underpinnings of the concept. According to John Stuart Mill, attempts to apply value theory will fail (due to misinformation or inaccurate information) without inclusiveness of the full scope of what is relevant for social science and social economic research.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although studies on organizational behavior encompass the economic aspects of research economic research tends to be narrower in scope making it difficult to verify some value claims in economic terms. This is especially true in terms of making claims in regards to the connection between economic value theory, social value theory, the Philosophy of Economics, and the Philosophy of Science.\nPractical implications: The study introduces a theoretical framework for integrating the value added and value creation concepts as a strategy for increasing shareholder benefits, stakeholder capital, and social capital.\nSocial implications: The paper explains how the value creation concept contributes to an increase in wealth, prosperity, flourishing by drawing from a technological age approach to value creation.\nOriginality/value: The paper fills the void in the literature regarding the theoretical framework of the concept thus undergirds claims about its practical benefits by clarifying its theoretical framework.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Emerging structural models for governance of public hospitals
|
[
"Organization",
"Evidence-based practice",
"Health policy",
"Governance structures",
"Leadership",
"Health law or regulation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Health is one of the critical macroeconomic and political factors of any society (Kickbusch and Gleicher, 2012). It is recognised as \"a human right, an essential component of well-being, a global public good and an issue of social justice and equity\" (Kickbusch and Gleicher, 2012). It is recognised that health state is not attained simply by medical breakthroughs but more so through thoughtful governance that establishes effective institutions and management structures (Baez-Camargo and Jacobs, 2011). Thus increasingly governments, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders within and outside the health sector are engaged in the efforts to improve governance of the health system (Kickbusch and Gleicher, 2012; Baez-Camargo and Jacobs, 2011).\n2. Distinguishing health system governance and organisational governance in health system: As stated above, governance in health can be divided into two: health system governance and organisational governance. It is imperative to first start with an understanding of what health system is. World Health Organization (WHO) defines health system as \"all activities whose primary purpose is to promote, restore, and maintain health\" (World Health Organization, 2014). In harmony, Encyclopedia of Bioethics (2016) defines it as \"the method by which healthcare is financed, organised, and delivered to a population. Encyclopedia of Bioethics (2016) further observes that the goal of the system \"is to enhance the health of the population in the most effective manner possible in light of a society's available resources and competing needs\". As exhibited in Figure 1, a health system is made up of several entities in the areas of policy and regulations, training and research, financing, pharmaceutical, insurance and healthcare provision, as well as the stakeholders such as patients, families and communities (World Health Organization, 2014; World Bank, 2007; Encyclopedia of Bioethics, 2016). Further to that, since there are other factors outside the health sector that influence the health system such as poverty, education, infrastructure, history and the broader social and political environment (World Bank, 2007; Encyclopedia of Bioethics, 2016), it is wise to consider the various other entities outside the health sector when considering health system in totality. This fact is represented in Figure 1 by a disconnected component of various other entities outside the health sector.\n3. Public hospitals and their unique challenges: Hospitals generally play a prominent role in the delivery of healthcare services within health system (Abor, 2015; Eeckloo et al., 2004). They are at the heart of the system as providers of curative services directly to people and consumers most of the outputs from other entities within the system. The hospitals can be classified based on features such as nature of services, size, ownership and control, profit-making orientation, location and service level. However, the feature of interest to this paper is ownership and control. Based on ownership and control, hospitals can broadly be classified into two: public and private hospitals. Public hospitals are those owned and controlled by the state or state agencies as such they are also called government hospitals, while private hospitals are owned and controlled by non-state actors including religious and organisations in the third sector. It must be mentioned that the source of funding for the hospitals does not really matter in this case; because public hospitals can be funded by non-state actors likewise private hospitals can be supported by the state. Thus what of interest in this study is the aspect of ownership and control as these have significant bearing on the identity of the hospital as public hospital.