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Training restores pride among customer-service staff at Johnsons Apparelmaster: Project highlights path to significant and lasting change	[ "Customer relations", "Customer orientation", "Service delivery", "Training", "Employee attitudes", "Morale" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A training initiative has helped to boost customer service and improve customer relations at a large UK workwear-rental supplier, despite difficult trading conditions across its sector. The initiative, named Project Pride, also helped Preston-based Johnsons Apparelmaster to win a North-West prize in the National Training Awards.\nThe problems the company faced: Before the development of Project Pride, trading conditions in its business sector had become difficult, it was facing aggressive competition, pressure was building on sales and service issues were becoming increasingly challenging.A survey of its customers and those of its competitors revealed that Johnsons Apparelmaster's new customers had a lower opinion of the company's service than its long-term customers. The survey showed that the company needed to:* improve its handling of problems and complaints;* implement new procedures and IT;* improve performance awareness;* generate greater internal communication;* improve its ability to make decisions while communicating with customers;* increase morale; and* generate a sense of pride.Other problems included: the existence of a \"blame culture\" between departments; minimal information on which to base decisions; and lack of awareness of the impact internal actions had on service delivery.David Kinson, training manager, said: \"Morale was beginning to slip on the back of difficult circumstances. We had to act quickly and effectively to reinforce our customer relationship and the quality of our service delivery.\"\nThe targets of the training initiative: Training targeted staff who could contribute most to the improvements. These included line managers and office and field-based customer-service teams. Each group was given a clear set of performance-improvement objectives for the training.The line-management team and supervisors needed to: improve interdepartmental communication through regular meetings; increase the amount of information they had available to identify issues and trends; and take appropriate action, in particular to improve employee morale.Office-based customer-service teams needed to: use enhancements in the company's information-technology systems to improve data feedback and speed up customer communications; take more decisions while on the telephone to the customer without referring the matter to a line manager; make the service enhancements happen; and take greater pride in their work.Field-based customer-service teams needed to: improve their decision-making ability while in front of the customer by accessing company information-technology systems through a wireless device on their laptops; use improved information technology to speed customer communications; implement service enhancements; and take greater pride in their work.Improvements would be monitored through: assessment by the trainer during individual IT training; coaching during individual training; discussion and questioning during group sessions; delegate feedback as part of the formal review process; system analysis of new procedures being put into practice; and monitoring of business improvements.Project Pride totaled 625 training delegates, who worked at various sites across the UK. In addition, all the company's other employees were made aware of the program.\nHow the training was organized: The first step to identifying the training content was to use the collective experience of the firm's 15 general managers. They brainstormed ideas for addressing the key service issues. David Kinson explained: \"It was vital that this group was integral to the design of the program and bought into its principles as they were the ones who would drive the changes in their plants.\"A group of six general managers subsequently held a series of meetings to finalize the proposals. Service-office employees were also asked what changes they would like to the company's IT system. The final training plan was presented to all the firm's general managers to ensure that they \"bought into\" the project and could promote the changes in advance of the training team's arrival. The board gave its total support throughout the process.Johnson's Apparelmaster chose to deliver the training using internal resources because it recognized that the trainers needed a deep understanding of the business, and because a high level of trust already existed between the target audience and the training team. Moreover, the company needed to be flexible in its delivery strategy, to minimize the time taken to complete the training and so ensure that the impetus was not lost.The plan was to train one location at a time, spending a week there. The training team produced a training plan for each location, which was sent to the local managers in advance so they could organize resources accordingly. The first location was conducted as a pilot, with an informal review process.The training covered interdepartmental communication, new responsibilities, changes in information technology and operating procedures, using wireless connections, data analysis procedures, the direct-sale system and e-mail etiquette. It was delivered through small-group exercises, whole-group discussions and one-to-one instruction.\nResults of the training initiative: Project Pride resulted in 30 new operational, system and procedural changes being implemented. Customer losses were reduced and service teams were able to resolve customer issues with faster decision-making.David Kinson commented: \"In a recent employee-culture survey our focus on customer service was the highest scoring section. This illustrates that the Project Pride message has reached all our employees.\"Managers now take part in weekly meetings between all departmental heads to review customer feedback. This ensures better communication between departments. Mangers analyze customer-contact logs to enable them to identify issues and trends and take appropriate action.Office-based customer-service teams can now do more on-screen for the customer. Customer-service clerks are making decisions to \"forgive charges\" without seeking further authority. One team member commented: \"The customer is happier as our response is quicker.\"Field-based customer-service team members are using their laptops, while at customer premises, to make informed problem-solving decisions without seeking further authority. One explained: \"The lap-tops are excellent. I can take up-to-date information to my customers and access my messages through the day, giving my customers extra service.\"David Kinson said: \"We have re-established our position as the market leader and achieved this in a time when the marketplace is shrinking, margins are being driven down and some of our competitors are looking for ways to move out of the sector altogether. One of our largest rivals has already done so. To grow in this climate is an exceptional achievement.\"A customer-satisfaction survey was the real measure of success, however. It showed customer-service improvements all round with the biggest improvement being in the area of handling problems and complaints. The survey revealed that Johnsons Apparelmaster was now rated top among workwear-rental firms. Significant improvements were reported by customers with less than 12 months' service from the company. \"This was far in excess of our expectations,\" said David Kinson.Chris Sander, managing director, said: \"Project Pride has been a significant factor in changing the fortunes of this business. It proved that, with the co-operation of others, significant and lasting change can happen in a relatively short period. The knowledge we have gained from Project Pride will go a long way to ensure our future success.\"\"\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explain how a training initiative helped to boost customer service and improve customer relations at a UK workwear-rental supplier, despite difficult trading conditions across its sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Highlights the reasons for the introduction of Project Pride at Johnson's Apparelmaster, the form the training took and the results of the initiative.\nFindings: - Reveals that Project Pride resulted in 30 new operational, system and procedural changes. Customer losses were reduced and service teams were able to resolve customer issues with faster decision-making. The company has re-established its position as the market leader and achieved this in a time when the marketplace is shrinking, margins are being driven down and some of its competitors are looking for ways to move out of the sector altogether.\nPractical implications: - Details how Project Pride was a significant factor in changing the fortunes of the business. It proved that, with the co-operation of others, significant and lasting change can happen in a relatively short period.\nOriginality/value: - Highlights a customer-satisfaction survey that showed customer-service improvements all round, with the biggest improvement being in the area of handling problems and complaints.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Certifying voluntary living wage employers	[ "Canada", "Corporate social responsibility", "Poverty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Current research shows that deindustrialization, union power reduction and minimum wage stagnation all contribute to increasing income inequality in advanced industrialized countries with Canada experiencing the most rapid increase in inequality in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Camfield, 2007; Dinardo and Lemieux, 1997; Lethbridge, 2004). Empirical evidence links inequality rates with a host of social problems including lower life expectancy, lower social mobility and decreased equality of opportunity (Corak, 2010; Wilkinson and Pickett, 2010).\nLiterature review: Currently, most of the research on living wage movements and their impact has been largely completed in the USA, and the issue remains relatively understudied. Early case study research on the effects of living wage laws generally pointed to increased wages for lower-tier workers, decreases in poverty and little employment effects. For example, a study of the effect of a living wage ordinance on the San Francisco airport found a significant increase in pay for low-wage workers and associated improvements in turnover, morale and productivity. The cost to employers was calculated to be less than 1 percent of revenue (Fairiss and Reich, 2005).\nMethodology: This paper analyzes qualitative interviews from the living wage employment study in Metro Vancouver, BC, Canada. In total, 30 in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives of the living wage employer certification program: employers, labor activists, childcare advocates and think-tank personnel. Table I provides information on the characteristics of our sample.\nResults: Certifying living wage employers creates partners and advocates\nDiscussion and conclusion: Most studies of living wage campaigns have not dealt with how voluntary employer certification programs affect campaign participation and outcomes. Most accounts of living wage campaigns focus on ordinances legislated by government entities. They overlook the role of voluntary employer certification programs on campaign participation by the business community and business case outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Living wage campaigns are popular responses to counter increasing inequality in advanced industrial countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine how voluntary living wage employer certification engages business in multi-sectoral coalitions to reduce poverty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors utilize qualitative interviews with 30 members of a living wage employer certification program in Vancouver, Canada as a case study to explore campaign participation by the business community and business case outcomes.\nFindings: Certifying voluntary living wage employers engaged business community members as partners and advocates in a living wage campaign. Certified living wage employers fulfilled business case projections for worker compensation fairness, human resource improvements and corporate branding advantages.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study focussed on the early stages of a living wage employer certification program. As the number of living wage certification programs and ordinances grows, future research would benefit from examining how different social policy contexts in other Canadian and international regions affects whether these two avenues support one another or one avenue becomes favoured.\nOriginality/value: Most studies of living wage campaigns have not dealt with how voluntary employer certification programs affect campaign participation and outcomes. The approach the authors adopt in the case takes into account the role of voluntary employer certification programs on campaign participation by the business community and business case outcomes. The study findings are of value to businesses, activists and policy analysts, who engage in or study corporate social responsibility initiatives to facilitate the creation of \"good jobs\" that provide family sustaining wages and benefits, particularly to lower-tier workers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workopolis or The Pirate Bay: what does Google Trends say about the unemployment rate?	[ "Canada", "Unemployment", "Leisure", "Time-use", "Google Trends data", "J20", "J21", "J22" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The labour-leisure tradeoff is one of the fundamentals of labour economics (Abbott and Ashenfelter, 1976; Heckman, 1983; Bockstael et al., 1987). A utility maximising agent substitutes leisure for consumption of goods and services and vice versa, based on their opportunity costs (Gronau, 1977; Feather and Shaw, 1999). For the employed, the opportunity cost of leisure is the foregone current wages. For the unemployed, on the other hand, this opportunity cost is the present value of future wages, contingent on landing a job. The time and risk discounting makes the opportunity cost of leisure lower for the unemployed, which must induce their higher consumption. Clearly then, the employed and the unemployed should exhibit different time allocation patterns in this regard (Knabe et al., 2010; Krueger and Mueller, 2011; Gimenez-Nadal and Molina, 2014). The present paper uses this basic insight in an attempt to predict the Canadian unemployment rate, with data mined from Google Trends.\n2. Literature review: Real-time information on financial and economic dynamics are valuable to researchers and policymakers (Croushore, 2006; Schumacher and Breitung, 2008; Castle et al., 2009; Aruoba and Diebold, 2010; Askitas and Zimmermann, 2015; Scott and Varian, 2015). internet mined data are available significantly earlier than official statistics, making timelier forecasts possible. Particularly, real-time data allow for the operationalization of \"nowcasting\" models, which provide concurrent estimates of the variables of interest (Giannone et al., 2008; Chamberlin, 2010). While the predictive power of Google searches tend to be limited to short-term forecasts (Choi and Varian, 2012; Tuhkuri, 2016), they have been so far applied to predict a number of variables of financial, economic and health policy interest with relative success. These data have been reported to be especially useful in the presence of idiosyncratic events such as government stimulus programs (Vosen and Schmidt, 2012) and financial crises (Tuhkuri, 2014).\n3. The model: This model formalizes the premise that the unemployed is likely to consume more of \"costless online leisure\" than the employed (Dilmaghani, 2019). The agent i gets utility from c, a catch-all consumption good inclusive of conventional entertainment available for purchase, and z capturing online leisure. The contemporaneous utility function of the agent i is as follows:(1)\n4. Data mining procedures: Google Trends provides time-series indices reflecting the volume of queries users entered into Google search engine, in a given geographic area. The series are available from January 2004 onwards, at national and provincial levels for several countries including Canada. The indices correspond to the ratio of the query-volume of the keyword of interest to the total volume of queries, in the specified location for each time-unit. The ratios are rescaled such that an index of 100 is assigned to the time-unit of peaked popularity of the keyword. The index for other time-units in the time span specified by the user are relative to this most popular time-unit. They can be as low as zero. Google Trends allows to download the data, up to a maximum of five keywords at a time. Depending on the time span specified by the user, the Excel data points come as daily, weekly or monthly. Typically, for the time spans less than a year, e.g. 1 May to 30 June of a given year, the data points come as daily indices. If the user requests the data for a full year, the time-series data come as weekly.\n5. Results: Table III presents the results of the estimation of Equation (16). Several versions of the equation are estimated, using various combinations of the five items used to capture the intensity of online leisure and their lagged values. These items are: streaming (topic), TPB (website), Kickass Torrents (website), Torrentz (website) and Extratorrent (search term). Given the popularity of TPB over other \"torrent\" websites during the entire period, the predictors related to other items were not statistically significant. The final model retained two predictors of \"streaming\" and TPB, alongside year and month. As the first column of Table III shows, the coefficients for both predictors are statistically significant, and the R2 is 0.60. The MSE is 0.29. Figure A1 plots the actual unadjusted unemployment data against the predicted values of the model. As the figure shows, 2011 onwards, the predicted values fit quite impressively with the actual data. The Google Trends' instructions inform the users that some geographic-assignment improvements have been brought about in 2011 (Google Inc., 2017). The much superior fit of the model after 2011 may be partially due to the higher quality of Google Trends data from 2011 onwards.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: Internet reduces matching friction in the marketplaces, be it the dating scene (Hitsch et al., 2010) or in the job search (Kuhn, 2014). With such gains in efficiency, internet moderates an increasingly large part of everyday life, as activities previously performed offline migrate to online platforms (Arthur, 2011; Jin et al., 2015). With this migration, the records of these activities are preserved in \"big data\" clouds (Askitas and Zimmermann, 2015). These data are suggested to transform applied social sciences (Jagadish, 2015), especially regarding human resource issues (Askitas and Zimmermann, 2015). In face of economic shocks such as the Great Recession, where real-time information was of great utility, big data have proven especially useful (Askitas and Zimmermann, 2009, 2015; Vosen and Schmidt, 2012; Tuhkuri, 2014).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to use data mined from Google Trends, in order to predict the unemployment rate prevailing among Canadians between 25 and 44 years of age.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a theoretical framework, this study argues that the intensity of online leisure activities is likely to improve the predictive power of unemployment forecasting models.\nFindings: Mining the corresponding data from Google Trends, the analysis indicates that prediction models including variables which reflect online leisure activities outperform those solely based on the intensity of online job search. The paper also outlines the most propitious ways of mining data from Google Trends. The implications for research and policy are discussed.\nOriginality/value: This paper, for the first time, augments the forecasting models with data on the intensity of online leisure activities, in order to predict the Canadian unemployment rate.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The participatory process of planning social and environmental responsibility at a Brazilian university	[ "Social responsibility", "Sustainable Development Goals", "Decision-making process", "Participatory process", "University policies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: At the very last decades, the necessary changes to achieve sustainable development in a joint way in economic, social and cultural aspects is quite a consensus. However, their conceptual bases are still in discussion and consolidation, while on other occasions they result in partial performances.\n2. The planning process at the University of Passo Fundo: The creation of the University of Passo Fundo in 1967 was due to the incorporation of existing isolated and autonomous higher education centres, not following a pre-established model of university organization, but rather, was being constituted gradually in the midst of local circumstances (Guareschi, 2001, v. 2, p. 17).\n3. The social responsibility construction process: With regard to the UPF's connections with the community, and thus its commitment to the SDGs, it starts with the premise of the indispensable \"role of the university in promoting the right to the city, recognized as a collective right\", which presupposes decent living conditions, recognition of citizenship and social coexistence with racial, ethnic and gender diversities, essential for solidarity and urbanity (Dalmolin and Moretto, 2014, p. 54).\n4. The implementation of sustainable development goals at the University of Passo Fundo: The UPF administration has a collegiate structure and elections for the rectory and vice-chancellors, with participation of all sectors of the academic community, for four-year terms. Recently (July 2018), a new composition of university management assumed office. One of the principles of this management is highly connected with the PRSU, as the current dean is responsible for discussing and approving university policies in this area.\n5. Limitations: The article analyses the process of the improvement of SDGs at UPF's practices in terms of curricula and administrative ways and especially about the decision-making process to develop a participatory method. Although, the PRSU has been developed since 2005, the effective and practical results are recent and under construction. With regard to the implementation of the SDGs, it is a recent premise as far as the academic community is concerned.\n6. Conclusions: Regarding the planning of the physical structures of university institutions, particularly the University of Passo Fundo in southern Brazil, the lack of standards and criteria for consolidated environmental planning and management makes it imperative to define instruments that promote changes in this situation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Universities have an important role in articulation of the transformation of society, in the formation of individuals capable of acting in the processes that enable sustainable development goals (SDGs), in theoretical areas and in practical and concrete actions. Within the University of Passo Fundo (UPF), Brazil, some practices are being adopted from this perspective. This paper aims to present the efforts of UPF to achieve SDGs in its activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: For the development of these research were consulted all administrative instruments of the Foundation University of Passo Fundo, from the proposals and guidelines of its creation in the decade of the 1960s to the most recent of the Institutional Development Plan PDI 2017-2021 and other bibliographic references. From the documentation, the effective results achieved by University Social Responsibility Policy (PRSU) and Institutional Environmental Policy were evaluated.\nFindings: A process of consolidating the thematic of the SDGs within the university structure is perceived, with a participatory vision of the academic community.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although PRSU the policy has been developed since 2005, the effective results are recent and under construction.\nPractical implications: The study identified a direction for a change of paradigms, moving from isolated and non-continuity actions to the establishment of normative guidelines.\nSocial implications: In this sense, this paper seeks to contribute to the process of discussion and generation of practices for the implementation of an agenda with its own goals in the areas of university's action at local and regional levels, as well as contributing to a wide level.\nOriginality/value: The paper reports the process of development of the social and environmental policies at UPF to include SDGs in its academic and administrative procedures, which should encourage another similar university to follow suit.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The US and Japanese apparel demand conditions: implications for industry competitiveness	[ "Clothing", "Competitive strategy", "Demand management", "United States of America", "Japan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Following Adam Smith (1937) and David Ricardo's (1962) attempts to explain the mechanisms of industry competitiveness through absolute advantage theory and comparative advantage theory, many scholars have proposed various economic theories to advance our understanding of this phenomenon (Dorfman, 1991). Among them, Porter's competitive advantage theory has been recognized as one of the most influential (e.g. Adner and Zemsky, 2006; Pavlou and Slawy, 2004). This theory proposed that national competitiveness could be achieved by a cluster of strong domestic industries with various interaction factors (Porter, 1990). These interaction factors account for a nation's economic environment, institutions, and policies represented by \"factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry\" (Porter, 1990, p. 78), which are directly and indirectly influenced by government regulations. Porter argued that effective interactions between these five factors could result in a geographical concentration, or cluster, of a competitive domestic industry (Porter, 1990).Most researchers who used Porter's theory to explain the development of industry competitiveness focused on the industry itself, including firm strategies, structure, and rivalry, or presence of an industry cluster (Adner and Zemsky, 2006). Only a few studies examined the role of demand conditions in the competitiveness assessment, despite the fact that Porter emphasized the importance of this factor for \"success within the immediate market\" (Grant, 1991, p. 545) as well as a main firm strategy driver for innovation in the process of serving a sophisticated consumer market (Nevo, 2000). In the context of textile and apparel, scholars focused on assessing competitiveness of domestic industries by analyzing firm strategy, structure, and rivalry (Bruce et al., 2004; Sullivan and Kang, 1999), related and supporting industries (Lam and Postle, 2006; Teng and Jaramillo, 2006) and factor conditions (Datta and Christoffersen, 2005). To our knowledge, no study has empirically analyzed competitiveness of apparel industry with respect to demand conditions.This study investigated apparel industries in the USA and Japan in relation to domestic market conditions, which is believed to be one of the factors that shape industry competitiveness (Porter, 1990). Even though the USA and Japan are both developed nations, the respective apparel industries have different positions within the domestic markets (Arpan et al., 1982; Kanamori, 1988). It is believed that the USA failed to sustain apparel industry competitiveness (Arpan et al., 1982; Murray, 1995; Blinder, 1990) while the Japanese apparel industry was able to maintain its competitiveness (Kanamori, 1988; Yoshimatsu, 2000). An investigation of apparel demand conditions in the two developed economies and the positions of domestic apparel industry in the respective markets can help understand the role of demand in shaping industry competitiveness (Porter, 1990) and offer an explanation why the US apparel industry had lost its competitiveness whereas the Japanese industry was able to remain competitive.The purpose of this research was to assess domestic demand conditions in order to explain competitiveness of apparel industries in the USA and Japan. The objectives of the study included:* analyses of overall apparel demand conditions in the USA and Japan; and* assessment of price and income sensitivity and market position of domestically produced apparel in comparison to imported apparel for both countries.To address the purpose of the study, apparel demand conditions in the USA and Japan were analyzed from 1995 to 2004, during the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, a transitional arrangement to replace the Multifiber Agreement that governed the international apparel trade from 1974 (Dickerson, 1999). To compare price and income sensitivity and market positions of domestically produced and imported apparel in both countries, Deaton and Muellbauer's (1980) almost ideal demand system (AIDS) was used to calculate price, income, and cross-price elasticities.\nLiterature review: The recent apparel demand literature focuses on forecasting the demand using social, demographic, and economic variables. For example, Fadiga and Mirsa (2005) investigated reasons for the US apparel demand growth. They focused primarily on consumer demographics and product characteristics in relation to the US apparel demand. Wagner and Mokhtari (2000) examined relationships between seasonality and apparel expenditure change. They confirmed that consumer apparel expenditure varied by season as well as age, ethnicity, household size, region, and housing tenure. The most recent research that examined apparel demand in relation to industry competitiveness dates back to Arpan et al.'s work in 1982. The authors investigated not only the US market, including domestic production, import and export, but also analyzed apparel industries in other countries, including Japan and European nations (Arpan et al., 1982). A more up-to-date cross-national research of apparel demand in relation to industry competitiveness is needed.Consumer demand theory: price, income, and cross-price elasticities\nMethodology: The first part of the research utilized time series analysis to compare the US and Japanese apparel markets. The size of markets, household apparel expenditure, domestic apparel production, and amount of apparel imports in the USA and Japan were analyzed from 1995 to 2004. In the second part, the Deaton and Muellbauer's (1980) AIDS model was used to calculate price, income and cross-price elasticities of domestically produced and imported apparel. The elasticities were then used to analyze price and income sensitivity and market positions of domestically produced and imported apparel in the USA and Japan. The US and Japanese AIDS demand functions for domestically produced and imported apparel were calculated by using Equations 8 through 11: Equation 8 Equation 9 Equation 10 Equation 11 The budget share of domestically produced apparel (w1), price of domestically produced apparel (p1), price of imported apparel (p2), Stone's price index (P*), and total apparel expenditure (x) were used to calculate product price elasticity (g11), income elasticity (b1), and cross-price elasticity of domestically produced apparel compared for imported apparel (g12) (Equation 8). Similarly, elasticities of imported apparel - price elasticity (g22), income elasticity (b2), and domestically produced and imported apparel cross-price elasticity (g21) - were calculated (Equation 9).Deaton and Muellbauer (1980) noted that the interpretation of demand elasticities depended on whether the coefficients were positive or negative. However, they did not clearly present the distinctive interpretation of price and income elasticities. To complement the Deaton and Muellbauer's conceptualization of demand elasticities, this study used the extended interpretation of price and income elasticities proposed by Lipsey (1989) and Gottheil (2005). If price elasticity (g11 andg22) was positive, products were categorized as luxury goods; and products with negative price elasticity were classified as necessities (Table I). Similarly, if income elasticity (b1 andb2) was positive, the products were classified as high quality goods (quality goods). Goods with negative income elasticity were categorized as low quality goods (inferior goods).Data collection\nResults: Time series analysis of the US and Japanese apparel markets\nConclusions and discussions: Using competitive advantage theory (Porter, 1990) and consumer demand theory (Deaton and Muellbauer, 1980) as the underlying theoretical frameworks, this study utilized the time series analysis and the concept of elasticity of demand to compare market positions of the US and Japanese domestically produced and imported apparel by providing time series analyses of these two apparel markets in terms of total market size, household apparel expenditure, domestic production, and imports and comparing price and income sensitivity and positions of domestically produced and imported apparel in both markets by analyzing price, income and cross-price elasticities.The US apparel market increased in size from $55 billion in 1995 to $75 billion in 2004. The Japanese apparel market slowly deflated by 50 per cent, from $20 billion in 1995 to a little more than $10 billion in 2004. The results indicate that the US apparel producers did not take advantage of the substantial growth of the domestic apparel market as the domestic output dropped by 40 per cent between 1995 and 2004. The primary source of the US apparel market expansion was the increase in imported apparel (by 50 per cent). Over the same time period, the Japanese apparel firms decreased production by more than 50 per cent, which was in proportion with the overall market shrinkage. However, apparel imports to the country remained at the same level from 1995 and 2004.The price, income, and cross-price elasticities results provided a possible explanation of domestic production decrease in the booming market (the USA) and in the recession market (Japan) through an evaluation of domestically produced and imported apparel positions in the USA and Japan (Figure 5). The AIDS results showed that in the USA, domestically produced apparel can be categorized as necessity (negative price elasticity -0.48) of inferior quality (negative income elasticity -1.64), while imported apparel can be categorized as necessity (negative price elasticity -0.30) of higher quality (positive income elasticity 0.18). The two product groups, domestically produced and imported apparel, competed for the same necessity market segment. Lower price elasticity of the US-made apparel in comparison with imported apparel indicates that the US consumers decreased domestic product purchase more rapidly even when there was the same rate in price increase for both products. Furthermore, the lower income elasticity of domestically produced apparel indicates that the US-made apparel was perceived as lower quality in comparison with imported apparel. Cross-price elasticity (-0.66) confirmed that the US-made apparel was losing its consumers even when imported apparel increased in price. The AIDS results offer an explanation for the rapidly decreasing domestic apparel production in the booming US market: demand for the domestically produced apparel was lower than demand for imported apparel because the former was perceived by the consumers as necessity product with a quality level lower than that of imported apparel.In Japan, however, domestically produced apparel can be categorized as luxury product (positive price elasticity 0.43) of high quality (positive income elasticity 0.74), while imported apparel - as necessity product (negative price elasticity -1.05) of low quality (negative income elasticity -2.02). The Japanese apparel market was clearly divided between domestically produced and imported apparel as they were competing for different market segments. Domestically produced apparel was perceived as higher quality, luxury products while imported apparel occupied lower end, basic necessity niche. Cross-price elasticity (1.67) proved that the Japanese consumers switched their purchase to domestic products when imported apparel increased in price. This result offers an explanation why the level of imported apparel remained stable and did not increase over the ten-year period.The AIDS analysis results pointed to an important difference between the US and Japanese apparel demand conditions. Negative price elasticities for domestic and imported products indicate that the US consumers were price-conscious in purchasing apparel. In contrast, the Japanese consumers increased the purchase of higher quality domestically produced apparel but decreased the purchase of low quality imported apparel when the product price increased.Using the case of the US and Japanese apparel industries, this research provided an empirical support for the Porter's competitiveness theory's proposition that market demand is an important factor that contributes to the competitiveness of a national industry. Our findings indicate that price sensitivity of the US consumers shaped the US apparel domestic market to keep product price low rather than to increase its quality with respective increase in price. As the result, the price conscious nature of the US apparel market created less room for the US apparel industry to develop production with a focus on quality, higher end products. Instead, the US apparel industry continued to focus on basic, lower quality, low cost necessities in an attempt to compete with inexpensive imports. Such strategy, triggered by the demand factor, became one of the reasons for decreasing industry competitiveness when the market was booming. The Japanese consumer's preference for higher quality, luxury apparel and willingness to pay for it encouraged domestic producers to focus on these types of products. This allowed the Japanese apparel industry to differentiate the output from lower quality imported apparel and, ultimately, contributed to maintaining industry competitiveness. In other words, demand of the sophisticated Japanese consumer for higher-end apparel contributed to the domestic industry competitiveness.The results of elasticity of demand analyses for both countries are consistent with Fernie and Azuma's (2004) argument that the US apparel industry focuses on basic apparel items and competes on price, while the Japanese apparel industry is specialized in producing higher-end apparel of superior quality. This result of the Japanese case supports Hirai's (2004) viewpoint that the Japanese apparel market is distinctively divided into high fashion market and low quality necessity market. Our finding also supports Arpan et al. (1982) and Blinder's (1990) suggestions that the US apparel industry was less competitive than foreign producers in capturing demand of the domestic consumer.The scope of this study in assessing the competitiveness of two national apparel industries is limited to only one factor from the Porter's theory: the conditions of market demand. The investigation of other factors, such as context for firm strategy, structure, and rivalry, factor conditions, and related supporting industries in conjunction with the demand factor (Porter, 1990) should be conducted for a more complete understanding of how domestic industry competitiveness is developed and maintained. Future research could expand to include other factors affecting the apparel industry competitiveness in developed courtiers. The framework for the apparel industry competitiveness assessment with regard to the demand-side analysis of Porter's competitiveness theory can be applied to other markets.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate aggregated apparel demand in the USA and Japan and to assess the positions of apparel products manufactured in the USA and Japan in comparison to imported apparel.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on Porter's industry competitiveness theory as a theoretical framework, the two-step demand analysis, time-series market analysis and elasticities of demand using \"Almost ideal demand system\" was conducted in order to reveal the overall market conditions of the USA and Japan and the market positions of domestically manufactured and imported apparel products in both countries.\nFindings: - Regardless of the country of origin, US consumers were price conscious in purchasing apparel products because they decreased purchase for not only domestically produced products but also imported products when prices increased. However, Japanese consumers' price concept toward apparel products was dual. They increased their purchase of domestically made products if the price was higher, and decreased their purchase of imported products.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides a framework for the apparel industry competitiveness assessment with regard to the demand-side analysis of Porter's competitiveness theory. Moreover, there is no research in the current literature that assessed the US apparel demand with regard to industry competitiveness and a cross national view, especially compared with the Japanese apparel industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factorial analysis of capacity-building needs of small- and medium-scale building contractors in developing countries: Ghana as a case study	[ "Small-to-medium-sized enterprises", "Capacity building", "Needs", "Building contractors", "Factorial" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The development and sustenance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana cannot be underestimated, given the contribution of the SMEs to the economic growth. Ahiawodzi and Adade (2012) estimated that 70 per cent of gross domestic product and 92 per cent of business in Ghana is accounted for by SMEs. The sector has been described as the engine of economy growth due to its influence on job creation and wealth distribution. It is not surprising that the health of every economy is linked to vibrant and strong SMEs (Altenburg and Eckhardt, 2006). They are the sources of income, training opportunities and important basic services to underprivileged population (United Nation Conference on Human Settlements (UNCHS), 1996). In spite of their contribution to various economies, SMEs face various challenges that hinder their development (Mahembe, 2011). These challenges include marketing deficiencies, insufficient management skills, business skills constraint, human resources, high cost of capital and bureaucracy (Bartlett and Bukvic, 2001; Huang and Brown, 1999). The acknowledgement of such challenges of SMEs has led many developing countries to adopt pro-SME policies (Syed and Mohammed, 2009).\n2. Previous studies: 2.1 The concept of SMEs\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Research design\n4. Discussions: Table V shows factor loadings of six components. Through careful examination of the components, the subsequent interpretation was inferred to represent the underlying factors of the components. These are as follows:\n5. Conclusions: The construction industry plays a huge role in every country economy due to its linkages with the other industries, thus reducing unemployment and spreading of a country wealth among the population. The SMBCs form a large proportion of contractors that operate in the industry, and their contribution to the industry is very significant as revealed by various studies. But the various challenges confronting the SMBCs have affected their ability to develop and perform as expected. Until now, there is a little body of literature on the needs of SMBCs. The needs identification and assessment is very critical in every capacity-building exercise because it determines the strategies that should be adopted and helps to prioritise resources allocation to the critical areas.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The needs assessment is the heart of any capacity-building strategy since it determines the design of any intervention, and also helps to prioritise the allocation of resources. Whereas there is a considerable amount of literature on the challenges faced by small- and medium-scale building contractors (SMBCs), very little is known about the needs (support) required by SMBCs. But given the critical role played by SMBCs in the construction industry demands, an understanding of how this sector can be assisted is required. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature relative to capacity building of SMBCs by exploring and examining the needs with the objective to extend the understanding on how to promote and sustain SMBCs to continue their infrastructural delivery at the local and rural areas in Ghana.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire with five-point Likert scale is administered to 416 respondents, including local government authorities, consultants, first-class contractors and SMBCs using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Data generated from the survey are analysed using mean score ranking and principal component analysis, thus enabling the findings of the study to be examined under six thematic areas.\nFindings: The SMCs needs identified include anti-corruption measures, job accessibility, technical and technological assistance, favourable fiscal policy, business development support and financial assistance. The findings of the study bring to the attention of policy makers the critical areas that required support by the assistance of SMBCs. In the interim, the study recommends the extension of business advisory services to the SMBCs by National Board of Small-Scale Industries, whilst in the long term, the government must create the necessary business operating environment to promote SMBCs pertaining to the industrial sector of the economy. The SMBCs must also factor the needs into their business operations that can be addressed from within.\nOriginality/value: The study suggests the need of SMBCs in building a robust construction industry in developing countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Seen and heard: duality at the access points to television databases	[ "Audiovisual media", "Television" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Documentation science has always played a part in the development of other areas of knowledge. Various fields of science and technology have found our discipline to be necessary for greater growth through transversal research, in which the techniques of documentation science are fundamental for the control and dissemination of the flow of information. Although it has always been associated with scientific publications, there are many other areas - other tasks - in which documentation science has also been vital for the development of managerial and research work. The communications media are a clear example. While documentation could not be defined as the cornerstone of organizations devoted to the massive dissemination of information, it has nevertheless come to occupy an important place in the production processes of the mass media, in their entertainment programmes and, even more so, their news programmes.To this end, companies have implemented document information systems in response to the need to exploit - commercially and/or internally - their audiovisual resources. Ideally, all of the documentable information generated by a television broadcaster - including sound, still photographs, as well as video - will be controlled and analyzed through these information systems. They must provide the journalists, who are the main users of these services, with guarantees of integrity, and fast, relevant, and exhaustive access.Audiovisual companies have set up departments responsible for managing this information. Their brief is to provide rapid access to information as it is requested, both in verification of details in the news and in archive-type images as background.One of the principal characteristics of these mass media databases is described here - the duality at the access points that is due to the audiovisual nature of television media.\nDocumentation in television: Lopez de Quintana (2000) observes that there are two fundamental principles of documentation in television. On the one hand, there is the conservation of the documental patrimony generated by the broadcasting company both in view of its potential re-use and as a collective memory of audiovisual content. And on the other, there is the integration of the documentation into the company's management and production activities, i.e. to be used as a tool on the \"assembly line\" of the television company's products.Documentation services form part of what Codina (1994) calls document information systems (DIS):[A DIS] obtains, stores, retrieves, and distributes information recorded in a document depository or network. In a DIS, therefore, information retrieval is linked to the representation of the knowledge recorded in documents, to the representation of the information needs of the system's users, and to the development of a function capable of comparing the two, and of selecting the documents that are most relevant to resolving the information requirement.The entire system must hence be planned bearing in mind its users and the audiovisual company of which it will be a part.The implantation phase of a document system in a company will consist of a series of stages:1. An analysis of the reality of the organization and its environment, determining exactly what the organization needs from the documentation system, and of the company's general objectives and the objectives of the service itself.2. Design phase: once the aspects of the internal and external environment have been determined, a conceptual model of the system and its component elements is designed, aimed at a rational organization of the work in accordance with the techniques, personnel, and resources available.3. And lastly, implementation of the system.For Hidalgo-Goyanes (1999), documentation in television companies is based on three fundamental premises for the complete fulfilment of the mission and objectives of the services: speed, efficacy, and credibility. The place that documentation occupies in a company's general organigram can vary greatly, as is indicated in the following paragraph:The documentation services of television companies form part of the management structure or organigram of that medium, even though they later have their own internal organization and structure. This can be seen simply from their dependence on different areas or chains of command, according to the company: in the RTB (Belgium) and the NDR (Germany), they come under Production; in Tele-5 (Spain) and SVT (Sweden), under Programming; in Telemadrid (Spain), under Operations; in RTVE (Spain), under Management and Marketing; in Antena 3 TV (Spain), under the Plant Management; and in Canal Sur TV (Spain), under News, as also do the specific documentation units assigned to news services of, for example, RTVE, Antena 3 TV, and Tele-5.Lopez de Quintana (2000) makes a division of the organigram according to different parameters:* By type of activity. This is an organic division in which the video library is distinguished from the centre of documentation, since the former is responsible for the physical control of the audiovisual material, while the latter is responsible for all the technical process.* By document type. It is usual in the documentation departments of television companies to create work areas according to the nature of the document type - audiovisual documentation, written documentation, photographic documentation, and sound documentation.* By programme type. Another division that is usually made in large broadcasting companies with years of tradition is the division of the documentation organigram according to the type of programme being worked on. The division is customarily between general programmes and news programmes.* Specialization by topic and documentation technique. Although this type of division is becoming ever less common, there are still companies in which the professionals in documentation specialize in some particular technique, such as analysis and/or dissemination.Therefore, in view of the different possibilities, the options are as shown in Figure 1.Area of audiovisual documentation\nDatabases in television: The part of the above organigram that this paper will focus on is the documentation management of video archives. The stages of treatment of a document are summarized in Figure 2.In the first stage the document is viewed in its entirety. This is necessary so as to be able to locate what is relevant in a sequence or set of sequences in different parts of the document. This first viewing will indicate what decision to take on whether to keep the document or to expunge it from the archive, according to the company's or the department's general policies and to the real current and future needs of the users. It will likewise determine the documentation unit to which it will be assigned for treatment. This will depend on such parameters as the document type, the video type, the structure, and the potential for its use. The conservation unit, for instance, could be separate from that of treatment and dissemination.The second stage comprises the description of the images and the sound. This stage is specific to the management of audiovisual documents since, while the techniques of sound and still image documentation are used, image and sound have to be analyzed in parallel to bring out the principal cognitive, iconographic, and photographic elements. There is no doubt that this is the most complicated information to deal with, as one has to translate the audiovisual language of television to the textual language in which the actions are described. Figure 3 presents an example of such a description.Figure 4 shows the different parts of the description. First, there is the chronological datum that locates the exact sequence on the tape. Second, the shot and the possible camera movements are identified. And third, the development of the action is described. While these descriptions use a free, unrestricted language, they normally contain a series of peculiarities which, though beyond the scope of the present work, would by themselves merit separate studies.In the third and last stage, the document is described using a restricted language to identify the various formal elements needed for the unique classification and clarification of the sequence. This is the stage in which the duality in the analysis of audiovisual documents is evident, since one has to identify information from both the image and the sound tracks. One should note here that such a detailed description of televized material is demanded by the twofold nature of audiovisual documents and the characteristics of their users. Stage three will also include access points in a language that is not controlled by chronological, geographic, onomastic, and thematic information - not of the authors of the document, but of its content. A twofold translation is therefore needed for audiovisual documents in television. Initially, the audiovisual document has to be translated into the free language of stage two. Subsequently, this language will be translated into a controlled language using such tools as subject headings - especially a thematic and geographic information thesaurus - and onomastic information indices (authorship control).\nAudiovisual duality in documentation: In the following, we shall deal with how the information outlined above is differentiated into the fields forming the audiovisual databases. These databases are designed and implemented according to the so-called \"Lasswell model\" of communication, applied in particular to journalists' needs and requests for information. The simplicity of the idea is certainly what makes it so useful. If journalists think of information in terms of the Lasswell Paradigm (who, where, when, how, and why), it is natural that these should form the basis of the tool used for the management and retrieval of this information. Also, given the twofold nature of the document, the database design will offer possibilities for the inclusion of information referred to on the sound track (both the journalist's studio presentation and the words of the people who are the principal agents of the information) and viewed on the image track in the represented icons.Figure 5 shows the general scheme of the database fields for the administration of audiovisual documents. The principal characteristics and the scope of these fields will now be identified.Thematic information\nConclusions: The duality of image and sound is clearly reflected in the structure of television databases. Its importance is evident in the database queries of the users in audiovisual companies and in the nature of television documents themselves, in which the sound track and the image track can have the same relevance to the journalist for whom we develop and implement these databases. While this duality in the origin and in the dissemination of this source of information makes its treatment essentially different from that of documents in other document information systems, it does use the standard techniques of sound and still image documentation.To conclude, the authors would note the importance that documentation departments are acquiring in television companies in response to the results that they offer and to the immediate utility of their services.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To show how the double nature of audiovisual material, that it is viewed and referenced, is reflected at the access points of a documentary database.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To achieve this aim a journey through the indexation elements - supported by explanatory examples - is undertaken, so as to identify and analyze onomastic, thematic, geographical and chronological aspects.\nFindings: - The findings reveal the need to identify in indexation the elements viewed in the image track and referenced in the sound track; such a need is supported by user/journalist requests, so that the documentation service is adapted to such information needs.\nResearch limitations: - The management method displayed is only valid for medium and large television companies. This derives from the complexity and cost of human resources and time dedicated.\nPractical implications: - The practical value lies in the fact that the best proven structure for indexation of TV audiovisual documents is shown, with this being a useful and agile guide for the implantation of information services.\nOriginality/value: - There are few studies that develop the documentation management of audiovisual documents, of those that count on valid work that stems from the study of indexation in television.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of service interaction orientation on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention: The moderating effect of dining frequency	[ "Taiwan", "Consumer behaviour", "Customer satisfaction", "Restaurants", "Interaction orientation", "Behavioral intentions", "Dining frequency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Developing high-quality lodging and dining experiences is the main aim of hotel/restaurant managers with regard to attracting customers (Hoare and Butcher, 2007; Jensen and Hansen, 2007). If customers are satisfied with the food or service in a restaurant then they are more likely to re-visit it and thus increase its profits (Gupta et al., 2007), and the importance of customer satisfaction and re-purchase behavior (i.e. customer loyalty) is widely recognized in the hospitality/food field. For instance, Wu and Liang (2009), in a survey of 392 customers in luxury-hotel restaurants, found that pleasurable interactions with service employees positively influence customer satisfaction. In addition, service quality, food price and convenience directly influence customer satisfaction (Dube et al., 1994; Sulek and Hensley, 2004), and satisfied customers then express increased loyalty (Ha and Jang, 2010). Customer satisfaction may thus play a mediating role between customer loyalty and its antecedents (e.g. service quality) (Ryan et al., 2010).Moreover, due to technological advances and increased interactivity between firms and customers (Yadav and Varadarajan, 2005), individual customers expect companies to increasingly customize products and services to meet their specific demands. Scholars thus argue that an interaction orientation can enable businesses to refine their knowledge about customer tastes and preferences (Srinivasan et al., 2002). In addition, Urban (2004) proposed that an interaction orientation can improve customer satisfaction, strengthening repurchase behavior and leading customers to become a firm's trusted advocates. Consequently, the effective and efficient management of such interactions and the interfaces at which these occur are increasingly being recognized as sources of lasting competitive advantage (Rayport and Jaworski, 2005).However, few empirical studies examine how interaction orientation may influence both customer satisfaction and loyalty. Ramani and Kumar (2008) indicated that future studies should empirically survey the relationships among the above-mentioned variables across many firms within an industry. Therefore, this empirical research investigates the relationships among interaction orientation, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions across firms in the hospitality industry.Existing studies consider the roles of age, gender, loyalty and dining frequency, and thus it is important to acknowledge these personal and situational characteristics in a work of this nature (Oyewole, 2007). Namkung and Jang (2009) indicated that the level of frequency should play a moderating role among service stimuli (e.g. value), customer affect (e.g. customer satisfaction) and response (such as customer loyalty), and thus suggested that an in-depth examination of the moderating role of re-purchase frequency is needed. However, little research has yet been conducted into how frequent diners perceive their restaurant experience in terms of customer-provider interactions, and how their perceptions differ from those of first-time (FT) diners. This study thus investigates how the level of dining frequency (FT vs frequently diners) moderates the relationships between interaction orientation and customer satisfaction/behavioral intentions.This study believes that the development of technology facilitates the interaction between customers and the restaurant industry. Meanwhile, customers could develop greater satisfaction and loyalty intention when they feel a positive interaction. Once customers dine frequently in a restaurant, they will form greater satisfaction and loyalty than FT diners because of their favorable service interaction orientation. Dining frequency is thus the moderator between restaurant interaction orientation and customer response. This study discusses the relationships among these variables based on the results of the previous research.\nLiterature review: The relationship between interaction orientation and customer satisfaction\nMethodology: Sample and data collection\nResults: Descriptive statistics of the sample\nDiscussion and conclusions: Ramani and Kumar (2008) and Nazdrol et al. (2011) both called for more research to better understand the influence of interaction orientation on customer responses in different industries. This investigation thus examined the relationships among interaction orientation, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in a restaurant setting. Examining how FT customers perceive service interaction orientation in relation to customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions, and how the results differ from those obtained for FC, can help improve understanding of customer dining behavior.The analytical results demonstrate that interaction orientation significantly influenced customer satisfaction for both the FT (g11=0.45) and FC groups (g11=0.55). The findings correspond to those of previous studies (Ramani and Kumar, 2008; Urban, 2004) that identified the positive relationship between customers and service providers as a determinant of customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Furthermore, interaction orientation significantly affected behavioral intentions for the FC group (g21=0.14), yet no such effect was observed for FT diners (g21=0.02). The weaker association between interaction orientation and behavioral intentions suggests that loyalty behavior (for example positive WOM) reduces with frequency, and that FT customers may rely more on satisfaction level for loyalty formation than the FC group.Additionally, dining frequency positively moderates the relationship among interaction orientation, customer satisfaction and loyalty, which supports the suggestion of Namkung and Jang (2009). In addition, this moderating effect indicates a stronger relationship among the predictor and outcome variables for more frequent diners. The effects of the links between interaction orientation and satisfaction, between interaction orientation and loyalty, and between satisfaction and loyalty, all increase with dining frequency. Consequently, it seems reasonable to suggest that more resources should be allocated to serving more FC, since such customers are more likely to become loyal or satisfied if they experience good service.Regarding the association between customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions, a positive relationship was found for both groups. As suggested in past research (Oliver, 1999; Saha, 2009), high satisfaction ensures positive behavioral intentions. In addition, dining frequency (FT vs FC) was observed to moderate the relationship between satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The significant kh2 differences demonstrated that customer dining satisfaction with the restaurant impacts customer behavioral intentions (e.g. recommendation) significantly more in the FT group (b21=0.87) than in the FC group (b21=0.78). This result echoes the argument of Oliver (1999) that high satisfaction ensures positive behavioral intentions, such as WOM or repeat patronage.Another key finding of this study is that customer perceptions of interaction orientation influence behavioral intentions via satisfaction. For FT diners, individuals who perceived the attitude or interaction outcomes of service providers as positive were more likely to have satisfactory restaurant experiences, and their high satisfaction reinforced their behavioral intentions (full mediation). The role of interaction orientation should thus not be overlooked, since it ensured a satisfactory dining experience, which in turn was related to positive behavioral outcomes (such as WOM). For frequent diners, interaction orientation influenced customer behavioral intentions both directly and indirectly via satisfaction. The indirect effects of interaction orientation on behavioral intentions (0.43) exceeded the direct effects (0.14). These findings highlight the significance of satisfaction, not only as a critical determinant of behavioral intentions, but also as an effective mediator between interaction orientation and behavioral intentions.Managerial implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among interaction orientation, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions across firms in the hospitality industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A self-administered survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 628 full-service seafood restaurants.\nFindings: - The empirical results indicate that interaction orientation has positive influences on customer satisfaction in first-time and frequent diners; interaction orientation positively affects behavioral intentions in frequent diners; and customer satisfaction positively affects behavioral intentions in first-time and frequent diners. In addition, customer satisfaction is a mediator between interaction orientation and behavioral intentions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research target of full-service seafood restaurants limits the generalizability of the findings to a wider population.\nOriginality/value: - In addition to insights on how restaurant promotion strategies should fit the needs of individuals with different dining frequencies, the paper offers other ideas to enhance the dining experience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The different roles of switching costs on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship	[ "Banking", "Customer retention", "Cost analysis", "Competitive advantage", "Customer loyalty", "Brazil" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Companies in different industries have invested in customer retention as a mandatory rule for surviving in the competitive market. In this context, managers and academicians have searched for the most important determinants of customer loyalty. Research has shown that satisfaction is one of the most relevant antecedents of loyalty (Szymanski and Henard, 2001). Furthermore, the satisfaction-loyalty relationship is also influenced by other constructs like trust, commitment, and switching costs (Jones et al., 2000).Specifically, switching cost has a significant effect on repurchase intention (Jones et al., 2000, 2002) and it is an antecedent of switching intentions and switching behavior (Bansal and Taylor, 1999). In a retail bank context, Beerli et al. (2004) showed that customers' switching cost is a direct antecedent of loyalty. Switching cost is also considered a mediator of the satisfaction-loyalty relationship (Aydin and Ozer, 2006) when both the influence of satisfaction on switching cost and of switching cost on loyalty are investigated. Switching cost is also investigated as a moderator of the satisfaction-loyalty relationship (Lam et al., 2004; Lee et al., 2001; Wangenheim, 2003).The literature dealing with the influence of switching costs on the association between satisfaction and loyalty has used a variety of approaches, including direct, mediating and moderating effects, as indicated above. However, there is a lack of integration among the different roles of switching cost influence on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. Moreover, there is a lack of empirical research testing and comparing these approaches simultaneously. Thus, the objective of this study is to test and compare the different roles of switching costs (i.e. direct, mediating and moderating) on the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty, taking into consideration both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. The next section provides the theoretical background of the research.\n2. Theoretical framework: 2.1 Satisfaction\n3. Method: We used the banking industry as the research setting, given that this is an industry that is very interested in establishing relationships with its customers due to the increasing use of technology in financial transactions that has significantly reduced the opportunities of contact between consumers and banks (Barnes, 1997). Therefore, it becomes more and more relevant to the companies in this industry to monitor how customers are satisfied with their relationships and whether switching costs interfere with the retention process.Specifically, the research was based on a survey conducted by a Brazilian retail bank, involving customers all over the country. The study was performed in two phases, namely: qualitative; and quantitative. In the first phase interviews were conducted with 40 individuals (32 were bank customers and eight potential customers). The aim of these interviews was to generate content about the constructs of interest, hence supporting the generation of scales' items and the questionnaire design for the second stage. However, the focus of this study is the analysis of data obtained in the quantitative phase.The questionnaire used in the quantitative stage was composed of 29 satisfaction attributes, in a five-point scale, ranging from 1=highly dissatisfied to 5=highly satisfied. Switching cost, behavioral loyalty and attitudinal loyalty were measured using Likert scales varying from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree, based on was seven, five, and four items, respectively. Only three reverse coded items were used, namely in the \"switching cost\" construct. After reversion procedure, respondents' high ratings in the scales indicated high satisfaction, high loyalty and high switching cost.A total of 7,532 customers participated in the telephone survey, with complete responses in all the scale items. This database was submitted to an outlier analysis, based on the Mahalanobis distance (Hair et al., 1998). A total of 71 cases were classified as outliers and were excluded from the database. After this initial preparation of the data, a total of 7,461 cases remained for the subsequent analyzes.Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed models. This SEM analyzes was also complemented by a bootstrap analysis, which enabled the assessment of sub-samples of the main sample, generating more robust estimates of the parameters (Bone et al., 1989). This bootstrap analysis was performed to each model separately, based on 200 sub-samples in each analysis.\n4. Results: The descriptive statistics (see Table I) demonstrate that the mean ranged from 2.82 to 4.48 for satisfaction items, from 3.63 to 4.31 in loyalty attributes, and from 2.70 to 3.81 in switching cost. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted considering all the constructs. For the sake of parsimony, these results are not detailed here, but the findings suggested the dimensions as indicated in Table I.4.1 Measurement properties\n5. Discussions and conclusions: Customer satisfaction is of great importance for loyalty (Szymanski and Henard, 2001). Nevertheless, it is known that a satisfied customer does not necessarily become loyal, and that customers can keep relationships with a company in spite of being dissatisfied. Several factors affect or moderate the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty, and this has already been studied in marketing literature (Mittal and Kamakura, 2001; Homburg and Gering, 2001). Among these factors, switching cost has received increasing attention because of its relevance in the context of relationship marketing.However, despite the vast literature on switching cost, there have been a great variety of approaches to this issue, especially concerning its influence on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. There are some studies considering switching cost either as an antecedent (Aydin et al., 2005), mediator (Aydin et al., 2006) or moderator (Lee et al., 2001; Burnham et al., 2003). But there is a lack of integration among the different roles of switching cost influence on the satisfaction - loyalty relationship. Hence, this study proposed and tested competing models in which the different roles of switching cost (antecedent, mediator, and moderator) were examined.Moreover, both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty were considered, as the marketing literature lacks empirical results that support the distinct influence of switching cost on attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. Although this link has already been proposed by Lam et al. (2004), no empirical support was found by these authors.The main results showed that switching cost was a significant antecedent of loyalty, and that it played a mediating role between satisfaction and loyalty, particularly on attitudinal loyalty. Its moderating role was also significant, with greater emphasis to the influence of satisfaction on behavioral loyalty.The test of model 1 demonstrated that switching cost was a significant antecedent of both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, with a stronger influence on attitudinal loyalty. The positive coefficients showed that the higher (lower) the switching cost, the higher (lower) the customer loyalty. It is interesting to compare the relative influence of satisfaction and switching cost on loyalty: while in attitudinal loyalty switching cost has a higher influence than satisfaction, the contrary can be observed in behavioral loyalty, as satisfaction has a stronger effect. These findings are in agreement with the proposition that switching cost plays a distinct role when influencing the different components of customer loyalty (Lam et al., 2004).In model 2, results showed that the indirect path (satisfaction - switching cost - loyalty) was significant, suggesting a mediating effect of switching cost. This mediating effect is evidenced when the results of models 1 and 3 are compared. The path satisfaction - attitudinal loyalty is significant in model 1, but not in model 3, when the indirect path (satisfaction - switching cost - attitudinal loyalty) is included. In this case, there is full mediation (Baron Reuben and Kenny, 1986). On the other hand, the path satisfaction- behavioral loyalty was significant both in model 1 and in Mmodel 3, when the indirect path (satisfaction - switching cost - behavioral loyalty) is included. In this case, there is partial mediation (Baron Reuben and Kenny, 1986). The findings obtained in the bootstrap estimation supported these different effects. Therefore, there is a mediating effect of switching cost on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship, and that this mediation is different for attitudinal and behavioral loyalty (which reinforces the discriminant validity between both loyalty constructs). These findings support the distinct role of switching cost in the different phases of loyalty, in agreement with Lam et al. (2004).When moderation was analyzed (model 4), switching cost was also significant. The relationship between satisfaction and loyalty was different for customers with low and high switching cost, considering both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. Results showed that the influence of satisfaction on loyalty is higher (lower) for customers with lower (higher) switching cost, indicating that loyalty depends more on satisfaction for low-switching cost customers, and that customers with high switching costs tend to maintain the relationship, even though they might be dissatisfied, in agreement with Jones et al. (2000).The main contribution of this study is to integrate the different approaches used in the literature to examine the role of switching cost in the satisfaction - loyalty link. Our analysis revealed that:* switching cost is a significant antecedent of both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty* the mediating effect of switching cost is stronger in the relationship between satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty; and* the moderating effect of switching cost is stronger in the relationship between satisfaction and behavioral loyalty.Another contribution is the inclusion of both attitudinal and behavioral aspects of loyalty when testing the different roles of switching costs, given that the current literature is incipient concerning the mediating role of switching cost on the relationship between satisfaction and the distinct loyalty components.One managerial implication is the finding that switching cost is a significant predictor of loyalty in the banking industry. Thus, managers can work to create loyalty programs with benefits that establish long-term contracts and increase customer switching behavior. However, it is advisable that switching costs are increased more by the affective than by the calculative dimension, because customers in a lock-in situation will be more likely to remain but will also spread negative word-of-mouth about the organization (Jones et al., 2007).Another managerial implication is that satisfaction is still a strong predictor of customer loyalty, although there are intervening factors, like switching costs. Therefore, managers in the banking context should monitor the evolution of satisfaction level among their customers so as to avoid or minimize situations that could generate dissatisfaction, particularly in relation to factors related to branches, personalized service, communication with customers and automatic teller machines (ATM), which were the main components of customer satisfaction in this study.This study demonstrates that although satisfaction is a relevant predictor of loyalty, this influence is contingent to the customer's high or low switching cost, as supported by the moderation analysis (model 4). For this reason, managers need to monitor both customer satisfaction and the components of switching cost, such as relational and financial aspects, because satisfaction alone is not enough to retain customers. Customers with different levels of switching cost, even when satisfied, present different tendencies of loyal behavior.Among the limitations of the present study, we would note that the measurement of the constructs can be improved in further investigations, since relatively low reliability and variance extracted scores were found, particularly in the dimensions of the switching cost, even though the items were generated from prior qualitative study. Another point of further investigation is the high-standardized coefficient (above 0.90) found in the switching cost-attitudinal loyalty relationship (models 2 and 3).Although the literature suggests that switching costs are formed by the relational, financial, and procedural components (Burnham et al., 2003), the analyses in this study indicated two dimensions, with relational and procedural components grouping together. Further investigation should expand this issue in the context of the banking industry. Moreover, the relative importance of these three dimensions could be investigated, as well as their effect in other constructs of the relationship marketing theory (e.g. commitment and word-of-mouth). This is even more relevant when considering that increasing switching costs by the affective dimension is a form of avoiding the customers' negative word-of-mouth generated in a lock-in situation, as suggested by Jones et al. (2007).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test the antecedent, mediating and moderating role of switching costs on the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Competing models are proposed based on previous studies investigating the influence of switching costs on satisfaction and loyalty. A survey was conducted with 7,461 customers of a large Brazilian bank. The four competing models were tested using structural equation modeling technique.\nFindings: - The analysis revealed that: switching cost is a significant antecedent of both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty; the mediating effect of switching cost is stronger in the relationship between satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty; and the moderating effect of switching cost is stronger in the relationship between satisfaction and behavioral loyalty.\nPractical implications: - This study emphasizes the relevance of the switching cost construct in the banking industry. Customers with different switching costs levels will manifest distinct relationship between satisfaction and behavioral loyalty. Thus, investment on marketing strategies and campaigns should be oriented to better convert switching perceptions into effective loyalty considering its mediating or moderating effects.\nOriginality/value: - Even though there are several different approaches (i.e. direct, mediator and moderator) concerning the effects of switching costs on the satisfaction-loyalty relationship, there is a lack of integration between these approaches. The paper tests and compares the different roles of switching costs. Another contribution is the inclusion of both attitudinal and behavioral aspects of loyalty, given that the current literature is incipient concerning the role of switching cost when considering the distinct loyalty components.