\n4. Shift of governance style in the public sector and its impact on hospital governance: The public sector in Africa and other developing countries remains a driving force of their economies. The current challenge is that it suffers from inefficiencies and inability to meet rapidly growing demand (Bhuiyan and Amagoh, 2011). Traditionally in the health sector, the ministry of health has been combining system and organisational governance and service provision. For instance, though public hospitals are established as autonomous entities, they have, however, remained operationally connected with the ministries of health. The trend is gradually changing due to enormity of each function and greater conceptual enlightenment of distinctiveness of health system governance, hospital governance and management functions for effective delivery of quality services. The ministries are focusing on system governance rather than direct service provision. In extreme cases service provision is privatised and where that is not possible or desirable, the function is decentralised either to local governments or to fully empowered autonomous agencies in a process called agencification. The change demands fitting reformation of governance arrangements (Chanturidze and Obermann, 2016), as the set up requires necessary autonomy with a sound organisational governance structures.\n5. Methodology: The paper used qualitative content analysis in reviewing the institutional arrangements for governance of public hospitals of four model countries. The analysis involved examining the content of the pieces of legislation governing the public health system and extent literature in order to draw out the governance structural frameworks provided therein. The examination of the documents was guided by a question: how is organisational governance of public hospitals provided for within the legislative framework? The study used the structural dimension of Cooper, Fusarelli and Randall's Policy Model (Owen, 2014) in evaluation of the legislations. The structural dimension postulates that the analysis of the role and effect of the state and local institutional structure is critical for understanding policy (Cooper et al., 2004 cited in Owen, 2014), in this case, about governance of public hospitals. In line with the model, evaluation of the legislations involved reviewing the arrangements, institutional structure, systems and processes that promulgate and support organisational governance of public hospitals (Cooper et al., 2004 cited in Owen, 2014).\n6. Findings: 6.1 United Kingdom\n7. Discussion: Basically governance in health is premised on the national health legislative framework. The cases reviewed reveal two alternative forms of the legislative structural framework relating to governance of public hospitals. One is where there is a single legislation (mono-legislative model) prescribing for both health system governance and organisational governance of the public hospitals. This is the case of South Africa and New Zealand. The fact that is worth noting about this option is that although the single legislation combines the two governance functions, they, however, clearly delineate the two levels of governance. The other alternative is where two or more pieces of legislation are enacted (duo or poly-legislative model). In this model, there is a legislation dealing with health system governance and another or others prescribing for organisational governance of public hospitals and other public health entities. This is the case in the UK and Ghana.\n8. Conclusion: Governance plays a crucial role in enhancing the productivity of health system and appropriate structural arrangements are important to facilitate the realisation of that goal. At the moment governance in health suffers from a lack of conceptual understanding and practical guidelines that are applicable at organisational level moreover in the decentralised environment. In order to contribute to filling these gaps, this paper has endeavoured to provide some practical insights regarding the possible institutional arrangements based on the review of the public hospital governance systems of four countries. The paper has revealed two alternative legislative structural models and visualises the hierarchy of governors. Further to that the paper has highlighted key institutional features characterizing the evolution of governance of public hospitals, namely; prescription of a clear and fitting legislative framework; and separation of the policy development and policy implementation. It has also highlighted the possible need to enhance citizen activism in order to promote public interest and need for thorough design of the organisational operating models for the governance of public hospitals in the decentralised system.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the contemporary understanding and emerging structural models of organisational governance of public hospitals in order to provide evidence-based guidance to countries that are reforming their public hospital governance structures in line with best practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses the structural dimension of Cooper, Fusarelli and Randall's policy model and institutional theory to review the legislative frameworks of four model countries supported by extant literature.\nFindings: The paper conceptually distinguishes health system governance and organisational governance in the health system. It further visualises the emerging alternative legislative models of organisational governance and a hierarchy of governors applicable to public hospitals.\nOriginality/value: The paper provides critical knowledge for understanding organisational governance within health system governance framework and develops tools that can be used in reforming institutional mechanism of organisational governance of public hospitals.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Growth prospects, market challenges and policy measures: evolution of mobile broadband in Pakistan
|
[
"Broadband",
"4G",
"3G",
"Barriers to broadband growth",
"Pakistan",