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Talent management for a new era: what we have learned from the recession and what we need to focus on next	[ "Recession", "Recruitment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nHow has the recession impacted the workforce and organizations: At the beginning of the downturn, there were some who thought the war for talent was over. If they were no longer recruiting at the same levels, and people were not leaving because there were fewer jobs to go to, then the issues of attracting and retaining talent dropped off the priority list. A Conference Board survey of CEOs in late 2008 clearly showed this effect - where in all previous surveys over the preceding three or four years talent issues had been rising to the top of the CEO agendas, all of sudden they had dropped off the list. Interestingly the key concerns had switched to execution and making change happen, which of course of themselves are principally people issues.The tough times however showed a host of weaknesses in the talent management practices of many organizations, as well as the lack of a comprehensive understanding of skills, capabilities, performance levels, and the key workforces. Many organizations struggled as they tried to downsize or \"rightsize\", either in identifying the \"right\" people to go, or even in the processes of exiting people from the business. Managers and leaders at all levels, if they themselves were not feeling insecure and uncertain of the direction or future, did not really know how to communicate with their teams and to manage the many pressures and tensions in the workplace.The danger now for many businesses is that fresh scars or even open wounds remain. Workforce engagement may well be seriously compromised, and we cannot be fooled by the lack of people leaving where the job markets are still very tight. The CIPD in the UK recently reported research that showed job satisfaction at record lows. Even where engagement survey scores look relatively high this could be misleading if they are a response by surviving employees of gratitude.Many middle level managers even before the downturn consistently show up in surveys as not being fulfilled at work, not sure of their opportunities with their employers, not feeling valued. For example, an early 2009 Accenture survey of nearly 3,000 middle managers globally found 60 percent saying they would consider a new job but were not actively looking given current market conditions. A recent report by Right Management in the USA showed very similar responses amongst all employee levels. These are hardly comforting statistics.At the same time, many employees are now having to work harder. One of the mantras of the recession has been to get more out of people. By cutting back on support personnel (most surveys suggest that the biggest area of impact across businesses has been the cutting back of admin, support, back office staff which of course includes HR), we will be loading more work on to those that remain. So we may indeed be getting more out of people at the present time, but not in a very smart way.\nA new era in the \"war for talent\": So clearly the war for talent is far from over. In many ways we will rapidly be entering a new era of that war. Workforce mobility will rise again, much as it did after the previous significant downturn in the late 1980s/early 1990s.Retaining and attracting the talent businesses need will require renewed focus and energy on employee value propositions, with greater flexibility to attract increasingly diverse talent. Responsible and sustainable business is going to play an increasingly important part in this, not just in terms of environment, but social and economic responsibility. Many more people will be making decisions about employers based on these characteristics than in the past where often it was seen as a Gen Y issue.We are likely to see the acceleration of different types of business models and ways of working to enable both efficiencies as well as effectiveness. The increasing trend of virtualization of work - people working out of the office, in different locations or countries but as part of the same team or process - and more flexible employment models where employers as well as employees look for more adaptable working arrangements. This is part of organizations becoming more agile and adaptable, which will become one of the key competitive differentiators for successful businesses in the increasingly volatile markets we expect to see.Skills development must also take on a higher level of importance. Learning and development has not always been seen as strategic, but rather as a cost which is often poorly measured. Hence in tougher times, spend on training is usually seen as a soft target. But with new technologies, products, services and markets emerging all the time, for businesses to compete they must be able to upskill and reskill all the time. There is no doubt also that learning and development are fundamental in attracting and retaining people.With the workforce challenges we are facing, one of the key areas for investment must be for the managers at all levels in core leadership capabilities and the so called \"softer\" skills. How to better manager people, particularly with a more diverse workforce, how to manage change, how to deal with uncertainty, and using the opportunity to align and engage the managers as a result. Too few organizations have focused on this level of leadership development in the past, and not only engaging their mid level leaders in people management and change management, but holding them more accountable.\nWhat do we need to focus on now for talent management: All of this says we are going to have to work harder in our talent management practices. If our practices and knowledge of our workforce have been exposed by recent events, then business leaders should need little persuading.Although there is still much fire fighting going on in many businesses and we are not out of the woods yet, now is the time to start to stand back more and think strategically.The key questions we need to be asking and building our thinking and priorities around include:What are the critical capabilities and skills for the business, and where are the biggest gaps and challenges?What is the real feeling amongst the workforce at all levels re trust, engagement, commitment to stay, and how do we best address the concerns?How are we evolving our organization and business model to simplify how we work, to enable more efficient and more effective working with a leaner workforce?What are we doing with learning and training - where are the opportunities and needs to improve, align, and reinvent the way we deliver training to drive greater value to the business?Are our core values as a business really understood and aligned - what are the strengths and weaknesses of our corporate culture, and how do we create a culture that really encourages innovation, learning, and change?What do we need to do with the development of our managers and leaders - improving their people management skills, behavioral alignment, contribution to innovation and learning etc.?How do we put in place better measures so we deepen our understanding of our workforces and their capabilities, and the value of our talent management practices and interventionsWhat do we need to improve or align on our employee value propositions to ensure we are an employer of choice in a competitive talent marketplace?None of these questions to coin a phrase are \"rocket science\". However, the reality is that in so many organizations we have not been focused enough on these strategic talent management questions and issues in the past. The focus often has been short term, operational or tactical, and practices around talent management have been too siloed.These are collective issues that require a broad base of HR experience, marketing experience, business and strong finance experience, and we need to do much more in HR to bring in these capabilities and as a consequence to better integrate with the overall business. With the heightened levels of concern amongst top business leaders of these kind of questions, now is the time to again raise the game of talent management.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show what we have learned from the recession.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper indicates areas of change which need to be made. How to better manager people, particularly with a more diverse workforce, how to manage change, how to deal with uncertainty, and using the opportunity to align and engage the managers as a result.\nFindings: - With the heightened levels of concern amongst top business leaders, now is the time to again raise the game of talent management.\nOriginality/value: - Although there is still much fire fighting going on in many businesses and we are not out of the woods yet, now is the time to start to stand back more and think strategically.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lessons from within: redesigning higher education	[ "Higher education", "Institutional change", "Educational change", "Changing role of higher education", "Higher education administration", "Transformation of higher education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As higher education continues to evolve from the gatekeepers of knowledge to a space of curators, creators, and connectors - universities are at a unique point in their history and trajectory (Wolfe and Andrews, 2014). Institutions are being called to discover more effective and efficient ways of preparing learners of all types and at all stages. Despite criticism, a general lack of funding, and false starts along the way (e.g., the concept of a massive open online course) - this transition involves a complex set of actors, actions, and artifacts. The question becomes, what lessons can we learn from those involved in transforming higher education to be more than it is currently?\nWhat are the challenges associated with educational transformation?: Often unspoken and unacknowledged, attempting to innovate in an environment steeped in tradition can result in numerous challenges. From a purposefully selected review of several major universities in the United States undertaking such change in the last five years (specifically, Arizona State University, University of Maryland, Southern New Hampshire University, Georgia State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Purdue), we have identified several elements that crosscut each universities efforts:\nDiscussion: We center on three key categories: clarifying purpose, using transparent terminology, and identifying relevant standards and measures. Originating from an aspiration to execute high-quality work in the digital education landscape, PAVE meeting participants identified a deep desire for a more cogent vision of transformation from their institution. They wanted to participate in the co-creation of such vision or to be able to directly shape its ultimate formation. A top-down decision-making approach, commonplace in higher education, often obscures what is actually taking place on the ground. One participant mentioned, \"[Leadership] is not on the ground, creating this content. So, they are looking at us in our little boxes, watching us run around our little mazes going, oh, they must be doing that.\" This is illustrative of many university initiatives that may overlook the importance of clarifying the rationale.\nFinal thoughts: For universities seeking to innovate beyond the traditional modes of education to meet the needs of learners at the pre-college, college, and post-college levels, sharing the experiences and challenges from those who have begun down this path is critical. Creating new methods and models for a wide array of diverse learners requires breaking out of traditional structures, which can be difficult on a variety of fronts. It is useful to explore universities who are trying new techniques and pushing boundaries. Likewise, it is also important to examine the inevitable growing pains that are part of the journey so they can be addressed and overcome as part of the process of pushing learning forward into the 21st century.\nAcknowledgement: The authors and the Biodesign Pathfinder Center research team under the leadership of Dr. Lee Hartwell at Arizona State University would like to thank the Bezos Family Foundation for the generous support provided to develop, implement, and research the Studio Project. This article was undertaken solely by the listed authors. The Bezos Family Foundation had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. ASU research award number: AWD00033570. Institutional review board study number: STUDY00010173.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine real experiences and challenges from personnel engaged in reforming and transforming the higher education ecosystem at a major university in the desert southwest.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through a case study approach, we use narrative analysis and a constant comparative method with three researchers who work closely in this space.\nFindings: Ten categories were identified through a close review of collected data from ten participants through an IRB approved process. Recommendations include clarifying the purpose and using transparent terminology for both implementers and learners as well as figuring out ways to help learners navigate learning pathways. Personnel yearn to be involved early and often to be able to shape major transformations that make use of their efforts and expertise.\nResearch limitations/implications: Exploring phenomenon in context at one university can highlight nuances that exist at this particular case study site and may not be generalizable.\nPractical implications: Sharing real experiences and challenges from those who have begun to implement change in higher education is critical and will bolster those working to push learning forward into the 21st century. To meet the needs of learners at the pre-college, college, and post-college levels, universities need to innovate beyond the traditional modes of education.\nOriginality/value: It is not often that researchers explore and analyze the struggles and successes of personnel on the ground, working to actualize a major educational shift in higher education. The ten categories denoted in this paper are a pivotal entry point for review that can support others who are engaging or beginning to make changes in their context - pushing one beyond known considerations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluation of selected library associations' web sites	[ "Library association", "Website evaluation", "Criteria", "Webometric", "Scaling technique", "Ranking technique", "Libraries", "Internet" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There are a large number of library associations in the world. A library association is a professional association which provides services to the library and information community within one country or across multiple countries. Library associations play a vital role in promoting the librarianship profession. The object of any library association is also to promote the interests of librarians and enable them to exchange views and disseminate information among library association members and non-members. Library association web sites are an important tool for communicating to members and non-members. In the modern competitive world, it is important for professionals to meet and plan their activities to safeguard and promote the interests of their particular profession. Through library association web sites, the library community conducts these important activities. Many library association's web sites broadcast the latest news about library and information science.Some of the library association web sites do not provide adequate, significant and comprehensive information. So the structure of the web site will cause some difficulties in relationship between user and web site and also in achieving the goals especially in human orientation (relation between human and virtual space). Therefore evaluation of library association web sites is essential to clarify the items which need to be exerted in the structure of the web sites and it obtain through evaluation the content of information by using the criteria. Despite evaluation of academic library web site (Tolppanen et al., 2000; Konnur, 2010), public library web site (Mawe, 2007) and other web sites (Agingu, 2000; Sklar, 2003; etc.) this study is going to evaluate library association web sites.However, limited research has investigated the quality of library association web sites. Therefore, the study reported in this paper evaluated 71 English-language library association web sites using selected Webometric criteria. The study findings are useful for library associations, researchers, Webometric experts and designers of library association web sites.The next section of this paper provides a literature review of the related research studies followed by the research aims of the study, and then the research design. This is followed by the results of the study, a discussion of the key findings, and conclusions and further research.\nLiterature review: Library web site evaluation\nResearch questions: The aim of the study reported in this paper is the evaluation of library association web sites worldwide. The objectives of the study are to determine the most suitable criteria for the evaluation of library association web sites to allow a comparison and ranking of such web sites.The research questions used in the study are:* According to data analysis, how are the criteria ranked?* According to 15 criteria, how are library association web sites classified?* Which is the highest and lowest rank between web sites?* Is there any significant difference between classified groups?* Are the classified groups homogeneous or heterogeneous by criteria?* Is there any significant difference between three groups and criteria?\nResearch design: Data collection\nResults: The findings of our study are provided in four sections: Ranking of criteria, scaling and ranking of library association web sites, comparing of the means of scores between and within classified groups, and combination of criteria scores and classified groups.Ranking criteria\nDiscussion: The major finding of this study is that the majority of the library associations web sites examined had both strengths and weaknesses. Latest information and up to datedness is an important aspect of the web site, but according to ranked criteria shown in Table I currency has got (3.4) out of 10. It means most of the web sites did not mention the latest date in home page.Previous studies found a similar result, including Sklar (2003) indicates almost all TCU library web sites included a last update date (n=11, 73.3 per cent). Mawe (2007) mentioned same result in public library only 29 per cent displayed the date of when the web site was last updated. The remaining 69 per cent (33) did not provide any date information. Also Konnur (2010) in evaluation of academic libraries reveals that very few (16 per cent) web sites provide the information about the date of last updating. It appears that library association web sites had poor performance in updating the web site. So the web sites should mention the last update.While considering the ranking criteria, search facility ranked as number 10 and has got (7.1) score out of 10. It means most of the web sites tried to place the search facility in the home page of the web site. Zhang and von Dran (2001) stated that search tool was ranked as important in the education, government, medical, and e-commerce domains. Sklar (2003) indicates that few TCU library sites had internal search engines (n=2, 13.3 per cent). Mawe (2007) indicates in public library web sites that 15 per cent (7) enabled searching to be restricted to the library web pages, 83 per cent (40) only allowed searching of the parent web site. Despite findings of these studies, library association web sites had better performance rather than other web sites. But they can improve their web sites in the better way.An evaluation criteria used in this research was \"navigation and links\" which allows easy access to information of the web site. Functionality and clarity of navigation and integrity of links is important in identifying web sites. According to the ranking criteria, navigation and links stands at 8th rank with 7.6, which means that majority of the web sites tried to use links without defect.Zhang and von Dran (2001) suggested that the criteria \"easy to navigate\" was important and ranked as number 4 for the financial domain. Mawe (2007) showed a similar result with 62 per cent (30) of the sample using more than three navigation aids, while 38 per cent (18) used less than three different aids. Thus, the performance of library association web sites in this study is similar (70 per cent) to other web sites. However, library association web sites should provide more navigation and links to easier access to the information.Library association web sites also need to provide access to the other web document in the web site. Coverage of web documents is one of the criteria that were evaluated in this study. Findings show that some of the library association web sites did not cover link to the other web document. The mean for the criteria is 6.8 out of 10. Therefore, library association web sites should perceive coverage of web document. Mawe (2007), in an evaluation of public libraries, mentioned that 31 per cent (15) of 48 local studies library web sites did not provide any links to external web sites of interest to local studies users. Konnur (2010) in an evaluation of academic libraries reveals that few (20 per cent) web sites provide links to other web reference sites. In this case, library association web sites are similar to public libraries web sites (Mawe, 2007), and better than academic library web sites (Konnur, 2010).Site maps are usually considered useful tools for web surfing. According to our ranking of library association web sites, site maps ranked as 14 (out of 15). The mean for site maps was (3.0) out of 10 which is a low score. Sklar (2003) provides similar results that few TCU library sites had internal site maps (n=4, 26.7 per cent). Therefore the result of ranking library association web sites is close to the result of TCU library sites. It means majority of the web sites should provide site map for their web sites.Limitations\nConclusion and further research: Library association web sites play vital role in the access and distribute information. Students, librarians, teachers and library experts can search the required information through keywords on library association web sites. Our study shows that most of library associations' web sites introduce their scopes and activities, and broadcast the latest news on library and information science. Some developed countries provide appropriate library association web sites. The majority of the library associations' web sites were ranked medium and low.Our study shows that more attention should be paid to some aspects of library association web sites, including FAQ and currency to provide more communication with members. Some library association web sites provide facilities such as link to other associations or link to search job or other services which helps members to access more facilities within the web sites. Multimedia applications are an important element for library association web sites. The Special Library Association web site was ranked first and also provides SLA TV which is useful service for members. This service may also be offered by other library association web sites. Overall, the performance library associations' web sites is satisfactory. A follow-up study is needed to assess all library associations' web sites.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of the study reported in this paper is to evaluate 71 library association web sites using 15 selected Webometric criteria.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study uses Webometric analysis and ranking based on a scaling method and comparative means analysis (One Way ANOVA), and homogeneous subsets using criteria from SPSS13 and Excel2007.\nFindings: - The majority of library association web sites have \"contact us\" links, but few have Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ) links. Library association web sites are categorised into three groups: high, medium and low, with significant differences between and within the three groups. A combination of criteria scores and classified groups shows that among the 15 criteria, only four criteria have no significant difference between the three groups and the classified groups are heterogeneous based on 11 criteria.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Only 71 library association web sites were analysed is this study.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides a three category classification for library associations web sites.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Integration of social protection and climate change adaptation in Brazil	[ "Climate change", "Brazil", "Food security", "Semi-arid areas", "Social protection" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Food security (FS), poverty, vulnerability, adaptation and risk-management are terms commonly used when debating the possible impacts of climate change (CC) on developing countries. CC is predicted to modify many physical, chemical and biological variables related to food production. Changes in the spatiotemporal patterns and intensity of precipitation, in average temperatures, in the frequency of extreme events and in the concentration of greenhouse gases will have an impact on agricultural practices, in the physiology, phenology and diversity of crops, and in ecosystem services much needed to support agricultural activities (Ebi et al., 2010). Modifications in the metabolism of key species, increases in pests and disruption of infrastructure necessary for the transport and storage of agricultural inputs and production are also predicted, with further impacts on the FS of vulnerable populations (FAO, 2008; Paucar-Menacho et al., 2010; Vermeulen et al., 2010). Together with existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities, CC will pose a great toll in the lives of the most resource-limited population, requiring immediate action so the impacts do not bring people under higher levels of vulnerability to food insecurity.\nResearch methods: A desk review of national policy and programmes in relation to FS and CCA was conducted with the aims of selecting all documentation related to the main research question. For further discussion related to the apparent conceptual interaction (or lack of) between SP and CCA, a systematic analysis with the search for key terms in the chosen documents was deemed appropriate by the research team. First, all government documents (restricted to laws, decrees and plans) related to both study areas were selected for further analysis. The cut-off date for inclusion of documents was May 2015, so only documents not revoked by this date were included. Documents related to the FBSN initiative PNAE were only included if active after 2009, when the programme was modified to include family farmers as an important component[1].\nResults: From the second set of selected documents (n=13) only four presented at least one of the searched keywords for analysis (Table II). Decree No. 7.352/2010, listed by the Brazilian Fund for Education Development as a related document to the ones establishing the functioning of the National School Feeding Programme, deals with the Rural Education Policy, including programme operation, access to food and school functioning. The term \"climate/climatic\" was found across the text when discussing the need of \"adapting school calendar according to productive cycles and regional climatic conditions\". None of the other keywords was encountered along the decree. Meanwhile, law 12.187/2009, which institutionalized the National Policy on CC, presented two keywords related to social vulnerability, \"social\" and \"poverty\", but not in the sense of SP. According to the document, the policy aims to \"conjointly address socio-economic development with protection of the climatic system\". The document also states that objectives should be in \"consonance with sustainable development, with the aim of reaching economic growth, poverty eradication and social inequality reduction\". None of the other keywords were observed.\nDiscussion: The need to connect SP and CCA policies and programmes has been raised as an important one in face of current and future socioeconomic and climatic challenges. Tackling hunger and poverty is still one of the most important challenges according to the sustainable development goals (UN, 2016), and the benefits of concurrently addressing CCA, hunger and poverty have been widely discussed in the literature (Davies et al., 2013; HLPE, 2012; Parry et al., 2009; Stern, 2006, Wheeler and von Braun, 2013). First of all, addressing each of these challenges in an integrated way, can lead to optimization of financial and human resources, while at the same time providing the possibility for synergies and more long-term results (Bene et al., 2013; Heltberg et al., 2009). Consequently, current issues such as food insecurity would be more efficiently addressed, but still focus on the need of improving adaptive capacity so current actions could be resilient to environmental changes. For Brazil, where there has been a recent achievement of significantly decreasing hunger (-82.1 per cent from 2002 to 2014 - UN, 2015), this integration could be a long-term investment in a scenario of CC, once new programmes could still work decreasing food insecurity and hunger but also keep those in the thresholds of leaving those conditions far from being further affected by climatic stressors. Moreover, as the country is facing a political and economic crisis with increasing expenditure cuts in social, environmental and science-related programmes and policies, any strategy focussing on the optimization of resources would be greatly valuable.\nConclusion and recommendations: The discussed lack of conceptual interaction between policies and programmes in the area of SP and CC appears to exist in Brazil, at least when related to the selected documents of FS, food-based safety nets and CC. This pattern can be an expression of the ways that policies are segmented in the Brazilian government and lack of proper interaction between sectors, in conjunction with the general infancy of the understanding of CC and the linkages with poverty, development and food insecurity. As noted, especially in face of current environmental issues, interaction of climatic and other environmental knowledge in policy-making processes is essential to achieve resilient SP programmes, but also to avoid undermining benefits accrued from other climate adaptation strategies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Social protection (SP) and climate change adaptation (CCA) are two subjects highly debated when discussing social vulnerabilities and food insecurity in rural areas of developing countries. Both fields address matters related to socioeconomic vulnerabilities and thus present opportunities for integration. However, many studies have stated the lack of interaction within the study areas. When dealing with CCA and SP in Brazil, the two offer an opportunity for integration since some SP programmes (such as food-based safety nets) can both affect adaptation and be impacted by expected changes in climate. Impacts from CC are projected to be extreme in the Brazilian semi-arid Northeast, a region where social programmes of assistance and aid are historically crucial during periods of drought. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to address the interaction of CCA and SP in a conceptual level on policies and programmes in Brazil.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A desk review of government documents (policies, plans, decrees) related to food security, food-based programmes and CC.\nFindings: Based on the results the authors highlight the limited integration between CC and SP in Brazil and the potential for interaction in many of the programmes already in place.\nOriginality/value: The authors attribute findings to the segmented governmental structure and the weak interaction between sectors, and the only recent discussion of linkages between CC and poverty, development and food insecurity. Discussion on the challenges and benefits of this interaction are provided in a context of CC in Brazil, still not very debated in the academic literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Google search abuses dominant position to illegally favour Google Shopping: an economic review of the EU decision	[ "Google", "Market power", "Two-sided markets", "Digital markets", "Google Shopping", "L40", "L50", "L51", "K21" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In June 2017, the European Commission decides that Google Inc. has abused its dominant position in the market for general internet search services in the European Economic Area (EEA) concerning its own comparison shopping service (Google Shopping). Google Inc. is an American company, known especially for its internet-based services, like its universal search engine Google Search, but also for its vertical search engines, such as Google Scholar and Google Shopping. One of the allegations of the European Commission is that Google Inc. systematically favours its own products - such as Google Shopping - in the universal search results of Google Search. In isolation, this would not be much of an issue. From a competition policy perspective, however, Google Search possesses considerable market power, the abuse of which infringes European Union (EU) antitrust rules, stifles competition and lowers welfare. While comparable lawsuits of the US Federal Trade Commission were stayed, the European Commission is currently examining the case thoroughly.\n2. Background: In 2017, the European Commission fines Google EUR2.42 billion for abusing the dominance of Google Search by giving illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service (i.e. Google Shopping). The responsible EU Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, stated \"What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation[4].\"\n3. Delineation of a two-sided market: To evaluate whether a company has market power in a certain market, it is necessary to define the relevant product market. According to a notice of the European Commission, such a market delineation should respect both product and geographic market specifications[10]. In the case of Google Shopping, the relevant product is in fact the service \"provision of product overview in the internet\". Google acts as an intermediary between companies, offerings products and providing a forum for people searching for products in the internet. In this case, only the companies pay to offer their products at Google Shopping, searching users are at least not charged directly. This complies with the typical conditions of a two-sided market[11], where a platform can affect the volume of transaction by charging more to one side of the market and reducing the price paid by the other side by an equal amount[12]. Furthermore, Evans and Schmalensee's (2007) interpretation of two-sided markets should be considered, where several user groups relying on each other, but unable to capture the value of their interaction without the platform acting as a catalyst, comprises all relevant features of platforms[13]. Additionally, Filistrucchi et al. (2013) and others remark on the existence of indirect network effects for this case (i.e. both market sides benefit from the other side growing). Manne and Wright (2010) address the importance of innovation as a critical dimension of competition.\n4. Economic analysis: 4.1 Does Google Shopping have power in this market?\n5. Welfare-optimal financing of Google Shopping: Based on the assumptions that Google Shopping:\n6. Conclusion: By combining the essential facility and public goods theories, this paper at minimum provides a basis of evidence that Google Shopping has substantial market power in terms of providing a product overview. With the market share of Google Search amounting to over 90 per cent in most EU-countries, and the importance of Google Shopping as a tool for providing a product overview in the internet, there are arguments for categorising Google Shopping as an essential facility for companies offering their products in the internet. Although in general, there is competition among vertical product search services, the results of Google Shopping are placed at the most visible and prominent positions in the search results. Surveys show that consumers also use other ways to compare products, but, for instance, 82 per cent of German consumers consider Google as their regular option.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper is concerned with the current decision of the European Commission regarding Google's comparison shopping service (Google Shopping). In 2017, the Commission has fined Google EUR2.42 billion for abusing its dominant position as a search engine by giving illegal advantage to Google Shopping. Consequently, Google has to stop its illegal conduct. In particular, the decision requires Google to treat rival comparison shopping services and its own service equally. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the decision from a perspective of two-sided markets. Google Shopping is an integrated service of Google Search and acts as an intermediary between companies, offerings products in the internet and people searching for products in the internet. This complies with the typical conditions of a two-sided market. From the perspective of sellers of goods and services in Europe, Google may be seen as a gatekeeper to the potential customers and thus as an essential facility. In the light of the current decision, this paper provides a possible regulation alternative. It is shown that Google Shopping represents a typical club good, so that welfare-optimising rules must be adhered to. In this context, it should be noted that in the current Google Shopping search results, artificial rivalry is created among sellers so as to ensure maximum willingness to pay for a top listing. The solution proposed in this paper entails a summary score list of all sellers of a particular product, for which a turnover-dependent contribution should be required, instead of a reduced score list, where positions are sold by auctions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses methods of two-sided markets and public good theory.\nFindings: It is shown that Google Shopping represents a typical club good, so that welfare-optimising rules must be adhered to. In this context, it should be noted that in the current Google Shopping search results, artificial rivalry is created among sellers so as to ensure maximum willingness to pay for a top listing. The solution proposed in this paper entails a summary score list of all sellers of a particular product, for which a turnover-dependent contribution should be required, instead of a reduced score list, where positions are sold by auctions.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, it is the very first paper about the decision of the European Union (06/2017) concerning Google Shopping.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Socio-economic development model based on stochastic advance-retreat course: An analysis on US economy in recent 70 years	[ "United States of America", "Social economics", "Economic processes", "Stochastic processes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In many cases, the social benefit and the social demand are the motivity for economic development, what the economical innovation brings are the social benefit and wealth, and the developments in society and economy are mutually influenced and promoted one another. Although society and economy not identical, it is difficult to differentiate the researches to them. Therefore, the view of this paper is taking the society and the economy a whole. There are many encouraging progresses in the researches on socio-economic development model.There are a lot of remarkable achievements in the theory and the model of economic development, such as the business cycle (Lucas, 1981, 1987), the real business cycle (Kydland and Prescott, 1982; Long and Plosser, 1983; King and Plosser, 1988; Plosser, 1989), and new growth theory (Solow, 1957, 2000; Romer, 1990; Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1995; Jones, 1995, 1998; Barro, 2008), etc. These theories have availably propeled forward the socio-economic development of world.In addition, Fielding (2002) presented a model of social and economic development based on health and wealth, and the model indicated that there are strong causal relationships in both directions between economic development and social and political development (Fielding, 2002). Blanke and Hoffmann (2008) outlined the five pillars of an upcoming European social model, and studied the social and economic regulatory mechanisms designed to correct the operation of markets (Blanke and Hoffmann, 2008). These models focus on conception and creativity, and other models focus on methodology and technology, such as, a model is developed using a set of variables that may affect such benefits and costs in a country, and tested for a large sample of 53 countries (Banerjee et al., 2005). Ratio analyses were carried out and the logistic regression used to model the socio-economic, technical and institutional factors that have influence on access to credit from rural banks by women farmers (Akudugu et al., 2009). Ishise and Sawada (2009) extended the augmented-Solow model to estimate the aggregate output elasticity and depreciation rate of social capital that characterize aggregate returns (Ishise and Sawada, 2009). Chistilin (2009) established the nonlinear dynamics model of the social system development, and analyzed the self-organization process in a socio-economic system (Chistilin, 2009). Matei and Anghelescu (2010) presented a model based on simultaneous equations with statistical determined parameters for describing the evolution of important issues relating to local development (Matei and Anghelescu, 2010).Also, many of researches study the model of socio-economic growth in many of other ways, such as the development dynamics from the points of view of overlapping generations or bionomics (Croix and Michel, 2002; Gandolfo, 2003), the rational choice on the socio-economic policies and the game theory for analyzing socio-economic behaviour (Fudenberg and Tirole, 1991; Colman and Hines, 1998; Osborne, 2003), etc.All the works in above literatures and models are not enough to consider the environment as an important factor. The problems that should be discussed is the relation between behavior of mankind with wisdom and the environment around mankind, for example, the economic development and environmental pollution, the enterprises management and their development environment, the policies establishment and the implement environment of them, studying knowledge and the application environment of them, the use of energy and shortage in energy, development of traffic and transportation and the shortage in road facility, etc. In the problems, human can be free to choose and carry out the socio-economic strategies, and the environments, as the non-intelligent object, can only accept human choice and produce pressure passively to human. The higher the degree of economic development, the larger these kinds of pressures are. The problem is called the advance-retreat course (ARC) problem (Dai and Liu, 2007a; Dai and Du, 2008), In order to seek a special way to analyze the social development and economic growth, the authors have made a series of discussions on ARC, including the market strategy of new product development for enterprises (Dai et al., 2007), the analysis for economic development and control strategies under the environmental pressure (Dai et al., 2008), and the balance conditions for economic growth and corresponding control strategies (Dai et al., 2009), and the impact of endogeneous investment on economic growth (Dai et al., 2010).In this paper, the authors will give the concept and analytic model of stochastic ARC (SARC) to describe and study socio-economic development, discuss the application method of SARC model under the average and golden mode. We will draw some significant conclusions, for example, the duration of the socio-economic increasing is inverse with the status of environmental pressure, the cyclical fluctuations in socio-economic development is caused by the environmental pressure, innovation growth too fast or too many innovations may cause the social and economic fluctuations, rapid growth brings with it the weak persistence, and so on. The empirical researches will be made by means of the data of US GDP (chained) price index, and some economic development strategies for the USA are given.\n2 Foundations: basic theory and technique of SARC: In order to establish the model of SARC to describe socio-economic development process, we provide the basic theory and technique of SARC here.2.1 The theoretical foundations\nTheorem 1: Let X be a random variable:* If X[?]P(m, s2), the mathematical expectation of X is: Equation 3 and the variance of X is D(X)=s2+E(X)[m-E(X)].* If X[?]Fa(m,s2), m>=0, then: Equation 4 Equation 5 where: Equation 6 is called the average increment coefficient, c0=0.6306391865.\nTheorem 2: Let X be a random variable:* If X[?]P(m,s2), when the product of X and its probability reaches maximum, we have: Equation 7 * If X[?]Fa(m,s2), when the product of X and its probability reaches maximum, we have: Equation 8 Equation 9 where, c=([?]5-1)/2=0.618033989, c1=0.7402261316.\n3 SARC model for socio-economic development: In this section, we will build the SARC model to describe the socio-economic development, and give the solving methods and the analytical example.We will use the notations in following discussions:m the basic output.d the coefficient of endogenous pressure, d>=0. dm is the basic endogenous cost.s the basic endogenous motivity, ds is basic endogenous pressure.ph the basic exogenous cost, ph>=0.k the integrated force caused by the external environment.a the coefficient of exogenous motivity, 0<a<=1. ak is the exogenous motivity.b the coefficient of exogenous pressure, 0<b<=1. bk is the exogenous pressure.r the coefficient of environmental pressure, 0<r<1, rk is the environmental pressure.u the original motivity, u=u(s, ak)>=0.u- the original pressure, u-=u-(ds,bk)>=0.L the real benefit of socio-economic development.Note: the basic cost is the sum of endogenous cost and exogenous cost.3.1 The basic SARC model\nProposition 1: m, s, l, ps, h, th are all real and positive, ps>l, th>1. For any v(0<v<1), if the constant c1 and c2 satisfy: c1>0, c1+c2=1-(lm/hs)(th-1/ps-l) and (c2/c1)<(th-1)v, and innovative function is: Equation 25 then the following iterative algorithm determined by equation (13): Equation 26 is convergent.ProofDenote: Equation 27 0<v<1 and f.(t)=v, i.e. \|f.(t)\|<1, then Proposition 1 is true. From: Equation 28 we get the differential equation: Equation 29 Solving the differential equation above, we obtain: Equation 30 Based on Section 3.3.1, innovative function should meet: g (0)=1 and g.(t)>0 (t>0), then we have: Equation 31 and: Equation 32 and when (1/(th-1)v)(c2/c1)<1: Equation 33 is true, i.e. g.(t)>0. The results are follow.It is noteworthy that the conditions in Proposition 1 are sufficient, and not necessary. In fact, we take g(t)=[?]1+bt(b>0) in SARC model (12), thus the real benefit is expressed as: Equation 34 According to equation (13), the solution of SARC model (15), L(T), satisfies the following equations: Equation 35 Because the motivity and the pressure always exist simultaneously, therefore the initial data obtained directly in reality are often the initial basic benefit mL(0)=(1-d)m-ph and initial net motivity sL(0)=(1-d)s-rk. According to equation (16): Equation 36 namely: Equation 37 Insert the expression (17) into the equation (16), we get the following iterative algorithm: Equation 38 where, i=0, 1, ... . In general, let T0=1.3.3.2 The example for SARC\n4 The empirical researches: In the following empirical research, we use the average mode (8) and the average mode (9) in SARC model (14), and take the US GDP (chained) price index data (1940-2005)[1] as the data samples. G(t) is the real benefit (measured by the value of GDP index) at the year t, t=1940, 1941, ... 2005. The error is valuated by the formula: Equation 41 where, L(t) is the value estimated.Because G(1940)=0.0978, G(1941)=0.1014, the initial values is determined as mL(0)=G(1941)=0.1014, sL(0)=G(1941)-G(1940)=0.0036[2]. Suppose d=0.3, ph=0.02, k=0.05, b=0.1, th=1.418. We have m=(mL(0)+ph)/1-d, s=(sL(0)+rk)/1-d, mL(t)=(1-d)melt-phepst and sL(t)=(1-d)selt[?]1+bt-rkepst(1+bt)th/2.4.1 SARC fitting in average mode\n5 The summary and comments: Based on the stochastic theory and the forward researches (Matei and Anghelescu, 2010; Croix and Michel, 2002; Gandolfo, 2003; Fudenberg and Tirole, 1991), This paper focuses on the SARC for socio-economic development, and has done the works as follows:* Establishes the basic model of SARC. Aim at the socio-economic development, we have established the basic model of SARC. And in order to describe the different socio-economic development process, we have designed the average mode and the gold mode on SARC model, and given the solution method of SARC model.* Establishes the application model of SARC. We have introduced the innovation function into the basic model of SARC, given the general expression of innovation function, and established the application model of SARC. So the viewpoint \"the innovation is the core motivity to socio-economic development\" can be analytically described.* Completes the empirical research on SARC model. By use of US GDP (chained) price data, we have, respectively, performed empirical researches on average mode and golden mode. The results show, SARC model is able to describe the socio-economic development process.Based on the works above, this paper obtains the following important and basic conclusions:* There is an inverse relationship between the duration of socio-economic growth and environmental pressure, and there is the interchangeable relationship between endogenous pressure and environmental pressure. In order to lengthen the time when the socio-economic benefit grows, we could carry out the active policies to descrease the endogenous pressure, the environmental pressure or exogenous cost, or to raise the basic benefit growth rate by increasing the investment or lowering interest rates.* The environmental pressures cause the economic fluctuations and social unrests. When the endogenous or exogenous pressures surpass a certain limit, the fluctuation will occur inevitably. Also, the innovation growth too fast or too many innovations may bring a lot of risks, and these risks may cause the social and economic fluctuations. Therefore, the important ways to maintain the stable society and economy is reducing the environment pressure effectively, and controlling the total quantity and growth rate of innovation reasonably.* There are three basic stages in the benefit growth of socio-economic process, the weak growth, the rapid growth and the swift decline. In general, rapid growth brings with it the weak persistence, and slow growth brings with it the strong persistence. Therefore, the government should not be eager and impatient in solving the problems in socio-economic development.According to the empirical researches, we analyze and calculate the output without pressure and the exogenous cost, and find how many the pressures are and where the pressures are. All of these are very useful to invest and for government to make policies. Importantly, American economic development motivity is clearly insufficient, US economy has to face the most severe recession after the 1930s great depression, and the economic recovery road will be very arduous and prolonged. For these situations, this paper has given the three strategies or recommendations in the innovations on institution, technique and market.This paper has only discussed the SARC with a single stage and no branch route. Also, it is worth to study the SARC with many stages, many branch routes and investment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to reveal some basic characteristics in social and economic process, and lay the analytic foundation for advance-retreat course (ARC).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents the analytic model of stochastic ARC (SARC), which is based on the partial distribution and partial process (belonging to the probability theory and stochastic process), and describes some important characteristics of social and economic process in a quantitative method.\nFindings: - The successful socio-economic process, including many biological process, are usually divided into three basic stages: the weak growth, the quick development and the swift decline. In general, rapid growth brings with it the weak persistence, and slow growth brings with it the strong persistence. The socio-economic fluctuations are mainly caused by the excessive environmental pressures. The duration of the socio-economic growth is inverse with the environmental pressure.\nResearch limitations/implications: - All the basic variables and parameters in an ARC model should be no less than zero.\nPractical implications: - Based on US GDP (chained) price index data (1940-2005), American economic process in recent 70 years is analyzed, and the analysis indicates, American economic motivity is clearly insufficient after 2008, and the present economic recovery will be very arduous and prolonged.\nSocial implications: - The environmental pressures will become the main problem for future global socio-economic development.\nOriginality/value: - SARC model in this paper presents a special way to analyze the social development and economic growth, and is helpful to related academic research and socio-economic decision making.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Editorial: The coming out of accounting research specialisms	[ "Research", "Accounting history", "Community development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: AAAJ is now in its nineteenth year and we continue to be one of the main worldwide outlets for research employing interdisciplinary perspectives on accounting, auditing and accountability (IPAAA). As we move towards our twentieth anniversary year we offer an editorial reflecting on the current state of the interdisciplinary community. The main part of the editorial argues that the development of interdisciplinary specialist research areas should be applauded. However, we need to be wary that we do not fragment and therefore lose the ability to transcend our specialisations and display scholarship to a wider community of accounting research peers.We have just been informed that Emerald has acquired three emerging interdisciplinary journals: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change; Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting; and Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management. We congratulate their editors and editorial board, and look forward to working closely with these new acquisitions.As can be gauged by the details in the body of the editorial this is an exciting time to be an interdisciplinary accounting scholar, not only are there several major conferences planned but also a number of specialist forums. AAAJ has also commissioned several imminent scholars to produce critical reviews of a number of research areas. Another exciting activity of AAAJ is the continued support of AAAJ special issues, of which we have published over 20 to date and have planned for a further eight. Details of these will follow.\nAccounting research specialism: Since the inception of AAAJ in 1988, we have witnessed the ongoing development of an array of interdisciplinary specialist research areas in the accounting research community and its literature (Parker and Guthrie, 2005). These include such areas as public sector accounting, social and environmental accounting, accounting history, management control, and organisational change. These have travelled exciting, contested and important roads since the 1980s. We have seen them develop from methodologically and theoretically nascent traditions into vibrant, far-reaching and widely published communities of international scholars. In the 1980s, the number of refereed accounting research journals regularly publishing such research areas was limited, as was the conferences available and welcoming to their research. Looking back over these past 25 years, so much has changed.The specialist research movement\nMajor interdisciplinary conferences: In our tenth anniversary editorial (Guthrie and Parker, 1997) we asked the question, where AAAJ was heading and indicated a number of themes that we as editors would be fostering in subsequent years. One of the themes was as follows:The promotion of national and international meetings of scholars in the creative establish and informal network for the mutual support of like-mind scholars around the world.In light of this objective we are proud to be associated with the 2006 Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Accounting Conference to be held in Cardiff and the APIRA 2007 conference to be held in Auckland.The Eighth Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Accounting Conference, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, 10-12 July 2006. The IPA conference is an established forum for research into the social, political and organizational aspects of accounting theory and practice. The organisers of the Eighth Conference invite researchers from all areas of the social sciences to contribute papers.This conference will respond to the concerns of an evolving research community. The organisers aim to highlight emerging intellectual issues and encourage new agendas, as well as stimulate debate within and between established paradigms, by arranging a variety of workshops, panel discussions and plenary debates. Major themes in the past have included: accounting, finance and organizational controls; markets, institutions and social order; accountability and identity; the changing organization of the accounting profession; globalization, regulation, and technology; public and environmental policy; and accounting methodology, knowledge and education. A distinctive feature of the IPA is the thorough review that each paper receives. In addition, papers are presented at the conference by a discussant with a response from the author. For more information see the IPA web site: www.cf.ac.uk/carbs/conferences/ipa/home.htmlThe 5th Asia-Pacific Interdisciplinary Research on Accounting (APIRA) Conference is to be held in July 2007 in Auckland, New Zealand. The APIRA Conference is a major international accounting conference, having started in Sydney in 1995, followed by Osaka in 1998, Adelaide in 2001, and Singapore in 2004. This high profile international conference moves around the Asia Pacific region every three years, and 2007 will be a first time in New Zealand. Most of the conference delegates come from the Asia-Pacific region, and the international academic teaching/research audiences including strong representation of academics from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. The fifth conference in 2007 coincides with the 20th anniversary of the AAAJ, and this will be celebrated at the fifth APIRA conference. Five very high profile international academic leaders within the sub-disciplines of accounting, and from the leading research Universities in the UK, have been invited and accepted as Plenary Speakers. These include Professors David Otley (Lancaster), Stephen Walker (Cardiff), David Owen (Nottingham), Prem Sikka (Essex), and Christopher Humphrey (Manchester). The conference and emerging scholars' (doctoral) colloquium is to be held July 6-10, 2007. More details about this event can be found at: www.business.otago.ac.nz/acty/APIRA2007Parker (2005) recently presented an analysis and reflection on the state of social and environmental accounting since the 1980s. He identified several ongoing theoretical debates and attempts at further theorisation. He also profiled SEA research and publications in leading journals since 1988, and identified the important role of AAAJ in publishing this type of research. We are pleased to support the numerous specialised scholarly network associated with social and environmental accounting research (and other specialisms) and note the impending 18th International Conference on Social and Environmental Accounting Research (5th Australasian CSEAR Conference) to be held in Wellington, 22-24 November 2006.CSEAR 2006 will be hosted by Victoria University of Wellington. The Conference's plenary speakers will include: Professors Carol Adams (La Trobe University, Australia); Amanda Ball (University of Canterbury, New Zealand); and, Jan Bebbington (St Andrews University, Scotland).This conference will be a deliberately informal gathering of researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners concerned with research, teaching and practice in social and environmental accounting in the very widest. For more details contact the conference chair: Professor Judy Brown, Victoria University of Wellington, Judy.Brown@vuw.ac.nz\nReflections on AAAJ in 2005: An examination of our 2005 (Volume 18) output statistics indicates AAAJ's continued growth and contribution to the accounting research literature. As indicated in our previous editorial (Parker and Guthrie, 2005) about 2004 (Volume 17) we have continued to increase in size, readership, and quality, and 2005 has been no exception. In Volume 18 we've published over 40 articles (26 articles in 2004), several commentaries and a variety of poetry and short prose. There were nearly 900 pages of print (800 pages in 2004) to which over 65 authors contributed (56 in 2004). As can be gauged by these output statistics, AAAJ saw significant growth in 2005. Already, for 2006 our publishers have committed to more expansion.Also in 2005, we had a special issue of AAAJ by Dean Neu and Cameron Graham on Accounting Research and the Public Interest, which was a selection of papers from The Seventh Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Accounting Conference (Neu and Graham, 2005). The literature editor continues to attract quality poetry and prose and we continue to seek out papers for the occasional methodological issues section.During the year 2005, AAAJ editorial board selected the best paper for 2004 for the Mary Parker Follet Award. The recipients of this award were Jesse Dillard, John T Rigsby and Carrie Goodman for their article: The making and remaking of organization context: Duality and the institutionalization process (Dillard et al., 2004). The award recipients were chosen by the members of the editorial board for best meeting the editorial objectives of AAAJ.\nEmerald and AAAJ: We are proud to be part of the Emerald publishing group and we note with satisfaction that nearly all (more than 96 per cent) of the world's top business schools (FT 100 listings) keep Emerald in their libraries. The same proportion (98 out of the 100), have people on their faculty who have written for Emerald lately. Emerald's analysis of the last British Research Assessment Exercise, also found that its journals were strongly represented in the publishing records submitted by the top-ranked UK schools. Emerald and AAAJ are focussed on high-level quality control through our peer review process. We publish the work of top-level international scholars while at the same time encouraging and developing emerging scholars. Our core philosophies include a commitment to an international orientation, the publication of leading edge empirical and theoretical research, the fostering of constructive critique, a concern to contribute to both development of thought and policy in our field, and the pursuit and support of inclusivity and diversity. Without the active participation of our editorial board members and ad-hoc reviewers this would not be possible.We are proud of our achievements but our editorial policy is not only to look backwards to remind ourselves of our underlying and unchanging core values, but to reflect on forward planning for reinforcing AAAJ's role as a premier research publication outlet for the IPAAA academic community with which we are inextricably associated.\nSpecial issues to come: An exciting activity of AAAJ is the continued support of special issues of which we have published over 20 to date and have planned for a further eight. Appendix 1: List of AAAJ Past Special Issues illustrates the pioneering nature of our guest editors which have assembled a collection of articles which have forged the range and diversity of interdisciplinary research agendas over the past 15 years.The special issue published in 2005 by Dean Neu and Cameron Graham on Accounting Research and the Public Interest, contained a number of outstanding papers. From 2006 forth, AAAJ will publish two special theme issues per year. In 2006, the special issues planned are:1. An issue on NGO Accounting, Auditing and Accountability, by Brendan O'Dwyer and Jeffrey Unerman.2. An issue on Online Reporting by Sonja Gallhofer and Jim Haslam.Already call for papers have been issued for two special issues in 2007: Accounting as Codified Discourse; and, Engagement: ethical, social and environmental accounting and accountability from the inside. The first, on Accounting as Codified Discourse, concerns itself with accounting discourse analysis. By \"codified\" we mean that knowledge in, and of, accounting is cast into systematic forms that prescribe codes for practices. Accounting, as the key professional management discipline, embeds codes that encompass both the formal and the informal (i.e. regulations, standards and policies, but also professional norms, ceremonies and rituals). These \"codes\" have to be interpreted but they cannot be discarded. We expect that the codified nature of accounting knowledge (and skills) may precipitate a \"tighter\" relationship between discourse and practice than that which pertains in other areas of management. We hope that this special issue on Accounting as Codified Discourse will make a significant contribution to the debate on discourse/practice relations through a consideration of the particular power that codified discourses have, not only for cultural practices, but also for the material world of action, agency and events.The second, on Engagement: ethical, social and environmental accounting and accountability from the inside concerns itself on how recent calls for social accountants to focus their research inside organisations and on their engagement experiences have brought about an increasing awareness of the links between ethical, social and environmental accounting and accountability and the rest of the organisational processes. More specifically, this special issue focuses on ethical, social and environmental accounting and accountability at the level of the organisation and its impacts on, and interactions with, other organisational processes, organisational structures and other aspects of organisational behaviour, as well as with organisational dynamics.Long-term advance planning of AAAJ special theme issues have identified the following possible special issues - Visual Research; Accounting and Strategy; Governance; Corporate Governance; and, Accounting and Gender Issues - and we await a call for papers for these.\nConclusion: So what is the fundamental argument of this editorial? It has explored the ongoing development of an array of interdisciplinary specialist research areas in the accounting research community and its literature. It has identified, in sharp contrast to the successful emergence of interdisciplinary research in the 1980s, a trend towards at least a proportion of specialist research groupings such as accounting historians, opting to retreat behind closed doors. Some researchers are increasingly exhibiting a trend towards seeking their own company focussing on attending only their specialised conferences, and publishing their work in their special interest journal. This carries a risk of retreating from engagement with the broader and particularly interdisciplinary accounting research community outside their own specialised confines.This paper has identified the danger of fragmentation and we invite our fellow specialist researchers to return to \"the coming out parade\" and re-engage with the wider scholarly community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to explore the ongoing development of an array of interdisciplinary specialist research areas in the accounting research community and its literature. It sets out to explore developments over the last 25 years with the aim to identify a number of important trends for the accounting scholarly community and to consider the role of AAAJ and various interdisciplinary accounting conferences and other journals.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper employs a literature-based analysis, critique and argument. The paper's scope includes the trend towards specialisation by interdisciplinary accounting scholars in a contemporary context, where mainstream technical accounting research has privileged positivist research.\nFindings: - In sharp contrast with the successful emergence of interdisciplinary research in the 1980s, a trend towards at least a proportion of specialist research groupings is now seen, such as accounting historians, opting to retreat behind closed doors. Some researchers are increasingly exhibiting a trend towards seeking their own company focusing on attending only their specialised conferences, and publishing their work in their special interest journal. This carries a risk of retreating from engagement with the broader and particularly interdisciplinary accounting research community outside their own specialised confines. This could lead to fragmentation and fellow specialist researchers are invited to return to \"the coming-out parade\" and re-engage with the wider scholarly community.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Accounting scholars not only need to engage with their interdisciplinary specialised research areas, but also should connect with the wider scholarly community in order to maintain the pursuit of significant contribution to knowledge.\nPractical implications: - The paper focuses on personal values of accounting academic scholars as well as the importance of specialised and more generalised interdisciplinary research scholarly groups.\nOriginality/value: - The paper alerts researchers to significant issues associated with the retreat into specialised groups and scholarly activities. It offers a practical illustration of a 25-year history of accounting history research and calls for the coming-out of accounting scholars from specialist groups to an engagement with the broader accounting interdisciplinary research community.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cash flow modeling for construction projects	[ "Modelling", "Simulation", "Construction projects", "Cash flow forecast", "Analytic hierarchy process (AHP)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Construction projects, i.e., buildings, highways, bridges, underground utilities and drainage facilities, industrial projects, etc., are known for their high risk and uncertainty, particularly, at the cost estimate phase of such projects where the amount of project's information is very limited. Contractors cannot survive in the competitive construction industry without effective cash flow management. Cash flow is the balance of received and spent cash on a project over a specific duration. Studies and investigations have shown that lack of liquidity is a major problem causing failure of construction projects (Al-Issa and Zayed, 2007). According to US census report, construction companies have a higher failure rate than most companies (14 percent). Only 26 percent of companies started in 1976 were still in business in 1988 (Bashford, 1996). According to 2005 BizMiner industry reports, out of the 853,372 construction specialty trade contractors, operating in 2002, only 610,357 were still in business in 2004, with a 28.5 percent failure rate (Al-Issa and Zayed, 2007). Companies may be able to maintain their business for a period of time without showing any profit, or even with a temporary loss; however, they may fail due to lack of liquidity during construction, even if they have a good financial statement. Poor financial position has led to 26.71 percent of the construction industry failures during the past decade (Arditi and Chotibhongs, 2005). Therefore, in order for a contractor to become successful in the construction competition, a healthy cash flow is an essential parameter.\nFactors affecting cash flow of construction projects: There is large number of factors that affect construction project's cash flow. Based upon literature review and experts opinions, 43 factors are selected and grouped into seven main categories (Al-Issa and Zayed, 2007). Table I shows these factors in which they are clustered under the following categories: financial management, subcontractors, suppliers, communications skills; factors occur prior to and/or during construction; and others. The factors are also categorized based on their effect on cash in (I), cash out (O), and both (I&O). Several factors are discussed and highlighted in the following paragraphs.\nResearch methodology: The methodology of this research passes through various steps, i.e., reviewing literature on cash flow factors and analysis, establishing a new forecasting model, and predicting cash flow based on the newly developed model. Figure 1 demonstrates the steps of this methodology, which are briefly discussed below.\nDevelopment of cash flow forecast model: The developed cash flow model considers three parameters: cash inflow, cash outflow, and overdraft in the sequence of calculation that is shown in Figure 2. As discussed earlier in the paper that there are many factors that affect the cash flow forecast in construction projects. This study identified 43 of them under seven main categories as shown in Table I. Several of these factors are subjective in nature, i.e., poor design; however, the rest are objectives. Therefore, it was necessary to sort and allocate the 43 cash flow factors into the following groups: factors affecting cash inflow, outflow and both (Table I). Typically, contractors receive their payments from owners on a weekly or monthly basis or based on billing terms. Payments from the owner are always planned monthly in which it is the basis for estimating cash inflow values. Sometimes, several unforeseen events might occur; e.g., contractor might not receive the exact amount on the contract date because of owner's poor financial position. If a payment is delayed, the billing time of cash inflow should be adjusted in the cash-in model. In order to consider the impact of cash inflow and outflow subjective and objective factors in the mathematical cash flow models, a quantification methodology should be utilized. In the present research, the quantification effect is performed utilizing three main criteria, i.e., weight (W), effect (E), and percent of cash affected (P). This effect is integrated in the cash-in and cash-out mathematical models as shown in Equations (1)-(3):\nData collection: A data collection plan is developed in order to obtain the required information for the developed research. After a comprehensive literature review and several interviews with construction engineers/experts, 43 factors are identified as sensitive to cash flow in construction projects. These factors are categorized to facilitate modeling their effect on cash flow and forecast this impact. To this end, data are collected from experts and engineers through a questionnaire and on-site interviews. A questionnaire is designed to obtain each factor's effect on cash flow and to calculate its weight. Experts/engineers are interviewed to identify problems and to obtain realistic knowledge on management of cash flow variables. They are asked to rate the importance of various factors on a scale of 1-9, where 1 signifies that factors are \"equally important.\" The other numbers signify the relative importance of two factors in a pair-wise comparison matrix. In all, 233 questionnaires are sent to 200 construction companies in North America and China through e-mail, fax, and interviews. A 100 responses are received for a return rate of 43 percent (100/233). In addition, information on several case study projects and financial figures are collected from specialized contractors.\nData analysis and preparation for model implementation: The collected data are used to generate probability distributions for the effect (E) and weight (W) of each category and its factors. The @ RISK software has been used to generate these distributions and their test statistics information. The AHP technique is used to generate the weight (W) of each category and their factors. The weights of each factor are calculated through three steps: weight of categories; weight of factors; and decomposed weight. The decomposed weight (W) of a factor is calculated by multiplying the weight of its associated category by the weight of this factor within the category. For example, the category of \"subcontractor\" has a weight of 0.0890 and the factor \"Sub1\" has a weight of 0.2434 within the \"subcontractor\" category. Then, the decomposed weight of the factor \"Sub1\" equals to 0.0890x0.2434=0.0217. Similarly, the decomposed weights of all factors are calculated for each questionnaire's response. Therefore, 100 decomposed weights are generated for each of the 43 factors. The @ RISK software has also been used to generate probability distributions and their test statistics information for the weights of all factors. These distributions represent the weights, W\nCash flow analyzer (CFA): The CFA is an application programmed to execute the developed methodology using the designed models in present research. It allows the users to select anticipated factors that may affect their projects, to enter the project financial data, and to generate the expected cash flow analysis and diagrams. This application is based on MATLAB software language 7.6.0, 2008b version. Graphical user interface technique has been implemented into the program to provide a friendly and easy environment for users. The contractors could adopt this product (i.e. CFA) with a pre-defined list of expected factors that affect project cash flow and pre-estimate cost to predict the cash flow performance before and during construction.\nImplementation of cash flow forecast models to case study: The developed methodology and models are implemented to the case study project as depicted in the data collection section of this paper. This implementation is meant to prove the research concept. More data on case studies are sought to validate the developed methodology and models. The factors that affect case study project are specified before conducting any calculations based upon the collected data from project site. Then, the CFA program is used to implement the models and perform the analysis. Instead of a unique profile, a series of cash flow curves are obtained where the cash flow profile values fluctuate around the most likely (mean) value. The peak and mean values are presented in the final result. Monthly cash in and out-flow analysis is used to represent cash activities in the construction project.\nSensitivity analysis: It is always useful to assess which factor has the highest effect on the results of developed models. Contractors could pay more attention to the factors which likely cause many problems during construction if the model is very sensitive to them. Sensitivity analysis is done by changing the factors' values from -50 to +50 percent with an increment of 10 percent from the base value. One factor is changed while the rest of factors are held constant at average values. Basically, the factor with the largest variance on mean value has the highest sensitivity. For example, factor F3 \"receive front payment\" has the highest mean difference of 1.70126x1013 within the limits 1.68085x1013 at -50 percent and 1.73x1013 at +50 percent deviations. Contractors might also be curious to know what will happen if all factors are expected to occur. How much will the percent of effect be? All the cash inflow and outflow factors are treated separately. Figure 5 presents the sensitivity results of this assumption. Results indicate that the overall cash outflow factors have higher impact than cash inflow factors. It also shows that F3 has the highest variability, which shows high effect on the results of developed models. On the other hand, D3 \"replacing defective work\" has the lowest variability and effect.\nConclusions: The presented research in this paper helps in developing a new methodology and models to forecast cash flow of construction projects before and during construction stages. In all, 43 factors that affect project's cash flow have been identified and studied. Variability and uncertainty in the effect of these factors and data collection are considered using simulation-based analysis. Probability distributions for the effect and weight of these factors are constructed based upon the collected data from questionnaires, interviews and phone calls with practitioners. Cash flow models are designed and implemented using the integration of Monte Carlo simulation and AHP techniques to forecast cash flow and overdraft. CFA program is designed to implement the designed models and methodology. Results show that the categories of \"financial management (F)\" and \"during construction (D)\" have the highest weights of mean equals to 0.285 and 0.209, respectively. They follow normal distribution with SD of 0.024 and 0.021, respectively. However, the category of \"communication skills (C)\" has the lowest weight of mean equals to 0.079 and follows normal distribution with SD of 0.012. This research may serve as an advance warning flag for construction contractors in which mitigation procedures for cash flow problems should be undertaken. Contractors should pay attention to the maximum and minimum overdraft to avoid the worst case scenarios. It is an advantage to have a prior knowledge of cash flow forecasting and understand the impact of various cash flow factors. In conclusion, the developed cash flow models can be of vast benefit to practitioners and academics in forecasting cash flow progress before and during construction.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Construction projects are well known for their complexity and ambiguity. These projects carry out higher risk than traditional ones because they entail high capital outlays and intricate site conditions. Poor financial management of these projects may lead to bankruptcy; therefore, effective cash flow management is essential. Although the peculiar characteristics of construction projects, the accuracy of cash flow forecasting has been a long lasting problem. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Many unforeseen factors affect the cash flow forecasting of construction projects. Therefore, the objective of the presented research in this paper is to examine the impact of these factors on contractor's cash flow. A model has been established by integrating analytic hierarchy process and simulation to examine the impact of various factors on cash flow. Data on the selected factors have been collected through questionnaires from various agencies in North America and China.\nFindings: Results show that the most significant factors are: change of progress payment, payment duration, financial position of the contractor, project delays, and poor planning. It also shows that the effect of cash inflow factors varied approximately from 9.7 to 16.3 percent with a mean value of 12.4 percent.\nResearch limitations/implications: The implementation of the developed models are limited to few case study projects in testing the models. However, the developed models and framework are sound for future improvement. They are considered as a major step toward a broader cash flow planning.\nPractical implications: The developed methodology and models play essential roles in decision-making process.\nOriginality/value: The developed model is expected to help contractors realistically forecast project cash flow under uncertainty. This may lead to more dependable and professional cash flow management, which might substantially reduce failures in construction business.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Job insecurity and performance over time: the critical role of job insecurity duration	[ "Job insecurity", "Longitudinal", "Job performance", "Duration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Commercial rivalries around the globe, government deregulation, and rapid technological developments have put re-organizations, mergers, acquisitions, and downsizing on the agenda of companies worldwide (e.g. Lee et al., 2018). As a result, many individuals experience a situation of job insecurity in which they are concerned about their future job permanence (e.g. Van Vuuren and Klandermans, 1990). Studies have demonstrated that perceived job insecurity relates to negative outcomes, such as reduced job satisfaction, commitment, and well-being, as well as higher turnover intentions (e.g. Cheng and Chan, 2008).\nTheoretical foundations: In his call for a more temporal research strategy, Roe (2008) suggested three features of temporal phenomena: onset, duration, and dynamics. First, onset refers to when a phenomenon (in the present case, job insecurity) starts to appear \"relative to some external time scale\" (p. 43). Second, duration refers to the lifetime of a phenomenon; that is, whether a phenomenon \"may be short-lived, long-lasting, or have some intermediate lifetime\" (p. 43). Finally, dynamics refers to the variety of patterns that a phenomenon can display: these patterns can be described as growth, decline, or stability (Roe, 2008). Furthermore, Roe (2008) posits that different phenomena's features of onset, duration, and dynamics may be interrelated (see Table 3 of Roe, 2008). In the following, we focus on the dynamics of job performance for the duration of job insecurity as well as the relevance of appraisal processes in this context.\nDiscussion: We have argued that to better understand how job insecure individuals' job performance changes over time, it is important to consider the changes in individuals' job insecurity appraisals for the duration of job insecurity. Drawing from cognitive appraisal theory, research on critical life events, and stress reactions, as well as more general theorizing around the role of time in psychological phenomena, we proposed the existence of seven longitudinal job performance change patterns, along with potential predictors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Research on the relationship between job insecurity and job performance has thus far yielded inconclusive results. The purpose of this paper is to offer a more dynamic perspective on the effects of job insecurity on job performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing from cognitive appraisal theory, research on critical life events, and stress reactions as well as more general theorizing around the role of time, this paper proposes that individuals' job performance reactions to job insecurity will be dynamic over time.\nFindings: Adopting a person-centered perspective, this paper suggests that there are seven subpopulations that differ in their intra-individual job performance change patterns over time.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper presents potential predictors of subpopulation membership and presents an agenda for future research.\nOriginality/value: We contribute to the literature by introducing a dynamic perspective to the study of job performance in the context of job insecurity. Delineating a set of open questions that follow from the presented theoretical arguments, the authors also hope to stimulate future research in the context of job insecurity and job performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lessons on knowledge creation in supply chain management	[ "Critical realism", "Knowledge", "Epistemology", "Quality", "Ontology", "Methodology", "Abduction", "Supply chain management (SCM)", "Systematic combining" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Completing a PhD degree and defending a thesis contain both moments of near despair and those of great reward. The despair derives from the thesis being a long-term project, in which the student often feels both alone and clueless, but remains responsible for progress. Nevertheless, great rewards emerge from the journey of scientific inquiry. This journey is not necessarily confined to the specific research area, but may also include considerations about the nature of the world and what is considered knowledge, according that worldview. In this paper, a specific view on ontology, epistemology, methodology, methods and quality criteria (OEMMQ) in supply chain research is advocated. PhD students and senior researchers should be able to improve the quality of their research and ensure that their research truly contributes to knowledge creation through a coherent approach to OEMMQ.\n2. Frame of reference: 2.1 Critical realism: ontology and epistemology\n3. Methods in this article: The frame of reference is compared with the development of a PhD thesis (Eriksson, 2014). The thesis project extended over five years, but the work presented covers a time span of seven years. As such, the thesis here is similar to a longitudinal case study selected for illustrative purposes (Yin, 2009). The purpose of presenting the process is to suggest a coherent approach to knowledge creation in SCM.\n4. Thesis research process: A Swedish PhD entails four years of full-time study and usually includes one year of academic work for the university. A PhD degree is thus supposed to take five years in total. PhD students either present their thesis as a monograph (Arnas, 2007; Urciuoli, 2010) or as a collection of articles and an introduction (Hellstrom, 2007; Kalantari, 2012). The cumulative doctorate can be read as a stand-alone text that summarizes the findings in the appended articles and presents results from the entirety of the work. PhD students who opt for the later alternative usually present a licentiate thesis halfway through the PhD process. From here on, \"thesis\" is used to refer to the cumulative dissertation type that is written with an introduction. The outlined thesis process focuses on the development of the appended papers.\n5. Analysis of knowledge creation in the thesis: Section 2 presented concepts, starting with abstract and ending with the specific. This section applies an opposing logic to make the reasoning easier to follow.\n6. Discussion: It is may not be that confusing that the research shows the importance of matching OEMMQ. In SCM, however, this issue has not been developed in accordance with advances in the research field. Research devoted to the topic is somewhat limited in breadth. Aastrup and Halldorsson (2008) focus on ontology, epistemology, methodology and methods. They thus present a broad and encompassing approach, also acknowledging that issues with quality criteria are troublesome for the discipline. An implication from this paper is accordingly that researchers are now presented with an all-encompassing approach. This should help researchers to motivate clearly how they have contributed to knowledge creation, which is at the heart of the research. As such, the actual contribution of both longer and brief publications, mainly theses and peer-reviewed papers, can be improved. Paradoxically, even though this paper draws on a PhD thesis and is largely directed at PhD students who are researchers-in-training, the topic discussed is highly complex. Parts of the paper might, therefore, be difficult for PhD students to internalize. The complicated parts are accompanied by models that simplify the most important findings, and the paper contains many of the most important sources that are helpful for learning the different topics included in this paper and the advocated approach to OEMMQ.\n7. Conclusions: This paper pursued two goals. The first was to present lessons learned from writing a PhD thesis, and the second to present an approach to knowledge creation encompassing OEMMQ. Sharing what was learned by outlining an academic process that followed a certain approach constitutes an empirical contribution. Coupled with the approach to knowledge creation, the paper makes several theoretical contributions, for example, the models presented in Figures 2, 4 and 5.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to convey lessons learned from a long-term research project and present a coherent approach for researching relevant areas, ranging from ontology to quality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A PhD process is used as a case to present conceptual ideas on performing research in logistics/supply chain management (SCM).\nFindings: The research integrates different views on knowledge and the world and how to perform research in logistics/SCM. Models explaining micro and macro abduction, and the relationship between research, the context and researcher subjectivity are suggested.\nResearch limitations/implications: Knowledge on why and how critical realism can be used in logistics/SCM research is advanced. Abduction is presented as a micro/macro process, which should not have any specific \"finish line\", and is supported with both ontological and epistemological arguments.\nPractical implications: Research in logistics/SCM can be improved by connecting different aspects of viewing and creating knowledge. Reflecting on how exactly a publication is related to a project, researchers can better describe how they contribute to knowledge creation, and also understand the relationship between micro and macro abduction.\nOriginality/value: Through presenting an approach to knowledge creation in the context of a PhD thesis, this research distinguishes itself in a field with a growing need to define its own views of the world and of knowledge. The paper advances current understanding of knowledge creation in logistics/SCM, expanding on earlier models and presenting a broader view of the research process and the associated dilemmas. The paper also contains novel considerations of the differences between publication types and how these affect the presentation of the research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Collaboration in the context of micro businesses: The case of Terracotta artisans in Impruneta (Italy)	[ "Collaboration", "Italy", "Micro firms", "Collaboration theory", "Impruneta", "Terracotta artisans" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The significance of micro firms, those businesses that in the case of the European Union employ fewer than ten people (European Commission, 2003) has been widely recognised. Micro firms constitute the backbone of many countries, and are a dominant force, as they represent the large majority of existing businesses (ABS, 2001; European Commission, 2013; Heshmati, 2001). In the European Union, micro firms significantly contribute to employment, with 53 percent of all jobs (European Commission, 2013). Earlier studies (Heshmati, 2001; Lean, 1998) recognise micro firms' importance in fomenting economic development and growth. More recently, Liberman-Yaconi et al. (2010) emphasise the role of micro firms in generating income and employment when they examine strategic decision-making (SDM) among Australian micro firms.\nLiterature review: Small and micro firms and resilience\nBrief summary of Italy's artisanship industry: The artisanship industry, of which Terracotta objects, such as pottery and ceramics is a sub-sector of, is very important for Italy's economy. According to the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE, 2012), 18 percent of Italian exports derive from areas related to artisanship. In 2012, there were 1.45 million artisanship firms, mostly small enterprises, predominantly located in the regions of Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, and Veneto (MISE, 2012). To further illustrate their significance, there are an estimated 24.7 artisanship firms per 1,000 inhabitants; however, in some regions, including Emilia Romagna, March, Valle d'Aosta, Veneto and Piedmont, and in Tuscany, the region where the present study was conducted, this average is as high as 30 firms per 1,000 inhabitants (MISE, 2012). Not surprisingly, in these regions the artisanship industry is a very important source of employment, with more than 300,000 people employed, whilst the overall value resulting from the industry is over 150 billion (MISE, 2012).\nMethods: The study was part of a larger project investigating micro firms in and around the town of Impruneta, Tuscany. As the afore-mentioned research questions indicate, collaboration is the central theme of this study, and illustrated in the enquiry of:\nBasic demographic characteristics of participants and their firms: Prior to and during the data collection stage, contact established with Impruneta's town hall representatives identified several basic socio-demographic aspects of this town and surroundings. For example, it was learned that Impruneta is located nearly 15 km from Florence, and that approximately 15,000 people live in the town and surroundings. Information gathered during the interviews also confirms that the local Terracotta artisan firms fit the definition of micro firms used by the European Commission (2003), with fewer than nine employees working in each. On average, respondents have been involved in their sector for more than 20 years; one of the respondents has worked as a Terracotta artisan for as long as 50 years. In addition, the majority of the firms have existed for generations; in fact, five were established over a century ago, clearly illustrating the long tradition of Terracotta artisanship in Impruneta, and in the region.\nResults: Extent of collaboration among the Terracotta artisans\nDiscussion and conclusions: Numerous studies have emphasised the importance of collaboration and cooperation, including among SMEs (de Jong and Freel, 2010; Nieto and Santamaria, 2010; Ogawa and Tanaka, 2012; Pal et al., 2013; Phillipson et al., 2006; Polenske, 2004; Smith et al., 1991). Much more limited, however, is the existing knowledge of collaboration among micro firms, or between these and other business stakeholders, including consumers, suppliers, or government agencies. A knowledge gap also exists with regard to the adoption of theoretical frameworks to facilitate understanding of collaboration among micro firms. By examining the case of Terracotta art firms, this study sought to address both areas, namely:\nImplications and recommendations: From a practitioner perspective, the potentially negative impacts of the apparent status quo with regard to collaboration among the participating firms represent one fundamental implication of the findings. For example, lack of collaboration may be preventing the sector from much-needed exchange of know-how, and in turn severely limiting innovation, adaptation, marketing and other strategies to improve Impruneta's Terracotta sector. During the interviews, this issue was noted by at least one respondent (R7), while others (R2 and R5) acknowledged collaborating externally as opposed to with Impruneta's artisans, thus, further limiting the flow of knowledge within the local sector. Another negative impact from limited collaboration is illustrated by the missed opportunities of not benefiting from a broader generic territorial Impruneta brand, whereby the individualistic character and art forms of the 16 different artisans, as opposed to only four as currently, could be included and featured. Doing so could help promote the sector, particularly Impruneta as an art town, and potentially benefit other local businesses and their sectors, or even promote tourism. Indeed, and whilst beyond the scope of the present study, one of the questions posed to the participants regarded the potential for developing a local tourism industry. In response, most of the artisans agreed that such potential existed, which further highlights the missed opportunities for the sector and the town under the current situation.\nLimitations and future research: One limitation of the study is that only the views and perceptions of ten of the currently 16 artisans currently operating in Impruneta could be gathered. Several attempts were made to invite the other firms to participate in the study, before, during, and after the researchers' travel to Impruneta. However, either by physically approaching the businesses, or by contacting them via email or telephone, it was not possible to reach them. In addition, the study focussed on only one sector (Terracotta art), and on only one town amongst the many Italian towns where artisanship constitutes one of the local industries. Despite these limitations, and as noted above, the study provides several insights that could be useful to both practitioners and academics.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Collaboration among businesses, particularly in the current global economic downturn, can be a key strategy contributing to their survival. This study examines the case of micro firms involved in Terracotta art in Impruneta, Italy, and the extent to which collaboration occurs among the local artisans. In doing so, the study aims to consider collaboration theory in the context of micro firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured, face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted among the owners and managers of ten of Impruneta's 16 Terracotta firms.\nFindings: Whilst much of the academic literature highlights the multiple benefits of collaborative relationships, most participants acknowledge very limited engagement in collaboration. From the comments gathered, two distinct groups emerged, one composed of members of the local Terracotta association, who to some extent collaborate with one another, and the second, the non-members, who pursue their interests individually, or marginally collaborate outside Impruneta. Further, a number of barriers preventing collaboration were identified.\nPractical implications: The apparent weak collaborative relationships among respondents may have ramifications for the further development of their sector, for instance, restricting innovation and marketing know-how, both of which could help address such external pressures as competition. The involvement of third parties, such as the local town hall or chambers of commerce, was suggested by several participants to help increase collaboration.\nOriginality/value: The study focuses on micro firms, a group that, despite its relevance for many countries' economies, has received limited attention from academic research, including with regard to collaboration and collaboration theory.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Stories affording new pathways: bridging the divide between aged and disability care	[ "Sensemaking", "Wicked problems", "Change", "Temporality", "Stories", "Age and disability care" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The management and organization of health care is complex (Pettigrew et al., 1992). This complexity stems from the range of stakeholders, consumers and professionals that seek to influence and shape health care policy and practice (McNulty and Ferlie, 2002). Health care crosses many dimensions: social, political, legal, economic, medical and environmental. It is influenced at many different levels by individuals, groups, communities, businesses, governments and families (Buchanan et al., 2007). It is not surprising, therefore, that change choices are often made in the context of competing and shifting perspectives and needs (McKee et al., 2008). Effective communication between participants in health care is central to successful outcomes, yet it is often partial, fragmented and partisan with limited empathetic understanding of other interests and perspectives (Bloor and Dawson, 1994).\nThe storying canvas for prospective change: In developing a framework for understanding stories as retrospective sensemaking devices that also afford new pathways in changing organizations through giving sense to new possibilities we draw on process studies (Pettigrew, 2012; Langley and Tsoukas, 2010), the storytelling work of Boje (2006) as well as those who have written directly on change stories (Brown et al., 2009; Buchanan and Dawson, 2007; Reissner, 2008; Jabri, 2012). In incorporating the temporality of past, present and future we move beyond the retrospective \"after-the-event\" analysis to include an examination of the ongoing present and projected future and in this, we draw on studies of time in organizations (Ancona et al., 2001; Araujo and Easton, 2012; Gell, 2001; Roe et al., 2009). Our concern with stories and temporality highlights the processes by which individuals and groups make and give sense to experience and thereby draws attention to the work of Weick (1995, 2001) as well as the more prospective sensemaking and sensegiving (which seeks to influence the sensemaking of others) as illustrated in the work of Gioia and Chittipeddi (1991) and Gioia et al. (2002).\nSetting the scene: intellectual disabilities and aged care in Australia: An Australian study into the transition arrangements for ageing people with intellectual disabilities was carried out by the authors across two separately funded community organizations based in NSW, Australia. As mentioned earlier, these comprise: Southern Disability Services (hereafter called Disability Services) who provide training and support services to people with disabilities and AAC, which is one of Australia's largest community based, retirement living and aged care providers. Both organizations operate under different funding models and it is only through \"crisis\" situations that people with intellectual disabilities from organizations like Disability Services, are able to move across to aged care prior to meeting the appropriate age criteria. Aged Care Services are targeted at people aged over 65 years who are frail/aged and who have limitations in performing core activities. Increasingly services are provided within the person's family home through a range of community packages and clients only transition into a residential facility when they are much older, and are too frail (and their care needs too high) to access services at home. Aged Care providers are funded to accommodate the special needs of some groups who are aged 50 years and older (e.g. Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders), however, people with intellectual disability are not identified as having special needs under the Aged Care Act 1997. Aged Care Assessors are required to assess people with intellectual disability in the same way as they assess the general ageing community, often finding it difficult (with current assessment tools) to differentiate whether behaviours and limits on core activities are disability or age-related. This is significant, as an increase in challenging behaviours in people with disability may be age-related but they are often assessed as ineligible for services due to having an intellectual disability, whereas members of the general public with similar challenging behaviours (dementia-related) would be eligible for aged care services.\nResearch strategy and methodology: A participatory action research methodology (Reason and Bradbury, 2001) was used in examining the process of managing the transition of people with intellectual disabilities into aged care day services. The research was conducted over two phases: first, through a series of exploratory interviews with staff and management at each organization, and second, through a ten week Pilot Project undertaken, one day per week, to trial the provision of disability day service programmes within an aged care setting.\nStories from the field: disability services and AAC: In drawing from our fieldwork data we present an analysis of some of the stories that are well established in one or other of the organizations. These well-known stories fit with Gabriel's (2000) notion of a good narrative with a recognizable beginning, middle and end. They provide retrospective sensemaking of disturbances and uncomfortable happenings in the everyday of events and conversations, whilst also offering the potential for dialogue and debate about the now and future of possible change pathways that may or may not occur. As such, they present a forum from which discussions can flow and ebb around a range of dimensions that may be brought into play by participating audiences. There was one particular story, which we refer to as Nadia's story (a pseudonym) that was used repeatedly by staff and managers in different contexts and times over the period of the research, to explain the complex and vexatious nature of the issues. It provides an ideal typical characterization of the wicked problem linked to the issue of transitioning people with intellectual disabilities into aged care facilities. Unlike \"tame\" problems that are resolvable requiring managers to identify the most appropriate procedures for resolution, \"wicked\" problems are far more complex with each solution often presenting new problems (Grint, 2005). In these situations a simple search and assessment of answers (solutions) are unlikely to produce the desired outcome as the problem requires wider reflection among stakeholders through ongoing dialogue prior to consideration of potential pathways for change. This particular story relates to a past event in which a person with intellectual disability suffers the bereavement of her mother (last surviving family member) and finds herself labelled as an outsider within the institution she is located (by some of the residents within an aged care facility) whilst also no longer being officially eligible to receive care within the institution in which (up until the time of this incident) she has been a co-resident with her mother. This person then becomes a representation of a wicked problem under current procedural arrangements causing high levels of concern, stress and emotionality among residents, staff, managers, friends and relatives, as well as the person in question.\nConclusion: Our research highlights the importance of stories in the early stages of change in identifying and characterizing problems, engaging stakeholders in discussion and dialogue, and in the development and assessment of innovative solutions to longstanding protracted problems. In illustrating how stories afford new pathways in changing organizations we have set out to show how stories are not simply retrospective sensemaking devices but are part of everyday lived experience that assimilates the past and future within the ongoing present. Time is often marked out by the clock, by the chronological time of being over 65 years of age for retirement purposes, but time is also lived time through performativity, reflection and anticipation. Our study illustrates how the circulation of retrospective stories are re-worked prospectively as organizational actors engage in dialogue and storying through collective practices and changing temporal and socio-material contexts. Established stories are retold not as simple illustrations of intractable problems but as offering platforms for dialogue and collaborative engagement in creating story space for breaking down old divisions and boundaries through co-constructing new stories that temporally merge past, present and future in formulating stories that give sense to new possibilities. These stories arise within a context, time and space in the meetings, activities and lunch time discussions that generate further stories that are variously reformed, replaced and reinforced over time. Dialogue and the performance of managing and providing care activities as well as residents co-involvement in new practices are all part of the social processes that are entwined in material and affective entities. Time, affect and sociomateriality all come into play in the spaces and places where stories are co-constructed and reconstituted to afford innovative pathways to change. New stories, more fragmented and terse and not yet part of organizational memory, emerged with creative power to shape the present during the initial conception of change and provides opportunities for dialogue in considering innovative solutions to longstanding problems. In this way, the sensemaking power of stories is used to relate and represent events that have occurred, whilst also giving sense and shaping meaning of what is occurring and enabling a prospective sensemaking of future possibilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the early stages of change and the way that stories can open up forms of collaborative dialogue and creative thinking among divergent stakeholders on known but \"intractable\" problems by enabling multiple voices to be heard in the co-construction of future possibilities for change. The empirical focus is on a project undertaken by two organizations located in Australia. The organizations - AAC, a large aged care provider and Southern Disability Services, a disability support service - collaborated with the researchers in identifying and re-characterizing the nature of the problem in the process of storying new pathways for tackling the transitioning needs of people with intellectual disabilities into aged care services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An action research approach was used in conducting interviews in the case organizations to ascertain the key dimensions of the presenting problem and to identify change options, this was followed by an ethnographic study of a Pilot Project used to trial the provision of disability day service programmes within an aged care setting.\nFindings: A key finding of the study centres on the importance of stories at the early stages of change in widening the arena of innovative opportunities, in facilitating collective acceptance of new ideas and in initiating action to resolve problems. The paper demonstrates how stories are used not only in retrospective sensemaking of existing problems but also in giving prospective sense to the possibilities for resolving protracted problems through innovative solutions that in turn facilitates a level of collective acceptance and commitment to opening up new pathways for change.\nOriginality/value: The paper focuses on problem characterization during the early stages of change and bring to the fore the often hidden notion of time in utilizing concepts from a range of literatures in examining temporality, stories and sensemaking in a context in which future possibilities are made sense of in the present through restorying experiences and events from the past. On a practical and policy front, the paper demonstrates the power of stories to mobilize commitment and action and presents material for rethinking change possibilities in the delivery of aged and disability care.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of employee job satisfaction in strengthening customer repurchase intentions	[ "Hierarchical analysis", "Job satisfaction", "Customer behavioural intentions", "Consumer behaviour", "Buying behaviour", "Greece" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: Given the growing competition in global markets and the pressures from the international economic environment, customer retention becomes an even more important corporate objective (Roos and Gustafsson, 2007). To achieve this, service organizations focus on service quality (Reichfeld and Sasser, 1990; Voss et al., 2004), and various scholar studies seek to explain the antecedents of the successful effort to retain the company\nTheoretical background: Underlying theories\nMethodology: Research design, sampling and data collection\nData analysis and results: When customers encounter front-line bank personnel, usually they interact with more than one employee (Liao and Chuang, 2004). Thus, customers\nDiscussion and implications: As a result of empirical findings that demonstrate the significant relationship between contact employees\nLimitations and future research: Clearly, certain factors pertaining to the design of the research impose certain limitations in this study. The first and most important is the collection of the data, which relied on different branches from a single bank. Besides the rational for this specific research design we explained earlier in the manuscript, one should keep in mind that this is not a new approach in marketing (cf. Narver and Slater, 1990). Nevertheless, there is a concern about the intensity of the relationships we would have identified had the sample been larger and included branches from more than one bank. However, the amount of variation between branches is significant, which in turn allows to treat the findings from this study with confidence. Nevertheless, in order to garner more explanation power and explore in more depth the links between employee job satisfaction and customer loyalty intention, it is advisable to test our conceptualization with a sample from a wider population (more banks and also more service industries). In fact this is an interesting and welcome direction for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of front line employee job satisfaction in customers\nDesign/methodology/approach: Research design is nested with data collected from both first line employees and customers. Data are collected from multiple branches of a single bank to eliminate the possibility of other parameters such as design of operations and physical evidence from masking the true effects of the variables under investigation.\nFindings: Employee job satisfaction influences a customer\nResearch limitations/implications: The degree of employee job satisfaction is a resource of strategic nature for these companies aiming to improve customer retention rates. Such companies should protect their ability to build employee job satisfaction and restrain themselves from policies that threaten to slim down the satisfaction their employees derive from their job.\nOriginality/value: Using a hierarchical research design, this is the first study that manages to establish the relationship between employee job satisfaction and customers\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is the gaming industry still recession-proof? A time series with intervention analysis of gaming volume in Iowa	[ "Time series", "Intervention analysis", "ARIMA", "Iowa gaming", "Gaming volume", "Coin-in", "Table drops", "Admissions", "Recession proof", "Time series analysis", "Betting", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The gaming industry has long been considered recession-proof. The recession of 2007, however, changed that perception as the US gaming industry was severely affected and saw significant declines in business (American Gaming Association, 1999-2012). Gaming volume declined from $37.52 billion in 2007 to $34.28 billion in 2009, an 8.64 percent decrease (American Gaming Association, 1999-2012). While volume has increased somewhat since then, it has yet to reach its pre-recession levels (American Gaming Association, 1999-2012). The statistics at the national level, however, do not necessarily reflect the situation within individual states. Most existing gaming-related research focuses on large gaming destinations such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City; very little focuses on non-destination gaming locales.\nReview of literature: Gaming through the recession\nMethod and data: Focusing on gaming volume, this study examined the performance of Iowa's gaming industry through the recession from the demand side. ARIMA with intervention analysis was employed to examine statewide aggregated monthly slot coin-in, table drop, and admission. Data were collected from the web site of Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.\nData: Although revenue is a commonly used business performance indicator, it is not an accurate indicator of the real volume of gaming businesses because it is affected by the percentage of wagers won by casinos. In contrast, the measures such as slot coin-in and table drop are quite stable and more reflective (Lucas, 2010; Eisendrath et al., 2008; Lucas et al., 2006). Slot coin-in is the amount casino patrons wager on slot machines, which is the purest available gaming volume indicator (Lucas and Santos, 2003; Lucas et al., 2005; Lucas and Dunn, 2005; Lucas et al., 2006; Lucas and Bowen, 2002).\nData analysis and results: Using the SAS/ETS Time Series Forecasting System, this study fitted SARIMA models on three monthly time series and performed intervention analysis on each of the models to identify and measure the possible significant impact the recession had on Iowa gaming volume and the lag time of the impact.\nDiscussion and implications: The results of ARIMA with intervention analyses listed in Table III indicate that, among the three gaming volume variables, only monthly table drop was significantly affected by the 2007 recession. No significant decrease was identified for monthly coin-in or admission. However, given the fact that aggregated state-wide gaming revenues totaled nearly $1.5 billion in 2007 (Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, 2008), the effect of the recession on monthly table drop of $693,065, while statistically significant, is not actually significant when compared to a monthly revenue average of over $100 million. The overall results of this study suggest that Iowa's gaming industry was not significantly affected by the recession. According to the statistics released by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (2008), the revenue percentage of table games in February 2008 was 22.37 percent, which means only 22.37 percent of the table drop in that month was retained by casinos and became table game revenue. Therefore, the significant monthly decrease of $693,065 in table drop represented only about a $155,039 ($693,065x22.37 percent) decrease in table game revenue, or about 0.129 percent of the total state-wide gaming revenue in the month of February 2008. Using the same methods, the annual percentage of decrease in aggregated state-wide gaming revenue caused by the significant decrease in table drop in 2008 was estimated to be 0.115 percent. Therefore, the first and most important finding of this study is that Iowa's gaming industry was not significantly affected by the recent recession.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how the recent recession affected Iowa's gaming industry by analyzing gaming volumes before and through the recession.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study used autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) with intervention analysis to examine Iowa statewide aggregated monthly slot coin-in, table drop, and admission from December 2001 through June 2012.\nFindings: The results of analyses show that: slot coin-in was not affected by the recession; table drop was slightly affected, but started to recover in late 2010; and monthly admission was not affected by the recession, and showed a significant increase after the recession. The results also indicate that the decrease in table drop in Iowa casinos represented only a very small amount of state gaming revenue in 2008. Therefore, the findings of this study suggest that Iowa's gaming volume was not significantly affected by the recent recession. In other words, Iowa's gaming industry is still recession-proof.\nPractical implications: Current economic conditions suggest that the threat of a double-dip recession is quite real. The findings of this study are expected to help casino managers in Iowa understand how non-destination casinos behaved differently through the recession and strategically plan for a possible future economic downturn. In fact, the significant increase of monthly admission during the last recession implies that the Iowa gaming industry has actually benefited from the recession by accommodating more patrons. Therefore, to capitalize on the next recession, Iowa's casino operators should consider reducing the number of table games and increasing the number of slot machines to accommodate more slot players and reduce operating costs.\nOriginality/value: Most existing gaming-related research focuses on gaming destinations such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City. No known study on gaming volume in non-destination gaming markets has been identified. By examining Iowa's gaming volume through the recession, this study provides initial empirical evidence of the impact of recession on non-destination gaming markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge strategies for enhancing school learning capacity	[ "Hong Kong", "Secondary schools", "Knowledge management", "Organizational learning", "School learning capacity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Schools in Hong Kong have long faced a variety of challenges in terms of sustainable development under the curriculum reforms to meet the demands of a knowledge society (Education and Manpower Bureau, 1999, 2000, 2005; Education Bureau, 2009). Schools are expected to develop human capital for the knowledge society within the competitive global economy, and to interact with its policy environment and know how to manage pedagogical knowledge. Following on from the impacts and challenges of delivery and the rapid emergence of knowledge from the curriculum reform, school administrators are expected to strengthen the learning capacity of their school for knowledge acquisition; teachers are required to develop their learning competency in order to acquire subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge when implementing the new curriculum. Knowledge is a general resource of the human condition and closely linked to the learning process. In tackling this challenge, schools would be looking at how to enhance school learning capacity for managing and processing the new information and knowledge.The process of constructively using the information and knowledge inherent in schools to enhance performance, management and operation is defined by Sallis and Jones (2002) as knowledge management. They assume that schools are entering a period when economic success will increasingly depend on the knowledge component within organisation, and that techniques exist to foster, develop and benefit from the human resources in any organisation. Knowledge management aims to support organisations in creating a capable structure which measures, stores and turns knowledge into intellectual capital, in other words, to create a learning organisation (Bollinger and Smith, 2001). It increases problem-solving capability and the ability to make improvements (Sallis and Jones, 2002). Knowledge management in schools can be seen as a framework or approach that enables teachers within the school organisation to develop a set of practices or knowledge strategies to collect information and share what they know, leading to action that improves teaching and learning outcomes and school learning capacity. Dixon (2000) articulates the concept of learning capacity as organisation competency in applying knowledge strategies, such as acquiring and transferring knowledge to reflect new knowledge and meaning. She proposes a concept of an organisational learning cycle to articulate how an organisation modifies its learning behaviour to capture knowledge.Some research has been conducted on the influence of knowledge management on organisational learning and its effectiveness (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Teece et al., 1997; Dixon, 2000), but few empirical studies have been carried out on school organisation. For this reason, analysis of the knowledge management related effects that learning capacity has on organisational performance is an attractive proposition which should make a positive contribution to this field. Few research were carried out to explore how knowledge strategies are interrelated and reinforce each other as a central condition for school learning capacity. This study intends to identify knowledge strategies that will enhance the learning capacity of aided schools in Hong Kong. It is hoped that this research will provide certain insights for schools that aim to enhance school learning capacity by implementing knowledge management. The study makes a theoretical contribution to the literature of knowledge management in education and provides practical strategies for school administrators that shed light on steps that can be taken to enhance school learning capacity.\nLiterature review: School learning capacity is the process of increasing the teaching competency of teachers or improving models of school management which enable a school to be more responsive and flexible as an organisation (Hargreaves et al., 1998). It is the collective competency of the teachers as a whole to bring about effective change and the key construct in creating conditions within the school to enhance collective learning (Hopkins and Jackson, 2003). School learning capacity involves individual teacher learning and organisational learning. Cheng (2011) adopted Senge's (1990) five disciplines of organisational learning at individual level and organisational level for promoting collective teacher learning in the school organisation. According to Cheng's study, individual teacher learning capacity cannot be completely separated from organisational learning capacity. Strong individual teacher learning capacity does not guarantee a well-developed organisational learning capacity, because the mere compilation of the personal knowledge of individual members is not collective learning (Senge, 1990). An individual has truly had an impact on the organisation when the new knowledge they have created has led to a change in the organisation's systems. Organisational learning occurs when such knowledge is captured and systemised to the benefit of the entire organisation. The pillars of school learning capacity are focused on both individual and organisational learning. Both individual teacher learning capacity and organisational learning capacity contribute to school learning capacity.Individual learning capacity\nResearch methods: Research questions:\nFindings: Exploratory factor analysis\nDiscussion: In response to RQ1: What knowledge strategies are implemented in aided secondary schools in Hong Kong? The results of the SEM showed that knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge utilisation were identified as the knowledge processes applied in school organisation (see Table I). But surprisingly, the variables of the knowledge processes of storing and knowledge creation cannot be empirically constructed in the model. This finding suggests that teachers can retrieve documents related to teaching information and knowledge they need by making use of the school intranet, internet and colleagues. They can also internalise teaching information into useable knowledge after obtaining it and apply teaching knowledge to an actual teaching situation in order to solve teaching problems. They discuss teaching-related issues and provide professional teaching knowledge to their co-workers through experience sharing.This finding was interesting. It indicates that schools have tended to adopt knowledge sharing via interpersonal interaction as a knowledge strategy (Zack, 1999) rather than codification strategies for knowledge storing. The choice of knowledge strategy depends on the specific organisational context (Blackler, 1995). In school organisation, knowledge is usually shared through person-to-person contacts based on dialogue through social networks including occupational groups and teams and less on use of the information technology. Teacher communication and knowledge sharing are usually carried out person to person rather than by codifying the teaching knowledge into documents and sharing them with colleagues through school intranet. However, the teachers do not consider that they can create subject knowledge or pedagogical content knowledge through this interpersonal knowledge sharing strategies. The process for creation of pedagogical content knowledge in individual teacher level not only requires the teachers to retrieve and share knowledge, but also to internalise the knowledge through teaching practice and action learning (Kolb, 1984). Similarly, knowledge creation in organisational level requires the implementation of the knowledge strategies through organisational action learning (Argyris, 1993). If the schools adopt interpersonal knowledge sharing strategies, but the teachers have no platforms and resources to conduct action research individually and collaboratively for knowledge internalisation in personal and organisational level, pedagogical content knowledge cannot be created.In response to RQ2: Did the knowledge strategy contribute to learning capacities at school and individual level? The results of the SEM showed that the knowledge processes of sharing (b=0.26) and utilisation (b=0.62) are identified as the predictive factors of individual learning capacity, while retrieval (b=0.14) and sharing (b=0.47) are identified as the predictive factors of organisation learning capacity. Individual learning capacity and organisation learning capacity co-exist in the model and are correlated (b=0.39) with each other (see Figure 1).Knowledge sharing is a predictive factor of learning capacity at both individual and organisation level. This finding suggests that knowledge sharing is the most significant knowledge process for enhancing school learning capacity. This finding is consistent with Gandhi's (2004) assertion that the most important aspect of knowledge management is to encourage people to share knowledge. Bruner (1996) argues that knowledge can be co-constructed through discussion and collaboration in which the learning capacity is developed. Building teacher learning capacity involves collaborative learning and practice (McDonald, 2001; Little, 2001). Shulman (2004) also suggests that learning in collaboration provides teachers with opportunities for peer observation and discussion which help to prevent a distorted perception of one's own teaching. The building of organisation learning capacity involves cultivating a professional learning community that provides a shared purpose, collaboration, reflective inquiry and influence; and a coherent programme (King and Newmann, 2001). These views on enhancing learning capacity highlight the situated and social nature of knowledge sharing.Knowledge utilisation is a predictive factor of individual learning capacity. This knowledge process involves the application of knowledge to decision making and problem solving (Tannenbaum and Alliger, 2000). The process of knowledge utilisation in a school context can be understood as the learning process of knowledge internalisation through teaching practices. Teacher learning involves utilising teaching knowledge in teaching practices. By using the knowledge obtained from sharing to conduct teaching practices, explicit knowledge is internalised to become implicit knowledge, and is reconstructed through reflection to become personal knowledge (Kolb, 1984). Therefore, individual learning capacity can be enhanced through knowledge utilisation. Teachers normally use the knowledge for decision making and problem solving in classroom teaching rather than in school-wide managerial decision issues (Cheng, 2008). They are interested in using the knowledge for decision making at classroom level rather than school level. In this study, organisational learning capacity is conceptualised as system thinking in school managerial decision issues (Senge, 1990). If teachers show no interest in using knowledge for decision making on school managerial issues, it is not surprising that knowledge utilisation is not a predictive factor of organisational learning capacity.Knowledge retrieval is a predictive factor of organisational learning capacity. This knowledge process involves retrieving information and knowledge from the internet, school intranet, seminar and meetings. Organisational learning is the process of gaining knowledge which empowers members of an organisation to understand and thus to act and communicate effectively (Addleson, 2006). The building of organisational capacity therefore involves dissemination of knowledge (King and Newmann, 2001). The knowledge process of retrieving information and knowledge should promote better organisation communication. Accordingly, it is a predictor of organisational learning capacity. However, knowledge retrieval is not a predictive factor of individual learning capacity. Retrieving knowledge is only part of teacher learning; it requires utilisation to complete the learning process. Therefore it cannot enhance individual learning capacity.The process of knowledge retrieval, sharing and utilisation is applied in the schools in this study as a knowledge strategy for enhancing school learning capacity. This finding may provide insight for researchers to further develop their research agenda in terms of exploring effective knowledge strategies, such as cultivating communities of practices or using databases to store documentation for the creation and transfer of knowledge in school organisations (Hansen et al., 1999; Nonaka et al., 2006). It may provide a practical approach by which school administrators can formulate knowledge strategies for the sustainable development of their schools.\nImplications: School learning capacity is a critical factor for sustainable development in curriculum reforms (Verbiest et al., 2005). How to enhance school learning capacity becomes a significant question for school administrators if they are really serious about the sustainable development of their school. As the aided secondary schools in this study have adopted knowledge sharing via interpersonal interaction as a knowledge strategy, school administrators should shift the knowledge sharing process from a technological dimension to an intrapersonal interactive dimension and shift the knowledge practices of codification of knowledge for retrieval to face-to-face discussion (Davenport and Prusak, 1998). They may consider cultivating community of practices as a knowledge strategy and encouraging the culture of knowledge sharing within the school organisation, as this plays a major role in contributing to the knowledge process and determining the knowledge flow.Wenger (2004) proposes cultivating communities of practices as the core knowledge strategies of organisation. Wenger's framework of communities of practice stresses the importance of collaborative learning among teachers and the contribution of knowledge sharing for enhancing learning. Under this concept, individual teacher learning would take place within the context of a social relationship with other members of the community who have shared interests and common concerns in the realm of practices. The approach of communities of practices has also been used in organisational learning approaches in workplace learning (Wenger et al., 2002). It is based on the idea that one cannot separate knowledge from practice. A community of practice shares knowledge in living ways rather than in database or documentation form. Even if information is captured in a manual, the knowledge is frequently highly contextual and cannot be collected. If knowledge sharing via interpersonal interaction is a knowledge strategy that aims to help teachers to develop learning capacity to improve their teaching practice and curriculum implementation, then the interaction function of the community of practice is essential. Research shows that community of practice can enhance teacher learning (Cheng, 2009). Community of practice as a knowledge strategy can be implemented in the school organisation to enhance school learning capacity.School administrators could strengthen the learning capacity of their schools by cultivating community of practices in the school organisations. They could nurture a culture of trust to facilitate knowledge sharing among teachers. Teachers require the existence of trust in order to respond openly and share their knowledge (Gruenfeld et al., 1996). School administrators could first promote trust in their schools by fostering trust between themselves and their teachers, then empower them to engage mutually for negotiating a joint enterprise and provide resource to support the development of a shared repertoire for knowledge retrieval. They may formulate school-based policies to involve teachers in professional development for knowledge retrieval and sharing and to empower them in shared decision making for knowledge utilisation in school organisation. With the development of community of practices as the knowledge strategies, teachers will be able to manage their pedagogical knowledge and their professional competency will be enhanced; schools will be enabled to interact with its policy environment and know how to develop human capital for the knowledge society within the competitive global economy.\nConclusion: This study constructs an empirical model for articulating the predictive relationship between knowledge strategy and school learning capacity. The schools in this study use an interpersonal interactive knowledge sharing strategy to enhance the learning capacity of their schools. This paper makes a theoretical contribution to existing knowledge management literatures by providing an empirical model for effective implementation of knowledge strategies and a practical contribution to schools by providing a knowledge management strategy for improving learning at organisation and individual level. It is in the interests of school administrators to formulate knowledge strategies in their schools to help teachers to cope with the demands of recent curriculum reform. They might consider cultivating community of practices to enhancing learning in both organisation and individual levels. The study provides a framework to support individual teacher learning and school organisation learning, as a means of tackling the challenges of sustainable school development raised by curriculum reform for the knowledge society.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify the knowledge strategies applied in aided secondary schools in Hong Kong and to explore the predictive relationship between knowledge strategies and school learning capacity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A cross-sectional quantitative survey was designed to collect data from 427 teachers at 15 aided secondary schools in Hong Kong. Exploratory factor analysis and a structural equation model were applied to explore the factor structure of the latent variables and their relationships.\nFindings: - The results showed that the schools use interpersonal interactive knowledge sharing as their major knowledge strategy. Knowledge retrieval, utilisation and sharing were identified as the predictive factors for individual learning capacity and organisation learning capacity.\nPractical implications: - School administrators could consider the knowledge strategy of cultivating a community of practices in school organisation to develop teacher teaching competency and to enhance school learning capacity for sustainable development.\nOriginality/value: - The paper connects research on knowledge management and organisational learning in a school context and explores a knowledge strategy that could be applied effectively in education organisation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Facilitating employees' and students' process towards nascent entrepreneurship	[ "Employees", "Nascent entrepreneurship", "Facilitated reflective practices", "Intrapreneurship", "Latent nascent entrepreneurship", "Non-business students" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Full-time entrepreneurship studies (ES) in higher education have been researched a lot (e.g. Kuratko, 2005; Rae, 2010). Additionally, plenty of studies have been conducted about learning in workplaces (e.g. Bratton, 2005; Dwerryhouse, 2001; Ehiyazaryan and Barraclough, 2009; Ogilvie and Homan, 2012). However, the transitions from employees or full-time, non-business students to nascent entrepreneurs, facilitated through the learning process exploiting both the development of workplace practices and ES (see Billett, 2002; Jackson, 2006, 2010), have been less examined.\nPhases of an entrepreneurial process: Despite an active research field, the entrepreneurship-related learning process suffers from a lack of convergent conceptual definitions (e.g. Mwasalwiba, 2010; Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). According to Welter and Smallbone (2011), entrepreneurial behaviour should be interpreted and defined in the context where it occurs. In this paper, the context is the last course in the ES.\nMethodology and data: The current research follows the tradition of the case study, which uses a constructive approach. Ten ES students participated in the examined, web-based course in 2012 at the Open University of Lapland. In the daytime, the ES students were leaders, educators, shop assistants and full-time, non-business university students. The author facilitated the course.\nCrucial factors about the ES students' development periods and reports: The examined course \"Researching one's own work to develop one's own entrepreneurial acting\" was the last one in the ES programme. The course objectives included each student's ability to document his or her own work, evaluate and analyse the documentation and use the results of the analysis in developing his or her work further (see list below). The approach in all these objectives was planned to be each ES student's entrepreneurial way of thinking and acting. The web-based course comprised 16 hours of virtual lessons and individual written reports.\nDiscussion: Because the ES programme was web based and organised through the Open University, which often meant lessons in the evenings, it enabled and encouraged a participation of students which daily work or study something else as full-time students. This kind of arrangement also made ES available for diverse individuals with various life careers. According to the pre-information gotten during the courses before the investigated one, the ES students were presupposed to enact their developments in non-business environments. During the course, the lecturer supervised the students' activities and reflection processes in terms of small-sized entrepreneurs' attributes, skills and behaviour (Hietanen et al., 2014; Gibb, 2005), while noticing each student's own needs and interests as much as possible (e.g. Blenker et al., 2012; van Gelderen, 2010). However, both the joint negotiations in web-based meetings during the different steps of the course and the last reports focused on issues that were closer to intrapreneurial than entrepreneurial behaviour. The objective of the current research was to determine the crucial factors in the author's facilitation process that awakened clearer intrapreneurship than nascent entrepreneurship amongst the ES students identified as latent nascent entrepreneurs (see Brixy et al., 2012).\nConclusion: This paper focuses on studying ES alongside work or full-time, non-business studies and on developing one's own entrepreneurial activity facilitated by an expert of entrepreneurship education. Paying attention to one's own career and its development in multi-dimensional networks has been acknowledged as a remarkable approach in developing personal working life competencies, for example, in Finland (Ministry of Employment and the Economy, 2012) where the case has taken place. The course discussed in this paper emphasises learning tasks dealing with entrepreneurship and developed in co-operation with the workplace or in lessons in other, full-time studies which in this case have been understood as \"workplaces\" as well.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate a model for facilitating employees' and full-time, non-business students' entrepreneurial capabilities during their optional entrepreneurship studies at one Finnish Open University.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The case study investigates the course in which transitions from employees or non-business students to nascent entrepreneurs are presupposed to happen. The examined phenomenon is the lecturer's (the author's) facilitating process. The key method is to support the ES students in developing their daily practices and reflecting on these from an entrepreneurial view.\nFindings: For the ES students identified as latent nascent entrepreneurs, the development period facilitated by exploiting small-sized entrepreneurs' attributes, skills and behaviour mainly awakened intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship was an unexpected phase because the lecturer did not offer it as an alternative. This necessitated the lecturer to investigate her instructions during the ES students' development processes to find out the crucial factors that might have awakened their intrapreneurship.\nPractical implications: In the current case, intrapreneurship seems to be an essential phase between latent nascent and nascent entrepreneurship. Therefore, it is important to note the elements in the facilitation process that may strengthen intrapreneurship. The implications of latent nascent entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial processes should be further investigated, whether strengthening intrapreneurship would produce more nascent entrepreneurs than processes without noticing intrapreneurship.\nOriginality/value: Developing and reflecting on one's practices from an entrepreneurial viewpoint as an employee or a full-time, non-business student seem worthy of more examinations. Generally, opportunities for encouraging new start-ups by these people comprise an unknown area when considering supported entrepreneurial processes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Technology brokering in action: revolutionizing the skiing and tennis industries	[ "Innovation", "Entrepreneurship", "Technology brokering", "Great Man Theory of Innovation", "Howard Head", "Tennis", "Skiing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The history of the skiing and tennis industries, especially as it relates to the development of the key innovations needed to participate in these sports (e.g. skis, rackets, ball machines), tells the same general story of a revolutionary innovator, Howard Head, a summary of which is synthesized below (cf. Lund, 1996; Dodge, 1961; Wray, 1991; Fisher, 1977; Parsons, 2012):\nHoward Head: Head was born on July 31, 1914, to a mathematics teacher and dentist. Head's life story, when considered in its entirety, provides necessary context for the understanding of the overarching process of innovation. Accordingly, this section paints a more complete picture of Head's life story than what is commonly depicted in print (summarized above). It is primarily informed by insights gleaned from his unpublished personal memoirs, papers and interviews with family that, to date, have gone relatively unexplored.\nDiscussion: The GMT posits that for a given innovation (e.g. light bulbs, phonographs, automobiles), there is a singular name and date by which one can credit the moment of invention (e.g. Henry Ford invented the automobile, the Quadricycle, in 1896; Sorensen, 2006). Hargadon (2003, pp. 92-93) notes that the GMT \"reflects the myth of the lone genius, the cult of the inventor\" by which men like Ford, Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs are put on pedestals as visionary innovators credited with created magnificence out of nothing. Yet some of the \"great men\" personally challenge the theory, with Ford noting:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the true sources of innovation that revolutionized two sports industries - skiing and tennis, tracking the flow of ideas and power of technology brokering through the eyes of the innovator, Howard Head.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a focal innovation action-set framework, the authors unite heretofore-disparate pieces of information to paint a more complete picture of the innovation and technology brokering process. Primary source material from Head's patents, personal memoirs and journals and documented correspondence between him, his brother and his colleagues are augmented with secondary source material from periodicals, media excerpts and the academic literature.\nFindings: Head stands as an exemplar example of a technology broker, both through his serial practice of recombinant innovation and his savvy exploitation of resources. Results discredit the Great Man Theory of Innovation, while emphasizing the importance of exploiting social capital to realize opportunities.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first to offer detailed insight into the technology brokering and innovation processes that revolutionized the tennis and skiing industries. It is novel in that it is one of very few papers to challenge the Great Man Theory of Innovation propagated by many textbooks and mass media, explores the process of technology brokering from the broker's perspective rather than organizationally and uses focal innovation action-set methodology to complement a historical biographical sketch of innovativeness relative to sports equipment and machines.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Post-retail responsibility of garments - a fashion industry perspective	[ "Sustainability", "Fashion", "Extended producer responsibility", "Post-consumer textile waste", "Product take back", "Second hand retailing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainable fashion and sustainability in the fashion industry are terms that are increasingly common. Broadly, these terms are associated with fashion brands' endeavours to improve their social and ecological footprints along their global supply chains, a trend that will continue in the future due to the industry's increasing use of resources, as well as social and environmental impacts. For decades the industry has focused on improving upstream supply chain practices, mainly related to social and environmental issues of production, such as human rights, waste management, toxic-free production processes and sustainable materials, while downstream supply chain issues, such as use, reuse and end-of-use management issues are only recently gaining more attention (Allwood et al., 2008; Dickson et al., 2009; Fletcher and Grose, 2012; Ho and Choi, 2012).\nBackground: Today's fashion world is characterized by its high volatility, low predictability, products' short life cycles and high volume of impulse purchasing where speed and rapid change have become synonyms of fashion markets, making companies' survival determinant on flexibility and quick responsiveness (Christopher et al., 2004). With the exception of the luxury market, the industry is considered a low-value manufacturing industry and the trend towards more complex and faster garment supply chains is leaving behind a negative ecological footprint (Ho and Choi, 2012). A study by Birtwistle and Moore (2007) among fashion consumers further indicates that fast fashion encourages a \"throwaway culture\" where products and fashion have lost their intrinsic value and encourages consumers to replace and dispose of products before their real life cycle has ended.\nEPR within textiles: Initiatives where fashion brands are involved with product take-back, reselling, recycling, downcycling and upcycling activities are referred to as product stewardship or EPR (Kostecki, 1998). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines EPR as \"[...] an environmental policy approach in which a producer's responsibility, physical and/or financial, for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product's life cycle\" (OECD, 2001, p. 18). The EPR concept has two main functions, the first is to shift responsibility upstream to the producer by internalizing the environmental costs of treatment and disposal, which could then be incorporated into the cost of the product, and second, with its focus on extending producer responsibility to post-consumer products, EPR can provide a pressure point to drive upstream changes in materials selection and in the design aspects of a product (OECD, 2001). There are many EPR programmes in operation globally and an EPR programme can be mandatory, driven by policy or voluntary, driven by industry (Kibert, 2003). The most active use of EPR under both of these methods is product take-back that is applied to specific products (e.g. automobiles), product categories (e.g. electric and electronic products) or waste streams (e.g. packaging) (OECD, 2001). An example of a mandatory government run ERP is the European Union's Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), which is based on a polluter pays principle and makes producers responsible for taking back and recycling their WEEE products at no cost to consumers (Kibert, 2003). A good example of an industry driven, voluntary EPR programme is the US carpet industry, led by carpet manufacturer, Interface, who provides a leasing arrangement for consumers to purchase the use of the carpet, while Interface retains ownership. After the lease period is over, Interface takes back the carpet and grinds it up to reuse and thereby creates a closed-loop EPR programme (Kibert, 2003).\nMethodology: Data collection for this exploratory study was conducted in two phases. Phase 1 was based on secondary sources, several discussions with industry contacts and the author's own practical experience, which supported a mapping of generic industry trends and identification of relevant case companies. The cases were selected from among the fashion industry's early movers who are involved with sustainability practices with particular focus on post-retail activities. Phase 2 commenced with 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven companies, of which ten were individual interviews and two were group interviews. Review of company documents from these seven companies, as well as two additional well-documented cases, were conducted for a total of nine company initiatives. The majority of informants were companies' CSR or sustainability managers, while the remainder represented marketing, production and retail functions. On average the interviews ranged between 60-120 minutes and were conducted within a ten-month period in 2011 and 2012. In total, nine interviews took place at the interviewee's office location, one interview was conducted by e-mail and two interviews were conducted over the phone.\nOverview of industry-driven post-retail initiatives: Fletcher (2008) suggests that the most common approach to deal with waste arising from the textile industry is to implement waste management strategies (e.g. reuse, reduce and recycle), which intervene at the end of the industrial chain of clothes. This explorative study analysed nine company initiatives in the global fashion industry addressing products' post-retail phases and demonstrates how these strategies are being interpreted and implemented in terms of post-consumer textile waste in the fashion industry. Initially, the case selection process tried to identify best practices among the fashion companies that are engaged with reuse and recycling practices of used textiles, however, during the data collection it appeared that the field is complex and fragmented and the identified companies were still going through experiential learning based on trial and error, and are gradually adopting new routines, procedures or strategies that lead to favourable outcomes (Levitt and March, 1988). Hence the study ended up as an exploratory investigation of the emerging post-retail field of fashion. An overview of the studied companies and a summary of their post-retail initiatives are presented in Table I.\nOrganization of the initiatives: There is a suggestion that partnerships and collaboration between different industry stakeholders play an important role in tackling many sustainability issues (Googins and Rochlin, 2002; Neergaard et al., 2009) and collaboration brings many benefits to partners through sharing of resources, product or service innovation or access to new markets (Googins and Rochlin, 2002).\nFindings from thematic analyses and discussion: As previously discussed, fashion brands have generally been absent from the textile recycling discourse and there is no clear understanding of the fashion industry's engagement with textile reuse and recycling. It was therefore the goal of the interviews to shed light on the topic and create a better understanding of what is behind these initiatives. More precisely, this study investigated how fashion companies perceive their role in minimizing textile waste and what opportunities and challenges they relate with this new field, with the analysed data grouped under these three areas (Table II).\nFashion brands' role in post-retail sustainability of clothes: Responses to how informants perceived their role in minimizing textile waste were largely related to their aspiration of being more responsible and changing unsustainable practices of the current fashion industry. A majority of the studied initiatives were linked to the companies' existing CSR and sustainability agendas, which earlier had primarily focused on environmental and social impacts of the upstream supply chain. Expanding responsibility to the end-of-life of their products was therefore a logical step for these companies to pursue.\nPost-retail-related opportunities: There are three main driving forces for companies to engage with the end-of-life aspects of their products, often referred to as reverse logistics, namely economic, corporate citizenship and legislative (Alvarez-Gil et al., 2007). Economic forces demonstrate that reverse logistics activities have the potential to improve profitability through cost minimization, access to new consumer segments and increased revenues. Corporate citizenship refers to the search for sustainable development from an environmental and social perspective while legislation issues refer to the norms made obligatory by any jurisdiction that dictate the legal obligations of a firm. The findings from the current study show that the main drivers for fashion brands to enter the post-retail field are both economic and corporate citizenship. Companies see several business opportunities connected to the post-retail phases of their product through resale of their used products (companies who focus on second hand retailing), increased customer loyalty and new customer groups. This finding supports Fletcher and Grose's (2012) argument that not just physical garments are deposited in landfills, also design and business opportunities end up buried in a hole in the ground and therefore used textiles should be seen instead as a potential catalyst for business opportunities.\nPost-retail-related challenges: Engaging with reuse and recycling practices is a new phenomenon for the fashion industry, which brings along several challenges. First, companies have limited knowledge and experience with collection, redistribution and recycling of their products and they see reverse logistics as a challenge. According to Wells and Seitz (2005) there are variations in terms of the reasons for product return, the method of collection, the infrastructure used, the place at which the product is returned and the subsequent destination of the product. As there are no best practices available and no legislation to guide the industry companies are currently alone in developing reverse logistics system that matches their needs. For example, for fashion brands with strong a global presence and complex distribution channels it is challenging to set up a product take-back and redistribution system and therefore they try to find an external partner to find the most meaningful solution for both the company and the customer.\nConclusion: The purpose of this study was to explore the post-consumer textile waste issue from a fashion industry perspective. This explorative study shed light on various innovations that are happening in the fashion industry in terms of sustainability and strategic solutions dealing with garments' end-of-life. First, an overview of diverse initiatives of early movers on the market was presented, which was elaborated with the findings from the thematic analyses about the motives, opportunities and challenges behind these initiatives. The study looked into nine different cases revealing a field that is still relatively new with no best practices or established patterns.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the reuse and recycling of garments from the fashion industry's perspective. Through multiple case studies the paper maps the emerging organizational field of post-retail responsibility of garments, describing how and why several fashion companies have engaged with reuse and recycling practices and which opportunities and challenges they face.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study relies on the qualitative multiple explorative case study method. The data were collected from 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven fashion companies and documentation analyses of two companies. Data were analyzed using the thematic analyses approach. The main limitation of the study is the limited selection of cases and therefore a larger data set and further studies are required to extend the understanding of the phenomenon for more generalized statements and in-depth understanding.\nFindings: The findings demonstrate that post-retail responsibility of fashion is an emerging field in the fashion industry that offers several business opportunities to fashion companies, but also requires rethinking of existing value propositions and engagement of a wider stakeholder group in order to find sustainable solutions for garments' end of life. The field is still new with limited best practice, however, two main strategies of how fashion companies address post-retail responsibility of their products can be distinguished: second hand retailing and product take-back schemes.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to research by advancing understanding of fashion industry's role in the end-of-life of their products and the associated opportunities and challenges. This study belongs to the first round of research that directly addresses the post-consumer textile waste from the fashion industry's perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Making friends with Frankenstein: hybrid practice in BIM	[ "Project management", "Innovation", "Change management", "Project teams", "Building Information Modelling (BIM)", "Hybrid practice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Building Information Modelling (BIM) is no longer a new concept in the construction industry. Industry surveys internationally have shown that BIM adoption is progressing rapidly. Uptake appears to have increased across the world, in the full range of industry disciplines and sectors. Support from major clients is also becoming widespread, especially government agencies. National BIM mandates have been implemented in several countries, and others are looking to follow suit (Wong et al., 2010).\nData collection and analysis: A qualitative methodology has been adopted in this study, with the intention of exploring BIM practice from the perspective of a range of industry participants who have been identified as \"BIM specialists\" by their peers. The presented analysis is based on interviews carried out in New Zealand and Australia in 2013/2014 with 38 BIM specialists from a variety of disciplines. Participants represented 29 companies, from a range of company types. In the absence of an organised industry body that represents BIM specialists, a peer-esteem snowball sampling approach was adopted. To be considered a BIM specialist, the participants either had a formal job description involving BIM (e.g. BIM manager, BIM co-ordinator) or were identified by their peers as the BIM champion or BIM leader in their company or discipline group. Initial respondents in New Zealand were identified through academic and industry networks, and these respondents provided contact details or suggested avenues for recruitment of further participants, in New Zealand and Australia. A range of industry participants were included from a variety of disciplines and levels (see Table I).\nGenerating factors of hybrid environments: There is still a lot of uncertainty around what a BIM project entails, and a variety of implementation approaches are evident in practice. As a result, almost all projects are to some degree hybrid, rather than \"pure BIM\" projects in form and execution. Although all of the interviewees in this sample were considered BIM experts by their peers, and some of their companies were considered leaders both nationally and internationally in BIM, their direct involvement with BIM at the time of the interviews had been solely in hybrid projects. The interview data suggest that the reasons for hybrid practice in BIM vary considerably, and multiple reasons may apply within a single project. The implementation configurations that result present a variety of problems and challenges. The following subsections probe some of the different contributing factors that are evident in the emergence of hybrid implementations, and associated justifications that are apparent in the data.