"Teledensity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The huge growth of mobile broadband has curtailed the fixed broadband growth to mere fractions, and there is no end. Powered by the integral features of portability, mobility and device and applications universality, the data enabled smart phone subscriptions are expected to reach 6.1 Billion mark in 2020- a point in time where the smartphones will finally outnumber the active fixed phone subscriptions around the globe (Ingrid, 2015). A large part of it is coming from the less mature markets in Asia Pacific and Africa regions, whereas the developed US and European markets have been witnessing steadier growth patterns for mobile broadband subscriptions in recent past.\n2. The telecom market in Pakistan: After the deregulation of the telecom sector in 2003, the market has shown promising growth in the teledensity, the hallmark being the mobile penetration. According to the Telecom policy published by the Government of Pakistan in 2015, the mobile voice and broadband services in Pakistan have shown promising growth trends over time when compared to the growth of fixed network penetration (Table II).\n3. Evolution of broadband services in Pakistan: A glance at the landscape of cellular services in Pakistan reveals that after the auction of two new GSM licenses in 2004, the auction of 3G and 4G next generation mobile services (NGMS) was accomplished in 2014 as illustrated in Figure 3. In fact, Pakistan lagged behind its neighboring countries in the launch of third generation and fourth generation mobile broadband services (Annabel, 2013). The auction for 3G new licenses was delayed time and again on account of various aspects like investors readiness, regulatory framework preparations, etc. (The Express Tribune, Pakistan, 2012).\n4. Launch of mobile broadband in Pakistan: The era of mobile broadband services however truly originated with the launch of the 3G and 4G mobile services across the country in 2014. The NGMS spectrum for 3G and 4G services was auctioned by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority(PTA) in April 2014 and three telecom operators, namely, Mobilink, Telenor and Ufone acquired the licenses for the third generation 3G services, whereas CMPak acquired a license for both 3G and 4G services (PTA Annual Report, 2014-2015, p. 64).\n5. Broadband services: growth prospects ahead of 2016: Next to the land-sliding growth trend of broadband services, a fierce competition was ahead as pointed out by the PTA, as the cellular operators were all set for a race to win and retain customers on the basis of network expansion and blanket coverage of 3G and 4G services, attractive packages and Quality of service (QoS) improvement and enhancements, which in turn would definitely be going to benefit the customers (PTA Annual Report, 2014-2015, p. 64; Gao and Rafiq, 2009).\n6. Short-term measures: survival strategies during the competition: With the growth of fixed broadband services already on a negative slope, the double-digit growth of mobile broadband in 2014 has also become steadier with each passing month and during its second year, the current average growth rate stands at 7 per cent. The growth of mobile broadband for the first five months of the year 2016 is 5 per cent which is even less.\n7. Long-term measures: policies to support mobile broadband supply and demand: The broadband diffusion in a country is a function of both demand and supply side factors spread over a period of time. The supply side caters for the deployment of broadband networks and services while demand side takes into account the acceptance and adoption of the broadband service. The supply side measures incorporate policies and strategies for supporting the deployment and access of the broadband services to all the unserved and underserved areas while demand side measures deal with the barriers to adoption of broadband (Tim and Carlo, 2012).\n8. Conclusions, implications and limitations: The mobile teledensity in Pakistan has grown rapidly over the years in contrast to declining fixed line telephony. The broadband propagation in Pakistan has been fairly slow due to low recognition of fixed line broadband and delayed launch of mobile broadband services. The mobile broadband adoption rate has been phenomenal within two years of its launch in 2014; however, a recent slowdown in the growth of broadband service is also noted. The service providers are reverting to various measures like job-cuts and mergers to survive the competition era.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The paper aims to explore the long-term prospects of mobile broadband adoption in a developing country. The supply-side and demand-side policy measures are recommended to counter the challenges to broadband adoption.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Methodologically, this study uses document analysis to explain secondary data including growth statistics, trade literature and previous scholarly research. Based on the growth statistics of broadband and the informed market insights, the research discusses the prevailing market threats and recommends counter measures to improve the long-term prospects of broadband propagation.\nFindings: The growth of mobile broadband is settling down in Pakistan due to various barriers like cost, literacy, security and unavailability of local content. Collaborative efforts are required by the government, the service providers and the people to enhance the adoption of broadband service and secure economic benefits of the broadband.\nPractical implications: The research offers useful implications for managers and policymakers in Asian and African developing countries; the policy measures discussed here may serve as guidelines for them in the design of their own policies regarding broadband supply and demand.\nOriginality/value: The study makes an effort to examine the broadband growth in a developing country on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The research endeavors to fill the gap on the particular scholarship of research covering potential uptake of broadband services and the effects of constraining elements to broadband adoption in a developing country.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Managing continuous disclosure: Australian evidence
|
[
"Continuous disclosure",
"Disclosure",
"Disclosure Process",
"Disclosure structures",
"Compliance programme",
"Australia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: We have a number of procedures to manage CD - a formal written policy, numerous interpersonal processes to identify CD issues at the corporate and divisional level, and risk assessment reviews to identify projects which may have disclosure issues. In the end, we still have to assess what is news? What should be disclosed? Disclosure may be news but it may not be news? The media often confuses what is price sensitive news versus fluff. Really, since the introduction of the CDR, managing corporate disclosure has become messier and more difficult. The reality with CD is that everyone wants something different. There can be a variety of audiences whose different information needs need to be met and this can be really difficult. Getting the balance is critical. You know, managing CD is an art not a science. ASX Company Secretary (SME14)\n2. Australia's CD provisions: CD is regulated by Chapter 6 of Australia's Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (\"Corporations Act\") and Chapter 3 of the ASX Listing Rules. The most relevant ASX Listing Rules are 3.1 (\"LR3.1\"), 3.1A, and 3.1B. The main provision is LR3.1 which provides that \"once an entity is or becomes aware of any information concerning it that a reasonable person would expect to have a material effect on the price or value of its securities, the entity must immediately tell ASX that information\". Listing Rule 3.1A provides that immediate disclosure is not required if a reasonable person would not expect disclosure, the information is confidential and one or more of the exceptions apply[3]. The exceptions are qualified by Listing Rule 3.1B which provides that if there is or is likely to be a false market in an entity's securities, the entity must give ASX the information that it asks for to correct or prevent the false market.\n3. Background literature and research questions: 3.1 Background literature\n4. Research method: 4.1 Participants\n5. Findings: Table I presents the analysis of the coded responses relating to antecedents influencing the CD process[17]. Key internal antecedents include companies' disclosure traditions, disclosure experience, and preferences for how CD is managed. Key external antecedents include companies' ownership structure, perceived regulatory and litigation risks, financial analysts' expectations, the involvement of third parties, exposure to environmental uncertainties and complexities, the media and degree of sensitivity of the issue to the community. The importance of many of these antecedents is contingent on company size.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: With the goal of identifying key internal and external antecedents, internal disclosure structures and disclosure issues which influence the CD process, this study used interviews to investigate how Australian companies manage their statutory CD obligations. The findings highlight that managing CD is an art not a science. Despite adopting best practice recommendations and establishing responsive systems to ensure that their companies comply with the letter and spirit of the CDR, managers and companies still struggle to find the fine balance between timely and accurate disclosure.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to explore how Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed companies manage their statutory continuous disclosure (CD) obligations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Employing aspects of Gibbins et al.'s corporate financial disclosure framework, this study conducts semi-structured interviews with 22 experienced senior managers from diverse companies to examine in depth the key antecedents, structures and issues influencing the CD process.\nFindings: The findings indicate that companies' preference to deal with CD as a commercial or legal issue, managers' practical CD experience, who assumes responsibility for CD, owners' and market expectations, third parties, environmental uncertainties and media are important antecedents in the CD process. The importance of these is contingent on company characteristics. Large companies primarily use structured processes and responsive communication networks whereas small to medium companies rely on informal processes and interpersonal communications. Despite following best practice guidelines, companies face multiple issues in managing CD.\nResearch limitations/implications: Prior disclosure beliefs and personal biases may have a disproportionate impact on CD behaviour. Future research can examine more closely how these behavioural characteristics influence companies' disclosure policies.\nPractical implications: This study offers insights for managers interested in managing CD more effectively. The findings suggest the importance of experience, behaving in a proactive manner and educating employees on companies' CD obligations. It offers insights for regulators on aspects of guidance that could be improved.\nOriginality/value: The study draws on Gibbins et al.'s theoretical framework to furnish a more complete and refined understanding of the CD process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Understanding the usage of global social networking sites by Arabs through the lens of uses and gratifications theory