\nManagement of hybrid environments: Within a hybrid BIM environment, the BIM specialist tends to take responsibility for both making the necessary compromises work as efficiently as possible within the present situation, and for working towards a more integrated BIM environment in the future. The following subsections explore some of the elements of the responsibilities taken on by the BIM specialist, the resulting relationships and the effects on the BIM specialist role.\nDiscussion: This examination of the underlying factors of hybrid practice and some of the approaches to managing it suggests some further reflections on how hybrid practice needs to be viewed as a central element of the drive towards integrated BIM practice across the construction industry. Governments internationally have set goals of improved communication, more collaborative processes and increased productivity through the sharing of building information across projects. Although the New Zealand and Australian Governments have not taken the mandated BIM approach as seen in the UK, some clients have started to introduce BIM capability as a qualifying factor when calling for expressions of interest for major construction projects, and for BIM models as a required product alongside the built facility. As a result, these findings can be seen to contribute to better understanding of routes towards BIM uptake.\nConclusions: A positive framing of hybrid practice can help to avoid unstructured and uncontrolled processes which result in \"Frankenstein BIM\". Viewing BIM practice as an evolutionary process, rather than a paradigm shift in the industry, may help to make potential gains more accessible. Some of the factors that necessitate hybrid project environments can be seen to impede more integrated BIM implementation, but it is argued that despite these negative causes, hybrid practice is a beneficial process in the development of BIM capacity across the industry. It can be viewed from two perspectives. First, it may be a valid implementation goal in its own right. For organisations that do not have the resources or capability to engage more fully with BIM, or who do not consider that a fuller implementation will deliver any more benefit, hybrid practice allows them to realise some improvements from information exchange and collaborative processes, without requiring greater investment. Second, for organisations who do believe that increasing participation in BIM will deliver further improvements and improved returns, hybrid practice provides an incremental approach for exploring their capabilities and developing more complex skills and processes towards a fully integrated BIM environment. Not every organisation will progress beyond hybrid practice, but very few will achieve capability in an integrated BIM environment without working within some hybrid projects along the way.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although the potential of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to generate process and performance improvement in the construction industry has been widely documented, very few projects operate in a wholly BIM environment. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that lead to hybrid practice in BIM across disciplines or project stages, and accommodations that must be reached within BIM project frameworks to allow for it.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with 38 BIM specialists from Australia and New Zealand, representing a variety of construction industry disciplines and roles. Data on current practice and experiences in BIM were analysed using a thematic approach within a qualitative framework.\nFindings: Hybrid BIM practice is shown to be a common experience for practitioners in New Zealand and Australia. It is presented as a valid model of BIM adoption; both as a development stage in the process towards more complete BIM implementation, and also as an adoption model in its own right.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is based on data from New Zealand and Australia, which are currently developing BIM markets. Although surveys have demonstrated many similarities in BIM adoption processes internationally, results may be less applicable to more mature markets.\nPractical implications: The paper suggests that instead of regarding hybrid BIM negatively as an unsuccessful implementation, companies should seek to identify and manage the causes and effects of hybridisation in order to improve project outcomes.\nOriginality/value: This paper addresses the management of transitional stages of BIM implementation, which is often overlooked in research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dimensions of price satisfaction: a study in the retail banking industry	[ "Prices", "Banking", "Retailing", "Customer satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Customer satisfaction, one of the central marketing objectives, is closely linked to customer loyalty, the likelihood of recommendation to others, cross-buying behavior, up-grading and lower price sensitivity (Anderson et al., 1994; Matzler et al., 2005; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Zeithaml, 2000). It therefore, contributes considerably to a company's growth and profitability. This has been shown in a number of empirical studies across various industries. Using data from the Swedish customer satisfaction barometer (based on 77 firms representing 70 percent of Sweden's economic output), Anderson et al. (1994) found a significant association between customer satisfaction and return on assets (ROA). Ittner and Larcker (1998) found a relationship between satisfaction and accounting returns. Yeung and Ennew (2000) link data from the American customer satisfaction index (Fornell et al., 1996) to a range of measures of financial performance and Eklof et al. (1999) as well as Anderson et al. (2004) and Matzler et al. (2005) demonstrate empirically a relationship between customer satisfaction and shareholder value. In a bank setting, Hallowell (1996) and Johnson et al. (1996) demonstrated that customer satisfaction is related to customer loyalty, which, in turn, is related to profitability. Hence, customer satisfaction management has become a key issue. Already ten years ago, according to a survey of more than 200 of the largest American companies, more than 90 percent of them were using some form of customer satisfaction management program (Lowenstein, 1996).The central role of price as a purchasing determinant as well as in post-purchasing processes is well recognized. In a qualitative study focusing on switching behavior in services, Keaveney (1995) reports that more than half of customers switched because of poor price perception (compared to competitors). Varki and Colgate (2001) arrived at similar results in their study of the banking industry; particularly that price perception directly influences customer satisfaction, the likelihood of switching, and the likelihood of recommendation to others. Considering the central role of pricing in consumer behavior it is surprising that in customer satisfaction surveys little attention is paid to various aspects of pricing (Herrmann et al., 2000). At best, price is regarded as one out of several attributes in questionnaires (Fornell et al., 1996; Sternquist et al., 2004; Voss et al., 1998) and little is known about the antecedents and consequences of price satisfaction.In this paper we empirically find that price satisfaction is a complex construct consisting of several dimensions, i.e. price-quality ratio, price fairness, price transparency, price reliability and relative price. These dimensions constitute the determinants of price satisfaction, and consequently their satisfaction and relative importance should therefore be measured continuously.\nThe multi-dimensional nature of price satisfaction: Money-back guarantees (Heskett et al., 1990), fixed prices (e.g. everyday low prices), (Ortmeyer et al., 1991), honest pricing (i.e. price fairness) (Ayres and Nalebuff, 2003) and customer advocacy (e.g. giving the customers open, honest and complete information on products and complex fee structures to finding the best product for them) (Urban, 2003) are some of the tools aiming at increasing satisfaction with pricing policy and with the company's offer. Literature on customer satisfaction, however, offers little insight into the effect of such pricing decisions on customer satisfaction (Voss et al., 1998).Buyer perception and processing of price information is of central and continuous interest to marketing researchers and practitioners. One research stream assumes that customers hold an internal reference price which serves as a standard against which newly encoded prices are compared (Monroe, 1973; Monroe and Lee, 1999; Oh, 2003). A nominal price is meaningful to the consumer only after an evaluation (e.g. as \"inexpensive\" or \"expensive\"), and such evaluations are the result of a comparison of the price with a prior standard, i.e. the internal reference price. Studies that investigate such effects typically focus only on one dimension of price satisfaction, e.g. the effect of price fairness on price perception (Campbell, 1999), the effect of the price-quality relationship (Fornell et al., 1996) or the effect of price perception on satisfaction and behavior (Keaveney, 1995; Varki and Colgate, 2001). Another shortcoming of the existing literature is that only a small portion of it focuses on services (Voss et al., 1998) in general and banking in particular (Varki and Colgate, 2001).Literature on relationship marketing argues that companies that deliver higher value to the customers are more likely to satisfy them and to increase their loyalty. Customer value can be defined as \"a consumer's overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perception of what is received and what is given\" (Zeithaml, 1988), thus there is a \"get\" and a \"give\" component in the equation. Whereas the \"get-component\" (i.e. quality) is much researched and well understood, little is known about the \"give-component.\" In order to satisfy customers, their needs with respect not only to the product (i.e. the get-component) but also to the give-component (i.e. the price) should be understood and satisfied. In German customer satisfaction research, some scholars have recently suggested that price satisfaction should be considered as a multidimensional construct (Diller, 1997, 2000; Matzler, 2003; Matzler et al., 2003; Rothenberger, 2005) and that several dimensions influence overall satisfaction with price and, in turn, customer satisfaction and its behavioral outcomes. They argue that from the customers' point of view, price problems and, in turn, price needs are very complex within the different stages of the decision making process, requiring therefore a more differentiated examination. Diller (1997, 2000) refers to the different stages of consumers' decision making processes in order to analyze which price dimensions affect global price satisfaction within the respective stages. From the customer's point of view, price problems will differ within the different stages (Figure 1).In the search phase, customers need information on the quality and price of the offers. Customers will experience search costs. Therefore, price transparency will be an important dimension. When offers are compared and evaluated, the level of the price and the price-quality ratio, as well as price fairness of the offers, will be important. After purchase, customers will compare the price paid with the expected price, especially when the price is known only after consumption, as often occurs with services (e.g. consulting, telecommunication fees, banking fees). At this stage, price reliability (i.e. price promises are kept, price changes are communicated properly and promptly), hidden costs and price fairness will be important aspects of pricing policy.Diller (2000) arrives at five dimensions of price satisfaction (relative price, price-quality ratio, price transparency, price confidence and price reliability) which are supplemented by Matzler (2003) with price fairness as a separate dimension. These six dimensions are described below. However, customers do not form price expectations towards all these dimensions in every consumption situation, which is also shown in Diller's exploratory study (Diller, 2000). The number and complexity of price expectations depend primarily on the customers' price interest (Matzler et al., 2004). This price interest is determined by several factors, e.g. factors that influence price sensitivity (Nagle and Holden, 1995) and product or brand involvement. Involvement has an impact on whether the customer exerts a great amount of cognitive effort in thinking about the product or service (Assael, 1998). In the context of satisfaction, low involvement will result in limited information processing with little formal search and evaluation (Bennettt et al., 2005; Oliver, 1997). As a result, only a few price dimensions will be relevant. When customers feel a high purchase risk, they will make complex purchase decisions. In that case, more price expectations will be relevant, when compared to limited decision-making or inertia decision-making.Price transparency\nStudy: Sample and method\nDiscussion and conclusion: The results of this study show that price satisfaction can be conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct. It was hypothesized that six price dimensions (price transparency, price-quality ratio, relative price, price confidence, price reliability, and price fairness) can be identified that should influence overall price satisfaction. In the empirical study, five dimensions were found to strongly influence overall price satisfaction, word-of-mouth and switching intentions.Whereas previous studies in the price satisfaction literature focused on the impact of some individual aspects, e.g. price fairness (Campbell, 1999; Xia et al., 2004), price perceptions (Varki and Colgate, 2001), or relative prices (Keaveney, 1995), we take a more comprehensive view. There are several theoretical and even more practical reasons to conceptualize price satisfaction as a multidimensional construct, analogous with product and service satisfaction (Matzler et al., 2004; Mittal et al., 1998). When customers are satisfied or dissatisfied with the overall price, they may refer to more specific price dimensions such as price-quality ratio, relative price, price reliability, etc. Hence, low price satisfaction does not necessarily imply that the monetary prices are too high. Price satisfaction can also be influenced by other price dimensions. Customers can be satisfied with one price dimension and dissatisfied with another one. Therefore, an overall price measure cannot reflect these differences. As a consequence, measurement of satisfaction at the level of individual price dimensions provides researchers and managers with a higher level of specificity and diagnostic value. If satisfaction with single price dimensions and their relative importance is measured, more specific measures to increase overall price satisfaction can be taken.In the empirical study it was found that price-quality ratio and price fairness were more important to customers than relative price. This means that a bank should focus more on delivering the right quality at the right price and on treating the customers fairly than on focusing on competitors' prices. It is also interesting to note that the relative importance of the dimensions as drivers of overall price satisfaction, word-of-mouth and switching intentions differ, which means that dissatisfaction with a specific price dimension can lead to dissatisfaction with the overall price (e.g. price fairness) but not necessarily to a termination of the relationship. Hence, switching costs might moderate the impact of price satisfaction on behavioral outcomes. Future studies should try to investigate moderating variables, such as switching costs, consumers' price sensitivity, involvement, etc. in order to better understand the antecedences and consequences of price satisfaction. Overall, treatment of price satisfaction as a multi-dimensional construct seems to be an interesting and necessary extension of the existing customer satisfaction and price literature.This study has some limitations. First, a student sample was used. Although it has been argued that a student sample is well suited for the purpose of this study - students are an important market segment - generalizability issues remain. Second, price satisfaction was measured with a single item. Hence, reliability cannot be tested. Third, the dimensionality of price satisfaction may depend on the product or service, or on consumers' characteristics, e.g. involvement or consumers' price interest. Therefore, future studies should aim at replicating these findings in other markets and to test reliability and validity of the measures. Furthermore, future research should also test moderating effects on the importance of price dimensions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensionality of price satisfaction. It argues that price satisfaction is composed of several dimensions (price transparency, price-quality ratio, relative price, price confidence, price reliability, and price fairness) and that companies should consider these dimensions when monitoring customer satisfaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on a theoretical discussion of the price dimensions, a questionnaire is developed that measures customer satisfaction with individual price dimensions. Using regression analysis the impact of price satisfaction dimensions on overall price satisfaction is measured, using a sample of 160 students.\nFindings: - The results show that price satisfaction can be conceptualized as a multidimensional construct and that five dimensions influence overall price satisfaction. The application of the questionnaire allows for measuring price satisfaction in firms.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper introduces price satisfaction as a multidimensional construct and the study empirically supports the hypotheses. The student sample, however, restricts generalizability and more studies are needed to test the validity and reliability of the questionnaire.\nPractical implications: - Based on the measurement of price satisfaction, managers are able to identify the drivers of price satisfaction, their satisfaction and relative importance in different market segments and, consequently they are able to take the right measures to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.\nOriginality/value: - So far price satisfaction has been treated as a one-dimensional construct. This paper contains a theoretical argumentation for why price satisfaction should be treated as a multi-dimensional construct consisting of several dimensions, i.e. price-quality ratio, price fairness, price transparency, price reliability and relative price. These dimensions constitute the determinants of overall price satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors affecting patient satisfaction and healthcare quality	[ "Health services", "Quality management", "Customer satisfaction", "Performance monitoring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Studies confirm that high quality services are directly linked to increased market share, profits and savings (Devlin and Dong, 1994). Generally, service quality is also recognized as a corporate marketing and financial performance driver (Buttle, 1996). Specifically, patients' quality perceptions have been shown to account for 17-27 percent of variation in a hospital's financial measures such as earnings, net revenue and asset returns (Nelson et al., 1992). Moreover, negative word of mouth can cost hospitals $6,000-$400,000 in lost revenues over one patient's lifetime (Strasser et al., 1995).Health service's nature and value\nConclusions: Figure 1 proposes a comprehensive model that encompasses issues discussed in this article. The model shows how patient and health providers create and affect health service quality. Patient involvement is an inherent feature in healthcare services whereby he or she influences outcome quality through compliance, describing the right symptoms and physically undergoing treatment. Health service quality perceptions are antecedents to patient satisfaction, which in turn decide whether patients are loyal to healthcare providers. Patient loyalty results in positive behaviours such as recommending health services to friends and relatives, compliance and higher service use thus positively impacting profitability. Moderating factors that affect patient satisfaction are outlined.Healthcare services are difficult to evaluate as credence values are high. There is a debate about how healthcare should be evaluated. While some authors feel patient perceptions are valuable healthcare quality indicators, others contend that health service quality should be evaluated by experts. The SERVQUAL instrument is used in many patient satisfaction studies and has been found appropriate in healthcare settings, but needs to be modified to suit specific environments. Dimensions that determine patient satisfaction have been identified, including:* health care output;* access;* caring;* communication; and* tangibles.These are close to general service quality dimensions like reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance and tangibles.Healthcare experiences can be understood by studying value systems comprising various actors and links. Each has the capacity to create a positive or negative patient experience. Hospital room appearance and comfort also play a significant role in determining patient perceptions, which seem also to be moderated by socio-demographic factors though some authors contend that these play contradictory, no or miniscule roles. Physician studies show that different role expectations give rise to different patient satisfaction, perception, care take-up and other compliance behaviour. Trust has been studied in the context of health with care errors reported in the media. However, material reviewed points out that healthcare trust requires further research. Several researchers developed conceptual models to measure health services and one suggests that patient satisfaction is a multi-dimensional concept that should be studied by operationalizing it within its context. Consequently, a conceptual model to understand and measure patient satisfaction and care quality in health care services is proposed by the author. Measuring healthcare quality can help healthcare managers to effectively set control mechanism and initiate improvement programmes. This article, by reviewing published research, found that patient satisfaction and healthcare quality are fundamental to improving health service performance and image.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to build a comprehensive conceptual model to understand and measure variables affecting patient satisfaction-based healthcare quality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 24 articles from international journals were systematically reviewed for factors determining patient satisfaction and healthcare quality.\nFindings: - Patient satisfaction is a multi-dimensional healthcare construct affected by many variables. Healthcare quality affects patient satisfaction, which in turn influences positive patient behaviours such as loyalty. Patient satisfaction and healthcare service quality, though difficult to measure, can be operationalized using a multi-disciplinary approach that combines patient inputs as well as expert judgement.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper develops a conceptual model that needs to be confirmed empirically. Also, most research pertains to developed countries. Findings are presented that may not be generalized to developing nations, which may be quite different culturally.\nPractical implications: - The paper has direct implications for health service providers. They are encouraged to regularly monitor healthcare quality and accordingly initiate service delivery improvements to maintain high levels of patient satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: - The paper collates and examines recent healthcare quality study findings. It presents a comprehensive, conceptual model encompassing research work and a holistic view of various aspects affecting patient satisfaction and healthcare quality. Although a large amount of healthcare quality research has been done, each studying a particular service, this paper comprehensively brings together various research findings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The making of a glass slipper: Exploring patterns of inclusion and exclusion in a feminized profession	[ "Discourse of professionalism", "Feminized profession", "Glass slipper", "Inequality", "Professional identity", "Russia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper draws on the concept of the \"glass slipper\" (Ashcraft, 2013) to explore the emergence of inclusion and exclusion patterns in the female-dominated profession of psychological counselling in post-socialist Russia. Although professions tend to be associated with objectivity and meritocracy, research has demonstrated that, historically, they have exhibited various forms of segregation (see Witz, 1992; Davies, 1996). Whilst formal exclusion is largely a thing of the past as a result of anti-discriminatory regulation, evidence suggests that inequality patterns persist in most professions, albeit more subtly, indicating the need for more sophisticated frameworks for understanding contemporary occupational segregation (see, e.g. Bolton and Muzio, 2008; Le Feuvre, 2009; Muzio and Tomlinson, 2012; Riska, 2008; Williams, 2013). In her recent paper, Karen Ashcraft (2013) has suggested that understanding how individual and collective occupational identities are reciprocally linked may be a fruitful lens through which to explore the complexities of contemporary professional segregation (p. 6). She argues that collective occupational identities (or central characteristics of an occupation) are associated with the embodied social identities of their practitioners - actual and/or figurative. Such alignment makes occupations appear \"suited for certain people and implausible to others\" (Ashcraft, 2013, pp. 7-8). Ashcraft introduced the glass slipper concept to capture the systematic nature of such (dis)advantage. This paper aims to strengthen and extend this framework. Through exploration of the discursive \"rules\" of professional conduct perpetuated by counsellors, I unveil the construction of a collective occupational identity in the emerging profession of psychological counselling in Russia, and show how such constructions translate into dynamic inclusion and exclusion patterns along the lines of gender, age and class.\nTheorizing from the glass slipper in a Russian context: Recent research attempting to understand contemporary patterns of professional exclusion and inclusion has highlighted mechanisms through which occupations come to acquire a particular demographic composition and nature, e.g. \"feminized\", and how this results in the marginalization of certain identities (Adams, 2010; Bolton and Muzio, 2008; Griffin and Karepova, 2011; Muzio and Tomlinson, 2012; Riska, 2008; Witz, 1990). Whilst much research has typically focused on structural factors that determine occupational segregation, Ashcraft (2013) has recently argued that, in order to gain a more dynamic view of inclusion and exclusion, it is important to highlight how individual embodied identities and the nature of work are reciprocally associated. Specifically, she suggests that occupations acquire a particular \"collective occupational identity\" through their alignment with the embodied social identities of their practitioners. Such alignment may be physical and/or symbolic; that is, \"bodies real and imagined [may be] invoked as figurative practitioners to construct the nature of occupations\" (Ashcraft, 2013, p. 9). The explicit body-work association then tends to fade, making an occupation seem \"naturally fit\" for some individuals but not others; these associations are not fixed and may be transformed, e.g. through changing discourses. Ashcraft (2013) introduced the metaphor of the glass slipper to capture \"how occupations come to appear, by nature, possessed of central enduring and distinctive characteristics that make them suited to certain people and implausible for others\" (p. 7). This metaphor emphasizes the systematic nature of the (dis)advantage resulting from the body-work association: created with the wave of an invisible wand, the slipper is fit only for Cinderella and it is impossible for others to \"fake\" the fit.\nThe profession of psychological counselling in Russia: Psychological counselling was banned in Russia until 1989 for ideological reasons, as it was seen as inherently individualistic and incompatible with socialist ideology and its collective values (see Karepova, 2010). The profession began to develop rapidly after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the number of practitioners quickly increased to tens of thousands by the mid-1990s (Yurevich, 2006). Demand for both individual counselling and psychological expertise in business organizations remains very high.\nMethodology: In her theorization of the glass slipper, Ashcraft (2013) identifies \"discursive struggle\" as the main constitutive mechanism that enables and supports collective occupational identity construction. In line with this theorization, this paper aims to observe how the contours of collective professional identity emerge in the narratives of members of the professional community because, as Dyer and Keller-Cohen (2000) argue, the narratives of personal experience contribute greatly to the construction of the broader institutional discourse of professional identity. Ashcraft (2013) argues that the nature of collective occupational identities is malleable, yet she offers little indication of how to begin to unpack the body-work alignment underpinning these constructions. In fact, she suggests that the body-work association is typically seen as natural, obscuring the link. This is exemplified in my data: most of my interviewees did not explicitly articulate the \"nature\" of counselling, suggesting that it is a profession suited to anyone. Therefore, since recent research has highlighted the central role of the discourse of professionalism in shaping professional identities (Fournier, 1999; Ashcraft, 2007), in order to unveil the \"magic\" behind the construction of the glass slipper and reveal the body-work link, I have chosen to focus my analysis on scrutinizing the construction of the meaning of professionalism and the rules of professional conduct.\nRules of professionalism: the making of a glass slipper: As mentioned previously, when asked about the nature of the profession, many of my interviewees, echoing the Soviet rhetoric of equality (Kozina and Zhidkova, 2006), refused to categorize it as male or female, suggesting that \"it's not a female or a male profession. It is human\" (Polina, 46)[3]. However, further in the conversation most counsellors agreed that, owing to the \"caring\" nature of this profession, it is probably better suited to women:\nConcluding discussion: Through the use of the glass slipper metaphor, this paper has aimed to reveal the construction of subtle but persistent patterns of segregation in the Russian counselling profession. Drawing on Ashcraft's (2013) theorization and the analysis of discursive \"rules\" of professionalism, I have demonstrated the construction of an implicit alignment between the gendered, classed and aged identities of typical practitioners and a collective occupational identity in Russian counselling.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to deploy the concept of the \"glass slipper\" to unpack the construction of systematic patterns of inclusion and exclusion along the lines of gender, age and class in the emerging, female-dominated profession of psychological counselling in Russia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study draws on an analysis of 26 in-depth qualitative interviews with practising counsellors in Russia.\nFindings: Drawing on the glass slipper concept, the article demonstrates how seemingly neutral discursive \"rules\" of professional conduct articulated by counsellors create an association between a collective professional identity and the social identities of typical practitioners, making this profession appear most suitable for middle-aged, middle-class women. The findings also show how certain embodied identities - in this case masculinity - may be able to \"fit\" into a slipper that was not made for them.\nOriginality/value: The paper extends the understanding of the dynamics of inequality patterns in a feminized profession in the Russian context by unveiling previously underexplored patterns of marginalization along the lines of class and age. It also strengthens the collective-associative view of occupational identity and extends the glass slipper concept by exposing the mechanisms of body-work association in this profession and demonstrating that certain identity characteristics may be more universally privileged in the construction of professional identities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The entrepreneurial influence on winery market performance - a mediation perspective	[ "Entrepreneurial orientation", "Opportunity", "Winery market performance", "Wine", "Mediation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Entrepreneurial opportunities have been seen as having an objective existence independent of entrepreneurial consciousness (Shane and Eckhardt, 2003). However, there are counter studies showing that entrepreneurial opportunities are subjective, influenced by entrepreneur's personal interpretation of certain situations (Sarason et al., 2006). A default position in entrepreneurship research is that entrepreneurial opportunities are not evident, but need entrepreneurial alertness (Kirzner, 1973; Gaglio and Katz, 2001) or entrepreneurial vision (Sadler-Smith et al., 2003) to identify them. Stevenson and Jarillo's (1990) concept of entrepreneurially managed firms suggests both views are reflected in the entrepreneurial process defined as the entrepreneurial capabilities to identify opportunities and combine and/or recombine the required resources to seize these opportunities.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: EO has been associated with firm-level entrepreneurship in the strategic management and entrepreneurship literature for decades (Covin and Slevin, 1989; Miller, 1983). According to Miller (1983, p. 771):\n3 Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Analyses: 4.1 Reliability and validity\n5. Findings: 5.1 Direct effects\n6. Discussion: The study examines the impact of five EO dimensions on market performance. The descriptive analyses suggest that the level of innovative behaviour of Australian wine firms is the highest EO dimension followed by autonomy and risk taking, and then proactiveness, with competitive aggressiveness at the lowest level. The results from the structural equation modelling analyses indicate that each dimension of EO influences market performance differently. Our results suggest a predominantly positive relationship between proactiveness and market performance. This research finding is consistent with the literature on the Australian wine industry which claimed that the success of the Australian wine industry was associated with its innovation ability and proactive reactions in the market place (Aylward, 2004; Gonuguntla, 2009). However, we found no relationships between innovativeness, risk taking, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy with market performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to take a disaggregated approach to investigate the relationships between single entrepreneurial orientation (EO) dimensions and firm performance in the wine industry, with the generally established positive relationship between aggregated EO dimensions and firm performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Literature review, field studies, pilot tests, survey and structural equation modelling were used to build hypotheses and to test these hypotheses.\nFindings: Proactiveness was identified to be the predominant EO dimension that contributed most to winery market performance. Entrepreneurial opportunity perception, however, was found to positively mediate the risk taking-winery market performance relationship, while negatively mediating the competitive aggressiveness-winery market performance relationship. The authors found no innovativeness and autonomy winery market performance relationships.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, as with much survey-based research, the study relied upon self-report measures and there was only a 12.4 per cent response rate. Second, we used Australian wine industry cross-sectional data in the research. Third, this research used conceptual measures of market performance including sales growth, market share growth, profitability and customer retention. Fourth, while the present research investigated the mediating effects of entrepreneurial opportunity perception to introduce new wine styles/services into national and/or international markets, additional research could explore the same questions in the context of some specific types of entrepreneurial opportunity perceptions.\nOriginality/value: The research adds evidence to the ongoing debate about whether there are five or three EO dimensions by examining five EO dimensions and their individual relationships with firm market performance. This research meets Miller's (2011) call for research on the disaggregation of EO components, in particular, research contexts. This research contributes to the limited empirical research on entrepreneurial opportunity perception. This research also has important practical implications for practitioners and government.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Linking firms' life cycle, capabilities, and green innovation	[ "Corporate strategy", "Process innovation", "Capabilities", "Green manufacturing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Due to mounting environmental concerns, firms are facing increasing pressure to mitigate the negative impact of their operations on the environment. Subsequently, to survive and prosper, firms need to integrate green concerns into their products, processes and other business models (Pujari et al., 2003). Particularly, firms place more emphasis on green innovation due to its potential to signal a positive environmental reputation and thus gain a competitive advantage (Chen et al., 2006). Due to the strategic, practical and academic implications of green innovation, researchers have shown a growing interest in identifying the drivers that persuade firms to adopt green innovation successfully (Tariq et al., 2017; Cai and Zhou, 2014; Gonzalez-Moreno et al., 2013).\nTheory and research hypotheses: Green process innovation performance\nMethodology: Study setting\nEmpirical results: Descriptive statistics and the pairwise correlation matrix\nDiscussion and conclusions: This research builds on the natural resource-based view in order to explore firms' life cycle stages and green process innovation performance relationship, and how the technological capabilities of the firms mediate this relationship. Based on the data collected from 202 publicly listed Thai manufacturing firms, first, this research investigates the relationship between firms' life cycle stages and green process innovation performance. This research found that firms at the mature stage of their life cycle more positively associated with green process innovation performance compared to firms at the growth stage. This could be justified by the possible explanation that mature stage firms with their higher level of resources and capabilities are more likely to have a higher level of green process innovation performance compared to growth stage firms that have a lower level of resources and capabilities. Although growth stage firms may engage in green process innovation to seek differentiation advantages and gain legitimacy from their stakeholders, they may be unable to allocate the sufficient resources needed to achieve a higher level of green process innovation performance. Moreover, mature stage firms attract more media attention compared to growth stages firms; thus, it is more beneficial for them to engage in and a have higher green process innovation performance to maintain healthy public relations (Przychodzen and Przychodzen, 2014), and protect themselves from possible reputational risk and losses (King and Lenox, 2000; Berrone et al., 2013). These findings are consistent with existing researchers who have examined and stated that a firm's life cycle stage influences its engagement level regarding environmental efforts (Elsayed and Paton, 2009; Hasan and Habib, 2017). Thus, by considering firms' life cycle stages as an important driver of green process innovation, this research provides empirical evidence that contributes to the existing literature about the internal drivers of green process innovation performance.\nImplications: Theoretical implications\nLimitations and future research: The findings of this research are subject to several limitations. First, this research relies on Deangelo et al.'s (2006) measure of firms' life cycle stages, as this has been used extensively in the contemporary literature. However, there is no best measure of firms' life cycle stages; thus, the research framework should be tested using other measures for better generalizability of the results. Second, this research considers only the technological capabilities as a mediator between firms' life cycle stages and green process innovation performance relationship, whereas there are many other internal and external factors that may influence this relationship, such as the senior management's commitment, networking capabilities and the organizational culture. Future research should consider the effect of such internal and external factors, and other mediators and moderators along with firms' life cycle stages in order to explore the motivation to adopt green innovation. Third, this research only considers the effect of firms' life cycle stages on green process innovation performance, whereas it is argued in the literature that firms mature and growth stages may have a different effect on its products vs process innovation; therefore, future research should also explore the effect of firms' life cycle stages on green product innovation performance. Fourth, future research should establish a causal association of these research constructs by conducting a study over a longer period of time, or by using panel data, as this research covers a short period of time. Studies conducted over a shorter period of time are unable to capture changes that have occurred in the environment over a longer time and their effect on firms' life cycle changes (Carnes et al., 2017). Fifth, the results presented in this research are based on manufacturing firms; however, the importance of the services sector regarding economic and sustainable development should not be ignored. Future research should include both the services and manufacturing sectors in the sample to improve the generalizability of the research results. Finally, this research result analysis is limited to publicly listed manufacturing firms based in Thailand, a country with awareness of environmental challenges and making progress toward sustainable efforts. However, other countries with different challenges may interpret the research findings carefully and replicate this research framework in their context for better generalizability of the results.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between firms' life cycle stages (mature vs growth) and green process innovation performance. In addition, this research delineates the mechanism by which the mature stage firms are more strongly associated with green process innovation performance compared to growth stage firms and recognizes technological capabilities as a mediating variable fundamental to achieve a higher level of green process innovation performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research collected data from 202 publicly listed Thai manufacturing firms. Initially, it used multiple regression analysis to test the relationship between mature stage firms and green process innovation performance compared to the relationship between growth stage firms and green process innovation performance. Later, this research followed Muller et al. (2005) to test the mediating role of technological capabilities and conducted (Sobel, 1982, 1986; Preacher and Hayes, 2004) tests to further validate the mediation effect.\nFindings: The hypothesized relationships were found to be significant, providing a strong support that mature stage firms have higher green process innovation performance compared with growth stage firms. Moreover, the technological capabilities more strongly mediate the relationship between mature stage firms and green process innovation performance compared to growth stage firms and green process innovation performance.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to the existing understanding about the internal drivers of green process innovation performance by incorporating and analyzing the firms' life cycle stages as an internal driver. This research also contributes by empirically testing the mediating role of technological capabilities on the relationship between firms' life cycle stages and green process innovation performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A study of the influencing factors of mobile social media fatigue behavior based on the grounded theory	[ "Mobile social media fatigue", "User behavior", "Influencing factors", "Grounded theory", "WeChat", "Social media fatigue", "Mobile social media" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The fast development of mobile information technology and the rapid popularization of mobile social tools, such as smartphones and tablets, have changed people's information communication and dissemination and substantially enriched their digital life (Masur et al., 2014; Zha and He, 2015). The widespread use of mobile social software has considerably increased communication efficiency, thus enabling users to receive and release information in better, faster and easier manners. However, as people are enjoying the convenience brought by mobile social software, they are also troubled by redundant, useless and low-quality information brought by mobile social software (Misra and Stokols, 2012). Problems such as information overload and privacy concerns have affected people's life in a negative way (Bright et al., 2015; Yu et al., 2019). As a result, some people are gradually decreasing and even abandoning social media use, which is known as \"social media fatigue\" (Bright et al., 2015; Cramer et al., 2016; Swar et al., 2017; Luqman et al., 2017). Users with social media fatigue may either temporarily or permanently avoid involving in online social media interactions, producing significant negative effects on themselves as well as businesses and service operators (Oghuma et al., 2016). From the perspective of users, social media fatigue results in their psychological and physiological problems, which in turn lead into unhealthy behavioral expressions (Choi and Lim, 2016; Sun et al., 2017). From the perspective of businesses and service operators, social media fatigue leads to lower service use or withdrawal of users, posing huge challenges to the sustainable development of social media. As mobile social media becomes increasingly popular in the society, there is a growing need for researchers to study the key factors affecting users' mobile social media fatigue behavior from the perspective of causality and to explore ways to effectively interpret and analyze such behavior using scientific theoretical models.\n2. Literature review: Social media fatigue is a psychological concept, reflecting social media users' negative emotions and the extent to which individuals avoid using or lack the motivation to use social media as a result of their perception of increased social comparison (Bright et al., 2015; Cramer et al., 2016); it is a manifestation of users' negative emotions in social network activities, typically including tiredness, nonchalance and indifference (Swar et al., 2017; Luqman et al., 2017). Dhir et al. (2018) conclude that social media fatigue is a state in which social media users suffer from mental exhaustion due to their experience of information overload and service overload from participating in interactions with different online social media platforms. Prior research suggests that social media fatigue possibly relates to social media users' privacy concerns and information overload, and that as a result, people consciously spend more efforts on filtering and processing massive information, thus ignoring the content of information (Xiao and Mou, 2019; Dhir et al., 2018). Many researchers state that the conflict between limited energy and information overload is probably the key cause of social media fatigue (Hill and Moran, 2011; Bright et al., 2015). In recent years, social media fatigue has drawn broad attention to Asian countries that have witnessed rapid development of social networks such as Japan (Lee et al., 2014), South Korea (Lin, 2015), India (Luqman et al., 2017) and China (Zhang et al., 2016), making it a popular topic in the area of social media. Studies find out that users' fear of missing out from frequent use and overuse of social media will also result in social media fatigue (Yoa and Cao, 2017), and perceived pressure and personal attributes will produce direct or indirect impact on social media fatigue (Chen and Lee, 2013). Some scholars start to pay attention to the effects of social media fatigue on users' psychology and behavior, including reduced interactions, change of platforms and discontinuance of use. They point out that users are greatly affected both psychologically and physically while experiencing social media fatigue, including emotional anxiety and declined life satisfaction and productivity (Dhir et al., 2018). Based on exploratory factor analysis, Bucher et al. (2013) proves that improving users' information literacy is an effective method to avoid social media fatigue. In addition, social media fatigue is affected by both internal and external factors. Relevant studies reveal the impact of the internal factor of users' personality (Maier et al., 2015) and the external factor of social influence (Zhou and Li, 2014; Ifinedo, 2016) on users' discontinuance behavior. Table I lists the main relevant research findings on social media fatigue in recent years.\n3. Research questions: Few studies have been done on the social media fatigue phenomenon in China. This paper intends to explore the factors, influencing Chinese users' online social media fatigue. We specifically explore the factors, affecting Chinese users' mobile social media (using WeChat as an example) fatigue from the perspective of causality and discuss two research questions:\n4. Research design: 4.1 Theoretical basis\n5. Interpretive structural modeling: Sorting out the interpretive structural model relationship between influencing factors is mainly based on the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) proposed by Warfield (1973), which is a systemic analysis method developed for analyzing structural models of complicated systems. It is mainly applied in systematic engineering analysis and is regarded as a computer aided learning process (Warfield, 1974). In the research process, thoughts and relationships in a system that are not sorted out clearly are quantified into matrix forms and the relationships between factors and hierarchies are figured out through matrix operations and decomposition to build a hierarchy model. The steps of the ISM are as follows: adjacency matrix A - reachability matrix M - Establishing a hierarchy structural model - Establishing an interpretive structural model of systematic issues (Warfield, 1974).\n6. Further analysis and discussion: According to the interview results and the hierarchical structural model of the SSO theory, the stressors, the strains and the outcomes consist of 16 influencing factors in total, where the stressors (S) mainly produce effects directly on the factors of the strains (S), which drives the strains (S) to generate social media fatigue behavior outcomes (O). Different stressors have different degrees of influence on the strains, leading to different behavior outcomes in the end. Based on the hierarchical structural model of the SSO theory, the authors hereby make the following analysis:\n7. Research significance: This study has the following theoretical significance. First, by extracting factors on the basis of the grounded theory, the study integrates the systemic analysis method in the interpretive structural model, combines qualitative and quantitative methods and analyzes the influencing factors of social media fatigue from the three dimensions of \"stressor, strain and outcome,\" which distinguish itself from previous literature on social media fatigue research and provide a solid theoretical foundation for the extraction of social media fatigue causality. Second, the mobile social media fatigue model in this study is consistent with the SSO theoretical framework, making it perfect to interpret the phenomenon with the SSO theory. Hence, the study has extended the application of the SSO theory. Additionally, the research method and model used in this paper may serve as guidelines to other interested scholars who intend to explore relevant variables and conduct further research on the influencing factors of social media fatigue. Third, in analyzing the causality of social media fatigue, the study has integrated the intermediary factor strain to display users' strains from social media stress with a more detailed path discussion on the causality of social media fatigue, which has not received broad attention in previous research literature on social networking services users' use.\n8. Research limitations and future work: According to the characteristics of users' complicated and varied behaviors in using social media, this study revealed the stressors, the strains and the outcomes of social media fatigue and built a theoretical relationship model. Meanwhile, the study has certain limitations. First, it focuses on the discussion of the interactions between users' stressors, strains and outcomes without fully considering the impact of social environment and educational background on social media fatigue behavior. In subsequent studies, more comprehensive data and rational theories may be further applied to explore the antecedent role of external factors, such as environment and education on social media fatigue. Second, this study only focuses on one social media platform in the Chinese context, namely, WeChat. Hence, we encourage the verification of the findings of this study through other social media platforms (such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube). Third, we reply on the qualitative research method to construct the relationships between social media fatigue factors because we were mainly interested in how users would respond psychologically and emotionally to social media fatigue behavior. In future research, quantitative methods and empirical methods should be used to conduct a deeper analysis and provide informative theoretical and practical guidance for academic researchers and practitioners.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to discuss major influencing factors causing users' mobile social media fatigue and divides them into three hierarchies, including causal factors, intermediary factors and outcome factors. The study also sorts out connections between different levels of factors, thus providing effective guidance for the sustained development of social media.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the grounded theory and by collecting data through in-depth interviews, the authors use open coding, axial coding and selective coding to analyze major influencing factors of users' mobile social media fatigue, build a model using the software NVivo 11, organize and analyze mobile social media fatigue behavior and identify the relationships by combining the interpretive structural model and explore connections among the factors.\nFindings: The influencing factors of mobile social media fatigue behavior conform with the stressors-strains-outcomes (SSO) theoretical framework, where stressors (S) include the five factors of fear of missing out, perceived overload, compulsive use, time cost and privacy concerns; strains (S) include the five factors of a low sense of achievement, emotional anxiety, reduced interest, social concerns and emotional exhaustion; outcomes (O) include the six factors of neglect behavior, diving behavior, avoidance behavior, tolerance behavior, withdrawal behavior and substitution behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: It focuses on the discussion of the interactions between users' stressors, strains and outcomes without fully considering the impact of social environment and educational background on social media fatigue behavior. This study only focuses on one social media platform in the Chinese context, namely, WeChat. We reply on the qualitative research method to construct the relationships between social media fatigue factors because we were mainly interested in how users would respond psychologically and emotionally to social media fatigue behavior.\nPractical implications: The study has extended the application of the SSO theory. Additionally, the research method and model used in this paper may serve as guidelines to other interested scholars who intend to explore relevant variables and conduct further research on the influencing factors of social media fatigue. In analyzing the causality of social media fatigue, the study has integrated the intermediary factor strain to display users' strains from social media stress with a more detailed path discussion on the causality of social media fatigue, which has not received broad attention in previous research literature on social networking services users' use.\nSocial implications: In this study, text data are collected in a diversity of forms combined, allowing respondents to answer questions without being limited by the questions in the questionnaire, which helped us to identify new variables of social media fatigue. As a result, we were able to dig out the fundamental causes of social media fatigue and potential connections between the factors. Relevant scholars, users and businesses may analyze, manage and forecast users' social media fatigue behavior by analyzing the type of social media stress and users' state, providing guidance for the proposal of corresponding management strategies.\nOriginality/value: Most relevant studies focus on the sustained use of social media, and there is a scarcity of studies on social media fatigue in China. There is very limited research that conducts model analysis of social media fatigue through the integration of stressors, strains and outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sacred cows and the known unknowns	[ "Predictive analytics", "Crisis", "Issues", "Reputation", "Issues mapping", "Reputation risk" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The reputation landscape is littered with examples of crises that appear to come out of nowhere and yet, on closer examination, could have been predicted if the necessary analytical process had been in place prior to the eruption. From the discovery that a telecommunications company's revenues were fictitious, that a famous fashion designer harbored paranoid anti-Semitic delusions or that a legendary football coach was ignoring a sexual abuser on his staff, crises of every conceivable kind generate telltale indicators, often far in advance, that all is not well. If there were effective processes for detecting these warning signals, then much reputational damage could be averted entirely or, at the very least, significantly mitigated.\nSacred cows: Our operating principle for identifying potential reputation vulnerabilities in advance is a simple one: look first at those things that an organization is most proud of, and there you will find lurking the greatest threat. One might also call this the Penn State Principle (Toobin, 2012), after the case in which a much beloved and legendary football coach appears to have ignored suspicions that a member of his staff was guilty of child abuse and no one at the university was very anxious to hear about a potential dark side to its stellar football program.\nIssues mapping: Attempting to identify potential reputation threats in any large organization can seem to be very daunting indeed. On any given day, large multi-national organization with hundreds of thousands of employees is engaged in millions, even billions, of individual transactions with customers, business partners, investors and other stakeholders. Trying to get a handle on these reputation threats would seem, on first examination, to be analogous to boiling the ocean, in the terms of a current business cliche.\nThe four forces: The four forces that we use are changes in demographics, technology, culture and economics. By mapping the operations of any organization against changes in one or all of these four forces, we can expose latent vulnerabilities to the light of day and take pre-emptive action either to change company policies or prepare points of view that can be used in communications on the issue when it reaches maturity.\nDemographics: In many ways the most powerful of the four forces, demographic change underlies much of the evolution of civil societies around the world. There are many aspects of demographics that could come into play, but we focus on gender balance, the relative sizes of different age cohorts and racial and changes to the racial and ethnic mix in the society under review. In the USA and Western Europe, for example, the largest generational cohort, the tail end of the Baby Boomers is heading into retirement, and the much smaller Generation X cohort is ascending to the leadership of both public and private institutions (Colby and Ortman, 2014). More than 50 years of immigration from former colonies has also transformed European culture in ways that would be astonishing to former generations. In China (Wee, 2015) and India (Trivedi and Timmons, 2013), gender balance has been significantly undermined by the widening availability of fetal gender testing in cultures with a preference for male children. In Egypt and other parts of the Middle East (Youthpolicy.org, 2010), the largest population cohort is still in its teens and twenties.\nTechnology: We live today, in the developed and developing worlds, in an environment of seemingly endless technology change, so it does not require a lot of imagination to see how new opportunities and threats emerge seemingly almost daily from cyber bullying to data security blackmail. However, if we step back from the day-to-day developments, then we can discern some larges shifts that have created potential crises in ways that could have been predicted. For example, the emergence of laptops in the 1990s as a routine business tool was a godsend (or nightmare) to countless business people who could now work on business documents, spreadsheets and databases at home and on the road. At the same time, the rise in computing power and storage capacity on laptops meant that for the first time, very significant amounts of customer data were resident on traveling devices that could and were lost in airports and stolen from unlocked cars. The resulting data security breeches were a significant reputational challenge to insurance and other financial services companies, eventually brought under control by increasing levels of encryption. This development was arguably eminently foreseeable for someone thinking methodically about emerging risks in this industry sector. When we conduct this exercise today, we look carefully at the future of anonymous chat apps, drones and biometric tracking to try to predict the next generation of technology-driven threats.\nEconomics: Issues of economic growth, productivity and the widening income gap between rich and poor are very much on the minds of commentators today, but we look at a much simpler set of economic factors that boil down to the questions: are jobs easy or hard to come by? Do people feel they have money to spend or not? We ask these questions because the answers in any given time period and society will dictate the kinds of corporate behaviors that society as a whole deems acceptable and those it does not. Prior to the \"Great Recession\" that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, for example, the rising salaries of chief executives of major corporations and hedge fund managers were ignored in an economy that appeared to be raising all boats. It was conventional for companies to reward their top salespeople with lavish annual conventions in exotic locations. In the weeks that followed the October collapse of the developed economies, many companies that had failed to cancel these expensive shindigs found themselves facing outraged customers and other stakeholders furious at their lack of sensitivity and good taste (Ross and Rhee, 2008). Just as thriving economies produce feelings of good will, challenging financial circumstances create feelings of resentment and bitterness that often dissipate slowly. The passion of the \"Occupy Wall Street\" movement may be largely spent but its effects will be felt for a long time.\nCulture: Culture, as one of the four forces, is admittedly something of a grab bag category but we believe that there is some logic to grouping politics, foreign relations, the forces of the media and entertainment, religion and ethics together. These factors are often the sources of reputational threats and crises, and we need to pay attention to how changes in culture create new tensions. The extraordinary speed with which support for marriage equality in the USA has gone from a minority to a majority opinion; the rise of fundamentalist Islamic beliefs; the growth in separatist movements from the United Kingdom to Spain. All these cultural shifts have buried within them new reputational risks for companies and organizations that fail to take note of them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology to identify potential reputation threats systematically before they become full-blown crises.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology is based on using the filter of four forces for change - demographics, technology, economics and future - to identify impending points of collision between an organization's business and changing popular sentiment.\nFindings: The methodology, if applied retrospectively, could have identified such reputation damaging events as the emergence of data breaches through the loss of laptops, for example, in advance enabling companies with customer data to take precautions such as advanced encryption.\nPractical implications: Applied rigorously, the issues mapping process can help organizations predict and potentially avoid reputation-threatening crises.\nOriginality/value: The paper is based on the personal experience, research and analytical work of the author, and while there may be similar frameworks in use by other practitioners, the authors do not believe they have been described publicly before.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antidepressant advertising effects on drug knowledge and drug seeking	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Advertising", "Antidepressants", "Television commercials", "Brand awareness", "Direct‐to‐consumer advertising", "Medication seeking", "Knowledge of side effects" ]	[ { "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.The USA and New Zealand continue to be the only industrialized nations that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals (hereafter termed DTCA), and spending on DTCA in the USA has increased dramatically since the 1990s (Dave, 2010). Nevertheless, DTCA remains controversial. Those in favor of DTCA propose that such advertising can improve public health by providing important information regarding diseases or mental disorders, decreasing the stigma associated with medical conditions (e.g. erectile dysfunction, depression), reminding people to adhere to prescription regimens, and increasing patient-doctor interactions (Frosch et al., 2010; Holmer, 1999). In contrast, those against such advertising caution that ads may contain inaccurate or misleading information, may encourage consumers to choose more expensive treatment options, may promote the overuse of medication (or increase unnecessary medication seeking), or may minimize or even withhold information regarding a drug's risks (Frosch et al., 2010; Hollon, 1999, 2005).\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Psychological characteristics of participants\nDiscussion: With respect to clinical symptomatology of major depressive disorder (MDD) as assessed with the BDI-II, our sample on average showed typical levels of depression (Whisman et al., 2000). Using a cut score of 17 and above for likely MDD, the majority of our participants did not meet this threshold, but 14 percent met or exceeded a score of 17, suggesting the presence of MDD in this subsample. This statistic falls within the typical range cited for the US adult population (Kessler et al., 2003). The two experimental groups did not differ significantly on the BDI-II scores.Viewing the Cymbalta(r) commercial statistically significantly increased knowledge (by a moderate amount) regarding the drug, including its indications, contraindications, and side effects. Self-reported likelihood of seeking antidepressants was similar across groups, which suggests that the commercial did not reliably increase the reported likelihood of seeking these drugs. Individuals scoring above 17 on the BDI-II reported significantly higher drug seeking than did those who scored below 17, regardless of condition assignment. This finding suggests that those who are likely to be diagnosed as clinically depressed would seek medication treatment for their problem.Of note, the likelihood of seeking medication was negatively correlated with knowledge about Cymbalta(r) for those participants who viewed the drug commercial. That is, learning more about the drug and its side effects was associated with lower likelihood of seeking the drug. This relationship between drug knowledge and drug seeking was not observed in the Weight Watchers(r) condition, suggesting the finding is directly related to having seen the drug ad. It is possible that viewing the Cymbalta(r) ad informed participants of the drug's unwanted side effects, leading to a decreased desire to obtain this drug. Consistent with other studies, when asked about requesting a specific antidepressant, participants in the Cymbalta(r) condition were more likely (although not significantly) to list this drug by name, which suggests that the ad might have increased name recognition of the drug.Some limitations of the present study should be noted. First, our sample was non-clinical. Although the prevalence rates of MDD found in other colleges and in the US population are similar to our sample, the fact that our sample did not comprise individuals identified as seeking treatment for a clinical problem nor officially diagnosed with MDD should be considered. One should also note that our sample likely differs in other important ways from the general population, most notably in education level. Therefore, the extent to which these results generalize to the general population, to clinical populations, or to other disorders and medications is unknown. Second, we used a self-report measure to assess the likelihood of drug seeking. An assessment of actual medication requests of physicians would provide a more accurate measure of drug seeking, but this more elaborate methodology was beyond the scope of this study. Third, we only assessed drug knowledge using the information presented in the Cymbalta(r) ad itself. Researchers have noted that such ads do not provide a complete, unbiased profile of the medications in question, nor do they provide information regarding alternatives (including non-drug) treatments (Frosch et al., 2010; Gilbody et al., 2005; Gilbody et al., 2004). Therefore, our findings that knowledge increased following exposure to a drug ad do not indicate that the participants in our study were well informed regarding the drug or MDD. Rather, they merely knew more about the information presented in the ad than did the participants who did not view the drug ad. Finally, the assessment of drug knowledge and seeking was completed nearly immediately after the commercials were viewed. Therefore, it is possible that drug knowledge and/or likelihood of drug seeking could change over time. Future research could examine this possibility by conducting follow-up assessments at various time points beyond the original assessment (Frosch et al., 2010).\nManagerial implications: The implications of these results for advertising and policy seem to be mixed. On one hand, a major criticism of DTCA is that drug ads do not increase consumers' knowledge about medications (Gilbody et al., 2005). The results of our study do not support this assertion. Participants who viewed an antidepressant ad did, in fact, learn about the drug compared to participants who viewed an irrelevant ad. It is not clear, however, the extent to which this knowledge would last beyond the testing situation, nor whether our findings generalize to other drug ads. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the drug knowledge gained was not simply about the benefits of Cymbalta(r), but also included an understanding of its risks and side effects. This is an important finding given concerns that consumers are not learning about drugs from the ads they see. It may be the case that pharmaceutical companies are achieving the goal of educating consumers, and the format of the ads (at least in the case of Cymbalta(r)) has utility for the public.Another concern about DTCA is that viewing commercials prompts individuals to seek medication for conditions that they do not have (Frosch et al., 2010; Gilbody et al., 2005). Such inappropriate drug seeking was not found in this sample. The rates of drug seeking were relatively low and were not significantly different across the two conditions. Therefore, viewing the Cymbalta(r) ad did not cause participants to report an increased likelihood to seek antidepressants. Interestingly, self-reported seeking of antidepressant medications was higher in those who scored above the cut-off for depressive symptoms, regardless of the commercial they viewed. In other words, those who were experiencing depressive symptoms were more likely to report wanting drug treatment. These findings do not support the hypothesis that individuals not experiencing depressive symptoms would be more likely to seek antidepressant medication upon viewing such a drug ad. Again, this may support the efficacy of drug ads in educating the public and their utility in the marketplace.On the other hand, learning more about the drug was associated with a decreased likelihood of seeing it. Participants' newfound knowledge about potential negative consequences associated with the drug appears to be related to the decreased medication seeking found in this group of participants, as there was no such relationship in those viewing the Weight Watchers(r) commercial. With respect to broader implications and even policy, this fact may be somewhat problematic. That is, if consumers are learning about a drug and are likely to seek it for the problem they have, with this antidepressant, they are choosing not to take the drug that may have therapeutic benefits for some of them. While this suggests the consumer may be making more thoughtful decisions, if many decide the costs of the drug (e.g. side effects, some of which can be fatal) outweigh the benefits, the they do not have a suggested alternative route of intervention except another drug that is advertised, which will also have side effects. There is not a corresponding non-drug intervention offered by physicians that could be suggested. While cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has equal efficacy in treating depression, and has lower relapse rates than psychopharmaceutical interventions (see, for example, Hollon et al., 2005), this is also not a fit for all individuals, is not covered by all insurance companies, and advertising this would not be in the interest of the drug manufacturer. That said, it would be interesting to engage a broader discussion at the national level about requiring drug advertisements to inform consumers about alternative interventions that are not drug-related. It is unlikely this will be met with enthusiasm on all sides, but such a requirement would serve the public in educating them about diseases and their treatments. At the core, this is one of the claims of the utility of DTC marketing, and one that could be met with education about other scientifically supported treatments for those who do not prefer medications for psychological problems.In summary, we found that, at least in the short term, exposure to a drug ad increased knowledge of that drug and did not increase self-reported likelihood of inappropriate drug-seeking in individuals who do not need the advertised medication, two concerns about DTCA. We did find limited evidence that DTCA might increase requests for a brand name drug; however, drug knowledge was negatively related to drug seeking in the group that viewed the drug ad. DTCA remains a complex and controversial topic, and our data do not clearly support either side in the debate. Although these data do not solve the problems of DTCA, they may help serve to guide future research toward specific issues that ultimately impact the consumers of these drugs and invite interesting policy level discussions about informing the public about alternative empirically supported non-drug treatments that may help treat psychological disorders.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which exposure to a television commercial for an antidepressant drug (Cymbalta(r)) compared to another commercial (Weight Watchers(r)) influenced participants' knowledge of the drug (including side effects and indications) and self-reported likelihood of seeking an antidepressant medication.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A randomized-group design with two conditions was used with a sample of an ethnically diverse group of college students (n=498). Scores assessing drug knowledge and self-reported likelihood of drug seeking and scores from the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) were analyzed.\nFindings: - The Cymbalta(r) group had higher drug-knowledge scores than did the control group. Differences in drug-seeking scores across conditions were not significant; however, drug-knowledge scores and drug-seeking scores were negatively related. Across groups, BDI-II scores were positively related to drug seeking.\nResearch limitations/implications: - These results suggest that direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising may educate consumers regarding medications, at least in the short term. Self-reported intention to seek an antidepressant medication was significantly higher in participants who met the BDI-II threshold for major depressive disorder, regardless of experimental condition.\nPractical implications: - A decreased desire to seek antidepressants, possibly due to increased familiarity with drug side-effects, suggests that advertising may be educating viewers about important concerns about medication and that may impact their desire to seek those drugs.\nOriginality/value: - Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of pharmaceuticals remains controversial, yet few experimental studies have examined the effects of DTCA on drug knowledge and drug-seeking behavior of potential consumers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Trials and tribulations: marketing in modern South Africa	[ "Marketing", "Republic of South Africa", "Challenges", "Developments", "Cultural diversity", "Marketing strategies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As a strong regional economic force for many decades, South Africa has joined the ranks of Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2010 to become part of the association of leading emerging economies referred to as BRICS (Mail & Guardian, 2010). BRICS countries are typically newly industrialised countries with large developing economies (Traders Log, 2012). These countries have the potential of playing an important part in the world economy in decades to come. This is particularly true for South Africa which has truly become part of the world economy after many years of isolation (Salam, 2009). The way business is being conducted in South Africa, and especially the way in which goods and service are being marketed in the country has changed dramatically in the last two decades. This article highlights a number of developments and challenges that marketers need to take into account when considering South Africa as a possible investment destination.\nThe rise of the black middle class: South Africa's transition to a democracy and formal re-entry as active participant in the world economy in the 1990s brought about major social and political changes in the country (South Africa.info, 2012). Prior to this, black South Africans had largely been excluded from the formal economy and were mostly caught, socio-economically, at the bottom-end of the pyramid (KZN Health, 2001). Since the change in political dispensation, a large black middle class has emerged. The new middle class is highly aspirational and idealistic with an appetite for products and services previously almost exclusively only within the reach of their white counterparts. In recent years the rise of the black middle class in South Africa is further emphasised through the fact that their purchasing power has surpassed that of the white middle class (TNS Research Surveys, 2006). The approximately three million black middle class consumers spend substantial amounts of money on electronics, household appliances as well as luxury motor vehicles (Naidu, 2008). Many of the black middle class South Africans have found employment at all levels in the private and public sector where they are employed in jobs reserved in the past almost exclusively for whites (Adcorp Employment Index, 2012).Since the black middle class in South Africa is in many ways different and unique, its emergence has created the need for businesses to change their marketing strategies (TNS Research Surveys, 2006). It is widely recognized that these black middle class consumers have different priorities and ideals (Naidu, 2008), which in turn impact on their consumer behaviour (Moodley, 2007). Many scholars in the field of marketing are of the opinion that the marketing industry in South Africa has still a long way to go to tailor marketing strategies to adequately address the needs and wants of the emerging black middle class (Moodley, 2007). In many instances, it seems that marketing efforts still focus on the white middle class and many marketers still follow a Westernised approach in the hope that this will appeal to the broader \"South African\" middle class, yet this often is not the case. What complicates matters even more is the fact that care should be taken not to treat the black middle class as a homogeneous group of consumers since these consumers come from different parts of the country (urban and rural areas) (Naidu, 2008). These consumers are also very culturally diverse as they speak different languages and exhibit different values and beliefs (Sebona, 2007). A marketer who wants to make inroads into the black middle class market in South Africa needs to modernise and adapt its marketing approach to effectively target these consumers. Those marketers who have been proactive in tailoring their marketing strategies to this market, have reaped the profits for doing so, specifically in the banking (e.g. Capitec), FMCG (e.g. Checkers) and clothing retail industries (e.g. Edgars) (Business Live, 2012; Shoprite Holdings Limited, 2012; Fontera Digital Works, 2012).The country has also experienced great successes amongst black entrepreneurs who have made the best of new business opportunities. One of South Africa's greatest successful entrepreneurs is Patrice Motsepe who is South Africa's first black billionaire and the biggest shareholder of the fifth largest gold mining company in the world, African Rainbow Minerals Limited (Mars, 2012). Many entrepreneurs have taken the opportunity to market to the black market and made successful businesses such as Herman Mashaba (the owner of \"black like me\" which makes hair care products for the black market) (Grange, 2012).\nThe bottom-end of the pyramid not to be forgotten: Although the country has seen a major growth in black middle class, many South Africans are, however, still trapped at the bottom-end of the pyramid with 23 per cent of the population living under the poverty line in 2006 (The World bank, 2012). Although poor, many have great dreams for the future. The promise of upward mobility is a great motivator that drives consumption of product and services perhaps not traditionally associated with consumers at the bottom-end of the pyramid (Pressportal, 2012). These South Africans present a great opportunity for marketers who are willing to focus on this market. Mobile phone network service providers have been very successful in penetrating this market with prepaid products and services. In the past few years a new local retail bank, namely Capitec Bank has proven very successful in acquiring these consumers as customers (many of them have been typically unbanked before) with simplified and affordable market offerings (The Banking Association of South Africa, 2010).Although it can be agreed that both the emerging black middle class and lower income South Africans present attractive opportunities to marketers, a great deal of research is still needed to determine the needs and wants of these consumers. Marketers should never discount the duality of the South African economy. On the one hand marketers are faced with sophisticated wealthy consumers with demands not dissimilar to their counterparts in the developed world (Centriq, 2012). On the other hand most South Africans are poor and focus on day-to-day survival (HSRC, 2006). Marketers are constantly challenged with this duality in crafting very different marketing strategies to target the diverse number South African segments and targets. Many marketers, however, still operate with limited information on these markets, offering what they think will work and often not what these consumers want or need, often investing in incorrect strategies. A number of domestic airlines have been targeting low income South Africans without much success (Ntingi, 2012).\nCultural diversity is the key: As highlighted above, cultural differences permeate all levels of the socio-economic pyramid within the South African market. Marketers cannot only take socio-economic status into account when crafting marketing strategies; but marketers rather need to be acutely aware of cultural differences within South African society to be successful. This diversity makes it difficult for marketers to develop marketing strategies which can target different segments (Rammile, 2009). One of the most common value systems within South African cultures includes the importance of family. Due to the prevalence of high levels of HIV as well as the cultural aspect of the importance of family, South Africa is characterised with large households comprised of family members (including extended families) living under one roof (Amoateng and Heaton, 2007). Marketers need to take cognisance of this fact as most of these families are in the low income group which influences the types of products and services purchased.\nConsumer loyalty should not be underestimated: Another peculiarity of the South African market marketers do not contend with when entering the South African market is the loyalty that many South Africans exhibit to so-called home-grown brands (Lang, 2009). This is further supported by the South African Government with the \"Proudly South African\" campaign, launched in 2001, where consumers are encouraged to support local companies and brands (Proudly South African, 2010). These brands have been around for many years and are major threats to new competitors since so many South Africans are tradition-bound when it comes to purchasing goods and services (Unilever, 2012). This makes it important for marketers to engage in marketing activities that will convince the consumer to try their product and include it in their evoked set. The challenge remains for many marketers from abroad to develop customised marketing strategies to entice South Africans away from brands that have been part of their lives and history for many years.\nGlobal players are changing the marketing landscape: In addition, another dimension evident in the South African marketing landscape is the entry of global players in the local market; from fashion brands to financial services which creates increased competition for the local market. Since this phenomenon goes hand in hand with the world becoming ever more globalised and the fact that South Africa has recently emerged as a global player, it is in not unique to the country. What makes it, however, noteworthy is the fact that many South African businesses have been operating in a protected domestic environment due to both the isolation of the country for many years as well as the existence of trade barriers to protect local businesses. Many local businesses thus became uncompetitive and were unable to deal with the onslaught of an in stream of agile competitors from overseas when the market opened up. Many local businesses have, however, adapted quickly to the new challenges, benchmarked themselves against the best in their industry, and became very competitive. Some South African businesses have since become world class in their own right, especially when one thinks of the mining (AngloGold Ashanti) and brewing (SABMiller) industries (AngloGold Ashanti, 2012; Thomas, 2012).\nSome critical challenges faced by marketers: Although the country is developing at a rapid pace, marketers have to contend with a number of challenges, most noteworthy those relating to infrastructure, varied levels of education, access to technology and government legislation and bureaucracy.Infrastructure problems\nConclusion: As South Africa is seen as a leading emerging economy, many challenges and developments are facing companies competing in this environment and require businesses to relook their business strategies. This is particularly true from a marketing perspective as the face of marketing in South Africa has changed drastically in the last two decades. Since many marketers have not adapted their marketing strategie to these challenges and developments in the last two decades, they are finding themselves in a position of having to adapt quickly in order to remain competitive.The rise of the black middle class provides marketers with many opportunities within the marketing realm, but businesses need to adapt their strategies to reap the rewards. In order to be successful with marketing strategies, marketers in South Africa need to ensure that they consider the different cultural backgrounds of consumers (especially the black middle class), the different languages spoken, the areas where consumers live, the varied levels of education of consumers as well as their access to technology. From a marketing communication perspective, marketers need to realise that word-of-mouth (especially considering consumers' cultural background) plays a vital role. Additionally, marketers need to consider the loyalty consumers exhibit to local home grown brands.Apart from the consumer characteristics that create challenges to marketers in South Africa, businesses are also faced with many factors that make doing business in South Africa a challenge. The factors mentioned in this article highlight the effects of the emergence of global players (and therefore higher levels of competition), poor infrastructure (inhibiting distribution of products) and government legislation and bureaucracy which can influence the successfulness of businesses within South Africa. In conclusion, marketers that are able to adapt their strategies to these challenges and developments could be in a position to reap the rewards of an increased competitive advantages and profitability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a background into the challenges and developments faced by marketers in South Africa as well as those wanting to enter the South African market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents the viewpoints of the authors based on their knowledge of happenings within the marketing field in South Africa.\nFindings: - Marketers in South Africa face both challenges and developments from the macro and market environment. These challenges and developments include the diverse nature of the South African consumer, competition, infrastructure issues, government legislation and bureaucracy.\nPractical implications: - South African marketers need to adapt their marketing strategies to accommodate the developments in the market. Furthermore, marketing strategies need to be adapted to meet the new challenges in South Africa markets in terms of the diversity of consumers in order to be successful.\nOriginality/value: - The originality and value of this paper lies in the fact that it highlights the challenges and developments that marketers in South Africa face. In many cases, marketers are marketing their products and services as they did two decades ago, without realising the need to change their marketing strategy in order to target consumers as highlighted in this paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Horizontal cooperations between logistics service providers: motives, structure, performance	[ "Horizontal cooperation", "Logistics service provider", "Cooperation types", "Service delivery", "Germany" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The rise of complex and global supply chains and the growing intensity of competition continuously increase the challenges for logistics service providers (LSPs). A viable way of reaction is to cooperate - either vertically with customers or horizontally with other LSPs that are proximate or distant competitors. Over the last decade, horizontal cooperation has vastly increased and become an important organizational form for LSPs. The trade press can only provide a glimpse of this dynamic development, when it reports that FedEx just established a partnership with an LSP from Israel to offer expanded international freight forwarding services (The Wall Street Journal, 2010) that APL Logistics announced a cooperation with an LSP from Japan to market global supply chain services (Transportweekly, 2010), and that US Postal Service just entered into an international agreement with an LSP from China to improve service quality for American consumers ordering from merchants in China (Bloomberg, 2010). Our study shows that today almost 60 percent of LSPs engage in at least one horizontal partnership. Despite this fact, researchers and managers of LSPs have only limited insights into the diverse patterns and opportunities of such cooperation.While vertical cooperations between LSPs and shippers have already been covered by an abundant body of literature that investigates, for instance, the typology of partners and their relationships (Stefansson, 2006; Knemeyer et al., 2003; Lambert et al., 1996), success factors of vertical logistics cooperations (Deepen et al., 2008; Lambert et al., 1999; Moore, 1998; Tate, 1996), or attributes of partnership performance (Stank et al., 2003; Gibson et al., 2002), research on horizontal cooperations between LSPs is still at an early stage and has mainly been limited to case studies that focus on specific modes of transport (e.g. road: Lemoine and Dagnaes, 2003; Ludvigsen, 2000/rail: Ohnell and Woxenius, 2003; Nijkamp, 1995/sea: Slack et al., 2002; Midoro and Pitto, 2000/air: Oum et al., 2004; Fan et al., 2001; Glisson and Cunningham, 1996). As a notable exception, the latest work in this research area by Cruijssen et al. provides an extensive literature review (Cruijssen et al., 2007a) and first survey-based findings on opportunities and impediments for horizontal cooperations in logistics (Cruijssen et al., 2007b).Following Kale et al. (2000), there have been three research streams on strategic cooperation management. The first investigates motives that drive cooperation formation decisions; the second focuses on underlying governance structures; and the third stresses the performance outcomes of cooperation activities. This paper extends this body of knowledge on horizontal LSP cooperations in all three domains.First, we analyze the motives of LSPs to establish a horizontal cooperation. Second, we explore the structure of these cooperations. For this purpose, we develop a specific framework based on the analytical model of Klint and Sjoberg (2003). Our findings on the cooperation structure allow us to identify distinct cooperation types that characterize the logistics landscape. Third, we investigate cooperation outcomes based on established performance measures provided by Pangarkar (2009), Schreiner et al. (2009) and Saxton (1997). By doing so, we explicitly address the research gap outlined by Cruijssen et al. (2007b, p. 36) who indicate the lack of \"a general conceptual classification\" for horizontal LSP cooperations and advance knowledge on how cooperations are structured and operated. These are important aspects of cooperation management that still merit further empirical insights (Mayer and Teece, 2008).The next sections begin with an overview of our research framework and the research methodology. Subsequently, the empirical results are presented and discussed in order to derive research and management implications and give directions for further research.\n2 Conceptual framework: In this paper, we focus on horizontal cooperations between two or more LSPs who strive for mutual benefits and positive relational rents (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Lavie, 2006; Taylor, 2005). The parties jointly contribute resources in a certain area for a potentially limited time, while preserving their strategic autonomy (Dussauge and Garrette, 1997; Glaister and Buckley, 1996). This definition incorporates the dichotomy of cooperation and competition (Bengtsson and Kock, 2000) and explicitly excludes sub-contracting partnerships.2.1 Cooperation motives\n3 Methodology: To identify characteristics and patterns of LSP cooperations, we applied an empirical approach that consisted of both qualitative and quantitative elements. In a first research phase, 12 in-depth interviews with logistics practitioners and researchers were conducted to explore the general domain of horizontal LSP cooperations. Based on these findings and extensive literature review, a survey instrument for large-scale data collection was designed in the German language. To ensure reliability and validity, we used - wherever possible - established constructs and measurement scales stemming from the strategic management literature. With respect to face validity, the final questionnaire was pre-tested with logistics researchers and nine CEOs of LSPs who were asked to identify ambiguities in structure and wording.3.1 Sample\n4 Empirical results: 4.1 Cooperation motives\n5 Conclusion: Given the market relevance of horizontal LSP cooperations, a thorough understanding of their major characteristics and of the cooperation landscape is crucial. In this regard, our paper contributes the first comprehensive overview of cooperation motives, structures and performance outcomes while capturing the full diversity of the logistics service industry. Our analysis thus extends previous work that was more focused on individual elements and facets of the picture.Academic implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the motives, structure and performance attributes of horizontal cooperations between logistics service providers (LSPs). Based on an analytical classification model, distinctive types of logistics cooperation that characterize the logistics landscape are identified.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Empirical data were collected on horizontal LSP cooperations from managers of German LSPs. Different uni- and multi-variate statistical methods including ANOVA and cluster analysis were applied to the dataset of 226 cooperations for a total of 6,081 involved parties.\nFindings: - Horizontal cooperations with other LSPs are an organizational form used by 57 percent of LSPs. Cooperation decisions are substantially driven by external market objectives. Six distinctive types of cooperation are identified. They reveal the dominance of multi-lateral and international networks that are mainly based on contractual agreements. There is a clear preference for partners with similar market competencies and for strong functional integration. Despite its inherent complexity, performance of these cooperations is high - its less than 19 percent failure rate makes these cooperations substantially more stable than cooperations within manufacturing industries.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study is limited to an exploratory, descriptive approach in providing a sound understanding of the cooperation landscape.\nPractical implications: - The findings contribute transparency to horizontal LSP cooperations and a common understanding of their idiosyncrasies. The conclusions help logistics managers to position themselves better within the cooperation landscape. Further, the analyses offer managers a conceptual classification of horizontal LSP cooperations and some guidance on how to structure their individual LSP cooperations more successfully.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is the first empirical study that defines the types of cooperation that comprise the logistics cooperation landscape. The analysis integrates a holistic perspective of their contractual, organizational, functional, geographical, service and resource scope and matches them with underlying motives and performance attributes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information components of apparel retail web sites: task relevance approach	[ "Clothing", "Worldwide web", "Internet", "Retailing", "Information systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: With the recent growth of internet retailing, the availability of information on retail web sites has increasingly become the primary component of service that determines success or failure in electronic commerce (Yang, 2001). In the context of internet retailing, service is often delivered to customers in the form of information (Watson et al., 2002). For example, internet retailers provide frequently asked questions (FAQs) allowing internet shoppers to find immediate answers to their common questions as opposed to having salespersons answer customers' questions at stores. Beyond merely providing merchandise presentation, information presented on retail web sites facilitates internet shopping processes and also enables internet shoppers to achieve their shopping goals. Researchers suggest that the provision of superior experiences with an interactive flow of information is critical for successful internet retailing (Rust and Lemon, 2001; Santos, 2003). Therefore, it is vital for internet retailers to have rich information components on their web sites.\nReview of literature: Internet retailing\nMethod: To explore the information components of retail web sites, a content analysis of apparel retail web sites was performed as a pretest. In this study, apparel retail web sites were focused on because apparel is one of the key items sold in internet retailing and over one third of the top 100 internet retailers ranked by Internet Retailer (2005b) were apparel web sites.Based on the web site components identified in the pretest, a paper-and-pencil survey of consumers was conducted to evaluate the perceived task relevance of information components available in apparel retail web sites. Subsequently, another content analysis of the retail web sites was conducted to assess the current performance of retail web sites in providing high and low task-relevant information components.Instrument development\nResults: Phase 1\nDiscussion and managerial implications: Internet shopping is often associated with higher levels of perceived risks due to an inability to physically examine a product prior to purchase. Such perceived risk is magnified in the context of internet apparel shopping because apparel products require physical fit assessment and color coordination (Choi and Lee, 2003; Park and Stoel, 2005). As an effective risk reduction strategy, researchers have emphasized the importance of information availability to moderate perceived risks in television shopping (Kim and Lennon, 2000) and internet shopping (Park and Stoel, 2005). The amount of information available on a retail web site has been found to positively affect consumer satisfaction and also store patronage intentions (Lynch and Ariely, 2000). Similarly, Glazer (1991) found that an increased amount of information facilitates consumers' ability to make more informed decisions thus increasing satisfaction with the shopping experience. Griffith and Krampf (1998) further suggested that provision of information that enhances the quality of customer service on a web site is a crucial strategy that differentiates successful internet retail web sites from others. Information availability and content are primary aspects of web site quality (Barnes and Vidgen, 2001; Santos, 2003) and determine the level of service quality in internet retailing (Zeithaml et al., 2002).Extending prior research on information components of apparel web sites (e.g., Jang and Burns, 2004), this study took a unique approach to address the importance of information availability and content on retail web sites. Unlike prior studies that simply measured the availability of web site information, this study focused on consumer evaluation of task relevance of information available on retail web sites and their availability across different types of internet retailers. The findings of this study suggest that high task-relevant information components included web site information that facilitates goal-oriented shopping needs. Probably due to the nature of apparel products, information components related to visual product presentation were considered highly relevant to internet shopping tasks. In addition, reflecting the significance of privacy and security concerns in internet shopping (Hoffman et al., 1999), information components that can reduce consumer concerns (e.g., privacy and security statements) and increase consumer confidence (e.g., company history, product guarantee) with shopping via the internet were high task-relevant information components.The findings of this study also suggest that low task-relevant components included information that addresses hedonic aspects of shopping as well as information that is relevant only to specific buying situations. Web site components like an interactive chat function, a video presentation, and a personal shopper that can make the internet shopping experience more pleasurable were considered low task-relevant information. In addition, components of web sites that are applicable only to specific buying situations were considered low task-relevant. Such information components may not have much relevance in a general shopping context like this research setting, but may become relevant with individual specific buying situations.This study further revealed that differences exist among different types of internet retailers in their provision of information components. For both high and low task-relevant information components, catalog e-tailers and multi-channel retailers provided significantly more information than store e-tailers and pure e-tailers. Pure e-tailers provided the least amount of high and low task-relevant information components. Given the successful performance of catalog e-tailers and multi-channel retailers, the findings suggest that pure e-tailers and store e-tailers should provide more high and low task-relevant information to satisfy consumer needs in online retailing. While both types of information components are important, we suggest that pure e-tailers and store e-tailers need to put provision of high task-relevant information as a priority because many internet shoppers are goal-oriented and have a task to accomplish (CyberAtlas Staff, 2003). Unless internet shoppers can achieve their shopping goals, they will probably not shop via the internet.Without doubt, low task-relevant information components are also important for successful internet business. By addressing hedonic shopping values, low task-relevant information components are expected to enhance customer satisfaction with internet shopping. Additionally, information components that are applicable only to specific buying situations play an important role in satisfying customers in a variety of buying situations and thus minimize loss of potential customers due to the unavailability of information components when needed.By assessing consumer evaluation of task relevance of information components in retail web sites, this study provides useful insights for internet retailers. High and low task-relevant information components as identified in the study are practical information that can be used to minimize a knowledge gap between internet shoppers and retailers concerning consumers' needs and expectations for information and services in internet shopping. The findings of the study further provide useful information for web site designers in developing a retail web site that effectively satisfies customers with various shopping goals.\nLimitations and suggestion for future research: This research has several limitations. First, this study used convenience sampling to identify high and low task-relevant information components. Therefore, the results of this study may lack generalizability. For this reason, replicating this study with participants representing a wider range of demographics would strengthen the findings.Second, there was no verification of consumer internet usage behavior. According to Cai and Jun (2003), there are significant differences between internet user groups, such as online buyers and information searchers, regarding their perceptions of the identified information components. For example, internet buyers appear to have higher utilitarian motives compared to internet non-buyers. Therefore, it is plausible to assume that differences may exist in evaluating task relevance cues depending on the consumers' internet usage behaviors. Thus, future research is needed to investigate the relationship between consumer evaluation of shopping task relevance of information and internet shopping behaviors.Third, the context of the research was general internet apparel shopping. Task relevance of information components and internet retailers' performance in providing information may be dependent on types of product category. Therefore, future research can replicate the study using different product or service categories.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The objectives of this study are to: evaluate the task relevance of information components of apparel retail web sites from consumer perspectives; assess the performance of extant apparel retail web sites in providing both high and low task-relevant information components; and explore whether differences in performance exist across different types of internet retailers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Survey methodology was used to assess the task relevance of apparel web site information components from the consumers' perspective and a content analysis of apparel retail web sites was conducted to assess the availability of information components from apparel retail web sites.\nFindings: - The study finds that availability of high and low task-relevant information varied regardless of task-relevance. For both high and low task-relevant information components, catalog e-tailers provided the most information, followed in order by multi-channel retailers, store e-tailers, and pure e-tailers.\nOriginality/value: - This study can assist web site designers in meeting the needs of consumers by providing comprehensive understanding of the role of task-relevant information in relation to internet shoppers' perceptions of the web site. In addition, the coding guide developed in this study provides an easy and practical tool that can be used by internet retailers for the self-assessment of web site service performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The dynamics of proximity in multiple-party innovation processes	[ "Process", "Commitment", "Knowledge", "Cognitive", "Proximity", "Geographic" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Proximity, that is, the closeness of parties (Boschma, 2005), has been increasingly emphasized in studies on innovation processes (Lazzeretti and Capone, 2016). This follows from an amplified interest for multiple-party innovation processes and the creation of innovation networks, clusters, and communities (e.g. Ebner et al., 2009; Hienerth et al., 2014; von Krogh et al., 2003). In such settings, the idea of closeness has been discussed in relation to geographic proximity (Crespin-Mazet et al., 2013; Howells and Bessant, 2012). Proximity has also been referred to as knowledge overlaps between parties (Crescenzi et al., 2016; Crespo and Vicente, 2016) and their ability to understand one another (cognitive proximity; e.g. Huber, 2012). In most of the studies dealing with proximity in relation to multiple-party innovation processes, a static analysis is pursued. Such an analysis marks how the closeness or distance - often with the conclusion that parties should not be too close or too distant - is measured against innovation outcome at a specific point in time. However, multiple-party innovation processes would include how the parties increasingly converge in their knowledge, and co-location could well follow in such processes.\nTheoretical positioning: Multiple-party innovation processes\nResearch design: The empirical part of this paper is based on a single case study (Dul and Hak, 2008; Halinen and Tornroos, 2005; Yin, 1994) of an innovation community. The community under study is an individual-based online community where parties were free to contribute ideas, sequential improvements, and use ideas developed by other parties. The case also describes how this online community was complemented with offline collaborations among individuals. The community was open in the sense that anyone could participate, and it focused on shared outputs (cf. Autio, 1997). The choice to study an innovation community had to do with how communities increase in numbers for multiple-party innovation processes. Furthermore, the community pinpoints many of those characteristics of multiple-party innovation processes as an example exploring such processes at the fullest: the community is collaborative, intentions are to create a shared outcome, and it involves a flexible number of parties (Fichter, 2009; Janzik, 2010; West and Lakhani, 2008).\nThe innovation community: The innovation community is based in Sweden and focuses on the reuse of materials: how packages may be used for other solutions, how waste material could be shaped into new products, and how spillover material from industry could be used to manufacture products. It was founded in 2006 and had quite a rocky start, with financial difficulties for some seven years before its products, specifically then related to toy solutions, started to become spread worldwide via internet. Its founder started the community in a middle-sized city in Southern Sweden, and he still functions much as an engine for the community. Being community based, he and a current collaboration partner remain the only employees of the community, while contributors are not employed by the community, but contribute on voluntary bases.\nAnalysis: This paper discusses proximity in relation to multiple-party innovation processes and their development over time. The case of the innovation community (cf. Ebner et al., 2009; Hienerth et al., 2014; von Krogh et al., 2003) illustrates how parties co-located over time, as well as how their knowledge and understandings increasingly overlapped. The geographic, cognitive, and knowledge-based dimensions hence indicate an increased proximity, a change that also had effects on the innovations produced by the community. The case highlights the dynamics of proximity in several steps (for comparative purposes divided into two main events), while also pointing to how the various dimensions of proximity are interrelated, and connected to commitment. The analysis below stresses these issues.\nConcluding discussion: The introduction of this paper raised the following research questions:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Proximity - that is, the closeness of parties - has been increasingly emphasized in studies on innovation networks. The idea of closeness has been discussed in relation to geographic proximity, and has also been referred to as knowledge overlaps and shared understandings between parties. In most of the studies dealing with proximity in relation to innovation networks, a static analysis is pursued. Such an analysis marks how the closeness or distance, often with the conclusion that parties should not be too close or too distant, is measured against innovation outcome at a specific point in time. However, innovation processes would include how parties increasingly converge in their knowledge and understanding, and how they may co-locate their businesses. The purpose of this paper is to discuss proximity in relation to multiple-party innovation processes and their development over time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical part of this paper consists of a single case study on an innovation community and its development process. The development of the innovation community over time, whether and how geographic, knowledge and cognitive proximity is affected, and the outcome in terms of number of innovations, their newness (incremental or radical innovation), and variety are discussed in the paper.\nFindings: Findings indicate how geographic proximity leads to more knowledge overlaps, while it is not a prerequisite for it. Rather, it is in the commitment processes partly connected to cognitive proximity that knowledge increasingly converges, indifferent to the co-location of parties. The speed of such processes, however, is higher if parties co-locate. The commitment processes lead to an increased number of innovations, while these innovations become more and more similar. To avoid increased overlaps of knowledge and thereby maintain the production of a variety of innovations, interaction needs to occur through the introduction of new parties and the termination of previous interaction patterns. This, however, occurs at the cost of commitment, and the knowledge thereby becomes less developed and used in its capacities.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to previous research through discussing proximity in innovation networks in a processual manner. The link between various proximities and their effect on innovation outcome sheds light on how proximity, as discussed in various literature streams, often relates to similar issues that converge around the issue of commitment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Counseling Chinese patients about cigarette smoking: the role of nurses	[ "Cigarettes", "Smoking", "China", "Nurses", "Health professionals", "Counseling", "Patients", "Personal health" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Cigarette smoking is known to be associated with a number of serious health problems including cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2004), as well as impaired cognitive functioning (Swan and Lessov-Schlaggar, 2007). China is currently the world's largest consumer of tobacco, accounting for approximately 40 percent of total global consumption (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), 2003). Systematic research on Chinese smoking practices was not conducted until 1984, when a national survey found that 61 percent of males and 7 percent of females were current tobacco smokers (Chen, 1985). In the 1990s, several large-scale studies in China revealed that an overwhelming majority of adult males (70-87 percent) were regular tobacco smokers (Gao et al., 1991; Lubin et al., 1992; Yang et al., 1999). Moreover, more recent data suggest that the incidence of smoking in China continues to increase among both men and women (Gu et al., 2004; Pan, 2004), though rates remain substantially higher among males than females (Yang et al., 2005). Furthermore, the frequency of cigarette smoking (i.e. number of cigarettes smoked) varies little among Chinese males according to socio-economic indicators, including level of education and literacy (Pan, 2004). Several surveys revealed high smoking rates among highly educated and respected social groups such as physicians (Li et al., 1999, 2007, 2008; Jiang et al., 2007; Yu et al., 2009). These studies found smoking rates ranged from 41 to 61.3 percent of male and 1 to 12.2 percent among female physicians. The smoking rate among nurses in China has also been examined. Although less than 3 percent of nurses in China report smoking cigarettes, the gender disparity seen across Chinese culture is also found in the nursing profession. When stratified by gender, over 50 percent of male nurses in China report smoking cigarettes regularly (Smith et al., 2005).\nMethod: Participants\nResults: As shown in Table I, among the 200 nurses participating in the survey, all were female, most (89.5 percent) were 30-39 years old, more than half (55.5 percent) were married, and more than 60 percent had worked as a nurse for 21 years or longer.RQ1. What percentage of nurses are current cigarette smokers?\nDiscussion: The data uncovered in this research present the following picture. Few Chinese female nurses were cigarette smokers and all reported providing anti-smoking counseling to patients. However, the majority of them did not think their efforts were successful. Cigarette smoking is a public health problem in China, with an estimated 80 percent of male and 10 percent of female patients being current smokers. In terms of the number of the daily cigarette consumption, the nurses estimated that the majority of the smokers consumed 15-20 cigarettes daily. Furthermore, patients are either smoking more or the same, with no signs of decrease. Do Chinese smokers know about the health hazards? The answer is yes, but smoking is perceived to serve important personal and social functions and also to act as a stress reliever and a social lubricant. The two main factors influencing people's decision to quit may be financial considerations (if they cannot afford it) and illness (e.g. a lung cancer patient may be motivated to quit). Two methods may help: aids such as patches, acupuncture and nicotine gum, and counseling by health professionals.Perhaps the most significant finding is that 85 percent of the nurses think that cigarette smoking is well accepted in the Chinese culture. This view is mirrored by other researchers. For example, in offices and households, smokers do not bother to ask whether it is okay for them to smoke in front of non-smokers (Ma et al., 2007). Non-smokers do not want to be socially inappropriate by raising any concerns (Ma et al., 2007). Instead, they accept smoking as a cultural norm. What if the majority of nonsmokers would not accept smoking in offices, their homes and public places? This would be a revolutionary step as has been demonstrated in the West. The nurses in this study believe that social pressure for smokers to reduce or quit is small. What if more awareness was cultivated among nonsmokers, who in turn put pressure on smokers to reduce or quit smoking? There is a realistic difficulty in this effort as China is a chauvinistic society where males have dominated females for thousands of years with endorsement from the most revered spiritual leader Confucius, who specified that females should unconditionally obey males (Lau, 1979). The fact that the majority of Chinese males are smokers and the majority of females are nonsmokers makes it very difficult for nonsmokers to stand up for their rights. Females (with the exception of females in authority such as nurses) would be scorned if they attempted to interfere with the enjoyment and freedom of smoking in males (Li, 2004).Over half of the nurses in this study said that smokers use cigarettes as a stress reliever, implying that many Chinese experience stress with no other means to relieve it. The authors argue that the high level of stress could be related to the rapid economic development in recent years requiring adaptation, where many Chinese may or may not be ready. It is interesting that about one-third of the nurses think that cigarettes serve as a social lubricant. It is a universal truth that the Chinese culture emphasizes interpersonal connections, without which, few goals can be accomplished (Ni and Chen, 2006; Li et al., 2008; Pan, 2004; Unger et al., 2002). A well-known saying in China states that cigarettes are for sharing among co-workers, neighbors, and friends, influencing people to believe that accepting a carton of cigarettes from a favor-asking inferior is not a bribe. This cultural belief opens a door for cigarettes to play a unique role in building interpersonal channels among cigarette smokers. Making good use of this token bribing method may enable one to achieve important personal goals. Reducing cigarette smoking in China involves changing this cultural norm, which may prove to be very complex. Some Western societies have had great success in removing smoking from work places and public areas, and could prove to be a positive influence on Chinese smoking behavior in the future.According to the nurses in this study, the majority of Chinese people know about the health hazards of cigarette smoking, but they continue to smoke. Apparently health may not be the priority for many smokers; rather, getting other goals fulfilled may be perceived as more important. In the Chinese society it seems that social and business interests, for example, have a higher priority than health concerns.One advantage of a socialist society, where power is centralized, is that government's measures to reduce smoking may be highly possible. To make it work, the Ministry of Health would need to mobilize nationwide anti-smoking campaigns endorsed by China's highest administration without its support, little can be accomplished. According to a recent report by the Chinese News Agency, Xinhua, a special team of lawyers, designated by the Chinese government, have started discussions on enacting tobacco control law in China by 2012, banning smoking in offices and certain parts of restaurants (Zhou, 2012). Although past efforts to ban cigarette smoking in certain parts of restaurants by local Chinese city governments have largely failed due to the strong resistance from smokers and restaurant owners (York, 2008), a nationwide campaign authorized by the government could work better.The findings of this survey do indicate that nurses can be used to help smokers to reduce or quit as all the nurses counseled their patients about smoking, over half feel it is their responsibility to help patients, and over two-thirds agree that nurses should set examples for patients by not smoking. In comparison with physicians, nurses spend more time with patients, especially in-patients. In a culture where people are used to obeying authorities, advice from nurses could be very helpful because nurses carry doctors' orders and are next-to-the-highest health authority. However, less than one-third of the nurses in this study felt that their anti-smoking efforts were successful. On the contrary, the vast majority thought that their efforts were unsuccessful. A study in Jin Zhou city, Hubei province, asked 173 nurses whether they received any training in helping patients reduce or quit smoking, only 9.8 percent said that they received training on the subject; the rest did not receive any training in behavioral medicine (Ni and Chen, 2006). Furthermore, only 54.8 percent of the 173 nurses had profound understanding of health hazards of cigarette smoking to the human body (Ni and Chen, 2006). The findings of our study also point to the suggestion that measures need to be taken to train nurses in the workforce about preventive medicine, and relevant information and instructions should be added to the curriculum in nursing schools. If nurses can be properly trained and encouraged to counsel patients about their smoking behavior, especially relating smoking with their current and possible illnesses, the day may not be too far away when a significant number of patients quit smoking.Recommendations\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The main purpose of this study is to determine the cigarette smoking rate and smoking cessation counseling frequency in a sample of Chinese nurses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - At the time of data collection, the hospital had 260 nurses, 255 females and five males. The 200 nurses working on the two daytime shifts were given the questionnaires; none refused to participate, reaching a response rate of 100 percent. All the participants were females as the five male nurses were working in the operation rooms at the time of data collection, are were thus not accessible.\nFindings: - Some key findings include: only two nurses, out of 200, identified themselves as current cigarette smokers; all provided anti-smoking counseling to patients, the majority of them did not think their efforts were successful; cigarette smoking is a problem in China: the nurses estimated that 80 percent of male and 10 percent of female patients were current smokers; in the opinions of the nurses, Chinese smokers used smoking as a stress reliever and a social lubricant; two methods may help smokers to quit or reduce smoking: using aids such as patches, acupuncture and nicotine gum, and counseling by health professionals; the nurses think that cigarette smoking is well accepted in the Chinese culture.\nPractical implications: - Findings of this research suggest that the Chinese Ministry of Health should take measures to change the cultural norms and values regarding cigarette smoking including strict rules be imposed on not passing/sharing cigarettes in the workplace.\nOriginality/value: - In a collectivistic culture such as China where opinions of authorities are respected, the part of nurses, who represent health authority to their patients, in assisting patients to quit or reduce smoking cannot be overemphasized. This study adds to the scarce research on Chinese nurses' role in helping patients' smoking cessation efforts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emerging practices for managing user misconduct in online news media comments sections	[ "Newspapers", "Communication", "Behaviour", "Information society", "Internet", "Digital communications", "Information media" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the introduction of the internet, news providers have found new ways to communicate and engage with their readers (Hermida, 2010; Lee, 2015; Lee et al., 2017). As much as the internet has contributed to the emergence of new practices for presenting and consuming news, it has also induced new ways of interacting over news-related topics. One site for such interaction is comments sections below news articles, either on news organisations' own websites or on social media. In fact, commenting on news is today one of the most common forms of reader participation online (Hille and Bakker, 2014; Santana, 2014).\n2. Previous research: Research on online practices has been conducted in several academic fields, and in recent years there has been a growing interest in different kinds of activities which are often considered to be antagonistic or anti-social (Phillips, 2015; Hopkinson, 2013; Hardeker, 2010; Herring et al., 2002). Although internet-related practices labelled under such epithets as trolling, cyber-bullying or flaming have received increased attention in academic research as well as in the popular press in the last few years, these issues are not new. In fact, disruptive users were the focus of internet researchers long before Web 2.0. As early as the mid-1990s, Judith Donath, for instance, studied the activities of online trolls on Usenet. In her study, she drew attention to the damage disruptive practices may inflict on online communities (Donath, 1999). However, with the emerge of new practices induced by the popularisation of online discussion forums, and later social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, research on the disruptive aspects of certain interactive online practices has intensified.\n3. Defining the terminology: Although usually used to represent various antagonistic activities which are engaged in for the sake of amusement (Hardeker, 2013, 2015), the terms troll and trolling may, in contrast to the obviously normative term online misconduct, in fact be understood as either positive or negative depending on the perspective. However, disagreement on what kind of activities the word trolling actually represents sometimes makes it a problematic term for research purposes. As Phillips points out in her book, the etymology of online trolling varies depending on whom you ask (Phillips, 2015). There is considerable disagreement on whether to associate the term with the mythological beasts common in Scandinavian mythology, which have come to embody a very popular representation of some of today's internet users, or whether to support the definition of the term trolling provided by Donath (1999) and trace it back to the fishing technique \"where you set your fishing lines in the water and then slowly go back and forth dragging the bait and hoping for a bite\" (Donath, 1999, p. 45).\n4. Theoretical framework: During the past decade, information research has developed a special interest in the informational aspects of practices, and much of the practice-based research in this field has focussed on specific types of undertakings, namely, information practices (Cox, 2012a, b). While a great deal of the research on informational aspects of social practices has been concerned with everyday life (e.g. McKenzie, 2003; Haider, 2012), there is also a considerable body of work on social practices that take place in the professional environment of the workplace (e.g. Pilerot and Limberg, 2011; Lloyd, 2005, 2007, 2009).\n5. Data collection: Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven interviewees from nine different news outlets in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Canada. The sample includes the two Swedish national public-service television and radio companies Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio, the two major Swedish newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Sydsvenska Dagbladet, the Danish public-service radio station Danmarks Radio, the German public-service news outlet Tagesschau, the major German news website Spiegel Online of SPIEGELnet, a subsidiary of the publisher Spiegel Verlag, the local Canadian radio station VOCM of St John's and the daily Canadian newspaper The London Free Press.\n6. Findings: Practice theory entails making certain assumptions about social action (Schreiber, 2014). In the context of this constellation of theories, social life is understood as a nexus of practices (Schatzki, 1997, 2002), forms of action which are enacted by people (Barnes, 2001). However, practices carry more within them than they may initially seem to (Haider, 2011). The activities which make up a practice express the emotions and feelings of the practitioners and reveal what matters to them (Schatzki, 1997). It is not only the tacit knowledge of which actions usually work best that is enacted through the practices journalists engage in but also the emotions which they experience in their daily work, and their views on what makes an appropriate discussion tone.\n7. Handling the challenges of providing users with a space to be heard: Though some of the studied news providers already had some kind of Web presence in the 1990s, this did not necessarily include reader interaction. It was with the introduction of social media that they started to build social media teams and create editorial departments with the exclusive task of handling online audience participation.\n8. Negotiating the benefits of maintaining digital platforms for user interaction: Many of the channels responsible for our news diet have, in recent years, relocated much of their reader interactivity from their own websites to social media (Santana, 2014; Artime, 2016; Hong, 2012; Pew Research Center for the people and the press, 2010, 2016; Robinson, 2014; Weber, 2014), which has contributed to changing the ways in which news sources interact with readers (Hermida, 2010; Lee, 2015; Lee et al., 2017). A typical approach was to start with a simple presence on Facebook, where they linked to articles or made other updates.\n9. Managing posts that are perceived to be antagonistic: Generally, most participants seemed to be in agreement on what the responsibility of having interactive forums on websites and social media entails.\n10. Dealing with users who fail to meet the expected rules for participation: As we have seen, news sources have been able to establish routines for how to handle certain types of aggressive posts. For instance, openly racist or misogynist comments were removed and, depending on the calibre of the comment, the person responsible for posting it might be blocked. This is a standard procedure with which all participants were familiar.\n11. Norms, values and emotions: As already pointed out, workplaces are not unbiased sites of actions (Lloyd, 2006). Instead, they are constructed by practices which are underpinned by manifold norms, values and emotions. In this study, the role which the emotions, collective values and norms prevalent within the information landscape of journalists play in influencing the evolution of practices has been highlighted.\n12. Conclusion and suggestions for future research: The aim of the study has been to investigate the mechanisms behind the evolution of practices for dealing with user-generated content online in the information landscape of news journalism. Although the journalists who were interviewed for this study are from different countries, belong to different news organisations and, to various extents, engage in different forms of content moderation, they all had a strong tendency to argue for the legitimacy of their practices by either referring to values embedded within journalistic traditions or by referring to knowledge gained from the experience of interacting with users online.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to bridge a gap in knowledge on the professional information practices of a group of people whose daily work of managing user-generated content online exposes them to users whom they perceive as acting aggressively or otherwise offensively online.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Journalists' narratives of practices for managing and responding to user comments perceived as offensive are analysed qualitatively. For this purpose, ten interviews with journalists from nine different news organisations in Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Canada were conducted.\nFindings: The study finds that the environment in which the journalists work plays a vital role in the evolution of the practices. Practices, indissolubly tied to the contexts or sites in which people's activities take place, are conditioned by moral values, traditions and collective experiences which journalists enact through the practice they engage in when they are dealing with user posts online. The site, conceived as an information landscape, is that of the newsroom. Practices for managing users online evolve through actors participating in a process of learning and their ability to adopt the cultural norms and values of their environment.\nOriginality/value: This study sheds light on the mechanisms behind the evolution of practices for handling user-generated content online and it reports on the importance of properties such as norms, values and emotions for how things are done in the information landscape of news journalism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
All in the mind: understanding the social economy enterprise innovation in Spain	[ "Education", "Innovation", "Attitude", "Social economy enterprise", "Social entrepreneurs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Social economy enterprises (SEE), the majority of which are small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), represent two million companies in Europe (10 per cent of all European businesses), and employ over 6 per cent of the working population of the European Union. Moreover, they are present in almost every sector of the economy (European Commission, 2013). SEE have an important role to play in providing an alternative model for economic growth after the global recession (Goldman Sachs, 2013; Sonnino and Griggs-Trevarthen, 2013). In addition, it has been recognised that SEE need to foster innovation in order to develop their main function: to seek business solutions to social problems (Chell et al., 2010). Whilst some aspects have been studied, i.e., the role of diversity management on innovation in SEE (Bridgstock et al., 2010), the research about innovation in SEE, as well as SME more generally, are still scarce (Rodriguez and Guzman, 2013). This study seeks to directly address this gap by identifying the relationship between individual-level characteristics of entrepreneurs in SEE and the innovativeness of SEE themselves. In doing so, it contributes to the literature and provides new insights for policy makers.\nLiterature review and research model: Innovation\nMethodology: Context\nResults: Sample description\nDiscussion and implications: Considering the individual factors, it was determined that a proactive attitude towards innovation and a degree-level education were positively related to SEE innovativeness and that these were the most significant factors considered. The identification of attitude towards innovation was perhaps not surprising; one might expect a relationship between proactiveness and innovativeness. Furthermore, this result is consistent with the positive impact exerted by entrepreneurial characteristics, such as entrepreneurial confidence and adaptability (Simon et al., 2002), or SME entrepreneurs' proactive personality and prospector strategy orientation (Kickul and Gundry, 2002) towards their firms' innovation. This finding is also similar to the conclusion reached by Marcati et al. (2008), who found that SME entrepreneurs' innovativeness and their basic personality traits can stimulate the adoption of innovations. On the contrary, the finding about experience is surprising because previous research found that this factor was more significantly related to innovativeness than education, in the case of SME innovativeness (Robinson and Sexton, 1994) and also in the case of SEE innovativeness (Rodriguez and Guzman, 2013).\nConclusion: According to Jensen (2011), the economy crisis is an opportunity for a new paradigm, the SEE, especially labour-owned firms, worker-owned firms or labour companies. Research that increases our understanding of the internal and external factors affecting SEE innovativeness is scarce. Much of the existing literature tends to focus on SMEs and large companies. In the case of SEE, it is expected that internal factors and, particularly those at the individual level, such as the personal characteristics of the entrepreneur, could be of even greater importance than they are in larger firms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Several studies have investigated the factors affecting innovation in medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at different levels. However, research into the characteristics of the entrepreneur (individual level) in social economy enterprises (SEE), and the relationship to innovation is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to build upon previous innovation literature to analyse SEE innovativeness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper empirically analyses data from 193 face-to-face interviews with the founder/owner/managing director of small (zero to nine employees) SEE in Andalucia, Spain. A semi-structured questionnaire was produced using the literature review. To ensure the reliability of the data collection and the consistency of the results, several researchers reviewed the codification and analysis of the answers. Quantitative analyses were performed on the data, including descriptive statistical analysis and multivariate analysis (factorial for innovativeness construct validation, multiple regression, cluster, and discriminant). The software SPSS IBM PASSW Statistics 18 was used.\nFindings: Considering the individual factors, it was determined that a proactive attitude towards innovation and a degree-level education were positively related to SEE innovativeness and that these were the most significant factors considered. The identification of attitude towards innovation was perhaps not surprising; one might expect a relationship between proactiveness and innovativeness. Furthermore, this result is consistent with the positive impact exerted by entrepreneurial characteristics, such as entrepreneurial confidence and adaptability, or SME entrepreneurs' proactive personality and prospector strategy orientation towards their firms' innovation.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study has a number of limitations. First, the study is an exploratory study of innovativeness in SEE in a limited geographical area. Second, the fact that the interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire limited the opportunities for obtaining more detailed information regarding the factors affecting innovativeness in SEE. Third, other variables may have been used as control variables, such as firm age. Sector was used as control variable and it was found as not significant. Fourth, other statistical analyses, such as hierarchical linear modelling, would benefit the results, as different levels of analysis would be considered simultaneously. Fifth, other components of entrepreneurial orientation would render the results more complete.\nPractical implications: The research findings suggest that SEE would benefit from degree-level people with proactive attitudes towards innovation. Clearly, attitude and education are important aspects of the individual's mindset. This study demonstrates that the mind sets of the owners of SEE, in terms of both education and attitude, positively impact innovativeness. At least in SEE, degree-level entrepreneurs with positive attitudes towards innovation run more innovative firms. The challenge for regional policy makers is to look beyond the formal education system to promote innovation skills programmes for social and economic impact.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to the entrepreneurship and innovation literature by identifying the importance of developing individual-level skills as well as formal education in order to foster innovation in SEEs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceptions of emotion expressiveness: gender differences among senior executives	[ "Gender", "Senior management", "Individual psychology", "Transformational leadership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organizational culture in Western society is influenced by the rational traditions of theorists such as Weber, Taylor, and Fayol (Sashkin, 1981). Essentially, organizations try to create impersonal and highly cognitive or rational frameworks or structures that would preclude the emergence of emotion in the first place. A key consequence of this type of \"bureaucratic\" control, according to Weber, is:The dominance of a spirit of formalistic impersonality, without hatred or passion, and hence without affection or enthusiasm. The dominant norms are concepts of straightforward duty without regard to personal [and emotional] considerations (Boone and Bowen, 1987, p. 16).\nConceptual framework: The conceptual framework that supports this study consists of two primary constructs - emotion and leadership. Thus, this section includes an overview of relevant literature associated with emotion theory and leadership theory, with a particular focus on gender distinctions within each construct.Emotion theory\nMethods: The Leadership Profile (TLP), with various demographic questions, was mailed to 8,000 members of the American Management Association (AMA); 1,453 members returned the survey (approximately 18 percent). The respondents included 781 males and 669 females; three individuals did not respond to the gender item and 88 did not respond to the position item. The final sample size was 1,365. Given the original population size of 8,000, at least 367 responses were necessary for a sample size sufficient to represent the population (Krejcie and Morgan, 1970).A panel of leadership experts was asked to identify emotion-expression related items from the TLP. After the panel reached consensus, four items that measured emotion expressiveness were isolated from the TLP and tested for reliability using Cronbach's alpha. The four-item scale was then used to determine if leaders having different demographics reported different emotion expressiveness. Specifically, differences in expressiveness means were tested between male and female leaders using a 2X6 factorial ANOVA for gender and the six leadership positions given by the respondents (Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Executive Vice President (EVP), Vice President (VP), and Other).The four items isolated from the TLP which were used to determine emotion expressiveness included:1. I show I care about others.2. I express appreciation when people perform well.3. I show concern for the feelings of others.4. I communicate feelings as well as ideas.Exploratory factor analysis using Principle Components Analysis resulted in a single factor construct with all four items loaded on Factor 1 with loadings of 0.60 or higher. Thus the items represent construct validity and were summated to represent the dependent variable of emotion expressiveness. Cronbach's alpha for the above items was 0.7646. A Cronbach alpha of 0.70 or higher is much more significant for scales with fewer items (less than ten) than it is for scales with more items (Spector, 1992; Cortina, 1993). As a result, the scale was considered to exhibit sufficient validity and reliability to conduct further analyses with the data.\nResults: The potential range of scores for expressivity was 4 (expressiveness to \"little or no extent\") to 20 (expressiveness to a \"very great extent\"). The range of scores for male and female leaders by Position is represented in Table I. The means and standard deviations for male and female leaders can be found in Table II.The variances for the 12 independent groups were judged to be homogeneous via Levene's Test, F(11/1365)=1.36, p=0.186. We conducted a 2X6 factorial ANOVA to explore Gender, Position, and Gender by Position interactions for emotion expressiveness. A summary of the analysis is exhibited in Table III. Both of the main effects of Gender and Position were significant. Since there was also a significant interaction effect, simple main effects (SMEs) were then conducted.Our next step was to explore differences for Position by Gender. The F-ratios for the SME's were calculated by dividing the MS of the data set filtered for Gender by the MS of the global data set; we then calculated the p-value for the resultant F-ratio. Both SME's for position at male and female were significant. A summary of the SMEs for Position at Gender is exhibited in Table IV.Ryan-Einot-Gabriel-Welsch F (REGWF) post hoc analyses were then conducted across positions for each Gender. Male executives in the positions of Other and VP displayed different expressiveness means, with those in the Other position reporting a significantly higher level of emotion expressiveness than VPs. The results of the REGWF post hoc analysis for Position at Male are represented in Figure 1; any positions not linked by a common underline are significantly different from each other. The post hoc analysis also revealed a difference in the means for executives in positions of CFO and VP, but with CFOs not being different from all other groups except VPs, the primary difference in the profile was judged to be between VPs and Others.As indicated in Figure 2, female executives in positions of COO and CFO showed differences, with CFOs reporting a significantly higher level of emotion expressiveness.We followed our exploration of the SMEs for Position by Gender with ANOVAs for Gender by Position. The observed F-ratios were obtained in the same manner as those in the SMEs of Position at Gender; we then calculated the p-values for the resultant F-ratios. A summary of the SMEs of Gender at Position is displayed in Table V. This analysis revealed that there was a significant difference in self-reported levels of expressiveness by male and female executives in four of the six positions studied; men reported higher levels of expressiveness at the CEO, COO, VP, and Other executive positions but no difference for the positions of CFO and EVP. These analyses suggested that the original interaction effect was primarily a function of gender differences at the various executive positions.Exploration of the data revealed that, while the data distribution was generally normal within the range of responses, it was not normally distributed across the full range of possible responses. The responses were bunched at the low end of expressiveness. To test if the obtained means were significantly lower than the mid-point of the scale (12), we conducted t-tests between the mean score of the emotion expressiveness responses for the total group, males and females, and positions, and the theoretical central tendency of 12. The overall mean of 7.832 was judged to be significantly different (lower) from the theoretical mean of 12. Both male (8.204) and female (7.404) executives exhibited means of emotion expressiveness that were statistically significantly below the midpoint of 12. All the means for position were also judged to be significantly different from 12. A summary of these results is presented in Table VI.\nDiscussion: Gender differences depend on which position is being compared and differences for individuals in different positions depends on gender. In general, the findings of this study indicate that male executives believe they are more expressive than do female executives. Further, male executives in Other positions reported themselves to be significantly more expressive than VPs and female CFOs reported a statistically significant higher self-perception of their expressiveness than those who held other executive positions. On the whole, however, the responses of both male and female executives are most remarkable because they are unusually low (ranging from 7.02-8.61 out of a potential range of 4-20). In this section we explore some of the implications of these research findings. These implications can be categorized as issues of individual role, human resources, and organization development.Role\nConclusion: The findings presented here both challenge and support findings from other studies on gender, emotion, and leadership. Future studies should attempt to understand why senior leaders report such low expressiveness. Are they simply underestimating their expressiveness? Are they truly abdicating responsibility for support functions? If so, to whom are they delegating these functions? Are HRD professionals assuming this role? If these responsibilities are not being assumed by anyone in leadership, what are the ramifications for the wellbeing of the subordinates and for the organization itself? What can the HRD professional do to reduce potential negative ramifications? Also, further study should be conducted to incorporate both self and other reports of leadership among senior leaders. Finally, further study should be conducted to understand why the differences between male and female leaders occurred and if such differences can be replicated in another study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Folk theory and empirical studies generally indicate that women tend to be somewhat more expressive than men. The present study seeks to determine whether there are gender-related emotion-expressiveness differences among senior executives and to explore the extent to which there are emotion expressiveness differences by organizational position.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The levels of self-reported expressiveness among senior organizational leaders (781 males, 669 females) were examined. Differences by gender and position were explored using ANOVAs.\nFindings: - In several key positions, including CEOs, males reported themselves to be significantly more expressive than females. However, differences between male and female expressiveness were not observed for certain executive positions. Further, both males and females reported statistically significant low levels of expressiveness.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Professionals charged with addressing conflict within organizations may find themselves handling socio-emotional aspects of leadership if executives are not fulfilling this responsibility. Further, organizational initiatives, such as organizational learning, may be hindered if executives do not engage in managing the emotional aspects of leadership. Finally, the reasons for gender-role reversal found in the present study should be explored in future research.\nOriginality/value: - This study adds to the literature on gender, emotion, and leadership. There are two primary contributions of the present study. First, female executives tend to report themselves as less expressive than male executives; this is in contrast with research that suggests that women are better at emotional expressiveness than men. Second, executives are, in general, not focusing on the socio-emotional dimensions of leadership, which is a well-accepted element of successful leadership.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Property bubbles - a transitory phenomenon	[ "Heterogeneous beliefs", "Property bubbles", "Property finance", "Technological change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Many economies have experienced periods of rapidly rising property prices followed by abrupt falls in money or real terms. In both the popular imagination, and in academic discussion, such rises and falls have often been described as bubbles, evoking comparisons with events such as the Dutch Tulip Mania of the 1630s and the South Sea and Mississippi bubbles of the 1720s, as well as with later stock market collapses, such as the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the dot-com bubble of 1997-2001. A recurrent theme of the discussions is that bubbles exist because the prices paid are in excess of the fundamental values. Sooner or later the bubble bursts and the price reverts to what is justified by the fundamentals. The concept of asset price bubbles seems to be deeply embedded in popular imagination. In the financial press and popular newspapers almost any substantial rise in house or other asset prices seems to evoke fears of an unsustainable bubble. For example, amongst the news stories reported by the\nWhat is a property price bubble?: A price bubble exists according to the Financial Times Lexicon:\nTypes of bubbles: There have been several attempts to produce taxonomy of bubbles, including classifying them according to the markets in which they exist, the behaviour of the players, and the degree of danger they represent to the economy. O'Hara (2008) places bubbles into four groups according to the rationality of investors and markets. It has been argued that bubbles cannot exist in a rational market with rational traders possessing symmetric information since trades that make the seller better off and the buyer worse off in his own estimation would not exist. For bubbles to exist in such a market, there needs to be asymmetrical information so that bubbles can emerge without their existence being known about by some investors, or limits to arbitrage that prevent rational investors from eliminating price differences, or else investors hold heterogeneous beliefs about fundamental value, perhaps due to psychological biases (Brunnermeier, 2008). However, when the market is deemed irrational and information is asymmetric, rational investors may buy in the belief that they can sell at a higher price. The value is not determined by the fundamentals but by beliefs as to what someone else will pay for it. When both investors and the market are irrational, then manias can occur. Trading reflects popular delusions. For there to be irrational traders in rational markets pursuing irrational strategies is questionable as there are likely to be some rational traders in such markets working to separate the irrational traders from their money.\nStages of a bubble: Rodrigue (2013) identifies four stages in a bubble which are useful in understanding investors' behaviour. In the first stage, \"smart money\" sees an opportunity for profit, but they are careful not to excite the market and give outsiders the opportunity to copy their behaviour. Initial investments may be small. At this stage information is asymmetric. In the second stage, opportunities are more widely known, often through media attention. If some of the first investors take their profits there may be market confusion and the price begins to reflect insiders' activities. As the hype increases, market activity is coloured by enthusiasm and then greed. The mania has taken hold, but with it a degree of myopia. Either investors believe the high prices will be sustained and ignore lessons of the past or they take the risk of riding the bubble a little longer to maximise profits. Eventually doubt sets in, people start selling, realisation and panic takes hold and prices plummet. Individuals despair and institutions struggle to survive (Figure 1).\nBubbles and the property market: Much of the literature on asset bubbles is to do with stock markets. There is also a substantial literature on housing bubbles but the commercial real estate market has been, by comparison, relatively neglected. An important question is the extent to which the commercial real estate market differs from securities markets and, therefore, whether models that seek to explain bubbles in the latter can be applied to the property market. Whilst it seems reasonable to assume that investors in the property market are subject to the same psychological influences as investors in other asset markets and disparities in information are likely to produce similar effects, there are some key respects in which the property market differs from these markets.\nThe interpretation of information and property bubbles: Bubbles have long been popularly associated with speculative activity. That is that purchasers are willing to buy assets at prices in excess of their fundamental values because they expect to be able to sell them on at a higher price. An important question is why that belief persists. As Keynes (1936, ch. 12) put it, investors should be concerned with anticipating impending changes in news or \"the atmosphere\" which will influence the market, so that they can pass on bad or depreciating investments to the next person ahead of when the price declines. Writing in the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences in 1931 in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash, Willard T. Thorp argued that:\nFinance and real estate bubbles: Real estate assets are typically purchased with significant borrowings. Periods when asset prices are rising tend to be ones in which a wide range of companies can raise additional finance backed by the rising value of their collateral (McWilliams, 1992). Given the gearing of the investors, it seems implausible that a bubble could exist unless the financial system provides the funding for it to happen. This does not necessarily mean that property bubbles are caused by excess finance, though increased borrowing opportunities can be a factor. It does mean that property bubbles tend to be associated with periods in which lending is growing.\nConclusions: Like a transient lunar phenomenon, bubbles are a short-lived bright reflected light - a change of appearance in a normal cyclic pattern - which attracts those looking for quick riches. Whether a bubble exists and when it is observable very much depends on the definition that is used. Bubbles are not as frequent as the media would suppose and attempts to explain their origins and predict their path remain a challenge.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose is to review what is known about property bubbles and their causes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The method has been to review the literature on bubbles in the property and other asset markets to examine their likely causes and whether there are specific aspects of the property market that make it more prone to bubbles.\nFindings: The property market has features that make it susceptible to bubbles, particularly inelasticity in supply and the absence of short selling. Bubbles can develop where there are heterogeneous beliefs. The way in which property tends to be financed helps to facilitate bubbles and transmit their effects onto the wider economy.\nPractical implications: The collapse in property prices after the financial crisis of 2008, like previous bubble collapses, has inflicted serious damage on the wider economy through losses of banks' capital, reductions in lending, and increased risk aversion. Understanding why bubbles exist offers the potential to devise policies to limit the impact of their collapse.\nOriginality/value: Much of the literature on asset bubbles is based on securities markets. It is important to recognise the differences between the property market and securities markets, particularly how investment is financed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tools for surveying and improving the quality of life: people with special needs in focus	[ "Assisted living", "Special education", "Disabilities", "Quality of life", "Quality improvement", "Online tools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In many European countries there is a growing demand for strengthening binding quality guidelines for medical, social work and special education service organizations. Quality control and improvement measures have already been implemented in many countries. In German-speaking countries, such quality guidelines became a legal requirement in the 1990s. At the same time both governmental and institutional services were directly linked to predominately formal quality criteria. These must be fulfilled by organization staff providing health and welfare services, and are audited by third party certifiers. Today, this drive to improve quality standards is also widely supported by staff within special education service organizations, including those running residential care homes, assisted living centers and work programs for people with disabilities. The tools focus in particular on specific, real life issues such as habitation, social networks or support services. Other life aspects, such as contentment, happiness and wellbeing, are excluded, as these issues have been treated at greater length within quality of life research (Gromann and Niehoff-Dittmann, 1999; Jakobs, 1987; Seifert, 1997; Sonnenberg, 2004). In the special education literature, three approaches to understanding quality of life can be distinguished. One is based on a subjective, individualized understanding. Such studies focus on cognitive and emotional influences like satisfaction and happiness, hopes and fears, expectations and demands, competencies, insecurities, loneliness or conflicts as relevant wellbeing and quality of life aspects (Beck, 1998, 2001, 2004; Buttenschon, 1999; Diserens and Vatre, 2000; Muller-Hohagen, 1994). Another approach favours an objective understanding. These studies strongly emphasize the social environment's influence and disabled peoples' living conditions. They focus on the living and care situation (Beck, 2001; Beck and Konig, 1994; Dworschak, 2004; Richardt, 2003; Schwarte and Oberste-Ufer, 2001; Seifert, 1997; Seifert et al., 2001; Wacker et al., 2005) and on the effectiveness of various supports or care services (Bottner et al., 1997; Hollenweger, 2000; Schmidtke, 1997; Seifert, 1998; Wacker, 2001; Wieland and Beermann, 1987). Most studies are based on quality of life conceptions that combine subjective and objective factors (Amft et al., 2004; Dworschak et al., 2001; Seifert, 1997, 2003; Seifert et al., 2001). Their goal is to index disabled people's individual perspectives, their interpersonal arrangements and other generalizations on models, such as that recommended by Felce and Perry (Felce and Perry, 1985, 1995, 1997, Perry and Felce, 2002).All these authors use quality of life either as an umbrella term for mental states, desires, ideals, sympathies and antipathies, or else as a label alongside the findings to generate a more comprehensive understanding. To allow an individual personal values, preferences and goals weightings in their model. Felce and Perry (1985, 1995, 1997) suggested standardizing subjective and objective factors along with five quality of life domains. This admittedly leads to less complexity since individual abilities and organizational opportunities are not taken into consideration. Consequently, common models ignore existing competing wishes, preferences and goals between individual abilities and organizational opportunities. Thus, an essential human life component has no equivalent in the model. Yet our quality of life conception for special education purposes takes psychological conflicts or social dilemmas into account. Our tools attempt to capture life's reality for people with various disabilities who live in different relationships, to visualize their situation on an individual and organizational level in such a way that effective recommendations for improvements (where necessary) become possible (Hoyningen-Suess et al., 2007). Needs relevant to a person's quality of life were carefully evaluated individually. This evaluation includes character abilities, organizational possibilities, personal preferences and wishes regarding quality of life issues. Our project partners comprised five homes and workplaces for adults with disabilities and a university department.