|
[
"Gender",
"Social interaction",
"Enjoyment",
"Saudi Arabia",
"Self-presentation",
"Twitter usage"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Social networking sites (henceforth SNS), like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Instagram, Google+, and LinkedIn, are creative and efficient tools for human communications. The use of SNS has been increasingly attracting a large number of users from different demographic, psychographic, and organizational backgrounds (Ndubisi et al., 2005; Pfeil et al., 2009). Users of SNS can access, share, download information, videos, audios, photos at any given time, and often form online groups and communities of shared interests. Each SNS has its purpose and focus. Facebook, for example, is well known for social interaction and information sharing, whereas Twitter focusses on sharing opinions and important breaking news. Unlike Facebook, Twitter focusses less on personal profile but more on individual perceptions about events (Huberman et al., 2009). Twitter users update their account with short statements called \"tweets.\" They access information on activities and opinions of interested followers, popular personalities, or companies (Java et al., 2007). Twitter is used to maintain social relationships with offline social networks, as well as to develop new relationships online, which reinforce or complement offline relationships.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Use and gratification (U&G) theory\n3. Research model and hypotheses: Straub et al. (2001) found that due to the strong cultural beliefs and norms, people in the Arab region tend to resist engagement in social media and prefer to maintain offline social communications. However, an empirical research on this subject by Loch et al. (2003) showed that Arabs were willing to embrace SNS, while preserving their cultural and traditional characters. A study conducted in Jordan showed that Jordanians had a negative perception toward the impact of SNS on their society and traditions of the past. In recent years, especially during the revolutions in some Arab countries, SNS have gained very high popularity (Al-Khalifa, 2012; Varnali and Gorgulu, 2015). This paper examines the relationship between personal and social factors and usage of Twitter, as well as on the moderating effects of gender and user experience. Indeed, the motivating factors are not homogenous across different cultures (e.g. from east to west) nor across different SNS (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace).\n4. Methodology: 4.1. Measurements\n5. Results: Multiple linear regression was used to test the research hypotheses. The results summarized in Table V show that personal and social factors contribute significantly (F=172.19; p-value\n6. Discussions and implications: 6.1. Theoretical implications\n7. Conclusions and future research: The present work is one of the pioneer empirical studies of the factors that influence the usage of global social network site - Twitter in the Arabian Gulf. The motivational factors investigated were enjoyment, freedom of speech, self-presentation, and social interactions. Enjoyment, social interaction, and freedom of speech were found to have significant influence on usage. Consistently, self-presentation-usage link was moderated by gender and experience of users; but the enjoyment, social interaction, and freedom of expression. Twitter usage links were not moderated by gender of experience. This platform offers SNS users an avenue to have fun and pleasure, interact with the online community, to share opinions and thoughts freely, and to express themselves positively, irrespective of their gender and experience. Organizations may benefit from such insights to enhance their advertisements, image, customer support, and product development. Some organizations use SNS, including Twitter, to screen job applicants, thereby creating additional benefits for employer-employee interactions and relationship development and bonding.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the determinants and usage of global technology services in Saudi Arabia. The technology under investigation is social network technology, Twitter.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing upon relevant extant literature, the paper proposes a research model, which examines the relationship between personal and social factors and usage of Twitter, as well as the moderating effects of gender and user experience. Data were collected online from 281 Saudi Twitter users, and the research model was empirically tested using standard procedures.\nFindings: The findings support some of the proposed direct and moderating effects. For example, enjoyment, freedom of expression, and social interaction were found to influence Twitter usage. Gender as well as user experience has a moderating effect in the relationship between self-presentation and usage.\nResearch limitations/implications: The proposed framework contributes to global (technology) services management and marketing research by integrating personal and social factors, and demographics as direct and contingent factors in understanding user acceptance of social network technologies in the Arab region. Detailed discussions of the research, managerial and contextual implications conclude the paper.\nOriginality/value: The personal and social motives behind the use of social network sites in the Arab region particularly Saudi Arabia is ill understood due to a dearth of research on the region. This paper helps to bridge this research and knowledge gap.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A new approach to evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities
|
[
"Decision making",
"Fuzzy screening",