\nMethodology: Our starting point was comprehensively analysing existing approaches to quality of life based on medical, praxis-oriented and meta-theoretical concepts. The medical perspective is represented by WHOQOL-100 (Angermeyer et al., 2000), SF-36 (Bullinger and Kirchberger, 1998) and ICF (DIMDI, 2005). The \"International Classification of Functional Ability, Disability and Health\" (ICF) plays a special role here because quality of life relies on health-oriented medical criteria and social factors relating to a person's living environment. The praxis-oriented perspective is represented by LEWO II (Schwarte and Oberste-Ufer, 2001), GBM (2004) and QuAnTa (Hesel, 2001). For the meta-theoretical perspective, we analyzed Schalock (2004), Felce and Perry's (1997) quality of life concepts. Finally, the Personal Well-Being Index of Intellectual Disability from Cummins and Lau (2005) was also included. Our analysis comprised two steps: existing conceptions were indexed and compared, by which it was determined that all conceptions we analyzed could be classified into four domains. From the nine conceptions under study, we identified 217 variables and items that were summarized and standardized and then assigned to the four domains: Physical and Mental Health; Social Embedding; Development/Activity; and Security (Table I).Overall, this Quality of life Catalog represents all life areas perceived relevant for people with disabilities or who live in special dependency conditions.\nResults: The Quality of life Catalog was the starting point for developing various tools with our project partners. With these tools, critical areas that influence quality of life can be recorded and modeled. Some tools were developed as diagnostic instruments for surveying, analyzing and evaluating quality of life, while others are planning tools relevant to quality of life that can be mapped and suggestions for improvement generated. Both tools can be applied to individuals with disabilities who live in an assisted living center and they can be applied to functional units in some service organizations. Together they form the systematic framework sensiQoL(c) (Figure 1).The tools were developed for online application, which means that project partners or other interested clients in service centers and organizations can open an account before using the www.sensiqol.com log-in platform.Individual diagnostic tools\nDiscussion and conclusion: With these versatile diagnostic and planning tools, the intervention framework sensiQoL(c) offers comprehensive resources for surveying, quantifying, evaluating, describing and simulating elements relevant to quality of life. The individual tools demonstrates that they can be used individually and organizationally, that they can be successfully used for diagnostic and planning purposes, and that they represent best practice. The diagnostic tools allowed the interviewee's living condition to be represented and assessed so that a further part of his/her life could be planned and meaningful interventions practically implemented. The tools also enabled staff to reflect more deeply on their attitudes toward fundamental quality of life criteria. This led, in a strikingly constructive manner, to intensive and discursive discussions about the organizational unit's orientation to quality of life questions and to substantially positioning the organization in this regard.The next research step is to improve the interviewing tool used to survey people with profound cognitive and communicative impairment. The \"proxy\" tool, which was used to interview surrogates or representatives, is not well suited to achieving its objective. This was made particularly clear in controlled studies conducted in parallel to this one. In this survey, two support workers independently assessed the same clients. The average deviations on the abilities/possibilities variable was 0.35 (which corresponds to 0.7 points) and for priorities/desires 0.52 (which corresponds to 1.04 points). At the item level, values were even slightly higher. This shows that another tool must be developed that is able to triangulate information from people with multiple severe impairments, their support workers and their families. This will be the next stage in our work with partners from residential care centers for older people with dementia and for people with severe multiple disabilities. Furthermore, complex research steps must be simplified and more clearly structured. This might be done by designing a practical client management system that supports staff in their daily work in these facilities. Such a system should also feature a client database with appropriate case management structure and documents oriented toward individual intervention planning for supporting clients, and instructions for use. On the other hand, quality of life scientific foundations should be operationalized in such a way that they can serve to structure political discussion in the quality assurance and quality improvement areas.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article seeks to describe online tools for surveying and improving quality of life for people with disabilities living in assisted living centers and special education service organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Ensuring a decent quality of life for disabled people is an important welfare state goal. Using well-accepted quality of life conceptions, online diagnostic and planning tools were developed during an Institute for Education, University of Zurich, research project.\nFindings: - The diagnostic tools measure, evaluate and analyze disabled people's quality of life. The planning tools identify factors that can affect their quality of life and suggest improvements.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Instrument validity and reliability are not tested according to the standard statistical procedures. This will be done at a more advanced stage of the project. Instead, the tool is developed, refined and adjusted in cooperation with practitioners who are constantly judging it according to best practice standards.\nPractical implications: - The tools support staff in assisted living centers and special education service organizations.\nOriginality/value: - These tools offer comprehensive resources for surveying, quantifying, evaluating, describing and simulating quality of life elements.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Combinative aspects of leadership style and emotional intelligence	[ "Emotional intelligence", "Leadership style", "Configuration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Leadership style has traditionally been construed as the extent to which an individual emphasizes or displays particular types of leadership (e.g. consideration, initiating structure, transactional, transformational) and measured by the frequency or intensity of specific leadership behaviors or attitudes using multiple-items and Likert scales. This paradigm, although fruitful, is limited in some ways as it overlooks micro aspects of leadership style that may profoundly influence the impact of leadership on followers' emotional states and ultimately on how followers respond to the leader.\nMethod: Sample\nResults: We used AMOS 18.0 to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis on Wong and Law's (2002) four-component emotional intelligence instrument. As shown in Table I, the four-factor model provides a satisfactory fit for the data. We then compared Wong and Law's (2002) four-factor model to all other possible models, which are as follows: a second-order factor model; six three-factor models in which two of the components were combined; three two-factor models in which each factor comprises two components; four two-factor models in which one factor comprises two components; and a single-factor model. As shown in Table I, all of the kh2 differences between the four-factor model and the other models are significant thereby indicating that, of all the models, the four-factor model fits the data best.\nDiscussion: Despite the debate in the literature regarding the relevance of emotional intelligence to leadership, our study provides evidence that the emotional intelligence of leaders may influence micro aspects of leadership style. The main finding of this study is that the emotional intelligence of leaders is related to their favored combinative leadership style. Specifically, leaders who favor the Before style have the highest levels of emotional intelligence and leaders who favor the Delayed style have the lowest levels.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the leader's emotional intelligence influences the leader's preferences for different ways of combining leadership behaviors (i.e. combinative aspects of leadership style).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors used a hybrid design to collect the data to avoid common-method biases. The authors described a high-stress workplace in a vignette and asked participants to rank four styles of combining a task-oriented leadership (i.e. Pressure) statement and a socio-emotional leadership (i.e. Support) statement. The authors then asked participants to complete a Likert-scale based questionnaire on emotional intelligence.\nFindings: The authors found that leaders who prefer to provide Support immediately before Pressure have higher levels of emotional intelligence than do leaders who prefer the three other combinative styles. Leaders who prefer to provide Pressure and Support separately (i.e. provide Pressure 30 minutes after Support) have the lowest levels of emotional intelligence.\nResearch limitations/implications: A key implicit assumption in the work is that leaders do not want to evoke negative emotions in followers. The authors did not take into account factors that influence leadership style which participating managers would be likely to encounter on a daily basis such as the relationship with the follower, the follower's level of performance and work experience, the gender of the leader and the gender of the follower, the hierarchical levels of the leader and follower, and the followers' preferred combinative style. The nature of the sample and the use of a hypothetical scenario are other limitations of the study.\nPractical implications: Providing leadership behaviors that are regarded as effective is necessary but not enough because the emotional impact of leadership behaviors appears to also depend on how the behaviors are configured.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to show that the emotional intelligence of leaders is related to their preferences for the manner in which they combine task and social leadership statements. Furthermore, two-factor theories of leadership propose that the effects of task and social leadership are additive. However, the findings show that the effects are interactive.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Open access institutional repositories in universities in East Africa	[ "Open access", "Kenya", "East Africa", "Universities", "Tanzania", "Uganda", "Institutional repositories" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Open access is the \"free availability and unrestricted use\" of publications or scholarly literature/information online (Suber, 2015). According to Shearer (2002/2003, p. 90), \"the philosophy of open access grew out of the dissatisfaction with the traditional pricing system of scholarly publishing in the west, where universities and research institutions were forced to cancel a significant number of subscriptions.\" Johnson (2002) noted that IRs were a strategic response to the opportunities of the digital networked environment and the problems in the traditional scholarly journal system. The Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI, 2002) that first defined the open access concept proposed two avenues through which it would be achieved, that is, through publishing in open access journals (the Gold route to open access) and depositing copies of articles published in traditional journals in open access repositories (the Green route to open access). Richardson and Wolski (2012, p. 2602) acknowledged the fact that \"it is open access (OA), which has driven the creation of repositories, especially institutional repositories.\" The network of open access repositories was envisioned as the backbone of the open access movement as libraries around the world began implementing and capturing the intellectual assets of their institutions. Harnad (2007) envisioned that about 5 per cent of the research would be archived by the open access journals, while the remaining 95 per cent could be freely accessed via repositories if all researchers immediately began self-archiving their work that they publish in traditional journals.\nProblem statement: IRs have been around since the early 2000's and in East Africa since 2006, specifically at Makerere University in Uganda. Universities in East Africa are still in the intermediate stages of embracing open access and libraries have taken the lead in initiating and implementing IRs. They have popularly been known for increasing an institutions visibility on the web because of the scholarly information being displayed from universities. By 30th March 2018, there were 40 IRs in East Africa registered in the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR)[1], 28 from Kenya, 10 from Tanzania and 2 from Uganda. Nine of these repositories were, however, not from universities, and four of the university-based repositories had dead links. There were 15 other universities in East Africa that had IRs accessible online, but not yet registered in OpenDOAR. A summary of all these IRs, with the number of items in each (by end of March 2018) where possible was as follows:\nLiterature review: As far as what repositories were meant to serve, Westell (2006, p. 221) noted that \"institutional repositories were not designed to control access but to facilitate open access to their holdings,\" and that \"the pure institutional repository provides material with no access limitations to support the widest possible dissemination of research findings\" (p. 222). Shearer (2002/2003, p. 97) pointed out that \"the major goal of the institutional repository, as it grew out of the open access movement was to disseminate scholarly material.\" Shearer (2002/2003, p. 92) also further noted that \"in most cases, IRs had no barriers to their content or very low-barrier access (such as registration requirements).\" Chan (2004) noted that the primary role of IRs was to facilitate open access to the traditional scholarship in institutions. To sum this up, Casey (2012) re-affirmed the purpose of IRs as partly meant to serve as open access repositories of the intellectual output of the faculty, besides showcasing the tangible results of the institution globally. Are IRs in East Africa achieving the open access goal?\nMethodology: University websites in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were surveyed for the presence of IRs, the number of items in the repositories (by March 2018) and for the selected universities (based on the author's PhD study), how much of these items were open access (by 2014). A thorough search of the Internet and journal databases was also conducted to identify literature about open access and IRs in East Africa. This was complemented by the findings of the author's PhD study on the management and accessibility of open access IRs in selected universities in East Africa, where both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data from three universities, with one IR from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, purposively selected based on the highest number of items in the IR in each country by 2014. Six librarians in charge of the IRs were purposively selected and interviewed, whereas 183 researchers, selected using systematic random sampling, responded to a self-administered questionnaire. The selected universities, with their level of open access by 2014 were Kenyatta University (KU, 32 per cent OA in IR) in Kenya, Makerere University (Mak, 22 per cent OA in IR) in Uganda and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS, 98 per cent OA in IR) in Tanzania. To establish the level of OA of the IRs in universities, an analysis of the first 20 items of each letter of the alphabet was checked for full-text accessibility and the average number of items with full-text content determined.\nResults and discussion: Achievements\nConclusion: In the electronic information environment, library users are interested in easily accessing full-text information resources, and these should be readily available from IRs. Emphasis should therefore be placed on processes that promote open access deposits in repositories. Institutionally mandated deposits are essentially required if universities in East Africa would like to move beyond the slow and time consuming self-driven/voluntary process of collecting content and increase the visibility and accessibility of scholarly information locally produced to enhance development within the region. Staff participation in IR activities and collaboration in self-archiving or providing their scholarly information for mediated archiving are essential for open access. For student theses and dissertations, requiring deposit in the IR as a condition before one graduates would maximise content collection and growth.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Given that repositories were proposed as one of the routes to open access (OA), this study sought to establish the achievements universities in East Africa had attained in initiating institutional repositories (IRs), the challenges in providing OA and strategies for the way forward.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected through literature searches, using the internet, journal databases and university websites in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for information about OA and IRs in East Africa. Some of the findings were based on the author's PhD \"The management and accessibility of OA IRs in selected universities in East Africa\", which used face-to-face interviews with six librarians and self-administered questionnaires responded to by 183 researchers at Kenyatta University, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences and Makerere University.\nFindings: Universities in East Africa were still in the intermediate stages of embracing OA, and only 40 libraries out of 145 universities had implemented IRs. However, most of the repositories had less than 1,000 items, with this challenge attributed to the absence of institutional and government/funder mandates that affected the collection/provision of OA, in addition to the lack of awareness of IRs among researchers.\nOriginality/value: The value in this research was establishing the extent of IR initiatives in universities in East Africa and their contribution to OA, which is regarded as more visible and accessible to scholars and government personnel who could leverage the information for further development in the region.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What is eSports and why do people watch it?	[ "Online video", "Games", "ESports", "Media consumption", "Streaming", "Uses and gratifications" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: eSports is as \"a form of sports where the primary aspects of the sport are facilitated by electronic systems; the input of players and teams as well as the output of the eSports system are mediated by human-computer interfaces.\" In more practical terms, eSports commonly refer to competitive (pro and amateur) video gaming that is often coordinated by different leagues, ladders and tournaments, and where players customarily belong to teams or other \"sporting\" organizations which are sponsored by various business organizations. During recent years, eSports (electronic sports) have become one of the most rapidly growing forms of new media driven by the growing provenance of (online) games and online broadcasting technologies. It has been estimated that more than 70 million people watched eSports during 2013 (Warr, 2014).\n2. Background: 2.1 Defining eSports\n3. The empirical study: 3.1 Data\n4. Discussion: During recent years, eSports (electronic sports) and video game streaming have become rapidly growing forms of new media in the internet driven by the growing provenance of (online) games and online broadcasting technologies. Today, hundreds of millions of people spectate eSports. The present investigation presented a seminal study on gratification-related determinants of why people spectate eSports on the internet. Moreover, the study proposed a definition for eSports and further discussed how eSports can be seen as a form of sports. We defined eSports as \"a form of sports where the primary aspects of the sport are facilitated by electronic systems; the input of players and teams as well as the output of the eSports system are mediated by human-computer interfaces.\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate why do people spectate eSports on the internet. The authors define eSports (electronic sports) as \"a form of sports where the primary aspects of the sport are facilitated by electronic systems; the input of players and teams as well as the output of the eSports system are mediated by human-computer interfaces.\" In more practical terms, eSports refer to competitive video gaming (broadcasted on the internet).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study employs the motivations scale for sports consumption which is one of the most widely applied measurement instruments for sports consumption in general. The questionnaire was designed and pre-tested before distributing to target respondents (n=888). The reliability and validity of the instrument both met the commonly accepted guidelines. The model was assessed first by examining its measurement model and then the structural model.\nFindings: The results indicate that escapism, acquiring knowledge about the games being played, novelty and eSports athlete aggressiveness were found to positively predict eSport spectating frequency.\nOriginality/value: During recent years, eSports (electronic sports) and video game streaming have become rapidly growing forms of new media in the internet driven by the growing provenance of (online) games and online broadcasting technologies. Today, hundreds of millions of people spectate eSports. The present investigation presents a large study on gratification-related determinants of why people spectate eSports on the internet. Moreover, the study proposes a definition for eSports and further discusses how eSports can be seen as a form of sports.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leaders as emotional managers : Emotion management in response organisations during a hostage taking in a Swedish prison	[ "Leadership", "Stress", "Bureaucracy", "Emotion management", "Hostage taking", "Response organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: On 23rd September 2004, a hostage drama occurred in a small Swedish town. Although staff at the local prison were situationally prepared and trained in incident exercises, two inmates with knives fled the prison after taking a warden hostage. The prisoners moved across several counties, which increased pressure on the police investigation. The hostage managed to escape, reducing situational stress, but the hunt continued. After four days of intense pursuit, the prisoners were finally arrested outside a small city far from the prison. The hostage drama was a unique event in that it was the first time in Sweden that hostage-takers (already found guilty of murder) had managed to take a hostage outside a prison area. The handling of this man-made antagonistic crisis involved many different organizations and more than 100 individuals. The event received a lot of media attention, which was perceived as highly stressful for the organizations involved (Alvinius et al., 2010). The present study utilizes this episode as its empirical point of departure.\nMethod: Informants\nResults: A model of leaders' emotion management in professional crisis management organizations (Figure 1)\nDiscussion: According to our analysis, there is interdependence between the operational actions performed by professional emergency response actors and their emotions. The bottom line of this interplay could be summed up in two core themes: focus on the task and do not let emotions interfere with the operational actions; and provide the task force with maximum physical and psychological security. We suggest that these two themes reflect an emotional regime structurally embedded in emergency response organizations having a hierarchical, bureaucratic structure. Through work socialization processes, the individual internalizes a set of unwritten rules regarding emotional display and emotion management.\nConclusions: According to the analysis, emergency response leader's emotion management is framed by an organizationally embedded emotional regime which is summed up in two core themes: focus on the task and do not let emotions interfere; and provide the task force with maximum physical and psychological security. The leader's emotion management within this framework consists of two interdependent processes, one more organization oriented and one more individual oriented.\nPractical implications and further studies: The interview data and the suggested model contribute to our understanding of the informants' work duties and the relationship between problems that may arise while managing emotions during stressful events, and may be practically used in educational contexts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding of how leaders manage their own and others' emotions in professional crisis management organizations during severely demanding episodes. The empirical case is a hostage drama that occurred in a small Swedish town. Although staff at the local prison were situationally prepared and trained in incident exercises, two inmates with knives fled the prison after taking a warden hostage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A grounded theory approach was used. In all, 14 informants from four Swedish authorities were interviewed on the basis of their involvement in the hostage drama.\nFindings: According to the analysis, an emergency response leader's emotion management is framed by an organizationally embedded emotional regime which is summed up in two core themes: focus on the task and do not let emotions interfere; and provide the task force with maximum physical and psychological security. The leader's emotion management within this framework consists of two interdependent processes, one more organization oriented and one more individual oriented.\nResearch limitations/implications: Small sample, lack of representativeness, and lack of illumination of possible gender-related aspects.\nPractical implications: The suggested model may be valuable in educational settings.\nOriginality/value: A new integrative, theoretical process model of leadership and emotion management in complex, stressful operations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between preference for privacy and social media usage	[ "Privacy", "Self-determination theory", "Social media", "Social media usage", "Multi-group invariance", "Preference for privacy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The relationship between consumers' perceptions of privacy and their social media usage is an important and timely topic for both consumers and marketers. The popular press implies that consumers should reduce the amount of information provided to social media to protect their privacy. Scandals involving the improper use of consumers' data have occupied the media and government, as the CEO of Facebook is called to testify before the US Congress (Lewis et al., 2018) and rules enacted by the European Union to protect privacy (i.e. General Data Protection Regulation), are concerns to business executives (Greenbook Research Industry Trends, 2018). Research suggests that a large percentage of consumers are concerned their online behavior is being tracked by firms (Smith et al., 2011), and Teubner and Flath (2019) argue that there is a lack of understanding of privacy in the sharing economy.\nLiterature review: Privacy\nConceptual development: The definition of privacy that we use is \"the ability to to control the degree to which people and institutions encroach upon one's life and to adjust the level of privacy to changing needs [...] (Marshall, 1974, p. 255).\" Marshall (1974) generalizes an earlier definition by Westin (1967) that states \"privacy is the voluntary and temporary withdrawal of a person from the general society through physical or psychological means, either in a state of solitude or small group intimacy or, when among large groups, in a condition of anonymity or reserve\" (Westin, 1967, p. 7; Margulis, 2003). Marshall (1974) follows the definition of Westin (1967) in developing four of the dimensions of her preference for privacy scale (i.e. solitude, intimacy, anonymity and reserve) and adds two more dimensions (i.e. not neighboring and seclusion) that are consistent with her additional focus on the encroachment of one person's time or space by another.\nMethod: To test the six hypotheses, an e-mail requesting completion of an online questionnaire was sent to faculty, staff and students of a medium sized mid-western university. The e-mail contained a link to the web-based questionnaire and was hosted by Qualtrics. The questionnaire included the preference for privacy scale (Marshall, 1974), questions about recent social media usage and demographic questions. Five hundred and thirty respondents completed the survey.\nAnalysis: Coefficient alpha (Cronbach, 1951) and composite reliability (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) were used to investigate the reliability of the scales. Composite reliability for each of the scales is reported in Table I and ranges from 0.669 to 0.787. Coefficient alpha values, reported along the diagonal in Table I, range from 0.633 through 0.751 consistent with the levels suggested for basic research (Nunnally, 1967).\nResults: Analysis tested the hypotheses through structural equation modeling using AMOS version 25. The structural model demonstrated the same fit indices as the measurement model, being that the only changes involve replacing the correlations between relevant variables with regressions (Figure 1). This analysis offers support for a statistically significant positive effect of not neighboring on frequency of social media usage (B = 0.139, p < 0.05), supporting H2b. Seclusion has a significant negative effect on duration of social media usage (B = -0.174, p < 0.05), supporting H3a. Reserve has a significant negative relationship with duration of social media usage (B = -0.138, p < 0.05), supporting H6a. Surprisingly, anonymity has a significant positive effect on duration (B = 0.107, p < 0.05), which is opposite to the direction hypothesized in H5a. See Figure 2 for a graphical representation of the results and Table III for a summary of the results with potential future research directions.\nImplications: A review of the privacy literature in marketing suggests that interest in self-disclosure as a dependent variable is decreasing due to marketers being able to gather consumer information unobtrusively (Martin and Murphy, 2017). A popular method of collecting information inconspicuously is social media (Lamberton and Stephen, 2016). As such, determining the influence of privacy preferences on social media usage is important for practical reasons. The findings from this study offer evidence that different preferences for privacy vary in their effect on consumers' duration and frequency of social media usage. These findings, together with findings from earlier research, suggest that marketers could influence consumer willingness to disclose information on social media.\nLimitations and future research: The study uses self-reports of behavior instead of behavioral measures as dependent variables. Social media has become embedded in the lives of many. As it is embedded in people's everyday lives, perhaps respondents are mistaken in their reports of usage. Such mistakes could impact the results of this study. Using actual behavioral measures would be one way of overcoming this limitation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate whether preferences for certain types of privacy predict the frequency and duration of social media usage as well as the moderating role of gender on these relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An e-mail-based survey among the faculty, staff and students of a medium-sized mid-western university is used to gather data regarding preferences for privacy and social media usage. Using 530 respondents, structural equation modeling explores the relationship between the various privacy types, gender and social media usage.\nFindings: Evidence supports a relationship between four types of privacy preferences and social media usage. A positive relationship exists between frequency of social media usage and a preference for not neighboring. Duration of social media usage shows a negative relationship with preferences for seclusion and reserve, and surprisingly, a positive relationship with a preference for anonymity. Gender moderates the relationship between preference for privacy and social media usage, offering evidence that intimacy, seclusion and reserve predict social media usage for males, while not neighboring and anonymity predict usage for females.\nOriginality/value: The study extends the privacy literature through investigating differential impacts of privacy preferences. The marketing literature examines privacy as a general concept, without allowing for differences in consumers' preferences for types of privacy. Additionally, the study shows that gender moderates the relationship between preferences for privacy and social media usage. A second contribution is investigating the relevance of a scale, developed in an age without social media, to an era permeated in social media.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Toward a model of sparkling wine purchasing preferences	[ "Australia", "Wines", "Psychometric/qualitative", "Consumer behaviour", "Survey research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is limited published data about Australian sparkling wine production and sales volumes. Champagne and other sparkling wine[1] accounted for about 8 per cent of total sales of wine (table, sparkling, carbonated and fortified) in Australia in 2013-2014 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014). From 2004 to 2012, the number of Australian sparkling wine producers increased from 570 to 948, with annual production reaching 37 million litres in 2011-2012 (Wine Australia, 2012). However, Australia has experienced a recent downturn, with domestic sales of Australian sparkling wine declining from a peak of 39.8 million litres in 2005-2006 to 35.1 million litres in 2013-2014 (Wine Australia, 2014). Simultaneously, due to increased international competition and unfavourable exchange rates, the volume of imported wine of all types was estimated to increase by 20 per cent in 2011-2012 (Gunning-Trant, 2012) and by a further 14 per cent by 2013-2014 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014).\nPrior studies: Consistent with a grounded theory approach, an initial literature review was undertaken to inform the data collection phase of the study, including development of a set of questions for focus group discussions. Prior studies investigating the preferences of sparkling wine consumers are identified below. However, a detailed discussion of the literature is not provided within this section. Rather, discussions of findings of prior research are incorporated within the Discussion section. Again, consistent with grounded theory methods, this arrangement enables the development of theory to be supported by analysis of findings from prior studies as well as those from this study (Goulding, 2000).\nMethods: The study employed a qualitative methodology, given the aim of developing new theory rather than testing existing theory; in this case, to identify factors influencing consumers' purchasing preferences regarding sparkling wine, and relationships between those factors. Use of a qualitative approach is supported by arguments such as that by Goulding (2005, p. 295), that \"there is increasing acknowledgement [...] of the need for the application of qualitative methodologies [...] to gain valid insights [and] develop theory\".\nDiscussion: Findings that purchase of champagne and other sparkling wine is influenced by personal taste are consistent with \"conventional economic theory of consumer behavior\" which assumes that \"prices, incomes, and personal tastes affect consumption\" (Ackerman, 1997, p. 651); sensory evidence that \"taste sensitivity varies greatly among individuals\" (Lim et al., 2008, p. 493); views that wine is \"a sensory product\" with a \"quasi-aesthetic character\", that \"can be judged by objective standards but is also a matter of personal taste\" (Charters, 2009b, p. 286); and prior findings of Judica and Perkins (1992), Charters (2005), Fountain and Fish (2010) and Cerjak et al. (2014) with specific reference to sparkling wine. In summary, based on findings of this and prior studies, personal taste appears to be a major factor in the purchase decision for many sparkling wine consumers, but there are large variations in personal taste - sparkling wine being the preferred alcoholic beverage of some consumers and a beverage to be avoided by others; dry styles being preferred by some and sweet styles by others.\nManagerial implications: Recommendations to sparkling wine marketing practitioners based on findings from this study are consistent with those from prior researchers in this field. Findings from this study, being consistent with prior research findings, should provide practitioners with confidence that prior research-based recommendations are valid. In addition, findings from this study identify relationships between some factors, not identified in prior research. Recommended empirical research should provide greater understanding of the relative importance of the factors and relationships between factors identified in this study. In turn, those findings should enable refinement of evidence-based recommendations to practitioners, including special issues in markets within some countries or regions.\nLimitations and future research: The main limitation of this study relates to the data collection method, which was determined largely by requirements of the overall funded project. For grounded theory studies, data should be obtained from a wide range of sources (Seaman, 2008). The use of just four focus groups in this study could be considered narrow. However, inter-group diversity was achieved through formation of groups based on age and gender, and use of focus groups does offer benefits of participants reacting and building upon the responses of others, thereby generating a broader range of information and insight than individual interviews (Belzile and Oberg, 2012). The willingness of participants to discuss issues for 60-75 min, and the generation of 31 nodes with 479 references during the coding process, testify to the breadth and depth of focus group discussions - and to the likelihood of adequate diversity of sources.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide further insight into factors influencing Australian consumers' purchasing preferences for sparkling wine, including champagne.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Focus groups were conducted and thematic analysis was undertaken to identify factors influencing sparkling wine consumers' purchasing preferences.\nFindings: Personal taste was found to influence choice of a sparkling wine rather than another type of beverage, and selection of a particular style and brand of sparkling wine. Country or region of origin was found to be important, often linked to the product being champagne. Brand image, reputation and symbolism were found to influence purchase decisions (sometimes linked to consumption occasion), especially for purchases of gifts. Advice, recommendations and expert reviews, and consumption occasion also were found to influence purchase decisions. Price was found to influence style and brand of sparkling wine purchased. A high price was found to be a barrier for some participants, while other participants were found to avoid sparkling wines priced below some particular level. Thematic analysis enabled development of a preliminary model of purchasing preferences.\nResearch limitations/implications: Being exploratory in nature, findings cannot be generalised. Further studies are required to confirm the preliminary model and to evaluate the validity and significance of proposed relationships.\nPractical implications: Findings suggest a producer could benefit from marketing a range of sparkling wines to cater to different tastes, occasions and gift purchases. Findings also confirm the importance of marketers pursuing opportunities to obtain and promote favourable expert reviews for their sparkling wines, and of identifying and promoting regional distinctiveness.\nOriginality/value: The first comprehensive model of sparkling wine consumers' purchasing preferences has been developed. Empirical testing would enable refinement and enhance understanding.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Realignment strategies in the US retail industry during a recessionary time: Dominant themes, trends, and propositions	[ "Grounded theory", "Recession", "Retail industry", "Realignment strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Recessions have different causes; vary in their depth, scope, and duration; and push each industry to react differently (Flatters and Willmott, 2009). The 2008 Global Financial Crisis, or the Great Recession, was triggered by the deterioration in the US subprime mortgage market (Rollins et al., 2014). Lasting from December 2007 to June 2009, it was one of the longest periods of recession and the worst financial crisis since the great depression in the 1930s (NBER, 2010). Its repercussions were felt long after it was formally declared to be over (Hurd and Rohwedder, 2010). Compared with previous recessions, this recession had the slowest recovery in terms of employment growth (The Economist, 2011). As a result, the retail industry, which primarily depends on serving consumer needs, experienced economic challenges in the form of revenue losses for an extended period of time and was forced to re-evaluate existing strategies to remain profitable in a difficult business environment.\nMethod: Data collection\nFindings and propositions: Through the iterative process, we classified a number of realignment strategies between 2008 and 2011 into five thematic categories: price, promotional, product, organizational, and operational (see Table I). Among these categories, promotional realignment was most prevalent (f=146), followed by organizational realignment (f=98), price realignment (f=67), operational realignment (f=53), and product realignment (f=25). As expected, reports on these five realignment categories were more salient during recession period than in the post-recession period, with the highest number of records in 2009. While a majority of news reports discussed a single retailer, several reports covered moves of multiple retailers. Considering the vast scope of our data (2,131 news summaries), we did not count the number of retailers cited in each of the categories. Below, we provide a detailed account of the various strategies used by retailers and develop propositions that explain underlying motivations, variances, and commonalities among the various strategic actions undertaken by different types of retailers.\nDiscussion: Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the range of realignment strategies employed by retailers in the USA in response to the 2008 economic recession.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Following the grounded theory approach, National Retail Federation News Briefs published between 2008 and 2011 were analyzed by sorting them into thematic categories and comparing trends in strategic decisions during the recession (2008-2009) and after the recession (2010-2011). Based on the emergent categories, propositions were developed to provide theoretical explanations of the findings.\nFindings: The authors found five thematic categories of realignment strategies: promotional, organizational, price, operational, and product realignments. In line with contingency theories, retailers used these strategies to achieve a greater fit with the altered business environment and consumer consumption patterns. While promotional realignment was most prevalent, followed by organizational realignment, different realignment strategies were pursued based on the strategic focus and long-term vs short-term orientation of the retailers.\nOriginality/value: The contribution of the findings is twofold: filling a critical gap in the literature examining the range of realignment decisions of the US retail industry in response to the recent economic recession; and enhancing the theoretical understanding of underlying factors or mechanisms of specific realignment decisions in the context of a turbulent economic environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
School lunch as a break or an educational activity: A quantitative study of Swedish teacher perspectives	[ "Teachers", "Schools", "Education", "Food" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Worldwide, it is estimated that at least 368 million children receive food daily during school hours (World Food Programme, 2013). Different school feeding practices are used in different countries, varying from pupils going home to eat or bringing food from home, to pupils buying food at school or being served tax-funded lunches at school. It is common to have an adult presence (e.g. teachers, lunch staff and/or other personnel at school) when lunches are eaten at school, however, this adult presence may have different purposes in different countries, schools and age groups. Functions can vary from primarily maintaining order to achieving educational goals set out by schools or the government.\nMethods: Study design\nResults: Participants\nDiscussion: This study showed that a majority of teachers think that the school lunch should be a part of the schools educational activities and that most teachers ate lunch in the school restaurant together with the pupils. A majority of the teachers thought that the school lunch could be useful in learning about the overall goals and guidelines in the curriculum regarding knowledge and understanding of the importance of own lifestyle for health, environment and society.\nConclusion and practical implications: Our data show that many teachers in Sweden eat fully or partly subsidized school lunches together with pupils even though, in many cases, it was not an explicit requirement by the school leaders, and even though more than a quarter of the teachers did not see the school lunch as part of the school's educational activities. Societal costs related to this, i.e. teacher salaries and subsidization of meals, which are all tax-funded, are not insignificant.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore to what extent teachers eat together with pupils during school lunches and their attitudes toward using these lunches to reach the educational goals stated in the Swedish compulsory school curriculum; and second, to study to what degree teachers see themselves and school meal personnel as role models during school lunches.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was completed by 3,629 teachers in Swedish schools.\nFindings: In total, 90 percent of the teachers ate lunch together with the pupils one or more days per week. The majority reported that meals were fully (54 percent), or partially (40 percent) subsidized when they were eating with pupils. In total, 72 percent thought that school lunches should be considered part of the school's educational activities while 28 percent thought that it should be a time to get a break from educational activities. Most teachers thought that school lunches could be useful for learning about the issues of food waste and healthy eating while there were more diverse views on using lunches for learning about fundamental values. A majority of the teachers considered themselves to be role models in the school meal situation.\nPractical implications: The authors suggest that the educational component of the school meal per se should be regulated in the Educational Act together with guidelines from the Swedish National Agency for Education.\nOriginality/value: This study is unique since it covers a previously little studied area; teachers' attitudes toward using the school lunch situation for educational purposes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Testing linen disinfection procedures in practice with phage-charged-bioindicators	[ "Bioindicator", "Laundry hygiene", "Disinfecting laundry processes", "Infection control", "Surrogate virus MS2", "Application in practice", "Sterilization (hygiene)", "Hospitals", "Cleaning", "Chemical technology equipment", "Viruses" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The reprocessing of laundry is an important topic in the health care sector. Disinfecting laundry processes are managed professionally in commercial laundries where contaminated linen and clothes with various microbial charges and from different facilities, such as hospitals, nursing homes, hotels, butchers, food and other industries, converge. A monitoring and certification of the implemented processes and the proof of their efficacy against pathogens is essential to avoid an accumulation of germs in the laundering machines and a cross-contamination of goods. This is fundamental for a successful quality management in commercial laundries with the aim to interrupt routes of infection, both nosocomial and community acquired.In Germany, the testing on efficacy of disinfecting laundry processes against viruses is performed by in vitro tests only (Rabenau and Schwebke, 2008). A successful conclusion of these tests is the base for the accreditation of disinfecting laundry processes by the Robert Koch-Institute (RKI, 2008). The transferability of these in vitro tests on the practical in situ situation is more or less deduced due to the lack of suitable in situ test bioindicators, i.e. presently there are no methods described for in situ testing under practical conditions or directly in practice similar to the standardised tests on bactericidal efficacy by Gebel et al. (2001). In situ tests record additionally the chemothermal impact, the mechanical washing action and the dilution effect of the process. To overcome these obstacles it would be favourable to develop test methods to prove the efficacy against viruses in practice.In a previous work, the development and the validation of a bioindicator on the base of the Escherichia coli bacteriophage MS2 and an organic challenge called pascomucil, an artificial faecal soil, was described (Gerhardts et al., 2009). The MS2 bacteriophage is a single stranded RNA virus with a high tenacity against environmental impacts and against disinfectants. The virus has similar characteristics to other enteric viruses like picornaviruses or caliciviruses including the human Norovirus (Allwood et al., 2003; Casteel et al., 2008; De Roda Husman et al., 2004; Park et al., 2007; Shin and Sobsey, 2003; Sickbert-Bennett et al., 2005). The comparability of the MS2 bacteriophage to other clinical relevant viruses was a main prerequisite for the choice of this test virus. In compliance with these conditions the practicability of the MS2 bacteriophage as a test virus was proven and it was found to be suitable with respect to culturability, storage stability as well as temperature and pH tolerance (Gerhardts et al., 2009).For this study, we finally modified the test design for testing chemical disinfection processes on bactericidal activity of the DGHM by replacing the test bacteria with MS2 bacteriophages (Gebel et al., 2001). The test design implies a quantitative suspension test in vitro and an in situ test under practical conditions. Both tests correspond approximately to the normative defined test categories for chemical disinfection: phase 2/step 1 and phase 2/step 2 according to DIN EN 14885 (German Standards Institute, 2007a). With a similar experimental setup, the antiviral efficacy of disinfecting laundry processing at 40degC could already be shown (Gerhardts et al., 2009). In the present study, we investigated the efficacy of disinfecting laundry processes against viruses at 60degC and 70degC, as well as in practice. Tests on efficacy in practice correspond to phase 3 category of testing of disinfectants.\n2. Materials and methods: 2.1 Cultivation of the MS2 bacteriophage\n3. Results: 3.1 Tests in spin-drying machines\n4. Discussion: Our results show that viruses descending from contaminated linen are present in laundry wastewaters, as shown for the washing bath after disinfection and in part after rinsing, and that cross-contamination of other goods occurs. This is in line with the findings of Hot et al. (2003) that human enteric pathogenic viruses excreted in human faeces are present in wastewater and bear a risk for a large range of human illnesses. For the quality management of hospital laundries it is therefore essential to rely on tools which confirm an adequate disinfecting effect of viruses during the laundry reprocessing.The certification of chemothermal disinfecting laundry processes with efficiency against viruses is currently based on quantitative suspension tests in vitro (Rabenau and Schwebke, 2008; RKI, 2008). The efficacy of processes in vitro is transferred on the practical in situ situation due to the lack of suitable in situ test methods with viral bioindicators. Attempts to establish new methods to determine an antiviral performance under practical conditions and directly in practice are therefore eagerly demanded (Steinmann and Steinmann, 2010). In this study we therefore sought to prove the bacteriophage MS2 as a suitable test virus for laundry bioindicators.4.1 Selection of the MS2 bacteriophage\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Disinfecting laundry processes are essential to avoid contamination of laundering machines and linen during commercial laundry reprocessing in the health care sector. Recently a bacteriophage-charged bioindicator has been developed using MS2 as surrogate virus for testing of low-temperature disinfecting laundry processing on efficacy against viruses related to practice. This paper therefore aims to investigate application of MS2-bioindicators in chemothermal processes under practical conditions (phase 2/step 2) and in practice (phase 3).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The experimental design was developed and modified according to the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) Standard Methods for Testing Chemical Disinfection Processes. Tests under practical conditions were performed at 60degC and 70degC. Additional tests in tunnel washers were carried out at 60degC and 70degC. In all experiments validated disinfecting laundry processes, recommended for bactericidal and virucidal performance (categories A and B), were applied.\nFindings: - The results show a temperature-dependent gradual efficacy against the test virus MS2 up to reduction values of more than 8 log10-steps. Therefore MS2-bioindicators prove to be suitable as a tool to determine the performance of disinfection procedures against viruses in practice.\nOriginality/value: - Phage-charged bioindicators may be a tool to provide further insights into the reliability of antiviral laundry processes for health care quality management and for infection control.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evolution of concept networks and implications for knowledge representation	[ "Semantics", "Structures", "Pragmatism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Language is arguably the salient characteristic that defines humanity (Park and Park, 2005). Givon (1979, p. 352) posits language as \"a system of representation of knowledge, acquisition of new knowledge, remodeling-change of knowledge and the communication of new knowledge\". An examination of the historical development of semantic senses yields pertinent implications for knowledge representation studies. For instance, the phenomena of synonymy (i.e. related semantic senses across terms/words) and polysemy (i.e. multiple semantic senses of a term/word), both of which add dynamic complexity and creativity to natural language use, at the same time engender great hindrances in information retrieval owing to inherent lexical ambiguities. The key principles and characteristics underlying the formation of concept networks represented in polysemy and synonymy can be applicable and exploitable to the design of knowledge representation and information retrieval schemes.In this paper, I will follow Brugman and Lakoff's sense of concept network. Brugman and Lakoff (1988, p. 480) state that concept networks exhibit a \"radial\" structure:Categories may contain a great deal of internal structure - for instance, that one member of a category should be more exemplary of that category than some other member; that the boundaries of the category are not always clear-cut. The category structure utilized here is called a \"radial\" structure, with a central member and a network of links to other members.In this sense concept networks concern semantic categories that share core common concepts and semantic sense relations. Polysemy, which involves multiple related semantic senses, is an example of a concept network.The mechanisms behind the evolution of concept networks manifest a close linkage with discourse-pragmatic contexts and accordingly with socio-cognitive factors. Context-dependent meaning changes and new meaning creation, as well as key principles governing the process of development of concept networks, are manifest across languages (Traugott and Dasher, 2002; Yap, 1999; Park, 2003). This characteristic is applicable to designing knowledge representation schemes geared to multilingual and multicultural resources.This study aims to present descriptive characteristics of the historical development of concept networks. The principles, mechanisms and motivations behind the evolution of concept networks, as well as implications and potential applications of such principles and characteristics in relation to knowledge representation and information retrieval, will also be discussed.For this, natural language data including both speech and text are analyzed by examining discourse (both speech and text) contexts in which a linguistic element such as a polysemic word or homonym occurs. Use of speech based language data is derived from the fact that one of the critical conditions of language evolution underlies frequent verbal use of certain linguistic element. For example, Hawaiian pidgin, which lacks the principal grammatical elements of standard language, originated from a multicultural environment owing to waves of immigration from different countries and ethnically heterogeneous plantation life. In this environment, communication was facilitated by employing verbal use of only the core elements of English lacking any structured grammatical elements such as defined word order or morphemic rules. Over time, by frequent verbal use a pidgin may evolve into a creole, which employs a fully-fledged grammatical text and is structured virtually to the same extent as an established language. In this sense, analysis of speech-based data as well as text is critical to the study of information science and documentation.Finally, existent knowledge representation schemes such as AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules) and LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Headings) are examined, focusing on the treatment of homonymy and polysemy by applying linguistic principles underlying the evolution of concept networks. The rapid proliferation of digitization projects by libraries and other organizations calls for serious research on semantic interoperability in relation to metadata quality evaluation. The critical roadblock to achieving semantic interoperability based on metadata quality control is posed by the lack of a mediation mechanism that cataloging professionals can readily refer to during the process of metadata creation and mapping (see also Heery, 2004; Barton et al., 2003). Owing to the flexibility and complex structure of natural language, which allows for the representation of a concept in various ways, even utilization of a single metadata standard such as Dublin Core (DC) presents challenges in achieving the goal of maximizing semantic interoperability in the process of metadata creation and mapping. Thus, this paper will touch on implications and potential applicability of principles behind the process of concept network development to the design of a mediation mechanism for knowledge organization aimed at enhancing semantic interoperability and resource discovery across digital collections.\nCharacteristics and principles of the evolution of concept networks: The historical development of a linguistic element encompasses form and structure together with meaning. In this section, key characteristics and principles of the historical development of a linguistic element will be discussed, focusing on the semantic-pragmatic level that deals with meaning in language use.Characteristics of source concepts\nMotivation and mechanisms of semantic sense development: What are the driving forces behind the development of new semantic senses? How are the subjective and epistemic senses and abstract concepts developed? In what manner does such sense development occur?Epistemicity and subjectification\nDiscourse structure and pragmatic knowledge in semantic sense relations of concept networks: In previous sections, I presented descriptive characteristics of the historical development of concept networks in natural language: principles, motivation and mechanisms. Key principles such as regularity and motivation for semantic change, i.e. subjectivity, as well as other principles such as layering, divergence and persistence which account for the development of synonym and polysemy underlie the evolution of concept networks. The principle of regularity allows for the semantic relations of a concept network to be non-arbitrary and systematic. Also, the metaphoric and metonymic mechanisms behind the evolution of the concept network are closely intertwined with discourse-pragmatic contexts and accordingly socio-cognitive force.This section will briefly introduce semantic sense relations of multiple polysemic senses and will touch on the treatment of homonymy and polysemy, which greatly hinder knowledge representation and access owing to their lexical ambiguities in existent knowledge representation schemes such as AACR (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules) and LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Headings). Implications and potential applicability of principles behind the process of semantic sense development to the design of knowledge representation scheme geared toward enhancing semantic interoperability across digital collections will also be discussed.Semantic sense relations on a continuum scale\nConclusion and future studies: The characteristics, principles, motivation and mechanisms behind the evolution of concept networks provide theoretical ground for improving semantic sense relations in knowledge representation schemes. The characteristic of regularity shows good potential for knowledge representation schemes in defining systematic and predictable semantic sense relations of concept networks.The metaphoric transference between two conceptual domains is conditioned by discourse and pragmatic forces, inasmuch as transference between the two domains occurs in context-bound situations. The impetus for semantic sense development can be found in the cognitive need of speech participants for increasing information content through discourse coherence as well as the social need for expressing subjective interpersonal cohesion and an epistemic stance.In consequence, pragmatic contexts represented in the socio-cognitive dimension and discourse structure are closely intertwined with semantic sense relations, as illustrated in Figure 1. This suggests that it is critical to replicate discourse structure and pragmatic knowledge in the knowledge representation scheme. Thus, the path for future studies lies in development of a model for integrating pragmatic and discourse information into knowledge representation schemes. Developing a well-defined interface for linking both modules (i.e. discourse structure and contextualized pragmatic information) to knowledge representation schemes should also be a primary goal for future studies.It is important to note that the key principles, mechanisms and impetus behind the evolution of concept networks are widely recognized across languages. This cross-linguistic generalization has been attested in linguistic studies by natural language data derived from cross-linguistic and cross-cultural contexts. It seems certain to bear approaches for impending research issues concerning knowledge representation studies in global contexts (Beghtol, 2004; Williamson and Beghtol, 2003).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present descriptive characteristics of the historical development of concept networks. The linguistic principles, mechanisms and motivations behind the evolution of concept networks are discussed. Implications emanating from the idea of the historical development of concept networks are discussed in relation to knowledge representation and organization schemes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Natural language data including both speech and text are analyzed by examining discourse contexts in which a linguistic element such as a polysemy or homonym occurs. Linguistic literature on the historical development of concept networks is reviewed and analyzed.\nFindings: - Semantic sense relations in concept networks can be captured in a systematic and regular manner. The mechanism and impetus behind the process of concept network development suggest that semantic senses in concept networks are closely intertwined with pragmatic contexts and discourse structure. The interrelation and permeability of the semantic senses of concept networks are captured on a continuum scale based on three linguistic parameters: concrete shared semantic sense; discourse and text structure; and contextualized pragmatic information.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Research findings signify the critical need for linking discourse structure and contextualized pragmatic information to knowledge representation and organization schemes.\nOriginality/value: - The idea of linguistic characteristics, principles, motivation and mechanisms underlying the evolution of concept networks provides theoretical ground for developing a model for integrating knowledge representation and organization schemes with discourse structure and contextualized pragmatic information.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Integration of project-based management and change management : Intervention methodology	[ "Change management", "Project management", "Project processes", "Change models", "PMBoK", "PRINCE2" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Demand from the business field for change management (CM) literature and techniques is increasing as managers seek new processes and tools for implementing a perfect change (Paton and McCalman, 2008). Many managers are in awe over the reported failure rates for change initiatives as high as 70 per cent (Balogun and Hope Hailey, 2004).\n2. Managing change in a changing environment: From a historic perspective, emphasis on CM has developed progressively over the last 50 years, after initially being mistrusted (Turner, 2009). The reasoning for this undervaluing has been attributed to the necessity of stability and certainty for highly structured businesses to operate. However, mass production in the 1960s followed by rapid changes in technology, and the integration of global business, has demanded these highly structured organisations change or be left behind (Turner, 2009). It is argued that winners are the ones able to respond better to \"the conditions actually encountered\" (Turner, 2009, p. 24). As external change is not under control of the organisation, an understanding of the processes of change combined with tools and techniques can be regarded as an approach to tackle changing business reality.\n3. Project-based management: The desire and necessity to keep pace with the changing business environment has caused many companies to shift from being operations focused to being project driven (Jarocki, 2011). Turner (2009) argues that continuous change in organisations nowadays requires project-oriented management as the control and monitor model is no longer sufficient for businesses to maintain a competitive framework. Instead of attempting to guarantee a stable environment to operate, companies seek tools that enable them to maintain the required flexibility and adaptability they need to answer in a timely manner to the market's volatility and changing environment.\n4. PM processes for CM: The literature highlights a scarcity of guidelines or frameworks for CM (Todnem, 2005). However, Todnem (2005) details three models which offer practical guidance to organisations in terms of processes, tools and techniques for change implementation. It is suggested there are some possibilities to improve CM practices as well as links with PM processes to build a process for CM that is more comprehensive to the reality of continuing business change. In order to demonstrate this, the CM process models proposed by Kotter (1996), Kanter et al. (1992) and Luecke (2003) have been be reproduced in Table I, with a fourth column detailing possible contributions from PM which could add value to the CM process.\n5. The importance of CM to PM: Whilst it has been argued that many of the PM processes and techniques are well suited to CM, the PM field has traditionally placed a strong emphasis on the management of tasks. The PM methodologies largely avoid many of the softer issues related to projects: such as the human, political and organisational change implications. Some of these issues which the PM professional has traditionally unheeded could be translated into, but not limited to, company politics and power struggles, stakeholder management, hidden agendas, cultural barriers, motivation issues, lack of communication, conflict resolution, resistance to change, ambiguous roles and responsibilities, poor project leadership, insufficient sponsorship (Turner and Muller, 2005; Toor and Ogunlana, 2009; Levasseur, 2001). This arguable deficiency of the traditional PM professionals could be because of their technical backgrounds, where focus has been enshrined in tactics and results; or even a gender issue (Paton and Dempster, 2002).\n6. Conclusion: The rapidly changing business environment has required organisations to seek out effective processes, tools and techniques to implement successful change. Whilst there is a significant body of literature surrounding CM, the high failure rate of change interventions suggests improvements could be made to its management, monitoring and control. The analytical focus of this research was in how the common and most utilised CM models could be improved with PM processes in order to appropriately deliver successful change. Using PMBoK and PRINCE2 as a reference, a number of PM processes and techniques have been detailed which demonstrate the applicability of project-based processes for implementation of CM initiatives.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The successful management of change using a project-based intervention is crucial for any organization to succeed in the highly competitive and evolving global business environment. Whilst a number of theories of change management are widely accepted, literature suggests they are falling short of their endeavors as a result of the theories lacking a useful framework to successfully plan, implement and manage change. This paper seeks to address these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This article critically argues the value of project-based management in the change management process with particular focus on PRINCE2 and PMBoK. As such, change management can be considered a project and utilize project-based processes to successfully implement change.\nFindings: Using PMBoK and PRINCE2 as a reference, a number of PM processes and techniques have been detailed which demonstrate the applicability of project-based processes for implementation of CM initiatives.\nResearch limitations/implications: It was purported the technical background of traditional project managers has resulted in a focus on tasks and results rather than the human aspects and softer skills of CM, which are equally valuable to project success. Bridging these two gaps could increase the success of CM initiatives and similarly enhance the success of projects-based interventions.\nPractical implications: The high failure rate of change interventions suggests improvements could be made to its management, monitoring and control. The analytical focus of this research was in how the common and most utilised CM models could be improved with PM processes in order to appropriately deliver successful change. Using PMBoK and PRINCE2 as a reference, a number of PM processes and techniques have been detailed which demonstrate the applicability of project-based processes for implementation of CM initiatives.\nSocial implications: The social science background of CM professionals and the tendency for HR to deliver change initiatives has contributed to the lack of appreciation for formal processes and technical contributions as offered by PM in delivering change. Likewise, theorists developing CM from non-technical backgrounds tend to focus on the human dimensions over all other issues.\nOriginality/value: The lack of a suitable guiding framework for CM suggests the creation of a CM body of knowledge and alignment of CM processes could enhance the field. Although CM encompasses a broad range of possible change models, the attempts by CM theorists to apply a formal structure to the change process have been scant. Treating change initiatives as a temporary project and subsequently integrating CM with PM processes will capture synergies between the two areas.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of foreign direct investment in OECD member countries	[ "Foreign direct investment", "Investment decision", "Labor economics", "Causality analysis", "Direct investment", "International investments" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a vital role in the economic growth and development of a country (Choe, 2003; Li and Liu, 2005). But this investment is dependent on the political, social and economic conditions of the host country. Therefore, an established body of literature has concentrated on finding the potential determinants of FDI, which include labor cost, labor productivity, market size, natural resource intensity, external debt, political stability, quality of infrastructure, corruption practices, tax rates, openness, inflation, real effective exchange rate and many more. Using different techniques, researchers have estimated the significance of various determinants which have direct or indirect influence on the decision to invest in a country. Mixed evidence has been attained on a variety of determinants of FDI in various studies that have been carried out over the world. Some determinants have been significant for one country but not for the others. On the same lines, determinants have shown varied evidence when checked for significance over different regions of the globe.From an investor's point of view, some country risks are specific to an economy and need to be tactfully handled. Firms when trying to trim down the impact of these risks think of investment alternatives. This is done in order to amplify their returns and keep them consistent. One of the alternatives available to firms is to invest abroad in the shape of FDI. This helps the investing firms to diversify their risk and a country-specific shock may, then, prove insignificant because of being balanced out by a favorable opportunity in another economy. This, being the motive behind investing in other countries, stabilizes the risk and return relationship in the long-run. The eclectic paradigm[1] (Dunning, 1980) considers three variables (locational advantages, internalizational advantages and ownership advantages) in an effort to explain why different firms (MNCs) engage in foreign investment activities. In light of the aforementioned advantages of FDI, this study justifies its significance by providing an empirical analysis of the determinants of the FDI.This paper investigates the relationship and significance of nine potential determinants of FDI in ten OECD member nations. The practices that are undertaken in developed and established economies are of vast significance to the economies that are in transition stages. FDI remains a significant explorable area for developing economies in order to boost up their growth capabilities and development. Through this study, variables that have strong impact on FDI for the ten relatively stronger economies are identified. Similar strategies may be adopted by emerging and developing countries in order to boost up their FDI, so that they can also enjoy the benefits of FDI in the short- and long-run.\n2 Literature review: FDI has a lot of significant outcomes for the host country. It enhances capital, improves work environment and conditions, develops industries, creates jobs, develops new skills, introduces new techniques, brings innovation, etc. (Caves, 1974; Haddad and Harrison, 1993; Perez, 1997; Markusen and Venables, 1999).Internalization theory (Buckley and Casson, 1976) demonstrates the idea that the multinational enterprises (MNE) manage/organize activities internally in order to build up firm-specific advantages. Firms indulge in internalization when the external market is imperfect or it is costly to produce through external sources. Rugman (1981) extended the internalization theory and also presented the idea that FDI takes place when the benefits of FDI exceed the incurred costs.The eclectic paradigm[2] (Dunning, 1980) provides an insight into the advantages that FDI has. Dunning (1980) discusses three sets of advantages that the firms have: locational advantages, internalizational advantages and ownership advantages. Locational advantages relate to the country-specific advantages that the firm gains when investing abroad. These advantages may include low labor costs, a productive labor force, tax benefits, low tax rates, sound institutionalization and quality of infrastructure, etc. Internalizational advantages relate to the production kind of activities undertaken by the firm itself rather than licensing them to another party. Ownership advantages may include firm's superiority over its competitors in terms of marketing practices or on the technological front.Shatz and Venables (2000) mention two primary reasons to invest abroad: horizontal and vertical FDI. Horizontal (or market seeking) FDI is to serve the local market, whereas vertical (or efficiency seeking) FDI is to get low cost inputs. Artige and Nicolini (2005) identified the determinants of FDI for different European regions and found that the factors, on which FDI relied, varied from one region to the other.FDI enhances economic growth significantly. Borensztein et al. (1998) and Li and Liu (2005) found significant positive relationship between FDI and growth, not only directly but also through its interaction with human capital. This signifies the importance of FDI in the development of the economy and also emphasizes the role of human capital as a mediator in the relationship between FDI and economic growth. De Mello (1999) studied the positive effects of FDI on the host country's economic growth for samples of developing and developed countries. According to their analysis, in the long-run, this growth is dependent on the knowledge imparted from the investing country to the host country and the technology spillovers. Kemeny (2010) also established that FDI inflows put forth a positive influence on the technological upgrading, although the effect is conditioned by the host country's social capability and income. So, the importance of FDI in knowledge transfer and the enhancement of skills of the host economy amplifies the significance of the FDI and its relevance in the policy formation. Similarly, Choe (2003) found bi-directional causality between economic growth and FDI using a sample of 80 countries. On the contrary, some studies have found no significant relationship between FDI and economic growth (Ericsson and Irandoust, 2001).Dar et al. (2004) investigated the causality relationship between FDI, economic growth and various other determinants including unemployment, exchange rate, political stability, etc. for Pakistan. Through their analysis, they attained two-way causalities between most of the variables with theoretically anticipated relationships. Wong and Tang (2011) examined the relationship between inward FDI and employment (in manufacturing and services sector) in Singapore. They found long-run causality evidence running from employment to FDI inflows. This shows that the political environment of the host country, unemployment and exchange rate also cause the decision-making process regarding investment in an economy.Investment conditions influence FDI decisions. Root and Ahmed (1979) and Schneider and Frey (1985) found, in their analysis of developing economies, that FDI is significantly affected by political instability. In the analysis of US firms' data, Wheeler and Mody (1992) found that corruptive practices in the host country do not, significantly, impact the foreign investment decision. Wei (2000) found opposite results by getting a significant relationship between corruption and FDI. Rodrik (1996) identified government policy distortions, income growth and population as the three significant variables affecting FDI outflow decisions of the USA in 40 different countries during 1982-1989. Lahreche-Revil (2006) found that high tax rates have negative impact on FDI inflows in a country. Kucera (2001) examined the relationship between manufacturing wage costs and FDI for a sample of 127 countries using cross-sectional analysis. The results were more on the expected side, with more stable environments attracting larger FDI.Cushman (1985) provides a firm-level model related to their international investment indicating the relevance of trade, exchange rate and other financing options provided. The empirical analysis indicates an increase in FDI for an increase in the home currency. Hatem (1997), in a survey of MNC's managers and international experts, identified rankings of 13 key FDI criteria; on a scale of 0 (not important) to 5 (very important). Political and social stability, quality of labor and labor costs ranked fourth, fifth and ninth in the survey, respectively.Trevino and Mixon (2004) studied strategic factors affecting FDI decisions by MNE for seven Latin American countries over a period of 1988-1999. They presented the view that in order to enhance the foreign investment inflow into the country, increase prominence must be placed on institutional reforms. Also MNEs should invest in countries where institutional distance between home and host country environments is not wide.Bende-Nabende and Ford (1998) worked on the locational determinants of FDI in the short- and the long-run. They categorized their analysis into cost-related, investment environment improving and various other macroeconomic factors. They concluded that the European investment, in the short-run, responded to the macroeconomic factors in Thailand's manufacturing sector; whereas in the long-run, it depended mostly on the investment environment improving factors.In his work on the effect of market size on the FDI in manufacturing sector, Resmini (2000) found that the Central and Eastern European countries with larger populations catch the attention of more investors and induce higher FDI than the countries having smaller populations.Froot and Stein (1991) studied the effect the exchange rate valuation on FDI. They concluded that, within an inadequate capital market model, the host countries with weaker currencies attract more FDI because of depreciation effects which make the asset of the home country more expensive than the ones in the host country. Klein and Rosengren (1994) also confirmed, for samples of US FDI, that exchange rate depreciation have a positive impact on FDI. Some studies have also found insignificant results for the relationship between exchange rate and FDI inflows (Bayoumi and Lipworth, 1998; Kiyota and Urata, 2004). Balasubramanyam et al. (1996) found that FDI impacted more strongly in countries having export promotion policies rather than the ones having import substitution policies.Infrastructure also plays an essential role in the decision related to FDI in a country. Coughlin et al. (1991) identified a positive relation between a wide-spread transportation infrastructure and FDI. For a sample of Chinese regions, Cheng and Kwan (2000) also found similar results. Wheeler and Mody (1992), however, discriminated the relationship between FDI and infrastructure quality. They concluded that infrastructure quality mattered for developing countries seeking investment from the USA, whereas it was relatively insignificant for developed countries because of already available developed-infrastructures.\n3 Methodology and data: 3.1 Data\n4 Empirical results and discussion: 4.1 Panel FE estimation results\n5 Conclusion: The purpose of this study was to get an insight into the potential determinants of FDI for a panel of ten OECD member countries. These countries include Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain, the UK and the USA. For a list of nine potential determinants having significance in prior literature, panel FE regression is run in order to search for the variables that significantly contributed to the FDI. After the determination of significant factors for the panel of countries, these variables were tested for granger causality with FDI.Our FE estimation indicate that market size, labor cost and quality of infrastructure yield significant coefficients in relation to FDI for the panel of countries under study. These significant variables were then tested for causality relationship with FDI, both in the short- and long-run.A bi-directional short-run relationship is estimated between market size and labor costs in the short-run; whereas quality of infrastructure causes market size and labor costs in the short-run. In the long-run, the estimates for FDI and labor costs yield significant coefficients indicating the interaction of the four variables in case of a shock to the system resulting in the deviation of FDI and labor costs from equilibrium positions. Also for the long-run deviation of FDI from equilibrium, market size, labor costs and quality of infrastructure all bear the joint burden in the short-run to re-establish the equilibrium.Our research findings have a number of policy implications for the OECD countries in specific and other developed economies in general. Labor costs seem to affect the FDI decision on the part of investors; therefore, the countries with low labor costs are preferred by investors in order to reduce the cost of their business and products. Policies should be devised to reduce the labor costs and improve the quality of infrastructure in the country in order to attract more FDI into the economy and for quick adjustment purposes in case of shock to the system.Future research directions include a panel data analysis over a wide range of countries to identify significant determinants of FDI. Also, variables like natural resource intensity and market integration may also turn up to be significant determinants of FDI.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to get an insight into the potential determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) for a panel of ten OECD member countries over the period of 1985-2009.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Granger causality tests have been implemented in the study to identify causalities, both in the short- and long-run, between FDI and the variables that emerge as significant determinants of FDI during the regression analysis.\nFindings: - The fixed effects estimation indicates that market size, labor cost and quality of infrastructure yield significant coefficients in relation to FDI for the panel of countries under study. A bi-directional short-run relationship is established between market size and labor costs in the short-run; whereas quality of infrastructure causes market size and labor costs in the short-run. For the long-run deviation of FDI from equilibrium, market size, labor costs and quality of infrastructure all bear the joint burden in the short-run to re-establish the equilibrium.\nPractical implications: - The research findings have a number of policy implications for the OECD countries in specific and other developed economies in general. Labor costs seem to affect the FDI decision on the part of investors; therefore, the countries with low labor costs are preferred by investors in order to reduce the cost of their business and products. Policies should be devised to reduce the labor costs and improve the equality of infrastructure in the country in order to attract more FDI into the economy and for quick adjustment purposes in case of shock to the system.\nOriginality/value: - This paper investigates the relationship and significance of nine potential determinants of FDI in ten OECD member nations using panel data methods. The practices that are undertaken in developed and established economies are of vast significance to the economies that are in transition stages. The paper uncovers some important factors influencing FDI in the ten countries under study and provide a guide-map for other developed countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Activation policies and organisational innovation: the added value of the capability approach	[ "Organisational innovation", "Social economics", "Labour market" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Activation policies have become a central feature of contemporary welfare and employment policies as demonstrated in a now extensive literature, which includes two special issues of this journal in 2007 examining new modes of governance in activation policies (see Borghi and Van Berkel, 2007 - and for activation more generally see Jessop, 1994; Lodemel and Trickey, 2001; Peck, 2001; Handler, 2004; van Berkel and Valkenburg, 2007). A great variety of reforms have been passed in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries with a view to transforming welfare into an instrument of activation (e.g. RMI in France, TANF in the USA, the New Deal programmes in the UK, and so on). This evolution entails a threefold transformation (Bonvin, 2008):(1) social expenses are to be activated and become productive in line with the social investment state;(2) benefit recipients should be induced (via \"making work pay\" programmes) or constrained (via workfare schemes) to quickly reintegrate into the labour market;(3) local agents of the welfare state as well as private contracted-out providers are to act as intermediaries towards such labour market reinsertion.At the core of all these changes, there is an undisputed view of the objective to be pursued within the field of social policies; that is, increasing employment rates at a macro level, and accelerating reintegration into the labour market at a micro level. This issue being settled, the challenge faced in social policies boils down to finding the most efficient means of achieving these goals. Debate is reduced to a mere technical question of efficiency, and all political and normative issues dealing with equity, social justice or the adequate combination of individual and collective responsibility are left aside.The purpose of this special issue is to demonstrate that issues relating to activation policy are far more complex than mere questions of technical efficiency, and a capability approach provides a framework for a more sophisticated analysis and identification of failings within current policy approaches. The first part of this article discusses the capability approach, in particular highlighting a number of key concepts relevant to the analysis of active labour market policies (ALMPs). We then present the articles in the special issue, which address organisational innovation in activation policies and cover: six European countries (including Scandinavia and East and West Europe); an historical perspective; and policies aimed at the general workless population along with those targeted at specific groups e.g. disabled people. All papers are drawn from the Capright research project[1] and share a common interest in the capability perspective. We conclude by drawing together key themes from the articles.\nThe capability approach: This section will be in two parts: first, a general introduction to the capability approach; and second, a discussion of the capability approach as it relates to the specific theme of activation policies and organisational innovation.A general introduction to the capability approach\nPresentation of the articles: The first article, by Alice Mah, takes an historical perspective and is an immediate reminder that while activation policies may be a central element of contemporary welfare states, there are themes that have a much longer resonance. The article examines employment policies between 1870 and 1914 in the UK city of Birmingham, which was a leading example of municipal social reform. This was the period during which the term \"unemployment\" first began to be recognised as a problem connected with trade depressions. The article examines shifts from punitive Poor Law measures to experiments in relief of the non-pauperised unemployed. On the one hand this provides an early example of different local agencies cooperating to varying degrees in addressing the problem of the \"unemployed\"; but on the other a strong emphasis on moral judgements in the classification and treatment of different groups. What is striking, however, is that while nineteenth century Birmingham may be hailed for its municipal reform movement and development of public services (e.g. education, public transport and sanitation), the promotion of capabilities was at best uneven with active discrimination against the poorest working classes through moral judgements and punitive treatments of the \"undeserving\".The second paper, by Gascoigne and Whiteside, also has a historical element. The article focuses on an initiative, \"Projekt 80\", founded in the Swedish shipyards of Gothenburg in the late 1970s, which sought to promote labour market activation among workers facing redundancy due to a severe contraction in the ship building industry. The authors seek to take issue with the view that integrated employment policies and New Public Management are indissolubly linked as twin products of a neo-liberal turn in public policy. Their case study provides evidence of how local and national public authorities collaborated to sustain employment among those threatened by redundancy. However, while the ideals of \"Projekt 80\" were grounded in what can be seen as a promotion of capabilities, the case study finds that this did not always translate into active policy, with difficulties emerging particularly when trying to reconcile conflicting objectives between the promotion of labour market integration and individual capabilities, and a productivity drive in a contracting industry. But the central point remains that the Swedish model exemplifies traditional social democracy in which representative public agencies are charged with co-ordinating communal social and economic activities. From the start, the state is endowed with active responsibility for collective well-being and the harmonious co-ordination of social and economic action.The next two papers in the special issue examine examples of contemporary ALMPs in Austria (Atzmuller) and the UK (Green and Orton). The articles by Atzmuller and Green and Orton both focus on the development of activation policies at a sub-national level. In the Austrian case, Atzmuller's focus is on Vienna and the \"WAFF\" (\"Wiener ArbeitnehmerInnenforderungsfonds\" - Funds to support employees), created to complement the activities of the Austrian Public Employment Service and to implement more preventive labour market policies at the local level. Green and Orton examine the UK City Strategy initiative, which is operating in Pathfinder areas at sub-national level, and which aims to empower local agencies to work together to tackle worklessness. There are strong similarities in these two examples of activation policy in relation to themes of partnership working and activities undertaken e.g. providing intensive support for workless people including counselling services, along with training to up-skill individuals. But the case studies illuminate very different underpinnings. In the Austrian example what is evident is an attempt by the Vienna city council to create a locally sensitive variant of ALMP aimed at improving the capabilities of employees to adapt and cope with change. Even though Vienna has to work within the increasingly dominant national level orientation of activation as a workfare model, the WAFF tries to widen the collective capabilities via the use of preventative ALMP and to come to a more inclusive and productivist orientation of employment related policies at the local level. While the WAFF is notable in seeking divergence from the national Austrian policy trajectory, Green and Orton's article provides rather different evidence from the UK. The study of the UK City Strategy initiative highlights the intensification of activation policy at micro level, but local actors have to operate within a framework very much determined by central government. Both articles raise issues as to the role of voice both for individuals and local actors.The paper by Sztandar-Sztanderska focuses on the Polish situation. It assesses against the capability approach the recent evolution from generous passive policies to a liberal model of activation. The endorsement of such a normative conception has led to severe restrictions in terms of eligibility criteria, as well as amount and duration of cash benefits, which coincided with a significant reduction in recipients' access to resources. These restrictions can be observed also in ALMPs, where the setting up of managerial tools focusing on quantitative indicators, as well as the prevalence of moral expectations and judgements towards recipients, have led to punitive approaches and stigmatisation of the unemployed who are perceived as \"passive\". In such a context, the integration of employment policies could be an improvement, provided however that two prerequisites are fulfilled. On the one hand, managerial and monitoring tools should leave more margin for manoeuvre to local agents and ALMP providers, in order to allow them to pay more attention to recipients' wishes and needs. On the other hand, more resources ought to be devoted to the implementation of ALMPs in terms of time available, staff and systems of exchange of information.The final two papers provide case studies of activation in relation to specific target groups: disabled people (Italy) and beneficiaries with multiple problems (Switzerland). The article by Galster, Rosenstein and Bonvin focuses on a Swiss pilot experiment in the field of integrated employment policy. The objectives pursued are among others to reduce the economic cost of unemployment and inactivity by increasing the efficiency of ALMPs, and to diminish the carousel effects between the partner institutions of this programme (the unemployment and the disability insurance at the federal level, and the social assistance at the various local levels involved). It is claimed that the integration of employment policies will lead to designing interventions and programmes better adjusted to the beneficiaries' needs. Three main obstacles impede the achievement of these generous intentions: the endorsement by all partner institutions of a very restricted view of activation (focused on supply side adaptability), the lack of available resources (no additional resources are provided to fund this pilot programme that has to rely on the goodwill and generosity of the three partner institutions), the tendency to select the most employable beneficiaries and leave out the more complex cases (that are paradoxically the official target of the programme). Such failings account for the limited impact of the programme in terms of enhancing its recipients' capabilities. The Italian Emergo Plan, described in Monteleone and Mozzana's paper, faces similar limitations. Its intentions are equally generous as it insists on the necessity of matching disabled people's potential and opportunities in the labour market. The integration of employment policies here is envisaged as an efficient way to develop personalised projects and better match demand and supply in the labour market. However, the empirical fieldwork demonstrates that many obstacles impede a full implementation of these objectives: lack of time and cash resources, managerial tools oriented towards a narrow conception of activation (impeding to a large extent tailor-made measures and favouring selection of the most employable recipients among the disabled), persistence of organisational routines and cultures that prevent innovation, poor recognition of disabled people in the labour market, etc. Hence, even if integrated employment policies represent a step forward when compared to previous practices, their impact in terms of capability development remains limited. The authors suggest that giving more voice and decision-making power to both local agents and recipients would be a necessary prerequisite in this direction.\nConclusion: The papers in the special issue demonstrate the analytical and normative relevance of the capability approach in the field of activation policies and organisational innovation. In conclusion, we will emphasise three of the many teachings from this volume.First, the necessity of having a comprehensive understanding of the issue of resources is underlined. Access to cash benefits is not enough to develop individual capabilities in work and in life, other issues such as housing, mobility, energy need to be tackled. Therefore, if activation programmes are to be turned into \"capacitation\" policies, they ought to guarantee their recipients real access to a wide range of resources. Integrated employment policies certainly take some steps in this direction as they allow pooling the respective resources of the partner institutions and often insist on a more encompassing view of activation (not exclusively focusing on employability or working potential), but this is not sufficient. What is required is the development of wide-ranging public services of general interest, of high quality and accessible to everyone. In this respect, too much insistence on performance and efficiency risks undermining both the quality and universality of such services.Second, supply side adaptability by itself is not a sufficient objective for activation policies. Activating the beneficiaries, be it to upgrade their skills or to moralise their behaviour, does not coincide with enhancing their capabilities. As many case studies in this volume illustrate, intervention on the demand-side with a view to creating valuable opportunities for professional integration is also necessary. Without such demand-side interventions, activation strategies boil down to improving the marketability of the recipients. What is needed is the creation of new labour market institutions so that work is not defined as a commodity, but as a valuable common good. Employment quality is a key concern in this respect. With regard to this second issue, integrated employment policies are rather ambivalent. In certain cases, they imply the reinforcement of supply side adaptability as it is a normative reference shared by all partners involved. In other (more exceptional) cases, they allow the design of ambitious employment policies aimed at regulating the labour market, and not only at adapting the recipients to its requirements. It appears, then, that the integration of employment policies by itself is not a sufficient move, it needs to be accompanied by a normative shift from supply side activation to \"capacitation\", i.e. the development of the recipients' capabilities for work and for life in general.Third, the issue of \"capability for voice\", i.e. the ability to voice one's concerns and make them count, is key in the field of activation policies. This applies both to local agents in charge of implementation (be they civil servants in local employment offices or private providers) and to beneficiaries. Local agents need some margin for manoeuvre and space for interpretation to be able to design tailor-made interventions taking into account both specific circumstances in the local labour market and the recipients' personal situations. If they are constrained by precise directives elicited by the central level, they cannot deploy initiatives adjusted to the beneficiaries' needs or try innovative solutions. For beneficiaries, \"capability for voice\" is even more important: in contrast with most current activation practices and their frequent use of constraint and pressure, the papers collected in this volume show that the development of recipients' capabilities cannot be achieved against their will. It is necessary to involve them as real partners in the policy process and equip them with effective decision-making power. Here too, the integrated employment policies analysed in this volume have had ambivalent outcomes. While more margin for manoeuvre was left to local agents, this was rarely translated into an increased capacity to design tailor-made solutions and to innovate. This was mostly due to the presence of inadequate managerial tools and performance targets. As for beneficiaries, their capability for voice was not significantly increased by integrated employment policies. They were sometimes allowed to voice their concerns, but little account was taken of these when it came to make a decision about the adequate activation strategy. This especially applied to the most disadvantaged recipients.These three teachings aptly illustrate the added value of the capability approach. As a matter of fact, none of them could be reached by conventional analyses of activation policies using yardsticks such as the overall employment rate or \"cost-benefit\" analysis. In these perspectives, activation strategies are efficient if they result in a rise in the employment rate and a reduction in the economic cost of unemployment and inactivity. In contrast, the papers collected in this volume show that such activation strategies, although assessed as \"efficient\" by conventional tools, do not necessarily translate into the development of their recipients' capabilities. They also underline the great potential of the capability approach for overcoming the deficiencies of current activation policies based on workfare and/or human capital approaches, and designing alternative, capability-enhancing instruments able to reconcile economic efficiency, social justice, and equal opportunities for self-fulfilment for all.\nNote: 1. Cf. the acknowledgement. For more information about the Capright project, available at: www.capright.eu\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to activation policies, then discuss the capability approach, in particular highlighting a number of key concepts relevant to the analysis of active labour market policies. The second section presents the articles in this special issue, which address organisational innovation in activation policies and cover: six European countries (including Scandinavia and East and West Europe); an historical perspective; and policies aimed at the general workless population along with those targeted at specific groups e.g. disabled people. The final section emphasises three important teachings from this special issue. This paper introduces the special issue on the theme of activation policies and organisational innovation in the capability perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents a normative and analytical framework. Its relevance for empirical fieldwork is then illustrated through a synthesis of the case studies presented in the special issue.\nFindings: - It is argued that the capability approach provides a highly useful framework for analysis of activation policies. Across the diverse range of organisational innovation examined in the articles in the special issue, a capability perspective allows for identification of a number of common themes and failings.\nOriginality/value: - The originality of the paper lies in the presentation of a diverse range of organisational innovation in relation to activation policies, and using a capability approach as a framework for analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leadership, trustworthiness, and the mediating lens	[ "Trust", "Leadership", "Behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In a world where the integrity of leaders is constantly being questioned (O'hara, 2004), \"a business leader's greatest battle today is to win the trust of stakeholders\" (Beslin and Reddin, 2004). Building trust is acknowledged to be both an individual and an organizational level task (Beslin and Reddin, 2004; Schein, 2003) and the leader's role in creating a culture that integrates what the organization claims to believe and how it actually behaves is a critical element in optimizing organizational performance (Keller, 1995; Tucker and Russell, 2004). Oketch (2004) has suggested that the successful \"companies of the future will be those that base their mission and their corporate strategies around creating, measuring, and managing trustworthiness\".\nTheoretical background: Leadership behavior\nResearch methodology: A multi-stage research methodology is employed to test the hypotheses in this study. First, instrument development and exploratory factor analysis are used to verify the proposed three dimensions of leadership behavior and three dimensions of trustworthiness and to establish valid measures for each of these dimensions. Second, the relationships among the three leadership behavior dimensions and the three trustworthiness dimensions are tested using a structural modelling approach. And, third, differences in perceptions based on demographic factors are examined using analysis of variance.Instrument development\nResults: Exploratory factor analysis\nContributions of our paper: Within the context of a business environment in which the trust in organizations and their leaders has \"long been discussed and debated\" over the past 40 years (Callahan, 2004), the need to understand how leaders can improve their ability to be trusted is a vital factor for improving organizational effectiveness, increasing employee commitment, and leveraging opportunities for wealth creation (Caldwell and Hansen, 2005). Earning the followership of employees demands that leaders rethink their roles and the implicit \"covenants\" that are owed to those they serve if organizations are to be effective in obtaining employee commitment and trust (Covey, 1990; De Pree, 1989; Pava, 2003). Based upon the results of our research, our study makes the following contributions to the leadership and trustworthiness literatures:* Clarifies the importance of Chemers' three-factor model of leadership. Leadership behaviors associated with resource utilization and relationship development have been well accepted elements of leadership from the time that Rensis Likert conducted studies confirming that successful leaders performed tasks that were production-centered or employee-centered (Likert, 1979). Image management, often called \"impression management\", was described by Pfeffer (1981) as important in generating follower support and creating and maintaining organizational paradigms critical for leadership. Image management has previously been acknowledged as a key element of charisma in meriting the followership of others (Gardner and Avolio, 1998), but Rogers et al. (2005) have wisely noted that image without substance is insufficient for creating long-term trust. Our research reinforces the importance of image management as a factor that impacts the leadership-trustworthiness relationship, suggesting that the degree to which leaders act in a manner that reflects personal integrity in standing for what they think is right, is particularly important in addition to more commonly accepted leader behaviors in relationship development and resource utilization.* Supports the nature of the Mayer et al. (1995) model of trustworthiness while adding fine-grained insights. Prior to recent work by Gill et al. (2005) there had been little empirical research about interpersonal trustworthiness that had been published in the academic journals, although trust has been extensively studied over the past decade. Gill et al. (2005, p. 287) \"found that perceived ability, benevolence, and integrity of the trustee predicted an individual's intention to trust\" - just as this study has confirmed that those same three constructs make up 65 percent of the variance accounted for in interpersonal trustworthiness. Mayer's et al. (1995) classic article has been cited as the authoritative paper on interpersonal trustworthiness, and this study and the Gill study empirically support its validity at the interpersonal level. Bews and Rossouw (2002) and Caldwell and Clapham (2003) have conducted empirical research about organizational trustworthiness and have noted that the factors measuring trustworthiness at the organizational level encompass elements of ability, benevolence, and integrity while extending beyond that model as well. Notably, although the Mayer et al. (1995) paper is entitled \"An integrative model of organizational trust\", its explanation of trustworthiness is most valuable at the interpersonal level of analysis.* Affirms the nature and importance of the mediating lens in understanding how and why behaviors are interpreted about trustworthiness. This study adds to the body of literature that supports the nature of the mediating lens in its role of subjectively interpreting perceptions and reality (Caldwell et al., 2002). Other studies (Caldwell and Clapham, 2003; Caldwell and Hansen, 2005; Primeaux et al., 2003) have suggested the importance of that lens and have described its key elements. The difference in ANOVA data indicating that those over 30 years of age view the relationship development factor differently than those under 30 confirms that the lens has potential value for academics and practitioners as they view this finding and apply it in a variety of ways. The subjective nature of perception is not a new idea (Fiske and Taylor, 1991), but insights about the nature and importance of the mediating lens provide evidence concerning the need for managers and academics to account for the lens in their thinking about trustworthiness and leadership issues. Mayer et al. (1995) had noted that trustworthiness was subjectively perceived, and this study offers insights about how the mediating lens of individuals impacts perceptions.* Provides insights into the nature of the propensity to trust and helps to clarify the muddied waters of the trust literature. Mayer et al. (1995) had identified the propensity to trust as explaining why people are more or less willing to take risks, but the roots of \"propensity to trust\" continue to be evasive and difficult to pin down (Rotter, 1967). The nature of the mediating lens helps explain variables that impact propensity to trust, although additional empirical research is necessary before the contextual and demographic factors that impact the trust decision are ultimately clear. A significant part of the difficulty with the work that has been done about trust and trustworthiness has been that the definitions used about trust and trustworthiness have been muddied for decades (Hosmer, 1995), and continue to be a source of confusion (Caldwell and Hansen, 2005). Whether or not trust is a belief, an attitude, an intention, a behavior, or a propensity has not been resolved in the academic literature, although practitioners view trust in terms of employee or stakeholder behaviors (Caldwell and Hansen, 2005).* Confirms empirically that the actions of leaders affect perceptions of trustworthiness. The study results show that the actions of leaders in the areas of image management and relationship development impact employees' perceptions of trustworthiness. It is important for organizations to realize that there are consequences to their leaders' actions. Actions that reduce perceptions of leadership trustworthiness may jeopardize the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization.Although this study provides useful and practical information about elements of leadership and the relationship between leadership behaviors and trustworthiness perceptions, there continues to be much about the leader-follower relationship and the nature of interpersonal and organizational trust decisions that demand additional study and empirical research.\nFuture research: While this study contributes to the ongoing dialogue about leadership and trustworthiness, it also lays the foundation for additional research. The following is a list of potential research projects that can naturally evolve from this study:* Further examination of Chemers's three-factor leadership model. The three factors of leadership behavior identified by Chemers are significant in identifying 59 percent of the variance accounted for by those who responded in this study. Although this information is useful in understanding leadership - particularly in understanding the contribution and significance of image management, which has not been included in many studies of leadership behaviors - there continues to be the opportunity to broaden the number of factors included in the study of leadership behavior. In addition to identifying additional behavioral factors that are key to perceptions about leadership, there are substantial benefits available from surveying leadership within business, public sector, and not-for-profit contexts.* Additional fine-grained research about interpersonal trustworthiness. The three elements of interpersonal trustworthiness have been confirmed to account for 65 percent of the variance accounted for in this study, yet opportunities exist to understand much more about the factors impacting trustworthiness - as well as the role of the mediating lens, the context in which trustworthiness is perceived, the qualities of leaders, the length and nature of relationships, and the demographic variables impacting those who assess trustworthiness. The study by Gill et al. (2005) and this study confirm that empirical research about trustworthiness can yield valuable insights in the effort to clarify the nature of trustworthiness and trust.* Exploration of the nature of the mediating lens. The nature of the mediating lens and the factors that make up that lens seem to be worthwhile topics, in as much as the lens has been identified as a meaningful way of explaining differences in perception. Exploring the elements that make up the lens and the relationship between the lens and the propensity to trust could also help shed light onto the dialogue about trust and trustworthiness that has increased in recent years.* Examination of elements related to leadership and trustworthiness. Opportunities to identify and attempt to measure the relationship between leadership behaviors, perceptions of trustworthiness, and other behavioral factors of both individuals and organizations are plentiful. Senge (1990), for example, noted that leadership behaviors impacted the degree of commitment exhibited by organization members. Webber (2002) proposed that leadership actions are important in creating a team climate of trust. Examining the relationships among leadership, trustworthiness, employee commitment, and team building are just some of the many topics worth exploring as a result of this research.* Measurement issues and limitations. Survey research is employed in this study with students as subjects. Opportunities for future research include replicating this study using other samples. The measures derived in this study may need further refinement and validation. And, studying individuals in stakeholder roles such as stockholders, customers and the public (Fraser and Zarkada-Fraser, 2003) may reveal additional and interesting aspects of the leadership- trustworthiness thought process.In a time that seems to many to include an unending parade of moral debacles in business and the decline in perceived leadership effectiveness and trustworthiness of organizational leaders, research related to this study emerges as an important and inviting topic with potential benefits for society - as well as for practitioners and scholars.\nConclusion: Leadership scholar Robert E. Quinn (2005) noted that leaders achieved \"moments of greatness\" when they enter what he described as the \"fundamental state of leadership\". Like great athletes who enter a \"zone\" or \"flow\" and are able to score at will in basketball, leaders who achieve this fundamental state about which Quinn has written are at their performance peak because they have a heightened awareness of who they are, what needs to be achieved, and how they need to relate to others to achieve desired outcomes (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Leaders who achieve this fundamental state generate trust from others that is transformative, that builds both commitment, and that leads toward excellence in the performance of individuals and organizations (Quinn, 2005; Solomon and Flores, 2001).Understanding more about the relationships between leadership behaviors and how those behaviors are perceived is critical to building individual and organizational credibility (Kouzes and Posner, 2003), is important to creating organizational wealth (Caldwell and Hansen, 2005), and is key to building organizations that optimize long-term profitability (Collins, 2001). In a world increasingly characterized as \"the cheating culture\" (Callahan, 2004), business leaders and society at large must closely examine the behaviors of its leaders and the values upon which individuals and organizations govern.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to propose and empirically test hypotheses concerning the influence of leadership behaviors on interpersonal perceptions of trustworthiness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Survey research is employed to assess the dimensions of leadership behavior and dimensions of trustworthiness and to determine the relationships among the leadership behavior dimensions and trustworthiness dimensions.\nFindings: - Factor analyses support previous research advocating three dimensions of leadership behavior (relationship development, resource utilization, and image management) and three dimensions of trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity). A structural model (LISREL), testing the relationship among the three leadership behavior dimensions and the three trustworthiness dimensions, shows that image management influences perceptions of all three dimensions of trustworthiness, and relationship development influences the benevolence dimension of trustworthiness. Using analysis of variance, the research finds that younger individuals view leaders as being more trustworthy than older individuals do.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limitations of this study include a survey research methodology and a sample of university students.\nPractical implications: - There are consequences to leaders' actions. This study shows that perceptions of trustworthiness can be influenced by leadership behavior.\nOriginality/value: - Past research suggests that trustworthiness is an important component of a successful organization. This research supports the hypothesis that leadership behavior affects perceptions of trustworthiness, which is important to researchers and managers interested in how the behaviors of leaders influence other areas of the organization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Portfolio selection: does corporate governance matter?	[ "Governance mechanisms", "Optimal portfolio", "Risk", "Return", "Portfolio investment", "Corporate governance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Investors are supposed to operate within the usual framework reach a chosen point on the efficiency frontier. Corporate governance which recognizes the primacy of fund suppliers and their exposition to residual of corporate risk, focuses on aligning manager and shareholders interests and minimizing agency conflict. In this study, we propose to examine the usefulness of governance for investors. Explicitly our objective is to determine whether and to what extent corporate governance matters in selecting portfolio.The study of the impact of corporate governance on portfolio selection is particularly valuable for various reasons. First, a large body of theoretical and empirical literature has shown that corporate governance mechanisms affect risk and return. In fact, many argue demonstrate that board characteristics (Rosenstein and Wyatt, 1997; Agrawal and Knoeber, 1996; Borokhovich et al., 2004 and Chhaochharia and Grinstein, 2007), ownership structure (Demsetz, 1983; Mikkelson and Ruback, 1985; Holderness and Sheehan, 1988; Holmstrom and Tirole, 1993), managerial compensation (Yermack, 1997; Chauvin and Shenoy, 2001; Cohen et al., 2000) and external control (Jensen and Ruback, 1983; Bebchuk et al., 2002; Gompers et al., 2003) help to explain risk and return. Second, governance quality seems to be a criterion used by sophisticated investors for their portfolio management (Bushee et al., 2009). In fact, Leuz et al. (2009) indicate that this type of investors either avoids holding or minimizes their holding in poorly governed firms. Besides, Dahlquist et al. (2003) show that governance quality explains home bias. Third, other studies show that governance can be used by investors to earn abnormal returns through an investment strategy whereby shares of well governed firms are purchased and shares of poorly governed firms are sold (Gompers et al., 2003; Cremers and Nair, 2005; Bebchuk et al., 2009). Moreover, Hooper et al. (2008) and Lassoued (2010) show that governance matters in active portfolio management.Our study contributes to the existing literature related to portfolio management by providing an additional qualitative criterion for portfolio selection. We study the impact of governance mechanisms on optimal portfolio weights based on a sample of 460 American listed firms. Unlike other studies, that examine the role of corporate governance in explaining institutional investor attitude (Leuz et al., 2009; Giannetti and Simonov, 2006; Bushee et al., 2009), we seek to generalize the approach by checking whether corporate governance matters for rational investor. We start by resorting to principal component analysis to aggregate firm characteristics on one hand and governance internal and external mechanisms on the other. We then determine the optimal portfolio using Markowitz approach and we test sensitivity of weights to governance factors.The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 briefly presents some relevant theoretical contributions illustrating usefulness of corporate governance for investors. Section 3 focuses on the data and the methodology. The empirical results are presented in section 4. The final section contains our conclusion.\n2. Theoretical development: Modern portfolio theory recognizes that investors select stocks only on the basis of corporate risk and return. There is ample evidence in the literature that risk and return are affected by other firm characteristics such as growth prospects, size, debt, industry (see for example: Fama and French, 1996 and Chan et al., 1998). It seems therefore judicious to pick stocks taking into account other firm characteristics and particularly corporate governance.Theoretically, the use of governance quality in portfolio selection can be justified in two ways:1. Governance mechanisms help to solve agency conflicts and in so doing preserves the rights of shareholders and optimizes their wealth (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Denis and McConnell, 2003).2. Procedures and institutional specificities protect right of small shareholders from expropriation by blockholders, who are otherwise able to extract private benefit, on the account of small shareholders (La Porta et al., 1997).The above thesis has important implications on the effect of corporate governance on stock market. In fact, good corporate governance is expected to improve the performance of firms, through more efficient management, optimal asset allocation, or similar other efficiency improvements (Claessens, 2006). In addition, the agency problem seems to affect firm's stock price through its impact on expected cash flows and the cost of capital. Indeed, a lower stock price could result from the investors' anticipation of possible expropriation of corporate resources (Drobetz et al., 2003). La Porta et al. (2002) also argue that in the presence of better legal protection, investors become more secure and consequently pay more for the stocks. Moreover, through reducing shareholders' monitoring and auditing costs, good corporate governance is likely to reduce the equity cost. In this case, resorting to external debt or equity financing will be easier allowing profitable investment (La Porta et al., 1997). Hence, better governance quality should ultimately allow better market for firms (Rajan and Zingales, 1998; La Porta et al., 2002; Klapper and Love, 2004). The relationship between corporate governance and accounting or financial performance in different setting is well documented in the literature (Klapper and Love, 2004; Durnev and Kim, 2006; Black et al., 2005; Black et al., 2006; Beiner et al., 2006; Miyajima, 2006 and Renders and Gaeremynck, 2006).Risk is another component of the analysis which has not received the same attention paid to return. Indeed, the basis insight underlying governance and its various mechanisms are reducing risk as perceived by investors. From this perspective, trust crises detrimental to the good functioning of stock markets stimulated authorities to undertake many corrective actions and governance reforms (For example Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in USA). The objective of these measures is to restore investor's confidence by reducing corporate risks.In the same vein, OECD principals published in 1999 recognized the need of shareholder for transparency to reduce uncertainty, providing for new information on return to diminish volatility (Lang and Lundholm, 1993; Bushee and Noe, 2000; Baumann and Nier, 2004). Moreover, Diamond (1985) explains the negative impact of disclosure on volatility first by saving the cost of privately searching for information and second by homogenizing investor beliefs and decreasing the impact of informed investor transactions.Hooper et al. (2008) show that average monthly stock index excess returns and the Sharpe ratio, us performance measures examined for the cross-section of countries, closely associated to governance quality. The latter is also found to be negatively associated with stock market total risk and idiosyncratic risk. In conclusion he indicates since risk and return depend on governance attributes, we would expect to find that corporate governance has a significant role in portfolio selection.Attitude of institutional investors provide added evidence to our thesis. In a survey by McKinsey & Co (2003) involving fund managers, a manager of US$ 20 billion equity fund, said: \"Our investment group would never approve an investment in a company with bad corporate governance.\" Moreover, 63 percent of the investors surveyed declare that they avoid buying stocks of companies with poor corporate governance in emerging markets or developed economies. These investors are willing to pay a premium that varies between 18 percent and 30 percent for well governed firms. Bai et al.(2004) provided added evidence in support of McKinsey & Co (2003) finding.There are many justifications for why institutional investors are willing to pay a premium for well governed firms. First, investors prefer firms with better disclosure policy to decrease control costs. Second, good governance reduces undesirable consequences of manger negligence's or frauds. Third, governance allows investors to avoid illiquidity problems in downturn periods and increase stock value. Finally, for investors who prefer for portfolio management purchases small growing firms with relatively high market risk, find in better governance a solution to decreasing specific risk. (Bushee, 2001; Bushee et al., 2009).There is mounting international evidence the portfolio choices of institutional investors. Aggarwal et al. (2005) examine investment allocations of actively-managed US mutual funds in emerging markets. They find that US funds to invest more in large growing firms with high analyst following and more transparent accounting policies. The impact of better accounting policies on ADR listing is particularly beneficial in countries with weaker investor protection.Leuz et al. (2009) study whether and why investor concern about corporate governance results in fewer foreign holdings. Their results indicate that foreigners invest significantly less in firms that are poorly governed. These findings seem to be due to information problems.Dahlquist et al. (2003) study home bias of US investors. In fact, most firms in other countries are controlled by large investors. Portfolio investors are limited in the fraction of ownership they can hold. Moreover Kho et al. (2009) argue that the over or underweighting of particular countries in US investors' foreign equity portfolios depend in large part to cross-country differences in insider ownership. Particularly in countries with poor protection of the rights of minority shareholders, it is advantageous for corporate insiders to hold significant positions.Giannetti and Simonov (2006) analyze whether investors take the quality of corporate governance into account when selecting stocks. They find that domestic and foreign, institutional and small individual investors who generally enjoy only security benefits are averse to invest in companies with weak corporate governance. Whereas individuals who are affiliated with company insiders seem not to be concerned about the expected extraction of private benefits and, if anything, are more likely to invest in such a company. Interestingly, these findings suggest that it is important to distinguish between investors who enjoy private benefits or access to private information and investors who enjoy only security benefits, when we examine the determinants of investor behavior and portfolio choice.Bushee et al. (2009) confirm that 10 percent of institutional investors choose specific governance structures that they modify after detention. Moreover, large institutional investors who hold a large number of firms, choose better governed firms to reduce monitoring costs. Investors that are interested in growth firms rely on the board of director as an efficient control mechanism. In contrast, institutional investors holding stocks for long term prefer small firms with a minimum of anti-takeover provisions. Finally, institutional blockholder are neutral about corporate governance, because concentrated ownership is a control mechanism.Thus, governance seems to be a decision criterion for large investors. However, the objective this category of investors is to extract private or security benefits. In this paper we are interested in rational investor having as an objective to maximize only security benefits and to study whether governance attributes help him in his choice. In this context, the usefulness of governance for investment strategy dealt within the pioneering study of Gompers et al. (2003). Using an index of anti-takeover provisions, they proved that an investment strategy of buying firms in the lowest decile of the index and selling firms in the highest decile of the index would have earned abnormal returns of 8.5 percent. In a similar approach to Gompers et al. (2003) Cremers and Nair (2005) use an index of six internal and external governance mechanisms. The same strategy earns abnormal return that varies from 10 to 15 percent. For Bebchuk et al.(2009), the abnormal return is equal to 13.9 percent.Drobetz et al. (2003) construct a broad corporate governance rating for a sample of German firms. They document that an investment strategy (that bought high-CGR firms and shorted low-CGR firms) earned abnormal returns of about 12 percent on an annual basis. Finally, Bauer et al. (2004) employing a data set provided by Governance Metrics International, find that well governed Japanese firms significantly outperform poorly governed firms by up to 15 percent a year.Our study follows the same line of reasoning, but our approach is different in two points. First, using a one-dimensional measure of corporate governance or one single attribute may not capture the total impact of corporate governance system as much as taking into account all the attributes collectively (Gillan et al., 2003). Hence, we measure internal and external governance attributes without using a single indicator or constructing an arbitrary index. Second, we determine the governance characteristics of the optimal portfolio. Splitting our sample by mean-variance criterion allows us to solve problem of correlation between stock returns in the same portfolio that is neglected in different studies of corporate governance. In fact, the approach initiated by Gompers et al. (2003) does not imply the utility of corporate governance on portfolio selection. Indeed, the determination of group according to the index proves to be simplistic and do not take into account the possible correlation between the stocks into the same group. More precisely, modern portfolio theory stipulates that when returns of two stocks are less correlated, the total risk will be lower than the case of two stocks highly correlated. However in the other approach, the criterion of dichotomy (corporate governance index) does not answer the criterion of optimality. For example, if the stocks of the dictatorial portfolio present a negative correlation and those of the democratic portfolio are positively correlated, in this case the first portfolio (dictatorial) will present less risk than the second portfolio and eventually less total return. This result contradicts those of Gompers et al. (2003).\n3. Data and methodology: 3.1 Data sources\n4. Empirical results: We begin our analysis by a description of the optimal portfolio. Next, we compare optimal firms and sub-optimal firms. Finally, we test the association between optimal weights and governance axes.4.1 Optimal portfolio characteristics\n5. Conclusion: The main objective of this paper was to study the usefulness of governance attributes portfolio selection.From a theoretical point-of-view, previews studies tended to show the impact of corporate governance on market performance. Indeed, corporate governance mechanisms affect risk and return. Governance quality is to be a criterion of investments for sophisticated investors; whereas from our knowledge, direct relation between optimal portfolio and governance was not studied.Our empirical approach consisted, first, in determining the optimal portfolio weights. We next used governance mechanisms determined by principal components analysis, to explain optimal portfolio weights. Our finding shows, that governance quality explains a part of optimal weights. Internal control, managerial entrenchment, ownership concentration and incentive compensation affect positively optimal weights. The contribution of governance attributes to optimal portfolio was explained in two ways. The first consist in their association to risk and return. The second was the low correlation between firms characterized by dominance of internal control and other that include entrenched manager which decrease portfolio risk.Therefore, there seems to be every reason to include governance quality as criterion in portfolio selection. Such has not been the case in previous studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine whether corporate governance has an impact on portfolio selection within the usual mean-variance framework, the idea being that by reducing agency conflicts, corporate governance increases the value of the firm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using a sample of 460 American firms between 1995 and 2004, the authors first determine the optimal mean-variance portfolio. The authors then test whether governance characteristics explain the optimal portfolio weights.\nFindings: - The results show that the optimal portfolio weights are sensitive to internal control mechanisms, ownership concentration, managerial entrenchment and incentive compensation.\nOriginality/value: - The results are relevant to academicians and investors concerned with portfolio selection. In fact, they underline the importance of including governance characteristics in their portfolio selection.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Capturing and evaluating process information for high-performance complex manufacturing operations	[ "Operations and production management", "Production processes", "Performance measures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: With the increase of global competition manufacturers have come under pressure from stakeholders to produce products that are more reliable with more features at lower prices. Business's strategic response has been the drive towards the implementation of cost cutting and other initiatives to seek improvements in every aspect of the design and manufacturing process. Some of the most popular of these initiatives are; 5S, lean thinking, Six Sigma and total quality management. Companies such as Toyota were early adopters to these process improvement techniques (Womack and Jones, 1996). The 1980s and 1990s bore witness to their broader uptake (Brown, 1996). With these once novel initiatives now much more common place, manufacturers are striving to achieve the next level of performance enhancement, requiring them to better understanding their business processes and knowledge intensive operations.This paper has three core objectives:1. To propose a knowledge capture methodology that can rapidly, cost effectively and reliably capture the interactions and dependencies (ID) of the processes within a complex product, high variety, design and manufacturing facility that serves a volatile market.2. To propose a process representation and analysis methodology that can capture, communicate and quantify the operational and organisational issues in realising further performance improvements in this type of design and manufacturing facility.3. To illustrate the proposed methodology using a case study within a manufacturing environment in the context domain.\n2 Related research: Manufacturing operations performance improvement has focused on the simplistic application of proven improvement initiatives. The seven most popular performance improvement initiatives, as identified by BenchmarkIndex (2002), are 5S, total productive maintenance, total quality management, Six Sigma, just-in-time and Kaizen and business process re-engineering. Often these approaches are adopted but not fully exploited. Manufacturers are not fully utilising these initiatives at the system or enterprise level. In a conventional process capture and evaluation approach, typically an ad hoc evaluation of processes is used prior to the adoption of the performance improvement initiatives.There are many techniques reported in literature for capturing the knowledge about a process and representing it with a single or a mix of techniques. Examples of knowledge capture techniques include protocol analysis, observational case studies, concept sorting and repertory grid technique (Schreiber et al., 1999). Examples of process modelling techniques are integrated definition (IDEF), structured analysis and design technique and data flow diagram (Greasley, 2004; Vergidis et al., 2008). However, there is a lack of appropriate techniques that can cost effectively capture and represent process ID for assessing and re-assessing the feasibility of realising further performance improvements at the system or enterprise level. This deficiency in current techniques for attaining a better understanding of internal business processes and knowledge intensive operations is also suggested by Bateman and Rich (2003), Sackett et al. (2003) and Baxter et al. (2009). Therefore, the existing techniques cannot be readily applied to the performance context beyond the operations performance ceiling.This research gap is shown in Figure 1. To address this research gap, this paper extends current research to propose knowledge capture and process modelling techniques. These can model the complex issues associated with realising full performance in a manufacturing facility through capturing and representing the ID of the processes. This representation needs to be achieved rapidly, cost effectively and in a readily communicable and quantifiable form to allow analysis and ongoing re-analysis.There is a dearth of integrated techniques that can provide a \"right-first-time\" approach for acquisition and representation of knowledge about processes to the level of granularity required here (MacIntosh, 2003; Maull et al., 1995; Jambekar and Pelc, 2006; Qing et al., 2007). The modelling of processes is usually carried out in multiple iterative steps involving knowledge capture, process representation and validation (usually several times) by the domain experts. This iterative nature makes the process error prone, time extended and too expensive for what-if speculative application. For a whole design and manufacturing facility, comprising many individuals, it becomes impractical to carry out this activity with a reasonable accuracy within a short timeframe. Furthermore, the classical decoupling of acquisition and representation of process knowledge makes the process reliant on the communication skills of the knowledge elicitor and his/her ability to interpret the domain expert.In summary, in the context of a fuller performance realisation there is a need to develop an integrated methodology for capturing and representing the ID of the processes. This is required in the identification of issues associated with implementing appropriate measures in such a facility at the system or enterprise level. The proposed process capture and representation system will provide a \"right-first-time\" approach that will remove the iterative validation and will minimise the dependence of the process on the skills of the knowledge elicitor. This would provide a repeatable and effective operations management application tool.\n3 Capturing and analysing process interactions/dependencies: The capturing and analysing process interactions/dependencies (CAP-ID) methodology serves to elicit knowledge with the concurrent development of a process model to generate deeper understanding of the tasks involved. Direct involvement of the experts in mapping out their knowledge is a major strength of the approach. The technique is process driven; the first step in knowledge capture is to identify output by asking an expert to list outputs from a process. This sequence is necessary as experts generally remember outputs from their process. The whole approach revolves around first identifying output from a process, then identifying input to the process, and finally, listing elements of the process. Input, process and output define the process that is being analysed.Figure 2 shows the proposed CAP-ID methodology. The specific stages in the methodology are discussed below.3.1 Pre-analysis\n4 Case study: The proposed framework was applied within a complex manufacturing environment to provide a basis for establishing a link to performance realisation beyond the ceiling in a cell that designs and manufactures non-standard products. The term non-standard products relates to products that have been customised to the clients needs. Such customisation, as employed in the case study organisation, has only become possible during this decade. The nature of complex manufacturing environment, as used in this case study is defined by Puttick (1989).Puttick (1989) understood the challenges facing the modern manufacturer can be classified into situations of complexity or of uncertainty. Complex manufacturing situations arise where there are a large number of items per product and/or there is a low degree of commonality amongst parts. Other areas of operation that determine the level of complexity include the number of levels in the bill of materials, the number of sequential operations in the manufacturing routine and the number of work centres (Puttick, 1989). Just as significant is the challenge of uncertainty. Product variety and the associated variants and modifications required over the product manufacturing lifecycle give rise to uncertainty. Future sales volumes are notoriously difficult to forecast as is employee absenteeism. Changes in fashion or tastes are uncertain meaning life cycles may shorten or extend. Other aspects included by Puttick (1989) are the security of materials supply and plant availability both of which would have a detrimental impact on project success if the worst were to happen.An up-to-date cell organisation chart was first compiled to determine who the representative individuals of the cell were. The people to be interviewed were then selected in a meeting with the cell manager, and the dates for interviewing them were planned. The semi-structured questionnaire for interviews was created, and the interview itself was designed (using the methodology proposed in the previous section) with the aim of enabling an interactive and graphical data collection to model the cell. A template was used for developing this semi-structured questionnaire (Bautista, 2004). This approach helped to collect the right data at the first time, as the interviewee was able to visualise the process mapped, and hence any misunderstanding was corrected during the interview. A total of ten interviews were carried out on a one per day basis. During the morning the interviews took place, and during the afternoon the interviewer clarified and analysed the handwritten document to produce an electronic document for each interview. Interviews were audio-recorded as backup for later analysis. Table I shows a summary of the interviews. The output of this data collection phase was in the form of process models for different roles and the completed questionnaires.The next step of the approach was the development of an integrated process model containing the four views (cell, roles, activities and tasks views). This analysis was carried out by identifying and unifying the different interpretations of the same information from different people. It also included the modifications and corrections based on the gaps detected in the boundaries of each role during the interviews. A validation workshop was conducted to acquire the final feedback about the model produced. The result of such an investigation formed the process model that summarises the process followed for designing and manufacturing products at the non-standard cell in the case study site. The structure of the final process model is shown in Figure 5. The purpose of this figure is only to demonstrate the structure and organisation of the final process model. The details on this figure are not expected to be read. Examples from the four views (cell, roles, activities and tasks views) are shown in Figures 6-9.The previous stage illustrated the model of the cell. This model has the advantages of clarifying and summarising in a graphical representation the details of the internal and external dependencies of the cell. The model, Figure 5, is able to represent, in different views, the inter-dependencies and links that need to be understood for establishing a link to performance realisation beyond the ceiling in the non-standard cell. In the process model, the flow of information between a role and other roles and the environment are clear in the two higher layers. In addition, an exhaustive analysis about the tasks was carried out from the lower layers (activities and tasks levels) to attain a clear understanding of the business processes and knowledge intensive operations.A cell interactions model, Figure 10, was developed to facilitate the identification, communication and understanding of the potential for process performance improvement. This model consists of five layers. Starting from the centre, the first layer represents the facilities (hardware, machinery, etc. needed to manufacture the products), the second layer represents the roles involved in the cell, and the third, fourth and fifth layers represent the environment (i.e. the factory, the company and the clients/suppliers).The cell interactions model of Figure 10 show the interactions between the cell and the facilities, site, company, clients and suppliers. Location dependent issues are represented in the centre with the immediate outer layer describing people issues. The remaining outer layers describe business environment factors, with clients and suppliers forming the outer layer. A summary of these interactions is presented in Table II. In this way, this model aids in identifying, representing and understanding the dependencies of the cell. Detailed information about these interactions is provided in the process model. It is clear from Figure 10 and Table II that the major issue that is faced, as a hidden issue, is the experience involved in some knowledge-based roles, such as the project engineer in the cell. Hence, there is a need to fully specify these roles and recognise the implicit knowledge required in their tasks. As a result, complex roles and their knowledge intensive activities (most of them based on experience) were highlighted as the major issues, due to the fact that these roles are core in the development of non-standard products.This case study has illustrated the application of the proposed CAP-ID methodology in capturing, representing and analysing processes to assess the internal and external ID of the non-standard cell.\n5 Discussion: 5.1 Advantages\n6 Future research directions: A future research direction would be to investigate the development of a script that can translate the information from the new technique to a more standard modelling technique, such as IDEF0.Information visualisation techniques have been shown to offer significant potential in real-time manufacturing management control (Sackett and Williams, 2003). The emerging capability of advanced visualisation technologies could be coupled with the CAP-ID methodology.It would be useful to expend this research to include new case studies. This would provide the opportunity for the results described here to be assessed over a broader base of situations. This future work might also shed light on the how useful the method presented here is for re-analysis and learning.Further research could extend the CAP-ID methodology to other industry sectors, such as the service sector, where the identification of issues in the realisation of performance beyond the operations ceiling is a subject of prime importance.\n7 Conclusions: Companies striving to achieve the true capabilities of performance initiatives require a better understanding of their knowledge intensive operations. In this way, they cannot just adopt, but fully exploit the potential of the performance improvement techniques. This understanding needs to be achieved rapidly, cost effectively and in a readily communicable and quantifiable form to allow analysis and ongoing re-analysis within the sometimes volatile industrial environment. However, the development of appropriate techniques that can achieve this for the realisation of performance past the performance ceiling within design and manufacturing facilities concerned with knowledge intensive complex products has been neglected. The established techniques do not provide the appropriate level of granularity within the resource constraints of an industrial environment. The processes available are not sufficiently clearly structured to provide confidence in repeatability and wider applicability of output.This paper has proposed the methodology for CAP-ID for rapidly and reliably capturing, representing and analysing operations systems. This can facilitate the performance improvement of complex product design and manufacturing facilities operating in high-performance business environments. The methodology has achieved this through the identification, communication, understanding and analysis of the internal and external ID of the facilities. It is our thesis that through this enhanced level of understanding, the facilities managers can now realise the next level of performance enhancement by fully exploiting the potential of popular performance improvement initiatives. Since the proposed methodology creates an environment in which risks inherent in new techniques are controlled, these facilities can also gain competitive advantage by becoming the early adopters of radical operations performance enhancement approaches. This paper illustrates the application of the CAP-ID methodology for CAP-ID within an electro-mechanical design and manufacturing environment producing complex non-standard products for a global market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for rapidly and reliably capturing, representing and analysing process systems to facilitate the potential for operations performance improvement within a complex product design and manufacturing facility operating in a high-performance business environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper demonstrates the proposed methodology within an electro-mechanical design and manufacturing environment producing complex non-standard products for a global market. The technique has national and international application for a wide spectrum of design and manufacturing facilities.\nFindings: - The authors also demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in capturing, representing and analysing processes to assess the feasibility of and identify the issues involved in realising further performance improvements in an existing complex product, high variety, design and manufacturing facility.\nPractical implications: - Through the enhanced level of understanding of business processes and knowledge intensive operations, the design and manufacturing facilities managers can now realise the next level of performance enhancement by fully exploiting the potential of performance improvement initiatives. Since the proposed methodology creates an environment in which risks inherent in new techniques are controlled, the facilities managers can also gain competitive advantage by becoming the early adopters of radical performance enhancement approaches.\nOriginality/value: - Most major and many smaller manufacturing companies have adopted the popular performance improvement initiatives. These companies are now striving to achieve the next level of performance enhancement at the system or enterprise level and require a better understanding of their business processes and knowledge intensive operations. This understanding needs to be achieved rapidly, cost effectively and in a readily communicable and quantifiable form to allow analysis and ongoing re-analysis within the volatile industrial environment. The proposed methodology achieves this through the identification, communication, understanding and analysis of the internal and external interactions and dependencies of the facility.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tourism agents' attitudes on internet adoption: an analysis from Greece	[ "Tourism", "Travel", "Internet marketing", "Internet", "Greece" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Nowadays, as the internet is becoming a distribution channel, the tasks of the traditional intermediaries, travel agents and tour operators, are changing. These organizations are being given new roles in the distribution channel (Law et al., 2004; Nysveen and Lexhagen, 2001; Park, 2000) and will remain secure if their advice-offering capability could be strengthened by the presence of the internet, rather than if they functioned according to the more negative image of being simply a \"booking agency\" (Chu, 2001; Govers et al., 2000; Law et al., 2004; Ozturan and Roney, 2004).However, simply using the internet as a means to establish presence or to become known to the internet users is not enough. There has to be a deeper approach and internet technology must be used to reconfigure traditional activities. Offering value-added services, improving the real world shopping experience, knowledge about consumers, the travel market and supplier offerings are the points that travel agents must refocus on (Bedard, 2005; Law et al., 2001; Wynne et al., 2000).Internet use among travel agencies\nMethodology: In order to investigate travel agents' perceptions on internet issues, an on-line survey was conducted. Greek Travel Pages (GTP), which is considered to be the most comprehensive directory of Greek Tourism, communicated the survey. GTP maintains an up to date database of all Greek tourism organisations including travel agencies. GTP notified 2300 travel agents via e-mail sent about the online questionnaire web site. Travel agents willing to participate visited a tailor made web site replied to the questionnaire and data were recorded to a database. The survey was carried out through two waves over a two-months period from May 2004 to June 2004. Finally 117 questionnaires were collected. Although the response rate is low, it should be considered satisfactory because it exceeds the common response rates that GTP gets form other contacts with its members and also it is about the same to similar response rates reported by relative studies considering the study of travel agents' perceptions and policies (Yung, 1998; Ozturan and Roney, 2004). This low response rate reflects also the declining trend in response rates to online surveys that has been pointed out by many researchers (Sohn and Lee, 2005; Sheehan, 2002). The questionnaire included five sections. The first section was used for reporting the managerial characteristics. The second section reported the computerisation status of the companies. The third section reported the internet practices of travel agencies, the forth section reported marketing issues, and the last section considered advantages and disadvantages of e-business and internet use. Questions were adopted from previous research by Yung (1998); Ozturan and Roney (2004); Buhalis and Licata (2002); Brandon et al. (2003).\nFindings: The attributes of travel agencies\nConclusions and implications: Facilitation of global marketing and completion of online services are the most important reasons for using internet practices according to tourism agents. However, travel agencies generally do not use internet practices effectively as a relatively small number of transactions are completed on line. It seems that for the moment the web pages are merely used as another means to exhibit static information about the company.Security difficulties and the need for social interaction are the main barriers to marketing over the internet. Although internet use presents some advantages and opportunities for travel agencies for doing 24 hours global marketing, it is security issues, lack of interpersonal communication and lack of experience among consumers that prevent internet marketing growth in Greece.The internet provides different marketing and business opportunities for travel agencies; however, the range of travel products and services available on the internet is confusing to customers. In response, travel agencies should display their information in a consumer-friendly way and their products/services should be delivered on well-designed web sites. Well-planned sites will help clients easily find their ways through the internet and promote the image of the company. In particular, travel agents should pay particular attention to the efficiency and promotion of their site, efficient structure of web pages, the suitability of content, the provision of advanced services and information offered (such as online reservations and interactive features). In support, user training is essential, together with the adoption of international protocols relating to the security of transactions and the confidentiality of customer information.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to adopt a total view on the issue of usage and attitude of travel agents towards internet technology. Many aspects are being investigated, such as agents' attitudes towards internet applications, the current state of internet use, the relative maturity of the web sites, and internet marketing by Greek tourist agencies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An online survey was conducted. Greek Travel Pages (GTP), notified travel agents via e-mail sent about the online questionnaire web site. Travel agents willing to participate visited a tailor made web site replied to the questionnaire and the data were recorded to a database. A total of 117 questionnaires were answered. The questionnaire used included five sections and questions were adopted from previous researches.\nFindings: - Facilitation of global marketing and completion of online services are the most important reasons for using internet practices according to tourism agents. Travel agencies generally do not use internet practices effectively as a relatively small number of transactions are completed on line. The web pages are merely used as another means to exhibit their static information. Security difficulties and the need for social interaction are the main barriers to marketing over the internet\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is an exploratory study addressed to agents on-line. Further research and studies are needed by a broader range of travel agencies\nPractical implications: - Provides suggestions for good practices to tourism agents along with an understanding of their attitudes on internet use\nOriginality/value: - Enables travel agents to recognize the pros and cons of using internet and to make technology an essential part of the company.