"ME–MCDM model",
"Opportunity evaluation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Assume that you have found some potential entrepreneurial opportunities for your firm. If you could pursue just one or two of them, what would you do? How do you evaluate these opportunities and select between them? How do you aggregate your partners' different evaluations? It is obvious that just a few opportunities will reach the viable business and most of them fade away. Hence, an accurate evaluation is an important consideration. Decision making is an integral part of entrepreneurship. Successful entrepreneurship requires making accurate decisions, however, dynamic nature of entrepreneurial decisions makes it so difficult. Changes in technological, economical and socio-political environment cause entrepreneurs confronted with a bewildering amount of opportunity, although because of time constraints and limited resources, there is no possibility of chasing them all. Therefore, they must choose between them (Bryant, 2007) and this provide a basis for opportunity evaluation.\nSystematic literature review: Intriguingly, across many researches on opportunity evaluation, deciding which opportunities are better to pursue still remained as an open-ended question (Bryant, 2007). We address this question by identifying and integrating fragmented evaluation criteria through systematic review of the literature. The criteria have been classified into seven groups in terms of their homogeneity as shown in Table I.\nCurrent streams of opportunity evaluation research: After the seminal work of Shane and Venkataraman (2000) that introduced opportunity evaluation as a central part of the entrepreneurial process (Ardichvili et al., 2003), it comes as no surprise that this subject is the cornerstone of the entrepreneurship because many entrepreneurial decisions depend on results of the opportunity evaluation. In other words, the road to reach exploitation and entrepreneurial action passes right through the opportunity evaluation (Tumasjan et al., 2013; Wood et al., 2012). Time constraints and limited resources reveal that accurate evaluation is a necessary condition for entrepreneurial success. A poor evaluation leads wasting entrepreneur's time, energy and resources and increases the probability of failure.\nMethod: We used fuzzy screening system to evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities and select the best ones to pursue. Fuzzy screening is a multi-expert multi criteria decision-making (ME-MCDM) model introduced by Yager (1993). It is useful specifically in situations in which a group of decision makers should select a few alternatives from a large set (Yager, 1993). Therefore, entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation was considered as a fuzzy screening system, a decision problem with minimal information including multiple experts and multiple decision criteria in which:\nMeasures: Data were collected through a survey questionnaire on a seven-point S scale (Yager, 1993). It consists of 49 items measuring the seven criteria (Table I). The items were identified through a systematic review of high quality articles chosen from leading entrepreneurship and management journals over the last seventeen years. They were categorized into seven groups according to their similarity. To ensure the accuracy of the categorization, we calculated Cohen's k (Wood and McKelvie, 2015) to measure rater agreement. In so doing, two of the authors independently classified the items into the seven groups. For the economic-financial category, for example, the k value was 0.92 that represents \"almost perfect\"[1] agreement between raters according to the benchmark scale. For the market and industry category K=0.88, for the product or service K=0.81, for the desirability K=0.77, for the feasibility K=0.69, for the human capital K=0.64 and for the environment category K=0.62. This suggests a reasonable inter-rater reliability.\nAnalysis and results: Fuzzy screening technique is twofold: first, experts are asked to evaluate the opportunities individually in a way that rating each opportunity based on each of the criteria. Second, individual experts' evaluation should be aggregated to get an overall linguistic value for each opportunity. This overall evaluation serves decision makers well (Yager, 1993). Opportunity evaluation has been formulated in form of a fuzzy screening system as follows:\nResearch limitations and implications: While this study provides new approach to evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities it has also some limitations. It is ideal that we would be able to locate and review all relevant studies that meet opportunity evaluation criteria, but this is rarely possible in practice. We conducted the review from 2000 to 2017 and focused on published articles in leading entrepreneurship and management journals. It causes a number of studies such as papers in other journals, conference papers, book chapters and books were not included in the review. Moreover, similar to other systematic reviews, this review is based on published papers and may be exposed to publication bias. However, it provides a strong summary of opportunity evaluation criteria and proposes a new approach to evaluating. Opportunity evaluation raises important research questions such as time constraints, limited resources, inadequate information and brief windows of opportunity. Using minimal information to make fast decisions on pursuing an opportunity or not under conditions of uncertainty places entrepreneurs in a dilemma. Decision theory and information processing perspectives highlight how entrepreneurs evaluate opportunities (Busenitz et al., 2003) however; previous researches have mainly focused on evaluating a single opportunity by an individual entrepreneur. This study instead emphasizes evaluating a set of opportunities by a group of experts or decision makers. ME-MCDM is a useful lens for articulating how an entrepreneurial team evaluates opportunities and documenting the evaluation criteria used. It improves our understanding of opportunity evaluation and has important implications for theory and practice. Considering opportunity evaluation as a multi-expert decision-making extends this research area theoretically and practically. In comparison with individual evaluation, it is logically expected that multi-expert evaluation be less distorted by personal emotions and cognitive biases. In turn, the results would be more realistic in practice. The proposed model can guides practitioners to do a more accurate selection and appropriately invest their time and resources in fruitful opportunities. Hence, it is helpful for proper resource allocation and prevents entrepreneurs from wasting valuable and limited resources. This paper has also important implications for future research, which is focused on understanding opportunity evaluation, as well as for applying fuzzy screening technique to evaluate opportunities. The authors believe that the integration of MCDM and fuzzy screening in the context of opportunity evaluation represents a significant step toward understanding how an entrepreneurial team evaluate a set of opportunities and select between them.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Although research in opportunity evaluation continues to advance our understanding of the phenomenon, questions about how it occurs nonetheless persist. This study seeks to complement previous research by identifying current evaluation criteria and formulating the opportunity evaluation as a ME-MCDM problem. Past researches on opportunity evaluation mostly examine it as an individual judgment. In this study, we adopt a different approach and consider opportunity evaluation as a multi-expert decision-making process in which main decision makers of the firm or key entrepreneurial team members who are responsible for the business engage in evaluation. With regard to this point of view, answering how entrepreneurs (decision makers) evaluate opportunities and choose between them we discuss a ME-MCDM method served at situations in which entrepreneurs should select a small number of opportunities among the larger set. In so doing, first we conduct a systematic review and examine 45 high quality articles on opportunity evaluation to identify common criteria that entrepreneurs use for evaluating. Then, we organize these criteria into seven categories and employ a fuzzy screening system to provide a ME-MCDM model. The fundamentals of the proposed model rest on decision theory and the fact there are some opportunities needed to be evaluated by a group of decision makers to recognize and select the best ones. Our approach contributes to the literature in at least two ways: first, we provide a comprehensive framework to summarize the fragmented literature on criteria for evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities. The second contribution of this study to the existing literature on opportunity evaluation has been methodological. We rely on a fuzzy screening technique that enabled us to decrease possible biases by considering several experts' evaluation rather than relying on individual entrepreneur's evaluation decisions. Furthermore, this method is capable of processing linguistic evaluation variables expressed by decision makers and implicitly reflecting their mental images of opportunity in evaluation process. In this way, entrepreneurs can evaluate opportunities with minimal and inaccurate information. ME-MCDM can achieve reliable evaluations by facilitating collective decision making and conflict resolution. It is expected that because of relying on multi experts' evaluation the results would be more reliable in comparison with individual evaluations. We hope that this study would spur further investigation on multi-expert decision making for evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: In order to answer which opportunities are better to pursue, the purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test a decision-making model for evaluating and selecting entrepreneurial opportunities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, the authors identified common evaluation criteria through a systematic review of 45 high quality articles published in top entrepreneurship and management journals between 2000 and 2017. Second, fuzzy screening technique has been employed to offer the decision-making model. Third, the authors used data of six evaluations provided by five experts at a medium-sized biotech firm to test the model.\nFindings: The study shows that common decision criteria for evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities fall into seven categories. According to these criteria and using fuzzy screening technique, a multi-expert multi-criteria decision-making (ME-MCDM) model has been suggested for evaluating and selecting opportunities.\nPractical implications: This model can be served in situations in which decision makers should select a small number of opportunities among the larger set with regard to opportunity profile and minimal information. More opportunities and more decision makers can be included in the model. When the number of opportunities and decision makers are high, it is possible to use programming for fast, accurate and easy calculation.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first systematic review of opportunity evaluation criteria. It is also the first considering opportunity evaluation as a multi-expert decision-making process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.