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Coping with job insecurity: Exploring effects on perceived health and organizational attitudes	[ "Avoidance focused coping", "Coping", "Emotion focused coping", "Job insecurity", "Problem focused coping" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Even though coping with stress in general has received a good amount of research attention (Folkman and Moskowitz, 2004; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984), we know less about the relationship between job insecurity, its outcomes and individual coping. This is surprising because job insecurity is one of the predominant work stressors employees have to deal with (De Witte, 1999; Fernandez-Ballesteros, 2002). Even though we know that job insecurity is related to a great variety of negative consequences for individuals as well as their organisations, only a few studies (for example Bohets and De Witte, 2006) have specifically focused on individual coping in the context of job insecurity. Moreover, large variations in the strengths of the relations between job insecurity and its outcomes were found in two meta-analyses (Cheng and Chan, 2008; Sverke et al., 2002), which indicates that moderator variables may play a role. Therefore it is important to identify factors that can possibly decrease the perception of job insecurity or at least diminish its negative effects, and individual coping may be such a factor. In addition, individual coping may be of specific importance in times of global uncertainty as in the long run, the identification of optimal or less optimal ways of coping with job insecurity can be helpful for organisations in their efforts to tailor interventions. These interventions may to assist and provide employees with the necessary resources to best deal with uncertainty.\nJob insecurity and its consequences: Job insecurity, which is frequently conceptualised as an important work stressor (Sverke et al., 2002), refers to the overall concern about the future existence of one's employment (Cheng and Chan, 2008; De Witte, 1999; Jacobson, 1991; Rosenblatt and Ruvio, 1996; Sverke et al., 2002). The negative effects of this work stressor have been well documented (see Cheng and Chan, 2008 and Sverke et al., 2002 for meta-analytic reviews). The consequences identified are both those that primarily affect the individual such as decreased health, as well as those that may influence the organisational functioning, such as decreased performance or increased turnover intention.\nCoping and its consequences: Coping refers to behaviours and cognitions used to manage external and/or internal stress (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). Coping efforts interact with the stressor and in doing so affect the relation between stressor and outcomes (Pinquart and Silbereisen, 2008). Hence, coping is directed at dealing with the demands placed on the individual and may act as a buffer. The transactional stress theory proposes that if a situation has been evaluated as challenging or threatening, coping is activated. If individuals appraise their coping possibilities as insufficient to address the stressor, i.e. that they cannot prevent or do anything to diminish the perceived threat of job loss, they will experience stress (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984).\nJob insecurity and coping: According to the conceptualisation of coping it consists of a dispositional and a situation component and in this study we approach coping from the dispositional perspective. We assume that coping represents a rather stable reaction to stressful situations in general as well as stressors such as job insecurity in particular (Carver et al., 1989; Costa et al., 1996). It has been argued that rather stable patters, such as how we response to stressors such as job insecurity, are likely to affect the reactivity to the stressors; hence, they moderate the effects of the stressful situation (Bolger and Zuckerman, 1995). Because the coping investigated in the present study addresses the stressor in different ways, we expect different moderating effects depending on the type of coping, which results in three different hypotheses.\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: Table II presents the results of the hierarchical regression analysis testing the moderating effect of the three different forms of coping on the relation between job insecurity and the four outcome variables (job satisfaction, organisational commitment, turnover intention as well as mental ill-health), while controlling for age, gender and education. Job insecurity was negatively related to job satisfaction and positively associated with turnover intention, and mental ill-health. However we did not find a relation between job insecurity and organisational commitment. Individuals who used avoidance focused coping to a greater extent reported higher levels of turnover intention and mental ill-health than those with lower levels of avoidance focused coping. Employees who reported using problem focused coping to a greater extent also reported higher levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment and lower levels of turnover intention and mental ill-health compared to employees using problem focused coping to a lesser extent.\nDiscussion: The main objective of the current study was to investigate the moderating role of individualized coping (emotion, problem and avoidance focused coping) on the relation between job insecurity and four well-known consequences. Well established outcomes based on the classification of outcomes of job insecurity presented in the meta-analysis by Sverke et al. (2002) were chosen. Job satisfaction, representing the immediate individual response to job insecurity, and affective organisational commitment, representing an organisational consequence, were the short-term outcomes. In addition, a long-term organisational consequence (turnover intention), as well as a long-term consequence affecting the individual (mental ill-health) were included. As we aimed to study coping as a moderator coping was considered more as a dispositional, rather than a situational construct (Folkman and Moskowitz, 2004).\nAcknowledgements: The study was financially supported by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research. The data collection was made possible through grants from Alecta and the Swedish National Institute for Working Life through the Joint Program from Working Life Research in Europe (SALTSA).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the present paper is to investigate how employees' coping (problem, emotion and avoidance focused coping) may affect the reactions to job insecurity. Because the coping investigated in the present study addresses the stressor in different ways, the authors expect different moderating effects depending on the type of coping, which results in three different hypotheses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of 579 Swedish accountants was used to test these hypotheses via surveys.\nFindings: The findings support the authors' assumptions that emotion focused coping weakened the relation of job insecurity and some of the outcomes. Both avoidance and problem focused coping strengthened the relation between job insecurity and some of the outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: As this study utilizes cross-sectional data and only one occupational group, it is important to test the relations using longitudinal data with different occupational groups in future research.\nPractical implications: From these results some practical conclusions can be drawn as to which coping forms might be more beneficial, which can be helpful for organizations in order to develop intervention programs.\nOriginality/value: This study expanded the understanding of coping in the context of job insecurity by testing different forms of coping and including a variety of important outcomes of job insecurity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A service research contribution to the global challenge of sustainability	[ "Sustainability", "Education for sustainable development", "Viable systems approach", "Service research", "T-shaped professionals" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: the need for a cultural change in economy and society: The changing social structures and values, as well as new developments in economic, political, and technological fields are creating sea-changes in the philosophy, strategic aims, operational practices, and structures of many organizations. These changes are particularly relevant to the service sector, as public demand for high standards increases, and organizations fight for both market share and public credibility. The journal specifically addresses solutions to these challenges from a global, multi-cultural, and multi-disciplinary perspective(Journal of Service Theory and Practice, http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=jstp).Sharing the Journal of Service Theory and Practice's views and aims, in this study we reflect upon the way the service research community can \"serve\" the cause of many of the unsolved issues of humanity, such as poverty, hunger, disease, inequality, not to mention the related environmental issues, that affect populations and society all over the world requiring urgent solutions for sustainable development.\n2. Exploring the interest of service research in the topics of sustainability and sustainable development: Service research has proposed several definitions of sustainability (Wolfson et al., 2010; Navarro-Espigares et al., 2012; Gretzel et al., 2015) attempting to identify variables and dimensions that influence the way in which actors approach the concept of sustainability and its management (Johnson et al., 2004; Scheirer and Dearing, 2011). Various proposals have been framed in order to define models that highlight the relationships between environmental forces, contextual influences and interventions in the field of sustainability (Aarons et al., 2011; Stirman et al., 2012).\n3. The key requirements for global engagement in the sustainability and sustainable development challenge: Following the conclusion of the meeting of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1985), the concept of sustainability has gained growing attention, becoming the focus of multi- and trans-disciplinary international debate (Komiyama and Takeuchi, 2006). The interest in sustainability has progressively involved various scientific domains, going beyond the initially prevailing environmental perspective and including, in particular, the social and economic spheres.\n4. The potential contribution of service research to progress in the sustainable development agenda: Beyond the current interest service research literature is addressing to the topics of sustainability and sustainable development, briefly illustrated in Section 2, we believe that the service research communities have much more to offer to advance the sustainable development agenda.\n5. Toward a model of \"T-Shaped\" people educated for addressing sustainable development: The evidence from UNESCO DESD as well as from other studies on education (Krajnc and Glavic, 2005; Gough and Scott, 2008) provide useful indications of the skills with which decision makers must be endowed to face the challenges of transformative change toward sustainability and sustainable development (Sternberg, 1994; Frey and Iraldo, 2008; Ostrom, 2009; Wiek, Farioli, Fukushi and Yarime, 2012; Wiek, Ness, Schweizer-Ries, Brand and Farioli, 2012).\n6. Concluding remarks, implications and limits of the study: This work relaunches and spans the SS's call to integrate resources and co-create knowledge by means of \"an inclusive multi-disciplinary approach to service innovation, with science, management, engineering and design as supporting academic disciplines, and with T-Shaped professionals as adaptive innovators to link and unite these disciplines,\" believing that this cannot only create measurable growth in service innovation for business and society (IfM and IBM, 2008, p. 21), but also promote progress and well-being for all, by incorporating the environmental view of the sustainability paradigm, and more widely engage the service research community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Poverty, hunger, inequalities, diseases, unsustainable use of resources, etc., in spite of scientific progress, still remains unsolved worldwide issues. All these issues relate to the challenges of sustainability and sustainable development that now call for urgent answers. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the service research community can respond to this call and to identify key areas of potential contribution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: After a brief review of selected service literature aimed at exploring its interest in the topics of sustainability and sustainable development, the authors develop the interpretative proposal identifying the key requirements of a global engagement in the challenge of sustainability and sustainable development and highlighting the potential contribution of service research.\nFindings: Findings highlight the potential contribution of service research to the global challenge of sustainability and suggest acting upon education by considering the \"T-Shaped\" professional model as a possible reference for embedding sustainability in the education of future managers and addressing the need of interdisciplinary thinking through the systems approach.\nResearch limitations/implications: The proposed study of service literature is only an exploratory analysis of main contributions that does not aim to identify gaps but only to highlight the potential of a greater engagement of service research in the global call for a more sustainable and inclusive development.\nPractical implications: A trans-disciplinary approach is also required. This implies the involvement of the business and the social real world.\nOriginality/value: This paper represents a novel call for engaging the service research community in a boundary-crossing collaboration with the aim of contributing to address the challenge of sustainability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational culture as moderator in the relationship between organizational reward on knowledge sharing and employee performance	[ "Organizational culture", "Knowledge sharing", "Organizational rewards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Background: The globalization challenge faced by both profit and non-profit-oriented organizations is that there are environmental changes from competitive environments into increasingly dynamic environments, and the change is an absolute and unavoidable one. To cope with these changes, in order to realize its vision and mission, the organization is expected to be always adaptable and responsive to every environmental change that occurs by empowering its resources, namely capital resources, technology and human resources (HRs). HR plays an important role in the achievement of organizational goals. Therefore, good organizational HR management is the backbone for the success of the organization. Given the crucial role of HRs, the presence of HRs who have knowledge, skill and attitude that are relevant with working culture of the organization, coupled with measurable, regular and periodic reward system and performance evaluation, will be able to make performance of the employees optimal so that organizational goals can be achieved (Kemenag Sumsel).\n2. Literature review: Schematically, the conceptual framework of this study can be presented in Figure 1. The hypothesis in this study is based on the description of previous theories and previous empirical studies. Therefore, the following hypotheses can be formulated.\n3. Research methods: Based on the purpose of research conducted, this research is an explanatory research using quantitative research techniques. The design for data collection uses a survey approach, that is a form of research conducted to obtain facts about the phenomena that exist in regional government organizations to seek more factual and systematic information.\n4. Research results: This study tested the hypotheses by using Smart PLS. The results of testing directly influence independent variables (remuneration, clan culture, adhocracy culture, hierarchical culture and market culture and its interaction) to the dependent variables (knowledge sharing and employee performance), which can be seen in Figure 2.\n5. Discussion of research results: 5.1 Remuneration is influential on knowledge sharing\n6. Conclusion: The results of the discussion and findings of the research can be stated in the following conclusions: organizational rewards in the form of providing economic benefits as remuneration, such as employee performance allowances, have a significant effect on individual attitudes in knowledge sharing. These findings indicate that an employee's knowledge-sharing activities will be better if employees are given motivation in the form of rewards (reward) or decent wages that are in accordance with the target of achieving performance. The interaction of remuneration variables with clan culture has a significant effect on knowledge sharing. This means that the impact of increasing knowledge sharing due to the implementation of remuneration will be even higher if in the work environment, a high clan culture is attached. The results of this study prove that the interaction of remuneration variables with the adhocracy culture has no significant effect on knowledge sharing. This shows that the increase in knowledge sharing due to the provision of remuneration will not always be higher if it applies a low adhocracy culture work environment. The interaction of remuneration variables with hierarchical culture has a significant negative effect on knowledge sharing. This means that the impact of increasing knowledge sharing due to the implementation of remuneration will be higher if the work environment is inherently low in hierarchy. Market culture is not proven as moderation variable on the relationship between remuneration and knowledge sharing. This proves that market culture only acts as a predictor in the relationship of remuneration and knowledge sharing. The results of this study also show empirical evidence that knowledge sharing has a significant effect on employee performance. These findings prove that knowledge-sharing activities carried out by employees, in terms of sharing technical expertise, sharing knowledge after attending training, sharing policy documents and collaborating to solve problems, will be able to improve employee performance.\n7. Limitations of research and recommendations: Some of the limitations of this study are as follows: the results of this study are limited to the object of research of public organizations, especially in Ternate Municipal Government, thus allowing different research results and conclusions if the research is conducted with different research objects with different organizational cultures. This study focuses on knowledge-sharing variable between employees and does not see knowledge sharing between individuals with units or organizations; therefore, there is a lack of knowledge that is disseminated in organizational memory. The kind of organizational culture in this study is in a new context, interacting in the model. Therefore, future researchers need to develop the variable comprehensively on other research and other objects. The knowledge-sharing variable in this study does not distinguish the types of knowledge used, because there is personal knowledge that is not easy to communicate and there is knowledge that is easily communicated.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether organizational rewards are able to improve knowledge sharing and have an impact on employee performance moderated by organizational culture type in Ternate Municipal Government.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The design for data collection a uses survey approach, that is a form of research conducted to obtain facts about the phenomena that exist in regional government organizations to seek more factual and systematic information. The research was conducted in Ternate Municipal Government area of North Maluku Province, Indonesia. The organizations of regional apparatus are public sector agencies responsible for providing services to the public. The population in this study is echelon IIb-IVb officials in regional apparatus organizations and certain structural officials. The units of analysis that are focused on in this research are the head of local agency, body, and office; the secretary of local agency, body and office; the head of board, the head of division, the head of the sub-board and the head of sub-division.\nFindings: Organizational rewards in the form of giving economic rewards as remuneration, such as employee performance allowance, significantly affect individual attitudes in knowledge sharing. The interaction between the variable of remuneration with clan culture has a significant effect on knowledge sharing; these findings suggest that clan culture is a pure moderation variable that strengthens the relationship between remuneration and knowledge sharing. The result of this research proves that the interaction between the variable of remuneration with adhocracy culture has no significant effect on knowledge sharing. The interaction between the variable of remuneration with hierarchical culture has a significant negative effect on knowledge sharing. Market culture is not proven to moderate the relationship between remuneration and knowledge sharing. However, market culture variables directly and significantly affect knowledge sharing.\nOriginality/value: This research is the development of a research model conducted by Durmusoglu et al. (2014). The previous model uses organizational culture with a knowledge-sharing culture instrument, whereas this research develops organizational culture by using the type of organizational culture by Cameron and Quinn (1999), namely clan culture, adhocratic culture, hierarchical culture, and market culture. This type of organizational culture as a moderating variable can be expected to play a role in strengthening organizational rewards toward sharing knowledge and also impacting employee performance. Howell et al. (1986) revealed that organizational culture can strengthen the relationship between organizational rewards and disseminated knowledge. Hence, organizational culture moderates the relationship between organizational rewards for knowledge sharing to build upon Durmusoglu et al. (2014).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code pay off? An investigation of the implied cost of capital	[ "German corporate governance code", "Implied cost of capital", "Model-based forecasts", "G30, G32" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2001, the German Government established the Regierungskommission Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex, a government commission that was tasked with developing standards of good corporate governance for German listed companies in a move to promote the trust of international and national investors in the management and supervision of listed German companies. In February 2002, the government commission released the first version of the German Corporate Governance Code (GCGC[1]), which consisted of several governance-related recommendations to which companies have to comply with; alternatively, they must disclose their non-compliance under a comply-or-disclose mechanism. Since its inception, the GCGC has been amended almost annually. The GCGC, therefore, potentially serves German companies as an instrument to signal domestic and transnational investors that management follows \"international best practice\" (Goncharov et al., 2006). In particular, transnational investors have higher demand for this information due to greater geographical and cultural distance (Baik et al., 2013). Thus, compliance with the recommendations of the GCGC has the potential to mitigate agency risks between transnational investors and German companies. The major objectives of the Code - transparency and an alignment of interests - serve to decrease asymmetric information, which, in turn, should decrease the risk associated with investing in a company's shares (Armstrong et al., 2011; Easley and O'Hara, 2004; Kanagaretnam et al., 2007). Thus, all other factors being constant, better corporate governance - which, in this study, is defined as a higher level of compliance with the GCGC - is expected to have a diminishing effect on investment risk and hence on the implied cost of equity capital (ICC).\nPrior research: In Germany, the UK, Austria and The Netherlands, governance codes contain a mandatory disclosure requirement to encourage compliance. Boards of directors and supervisory boards of publicly traded companies are required to disclose whether they comply with the respective codes' requirements. We investigate whether capital market participants take the level of a company's compliance into account when making their investment decisions. In doing so, we specifically contribute to existing empirical literature that investigates the impact of corporate governance on ICC and, more generally, to the literature that analyzes the relationship between corporate governance and stock market performance. There are two articles which are closely related to this study. Goncharov et al. (2006) analyze the impact of compliance with the GCGC on market valuation. Tran (2011, 2014), in his conceptual and empirical analyses, investigates whether certain governance-related company characteristics, such as ownership structure, disclosure scores from the German Society of Investment Professionals (DVFA) and stock-based compensation, are related to ICC.\nHypothesis development: From a theoretical perspective, good corporate governance reduces the estimation risk of future cash flows by enhancing the level of corporate disclosure, which, in turn, increases liquidity of companies' securities by attracting increased demand from large investors. Corporate disclosure is also expected to reduce information asymmetry and the cost of equity capital (Diamond and Verrecchia, 1991; Leuz and Verrecchia, 2000). In their theoretical research model, Easley and O'Hara (2004) demonstrate that in equilibrium, the quantity and quality of information influences asset prices, resulting in cross-sectional differences in companies' required return and therefore in the cost of equity capital. Information asymmetries between informed and uninformed investors result in uninformed investors facing an information risk that stems from the better-informed investors. Thanks to their access to superior information, they are able to act in a timelier manner and shift their portfolios where necessary, while the uninformed investors are exposed to information risk. In a similar vein, Garmaise and Liu (2005) propose and empirically test a model in which the management of a company has private information and discloses this information in reports that are either honest or dishonest. If the company's corporate governance is strong, the signals sent out by the management presumably are more honest and result in an avoidance of overinvestment because shareholders have better control over the investment process. On the other hand, weak corporate governance increases problems that arise because of the principal-agent relationship between investors and management, and hence, increases the cost of equity capital. Correspondingly, the empirical literature shows that reduced information asymmetry serves to decrease companies' cost of equity capital through reduced information risk (Handa and Linn, 1993; Merton, 1987), estimation risk (Barry and Brown, 1984, 1985, Clarkson et al., 1996) and transaction costs (Amihud and Mendelson, 1986; Kim and Verrecchia, 1994). In the German context, it can be hypothesized that the recommendations of the GCGC reflect good corporate governance practices. Compliance with these recommendations signals high levels of corporate governance that ought to reduce information asymmetry and ICC. Therefore, our main testable hypothesis is that the level of compliance with the recommendations of the GCGC is negatively related to ICC:\nMethodology and sample: Sample selection and data sources\nResults: Univariate results\nConclusion: Based on a hand-collected sample of 2,860 observations from 447 companies during the period of 2003-2013, we analyze how the level of compliance with the recommendations of the GCGC is related to the ICC of German firms. Our analysis provides empirical evidence that compliance with GCGC recommendations is associated with lower ICC. We contribute to current literature by providing the first empirical evidence to document this relationship, which supports the work of the government commission. Our research extends and confirms prior studies for the German market that are either based on relatively small sample sizes and/or focus on more general corporate governance attributes (Drobetz et al., 2004; Goncharov et al., 2006; Nowak et al., 2005; Tran, 2014). We further find evidence that the decreasing effect of GCGC compliance on ICC is stronger in industries with comparatively low product market competition.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to empirically investigate the relationship between the level of compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code's (GCGC) recommendations and the implied cost of equity capital (ICC). German listed companies are required by law to annually disclose their compliance with the recommendations of the GCGC. Whether the GCGC achieves its aim to promote the trust of stakeholders in the management and supervision is still an open question.\nDesign/methodology/approach: ICC is regressed on a score that captures compliance with the GCGC and several control variables. The dataset covers the period of 2003-2012 with declarations of compliance from 447 companies. ICC is chosen as an outcome variable, as it captures general investment risk as well as risk arising from asymmetric information and mistrust of investors in management.\nFindings: The results of the empirical analysis demonstrate that a higher level of GCGC compliance is associated with lower ICC.\nResearch limitations/implications: It is expected that the results of this study will strengthen acceptance of the GCGC and empirically support the work of the government commission that is responsible for it. It has not been analyzed yet whether the firms cite good reasons why they do not adhere to certain items.\nOriginality/value: This empirical analysis is the first to provide statistically reliable evidence on how compliance with the GCGC affects ICC and whether the work of the government commission reflects good corporate governance as perceived by capital markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Slow moving stock problem: empirical evidence from Malaysia	[ "Case study", "Malaysia", "Internal control", "Inventory management", "Automotive", "COSO framework" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Inventories are goods that a business keeps for resale purposes. More specifically, they include assets held for sale in the ordinary course of business, in the process of production for such sale or in the form of materials or supplies to be consumed in the production process or in the rendering of services (Malaysian Financial Reporting Standard [MFRS] 102). Inventory is important because it represents a company's financial investment. Without proper and careful management, poor stock handling resulted to company's cash flow in trouble. Because of this, many companies spend extra money on manpower and resources to carefully monitor their stock movement. The process of monitoring stock is known as stock management.\nLiterature review: Internal control and inventory management system\nResearch methodology: Case study approach\nFindings and discussions: Findings from qualitative analysis\nConclusions: The purpose of this study is to examine the internal control weaknesses of the current stock management system in ABC Enterprise. It investigates whether current stock management processes are adequately documented and identifies whether there is an excessive amount of obsolete spare parts in the company.\nLimitations of the study and suggestion for future research: There are a few limitations of the study. Firstly, it focuses on only one company, ABC Enterprise. The samples of the study were from the company itself, and no comparisons were made with other companies in the same industry in terms of stock management. Secondly, access to data is difficult, as some of the data are treated as confidential, and hence, the data available for analysis and interpretation remain limited. Finally, the respondents that participated in the interviews were not willing to share and discuss certain issues, as it involves the company's business sensitive information, fearing that it is against the company's rules and regulations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify weaknesses in the internal control of the stock management processes and provide recommendations to improve those weaknesses. The study also analyses whether the current stock management processes are adequately documented and updated regularly.\nDesign/methodology/approach: One company involved in the automotive industry was selected as a case study and its stock management examined, focusing on the processes involved and the reliability of the current inventory system. Data were collected via interviews with the selected staff and document analysis on various financial and non-financial company records.\nFindings: The results show that there are loopholes and weaknesses in the current stock management system. This is because of poor technology and a lack of exposure and knowledge of staff involved in the stock management system.\nResearch limitations/implications: As this research is based on one company as a study case, generalization must be done with precaution. Access to certain important documents was denied because of the confidentiality.\nPractical/implications: This study will help companies in the automotive sector to improve their stock management process, allowing for more efficient cost control and better services to customers. Specifically, this study identifies weaknesses in the current inventory management and provides recommendations to overcome those weaknesses. This will indirectly prevent fraud and theft and safeguard the cash flow of the company by improving the operation of the procurement and spare parts stock control department.\nOriginality/value: This study is original, as it focuses on a company that operates in the automotive sector, which is rare in the internal control literature, particularly in developing markets such as Malaysia. It contains examinations of various internal documents that are generally difficult to be accessed by researchers for the publication in an academic journal.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Elaboration and validation of a checklist for the evaluation of good hygiene practices in food trucks	[ "Food service", "Fast food" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The consumption of street food is becoming increasingly frequent in Brazil and around the world, surpassing the sale of other businesses, such as food services and street markets (Campos et al., 2015; Samapundo et al., 2015; Alfiero et al., 2017). While this may be due to a number of social and economic changes, it is mainly related to a general increase in population (Omemu and Aderoju, 2008; Olmedo et al., 2018), which may have led to a greater demand for non-conventional services. This is the case with food trucks, characterized as a mobile food service in the form of automotive vehicles equipped for the preparation and sale of food directly to the consumer (IBGE, 2017; Curitiba, 2017; McIntosh, 2017).\n2. Materials and methods: The present study, which followed a quantitative approach, was carried out in Curitiba (Parana, Brazil) from March 2016 to July 2018. The methodology was divided into three stages: preparation of a GHPFT evaluation checklist; validation of its content; and analysis of the inter-rater reliability of the instrument. This study took all ethical aspects under consideration and was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, as reported in Document No. 105694/2015.\n3. Results: 3.1 Preparation and content validation of the checklist for evaluation of GHPFT\n4. Discussion: The present study yielded a GHPFT evaluation checklist with appropriate validity and reliability indicators. This checklist may be used in the implementation of good hygiene practices and in inspections carried out by a Health Regulation Agency.\n5. Conclusion: An instrument for the evaluation of GHPFT operations was developed and assessed for reliability and reproducibility. Following evaluation and testing, the checklist consisted of 30 items distributed in 8 categories, which enable a reliable and specific evaluation of hygiene-sanitary conditions of food handling and marketing in food trucks.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop, validate the content and analyze the inter-rater reliability of a checklist of good hygiene practices in food trucks (GHPFT).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was carried out in Curitiba, Brazil, and divided into three stages: preparation of the evaluation checklist; validation of the checklist's content; and reliability analysis. Content validation was carried out by six experts using the Content Validity Index (CVI). The reliability analysis was performed on five food trucks by four partners using the k coefficient.\nFindings: Prior to validation, the checklist contained 34 items divided into 9 categories; after, this number was changed to 30 items divided into 8 categories. The validated checklist presented a CVI=0.867 for each of the categories and k between 0.636 and 0.759, indicating good reproducibility.\nResearch limitations/implications: The checklist considered the requirements of Brazilian laws, and may not reflect the good hygiene practices requirements specific to other countries.\nPractical implications: The checklist proposed is an unprecedented tool, and may be used in the implementation of good hygiene practices and in inspections carried out by the Health Regulatory Agency for the street food segment.\nOriginality/value: The study was the first to describe the development, content validation and inter-rater reliability analysis of an evaluation checklist for GHPFT, and the results can be used by professionals working in the area.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A representative organizational diversity metric: a dashboard measure for executive action	[ "Diversity", "Diversity management", "Demographic representativeness", "Organizational demographic diversity", "Organizational diversity metric" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The evolving global population is creating increasing human resource (HR) challenges for many organizations. Inter-and intra-country migrations, increasing representation of minority groups, and declining White birth rates are leading to diverse populations in many developed countries including the USA, the setting for this study. These demographic trends inevitably will lead to changes in the demographic composition of the labor force and thence, to organizations' work forces worldwide.\nA new diversity metric: The D-Metric[2] is a statistic that represents the relative distance from the ideal of 0, the point at which the organization mirrors perfectly its labor market demographic distribution in a given job category. This paper addresses the D-Metric first, followed by the U-Metric, the parallel statistic for organizations with a unitary, unsegmented labor market. The D-Metric is based on the deviation from the replicate average (in this case CBSAs) divided by the replicate standard deviation for each year under review. The resulting Z-scores are then converted to absolute values and averaged across demographic categories. Using the absolute value entails the assumption that deviations from the labor force proportion, whether positive or negative, are equally undesirable. As noted above, the D-Metric is the mean of the average absolute Z-scores. However, given the use to which it is put here, it does not necessarily have properties that are associated typically with Z-scores. This is so because the absolute value function makes all Z-score positive. Thus, the D-Metric represents the distance from the ideal whether there is under- or over-representation of a given demographic group.\nThe U-metric, for organizations with a unitary, unsegmented labor market: While the D-Metric offers a more precise measure of the representation of an organization's work force relative to the relevant labor market, there may be situations where an organization recruits from a single labor market. For example, an organization may recruit from the national market, a common strategy for some professional or executive positions. Alternately, an organization might be located in a rural area with a single CBSA from which to recruit. In these situations, the D-Metric cannot be employed because there is no variance across labor market segments. In this case, the organization could employ a unitary metric, the U-Metric as a substitute for the D-Metric. The U-Metric is comprised of the weighted mean of the squared differences between the organization's demographic distribution and the relevant labor market distribution on the demographic attribute under examination, in the present example, race.\nApplications of the D-metric and U-metric: The D-Metric and the U-Metric yield a series of static measures, the demographic distributions of an organization's work force across skill categories at a specific point in time. In interpreting the Metrics, it is important to note that the number by itself, in isolation, has little meaning. There are potentially at least four contexts that give both Metrics meaning: the trend line over time, comparisons with other organizations, comparison across units in a large organization and comparison across job categories or levels. Regarding demographic representation, the ideal Metrics would be 0 - the organization's demographic (in the case of ABC Agency, the racial) distribution across an EEO-identified given skill category is identical to its labor market. However, the ideal is unlikely to occur. More important is the trend over time. As long as the slope of the best fitting trend line is negative, the organization is making progress toward the ideal, as noted above. An extension of the negative trend line until it intersects with 0 on the horizontal axis would suggest, ceteris paribus, how long it would take for the organization to achieve demographic parity with the labor market for the given skill/occupational category. A positive sloping trend line indicates that the organization is moving away from the ideal.\nDiscussion: The diversity metric proposed provides a measurement system designed to determine the effectiveness of an organization's strategy in recruiting a diverse workforce. Recruiting a diverse set of employees could convey, externally, to prospective applicants that the employing organization recruits widely and inclusively as well as sending a signal that about the organization's culture for diversity. Internally, determining how well the composition of an organization's work force compares to the demographic distribution of the relevant labor market could be an important step in determining whether the organization's recruitment strategy is effective at achieving demographic representation. The Metric can be computed for each EEO-1 occupational skill category in the organization's work force.\nConclusion: Workforce analytics is a potentially effective approach to improve organizational performance and is considered an HR best practice (Harris, 2011). In using the diversity metric, organizations would have numerical targets to improve the demographic representativeness of their workforces. The D-Metric, or U-Metric in unitary labor markets, properly used, will aid organizations in moving toward a more representative workforce. The Metric is the best and only one-number measure of demographic organizational distribution by job category available. This diversity metric facilitates management of a critical resource: the organizational work force's demographic distribution. The Metric enables HR staff to monitor the effectiveness of HR recruitment, potentially through HR management dashboards.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Workforce analytics is an evolving measurement approach in human resource (HR) planning and strategy implementation. Workforce analytics can help organizations manage one of their most important resources: their human capital. The purpose of this paper is to propose a diversity metric, called the D-Metric, as a new tool for HR planning. The D-Metric can be used to assess the demographic representativeness of employees across skill categories of an organization's workforce compared to its relevant labor markets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors present a real example and discuss possible applications of the D-Metric in HRM strategic planning and diversity research.\nFindings: The D-Metric is a statistic useful in assessing demographic representativeness in the occupational categories of an organization's workforce compared to the demographics of its relevant labor markets. The methodology could be implemented to assess an organization's work force representativeness on dimensions such as race, sex, age and pay levels. When the labor market is unitary, without measurable variance, a substitute metric, the U-Metric also presented in this paper, can be used.\nResearch limitations/implications: Use of the D-Metric requires publicly available labor market data with variance across labor market segments.\nOriginality/value: There currently is no published metric that evaluates the representativeness of an organization's work force relative to its relevant labor markets. Many organizations seek a demographically representative workforce to better understand their diverse customer segments. Monitoring the representativeness of an organization's work force, as captured in Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO-1) forms in the USA, for example, is an important component of HR management strategy. From a legal perspective, the D-Metric or the alternative U-Metric, could be useful in showing progress toward a demographically representative work force.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of intellectual capital on productivity of insurance companies in Ghana: A panel data analysis with System GMM estimation	[ "Intellectual capital", "Productivity", "Insurance companies", "System GMM" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The increased attention on intellectual capital (IC) as a unique asset for value creation has been fuelled by the resource-based view (RBV). This approach views knowledge as a strategic asset with the potential of being a source of competitive advantage for organisations (Barney, 1991). The RBV as a basis for the competitive advantage of a firm relies predominantly on the application of a bundle of valuable intangible resources at the firm's disposal (Penrose, 1959). Hence, an integrating all valuable intangible resources (IC) and managing it towards the set strategic goals would benefit a firm (Zack, 1999). IC as defined by Stewart (1997) is a set of intellectual materials, information, intellectual property, knowledge and experience that can be managed to create wealth. Stewart (1997) also classified IC as being composed of human capital, relational capital and structural capital that are widely accepted in the existing literature (Erik Sveiby, 1997; Bontis, 2001; Kamath, 2007).\n2. Theoretical basis (resource-based theory): The principal idea of intangibles was first recorded in the work of Lawrence R. Dick in 1896 (see Kristandl and Bontis, 2007) and as such, its contribution to firms' market value has been the subject of the knowledge economy. Similarly, the RBV, which is based on the ideas of Penrose (1959) emphasises the importance of productive resources and intangible assets in determining an organisation's success (Marti, 2007). Based on the prepositions of RBV, a combination of valuable intangibles earns firms a competitive advantage. These productive resources in the organisation have the capabilities of explaining an organisation's profit and value (Penrose, 1980). The RBV of a firm was derived from the above-stated justification that emphasises unique firms' resources by explaining the differences in performance within a firm, an industry, a sector or even a country (Barney, 1991). It further highlights two core points, i.e., the existence of capabilities and the heterogeneity of the resources.\n3. Literature review and hypotheses development: From the theoretical idea of RBV and the KBV as a basis for the competitive advantage of a firm through the application of a bundle of valuable resources (Penrose, 1959), an ample number of studies from Europe (Bozbura, 2004; Kujansivu and Lonnqvist, 2007; El-Bannany, 2008; Zeghal and Maaloul, 2010; Bontis et al., 2015; Dzenopoljac et al., 2016; Sardo and Serrasqueiro, 2017), Africa (Firer and Williams, 2003; Uwuigbe and Uadiale, 2011; Sherif and Elsayed, 2016; Alhassan and Asare, 2016; Asare et al., 2017; Anifowose et al., 2018), Asia (Iswati and Anshori, 2007; Mondal and Ghosh, 2012; Lu et al., 2014; Yeganeh et al., 2014; Kamath, 2015) and Australia (Clarke et al., 2011; Joshi et al., 2010) have been carried out in assessing the influence of IC on a firm's performance. These studies adopted a three-dimensional framework to analyse IC which includes human, capital employed and structural capital based on Pulic (2001) VAIC model which is one of the most widely used model for IC valuation. As an IC indicator, the model is statistically better for financial analysis as it is based on the use of available financial data as the input data in the model (Andriessen, 2004). This favours the VAIC model over the other models of IC measurement such as the Balanced Scorecard by Kaplan and Norton (1992), the Intangible Asset Monitor by Sveiby (1994), Skandia Navigator by Edvinsson and Malone (1994) and its usefulness in evaluating IC and the distinctive features of organisations (El-Bannany, 2008).\n4. Data and methodology: 4.1 Data\n5. Empirical results and analysis: 5.1 Descriptive statistics on variables used\n6. Discussion: Beginning with the analysis of productivity, it was shown that growth in productivity is highly driven by efficiency changes unlike technological change, according to a previous study (Alhassan and Asare, 2016). The result means that improvement in managerial skills such as best-practice initiatives and a balance between inputs and outputs improves the efficiency of insurance firms. Overall, there was a regression in the productivity of insurance over the studied period. The possible explanation for this was the 2008 global financial crisis that affected the financial system in Ghana. The sustained effect of this turmoil compelled the NIC of Ghana to introduce various reforms such as risk management and solvency framework to encourage robust risk management practices among insurance companies in Ghana (NIC, 2016). In line with the existing literature, there is overwhelming evidence verifying that VAIC positively influences the productivity of insurance companies. The findings endorse the principles of the RBV that state that the integration of both intangible and tangible assets in the production process can lead to higher productivity (Barney 1991). The results of the study fit the trending results in the literature (Tan et al., 2007; Iswati and Anshori, 2007; Chen et al., 2014; Zakery and Afrazeh, 2015; Alhassan and Asare, 2016). Furthermore, it was evident that IC components and their relationship with productivity had mixed results. HCE as a component of IC is significant and positive with technological change as well as overall productivity. This proves that employees of insurance companies are vital for growth to productivity in the knowledge economy, especially when they are endowed with the skills and competencies and technological knowhow to be innovative and creative. The study results support the existing literature (see Bozbura, 2004; Mahesh et al., 2010; Alipour, 2012; Lu et al., 2014; Kamath, 2015; Asare et al., 2017) and provide empirical evidence that human capital is a major component of IC in improving productivity. The insurance industry is a classified as knowledge-intensive industry; thus, the need for a large investment in human capital is important for insurers to survive (Kweh et al., 2014).\n7. Conclusion/research implications: The push for firms to invest in IC as a source of a firm's competitive advantage started two decades ago. This drive is t reflected in the literature as shown by the many researchers who are constantly addressing the influence of IC on a firm's performance. However, in emerging economies like Ghana, there is a lack of empirical research on IC and it impacts on the productivity of insurance companies. According to Wu and Strange (2000), the industry (insurance) depends on IC in improving insurance firms' performance given its knowledge-intensive nature, therefore confirming Goh and Lim (2004) statement that IC has become a key driver of productivity. Based on this, the goal of the study was twofold. First, it aims to reveal the production efficiency in insurance companies by estimating the changes in productivity based on MPI. Second, it wanted to show the dynamic relationship between IC and productivity using System GMM estimator. The study analysed 33 insurance companies operating in Ghana (13 life and 20 non-life insurance company) spanning a period of nine years (2008-2016).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of intellectual capital (IC) efficiency on changes in the productivity of insurance companies in Ghana.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a panel of 33 insurance companies from 2008 to 2016, the study applied Value Added Intellectual Coefficients model as a measure of IC efficiency, whilst Malmquist Productivity Index is employed to capture changes in the productivity of insurance companies. In estimating the effects of IC on productivity, System Generalised Method of Moment (GMM) is applied because of its power over endogeneity and heteroscedasticity.\nFindings: Robust empirical findings on productivity analysis showed that improvements in insurer's productivity were experienced in three year intervals out of the overall studied year. In addition, panel regression results revealed that IC along with human capital and capital employed significantly affect the productivity of insurance companies.\nResearch limitations/implications: The generalisability of the study findings could be questioned because it is limited to insurance firms operating in Ghana; some firms were omitted due to mergers and acquisition that reduced the final sample. Yet, the findings facilitate the validation of IC concept and, hence, informs manager/policy makers on IC utilisation as a source of competitive edge.\nPractical implications: Having robust empirical findings, the study expands on the existing literature by unveiling the dynamic nature of IC relationship and productivity. The findings also serve as a benchmark for managers/policymakers in insurance companies to increase the operational efficiency by investing in IC, which will help guarantee improve returns on generated premiums.\nOriginality/value: Although a few studies have investigated the effect of IC in Ghana, this study is the first to examine the dynamic relationship between IC and changes in productivity in a Ghanaian context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The outset of U-I R & D relationships: the specific case of biological sciences	[ "Social capital", "Portugal", "ARA model", "Biological sciences", "Inter-organizational networks", "University-industry links" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Understanding university-industry (U-I) links assumes an increasing importance in the need to strengthen company's sources of competitive advantage when operating in turbulent environments. This study assumes that innovation is not exclusively dependent on the internal capabilities of a company, such as its R\nLiterature review: From dyadic transactions to network relationships\nMethodology: Research background\nFindings: Organizational motivations at the outset of U-I links (P1)\nDiscussion: This section reviews the most salient findings and explains the activities and resources involved at the outset of U-I R\nTheoretical contributions: Over the last decades, R\nManagerial contributions: Universities and research institutions that want to promote greater integration and cooperation with industrial partners need to focus on the researchers that are motivated for engaging in U-I links. From the perspective of interviewees, Portuguese universities do not yet have the capacity to systematically foster these relationships, and the current scenario mostly consists of casual meetings between parties that eventually lead to cooperation, without the academic institution being a key active member in the relational development. Typically, the involved researchers are in charge of defining the strategy and negotiations of contacts and ongoing activities, while university officers are mostly involved in drafting contracts or other documents required for the R\nLimitations and future research: Focusing the study on the Portuguese biological sciences R\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw insights from the actors-resources-activities (ARA) model and social capital literature to identify relevant activities shared by university-industry (U-I) actors prior to R\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a qualitative methodology, a series of interviews were carried out with researchers from the biological sciences domain.\nFindings: This study found that, at the outset of U-I links, companies' motivations are strongly organizational, while academics are motivated at a personal level. The interactions grow from low-risk activities to partnerships on complex tasks, and depend on relational resources framed within the ARA and social capital theories. Results showed that shared interests are present at the outset of U-I links and grow thereafter. Trust and commitment were not ubiquitous at the outset, but rather at later stages of the cooperation, as a result of the developed interdependencies.\nResearch limitations/implications: The combination of the ARA model and social capital in U-I links highlighted the different relationship levels (individual vs organizational), the disparities between early and established ties, and the interplay between low- and high-investment activities underlying researchers' relationships. Several managerial contributions are presented for universities to promote greater integration with industry partners.\nOriginality/value: A new direction of research is presented towards lower levels of U-I cooperation, taking into account the relational resources and the activities shared in each level. This work distinguished the different actors' motivations and clarified the role of trust and commitment at the outset of U-I links. This first assessment of Portuguese U-I interactions within the biological sciences provided valuable insights for both academics and practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analysing enablers of knowledge management in improving logistics capabilities of Indian organisations: a TISM approach	[ "Knowledge management", "Total interpretive structural modelling (TISM)", "Logistics capabilities", "Decision-making" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Logistics is recognised as one of the core areas of business competencies at domestic and international level, and thus, requires a systematic approach of regulating services, managing infrastructure, transportation system, implementing controls (especially for international goods), support of various stakeholders (Neumann and Tome, 2009; Fugate et al., 2012; Arvis et al., 2018) and managing knowledge (Bhosale and Kant, 2016). Inefficient logistics raise the business cost and lessen the potential growth for both the international and domestic markets (Arvis et al., 2018). Nonetheless, organisations have realised the importance of competitiveness in their logistics operations, and hence, they are now investing in knowledge management (KM) systems (Best Practices LLC, 2018; Durst and Evangelista, 2018; Tooranloo et al., 2018). Such investment aims to ensure the availability of all technological and intellectual knowledge within the organisations (Martins et al., 2019; Ruel et al., 2019). This strategy also aims to turn logistics-related data and information into knowledge (Ernst and Young, 2014; Tian, 2017) for improving efficiency, reducing operational costs and enhancing the responsiveness (Oliveira et al., 2015; Durst and Evangelista, 2018). Consequently, organisations can develop and adopt KM practices to achieve logistics competitiveness through effective utilisation of organisational capabilities (Migdadi, 2009; Donate and de Pablo, 2015) various methods, techniques and processes (Wu, 2008). Additionally, an adaptation of automatic identification and data capturing technologies and smart systems such as radio frequency identification (RFID), IoT, Blockchain, a geographical positioning system (GPS), etc., have made KM as one of the demanding strategies for sustainable business growth (Lim et al., 2017; Kianto et al., 2018). As most of the KM studies are limited to intra-organisation (Kianto et al., 2018; Ruel et al., 2019), however, logistics is considered as inter-organisational activity (Samuel et al., 2011), the role of KM can be explored to benefit such inter-organisational transactions.\n2. Literature review: The review of literature is divided into four sections namely, a) knowledge management, b) KM applications in logistics and supply chain (SC), c) enablers of KM and d) overview of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques for KM evaluation. The detailed description of each section is mentioned in subsequent sub-sections:\n3. A total interpretive structural modelling approach: This study uses the TISM method to achieve the research objectives mentioned in Section 1. The method, TISM and the results of the analysis are separately discussed in the next two sections.\n4. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to the classification analysis: Matrice d'impacts croises-multiplication applique a un classement (cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification) (MICMAC), developed by Duperrin and Godet (1973), is used as a systematic analysis of complex issues and uses driving and dependence power of variables to cluster them into four categories (Yadav et al., 2018; Dhir and Dhir, 2020). They are autonomous category, dependent category, linkage category and independent category. Alike other studies, this study also categorised the enablers into these four categories. The driving power and the dependence power of each of enablers, which are shown in Table 4, are used for MICMAC analysis. The driving power and the dependence power of each enabler were calculated by adding all entries showing interaction across the respective row and column (Muduli et al., 2013; Dhir and Dhir, 2020). Figure 5 shows the result of MICMAC analysis, where the X-axis represents the dependence power and the Y-axis represents the driving power of enablers.\n5. Implications: This study has identified the prominent enablers of KM in improving the logistics capabilities of Indian organisations; and explored the hidden and logical (with interpretation) interrelationships among them through the application of the TISM method. Some of the key practical implications of this study are mentioned below.\n6. Conclusion and scope for future research: This research has successfully blended the merits of an empirical approach with data collection (questionnaire surveys), and word-and-graph based structural model, to achieve the research objectives. This study explores the KM enablers in improving the logistics capabilities of Indian organisations. This study has listed eleven enablers as important and analysis reveals a hierarchical structure of relationships among them. The hierarchy of enablers is based on the driving and dependence power of each enabler. As per Figure 4, four enablers positioned in the last two bottom hierarchy of the model are the independent and vital for the implementation of a KM system. Donate and de Pablo (2015) have mentioned that a strong knowledge-oriented leadership position forces the firm to embark on substantial investment and development initiatives to generate new knowledge. Shih et al. (2012) also encourage that to improve supply chain performance; the firm should focus on knowledge sharing rather than cost savings. The present study demonstrates that knowledge creation and knowledge storage enablers require more concentration in comparison to knowledge sharing/dissemination enablers to improve logistics performance in India.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to identify and analyse the main enablers of knowledge management (KM) in improving the logistics capabilities of Indian organisations and develop a model based on the contextual relationship among the identified enablers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Initially, this study uses a systematic literature review and questionnaire-based survey approach to identify the enablers of KM; and later, total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) was used to evolve mutual relationships among the identified 11 enablers for developing a hierarchical model.\nFindings: The results of the analysis show that enablers, namely, organisational structure and leadership, application of advanced information and communication system, collaboration with established stakeholders and organisational learning and innovative approaches are identified as main enablers for improving the logistics capabilities of Indian organisations.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study provides useful implications for the researchers working on exploring the role of KM enablers in improving the logistics capabilities of organisations.\nPractical implications: This study provides rich practical implications for the manufacturers, supply chain managers, logistics service providers and logistics consultants involved in the decision-making process. They can focus majorly on knowledge creation and knowledge storage processes to improve the logistics performance of their respective organisations.\nOriginality/value: This study is an attempt to identify the enablers of KM that could improve the logistics capabilities of Indian organisations. The application of the TISM method to develop a theoretical framework is the novel contribution of this study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Near, far, and online: small business owners' advice-seeking from peers	[ "Online communication", "Advice", "Small business", "Networking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The benefits of receiving advice from professional business advisors and public support services have been demonstrated in a number of entrepreneurship studies (e.g. Chrisman et al., 2005; Cumming and Fischer, 2012; Sullivan and Marvel, 2011; Wren and Storey, 2002). Other business owners are less commonly studied as sources of advice, but entrepreneurs may especially value informal peer advisors, and even prefer them despite incentives to use professional sources (Fischer and Reuber, 2003). Peers can personally relate to the challenges of running a business and, in some cases, have specialized relevant expertise (Kuhn and Galloway, 2015). They may be a particularly important resource for small and micro-sized businesses, for whom paid professional advisors may be less feasible or affordable.\nMethodology: Data collection and respondents\nResults: Table I shows respondents' reported frequency of advice-seeking from the three peer type categories (i.e. local, non-local, and online-only). Advice seeking from local peers was most common, but it is noteworthy that over half had sought advice from non-local peers they had met in person and over one-third of respondents had sought advice from other owners they had only had contact with online. Overall, 75 percent of respondents had sought advice from another small business owner/s during the previous year.\nDiscussion: While there is ample research on entrepreneurs' external advice seeking from paid professional and public sector business advisors, we know less about their advice seeking from informal, unpaid advisors. Much of the extant research on informal advisors has considered only friends and relatives, i.e. relatively strong ties, or has examined only local business owner networks. This study of small business owners across several industry sectors is, to our knowledge, the first to examine their advice seeking from other small business owners inclusive of both strong and weak ties, and to contrast peers found in the local vicinity to those found further afield and online.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine small business owners' informal advice-seeking from peers, with a focus on the opportunities afforded by the internet for owners to acquire assistance from other owner-managers outside their local community.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Over 600 owner-managers in a rural US state were surveyed about their advice-seeking during the previous year from peers in the same community, from non-local peers they had met in person, and from peers known only online. Mixed effects logistic regression analysis was used to test both main effects of business and owner characteristics on advice-seeking and interactions with type/location of peer advisors.\nFindings: Most owners had received advice from peers, and one-third had received advice online from a peer whom they had never met in person. Business performance was not associated with overall use of peer advice, but did interact significantly with source; the use of online-only advisors was associated with business growth, suggesting the possible benefit of weak ties. Over two-thirds of respondents reported having used social media and/or online forums to access advice or support from other owners (both those met in person and those not), with women and younger owners more likely to rely on such tools.\nOriginality/value: This study shows that entrepreneurial research needs to consider peer advisors beyond local networks as potential resources for small business owners. While previous research has examined entrepreneurs' use of social media for marketing, this study shows its utility for accessing advice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementing gender quotas in academia: a practice lens	[ "Academia", "Belgium", "Implementation", "Practices", "Gender equality measures", "Gender quotas" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This paper unlocks the black box of gender quota implementation in academia. As European universities increasingly adopt gender quotas to foster gender equality (European Commission, 2013; Peterson, 2015; Schandevyl et al., 2013; Zehnter, 2012; Zinovyeva and Bagues, 2010), research has mainly focused on the debates surrounding this adoption and on the quotas' effects on gender equality. This research into the debates indicates that gender quotas remain controversial (e.g. Andersen, 2010; Peterson, 2015; Schandevyl et al., 2013). Zehnter (2012) found that the arguments about quotas remained similar over time, but that the incompetence stigma thrust upon beneficiaries seemed to fade. The research into the outcomes of gender quotas, meanwhile, indicates mixed effects on gender equality (e.g. Peterson, 2015; van den Brink, 2010; Zehnter, 2012). Bagues et al. (2014), for instance, found that increasing the number of women evaluators in academic committees did not necessarily increase the success rate of women candidates in Spain and Italy. The implementation process of gender quotas in academia has not yet been investigated, although good studies have been conducted in the field of politics and business (for a review, see Hughes et al., 2017). So, what happens after adopting gender quotas at universities and before evaluating their outcomes remains a black box. Understanding the implementation of gender quotas is important, as original gender equality intentions could be changed or lost in the translation to practice (Ahmed, 2007; Edelman et al., 1991; Mazur, 2016; Zippel, 2003). This study contributes to the broader gender quota research and the particular field of gender equality in academia by examining gender quota implementation practices in a Belgian university.\nImplementing gender equality measures in academia: Over the last decennia, scholars have investigated gender inequality and gendered practices in academia, singling out structural and cultural aspects of academic organizations as the main explanatory factors of women's underrepresentation in academia (e.g. Benschop and Brouns, 2003; Bevan and Learmonth, 2013; Bird, 2011; Deem, 2003; Priola, 2007). Subsequently, scholars have increasingly examined gender equality measures in academia (e.g. Bendl and Schmidt, 2012; Bleijenbergh and Van Engen, 2015; Deem, 2007; Nielsen, 2014; Timmers et al., 2010; van den Brink, 2010). The authors define a gender equality measure as a specific action that governmental or organizational policymakers adopt and implement in order to tackle gender inequality. European universities are implementing gender equality measures such as mentoring and networking programs, work-life balance initiatives or awareness-raising actions (European Commission, 2013). While gender quotas are also implemented, their implementation has remained a black box in literature on gender equality in academia. By changing the gender compositions of decision-making bodies, the gender quota under study can be classified as a gender equality measure that addresses women's underrepresentation at a structural organizational level. Targeting academic decision-making structurally, gender quota implementation has triggered controversy and debates among the actors involved (e.g. Andersen, 2010; Peterson, 2015; Schandevyl et al., 2013; Zehnter, 2012).\nA practice lens into the black box of implementation: As it follows actors, this paper builds upon the practice theory notion that social - and organizational - life is (re)produced through people's ongoing and recurrent actions (doing) and their speech (saying), both of which are often unreflective and based on tacit knowledge (Feldman and Orlikowski, 2011; Nicolini, 2013; Poggio, 2006). Practice theory assumes that practices generate and operate everyday organizational life and are thus fundamentally constitutive thereof (Feldman and Orlikowski, 2011). This paper focuses on the practices utilized by university actors in order to comply with gender quotas in academic decision-making bodies. Understanding power dynamics is at the heart of practice theory, and it is also highly relevant for the study of gender quota implementation and what the practices entail for gender equality in academic decision-making.\nCase and methodology: This paper investigates the academic implementation practices of a Flemish Governmental gender quota decree. A frontrunner in the field, Belgium and its sub-states Flanders and Wallonia apply gender quotas to electoral candidate lists, public advisory boards and the boards of listed and state-owned companies (Meier, 2014). In 2012, the Flemish ministers for education and science policy decreed that public universities' academic decision-making bodies should be at most two-thirds comprised of members of the same sex[1]. This includes bodies at the central, intermediate (faculties[2] and institutes), and de-centralized (departments and research units) levels. The Flemish Parliament unanimously adopted the changes in the governance decree for public universities, including the gender quota. Building upon legislation regarding politics and business, parliamentarians argued that a quota would address the stark underrepresentation of women in higher academic ranks. To allow for an in-depth study of gender quota implementation practices, this paper studies one of the three Flemish public universities, the medium-sized and gender-segregated University of Antwerp (UA).\nImplementing gender quotas: The authors derived three practices that actors utilize to comply with gender quotas: gender-specific calls, scouting and \"playing around\" with effective voting members. Understanding gender quota implementation as a contingent phenomenon through practices (Feldman and Orlikowski, 2011; Nicolini, 2013), it is important to consider actors' tacit knowledge (Poggio, 2006). The practices are thus analyzed within the specific organizational context, acknowledging the multiple structures at work that can constrain as well as enable these practices (Giddens and Sutton, 2014). Actors apply their tacit knowledge of their organization's structures, such as composition processes and rules, rather than randomly or deliberately trying to comply with gender quotas as the presentation of practices below may suggest. Using this tacit knowledge and the leeway the decree allows, actors enact different practices to fix the composition \"puzzle\". Through these practices, actors make sense of gender quota implementation and compliance.\nDiscussion: The paper illustrates the value of using a practice lens for studying the implementation of gender equality measures. By showing what happens between the controversial adoption of gender quotas (Andersen, 2010; Schandevyl et al., 2013; Zehnter, 2012) and their mixed outcomes in terms of gender equality (Peterson, 2015; Zinovyeva and Bagues, 2010), documenting actual implementation practices opens a black box in the gender quota policy cycle. Moreover, it supports critical reflection on the implementation of gender quota.\nConclusion: Using a practice theory lens, this study opens the black box of gender quota implementation in academic decision-making bodies. As its first contribution, it identifies three practices that are utilized by university actors to comply: gender-specific calls, scouting and \"playing around\", respectively addressing women as a group, approaching women on a one-by-one basis or adapting the number of voting members. Through the practices actors make sense of compliance, procedurally and/or substantively. Second, critically reviewing these practices helps explain how gender quota implementation can, but not necessarily does, subvert gendered practices and support women's representation and power in academic decision-making. In some instances, however, gendered implementation and organizational practices may undermine the intention of a more equal balance of men and women.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the practices utilized by university actors when implementing gender quotas, and study how these practices affect gender equality in academic decision-making bodies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study applies a practice theory lens to the case study of a Belgian university implementing a gender quota by performing 26 semi-structured interviews with actors, and collecting and analyzing relevant organizational documents.\nFindings: This study shows that university actors implement gender quotas through three practices: gender-specific calls, scouting and \"playing around\". Identifying this variation in practices helps to understand both actors' sense-making of compliance with gender quotas and women's decision-making power in academic bodies.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study explores how practices interact with the organization's broader context and its power dynamics. In future studies, adding ethnographic observations would strengthen the practice approach.\nPractical implications: The study indicates that implementing gender quotas can foster women's representation in decision-making, but that a strictly procedural sense-making of gender quotas could also undermine this. Universities should continue implementing gender quotas, further analyze their implementation practices and comprehensively adapt their organizational policies and practices to comply with gender equality goals substantively.\nOriginality/value: Through a practice theory approach, this paper offers original insight into how actors comply with gender quotas. Uncovering the implementation process in particular, the paper reveals how gender quotas could foster gender equality in academic decision-making.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social performance: key lessons from recent experiences within Shell	[ "Performance management", "Social policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and background: This paper summarizes present understanding, approaches, tools and challenges in relation to the concept of social performance within the Shell Group, and provides recommendations for improved future performance.Within Shell, social performance is defined as \"an ongoing process that incorporates all the different ways Shell operations contribute positively and negatively, directly and indirectly to the communities and societies where Shell operates\". This definition fits within the overall commitment of the Shell Group to sustainable development, as articulated in the Shell Group business principle. More specifically three related social performance objectives have been developed:1. Avoid and/or minimize the negative impacts to local communities and other stakeholders from Shell's operations.2. Optimize the positive opportunities to local communities and other stakeholders from Shell's operations.3. Undertake activities to contribute more broadly to the societies and communities where Shell operates.The findings of the paper are based on four detailed social performance reviews undertaken between 2001 and 2003. As part of a broader and growing strategic focus in the area of social performance, these social performance reviews (referred to as \"reviews\" in this paper) were commissioned to assist the Shell Group understand the key parameters of social performance including strategic and organizational approaches, and tools relevant to enhanced performance. The reviews were also intended to help understand the present status of social performance and provide recommendations on how to improve performance at individual review sites and more broadly across the Shell Group. To maximize potential learning, the reviews covered a range of operational, geographic and socio-political contexts and included one major operation from each of Shell's core businesses (Table I).A team consisting of Shell International and local review site personnel, and local and international consultants undertook each review. In each case, the review process included document reviews and interviews with internal and external stakeholders and combined both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. In total over 200 internal and external stakeholders were consulted including local residents and community-based organizations; local and national non-governmental organization representatives; other companies; industry associations (e.g. trade unions, fishing associations); academics; and local and national government representatives. A structured participatory community assessment was also undertaken at three of the review sites, involving the participation of approximately 2,000 local residents.Subsequent sections of the paper summarize the key findings and strategic and operational implications of the reviews focusing on the business case for social performance, key social issues and impacts, and a strategic approach, and management framework for Shell operations, including priority areas and actions for enhanced social performance.\n2. The business case for social performance: Shell operations have social impacts - positive and negative - on people and communities beyond the fenceline, and societal expectations about how Shell addresses these impacts are rising. The review findings demonstrate that there is already a strong business case for social performance and if anything this is likely to increase. A number of areas were highlighted by the reviews:* Gaining and maintaining a license to operate and grow. At a national level, governments increasingly include social performance \"criteria\" in the allocation of energy development licenses. At the same time there is also a growing tendency for governments through national and regional legislative frameworks to regulate the environmental and social performance of companies. At a local level, the reviews illustrate the impacts that communities and other stakeholders can have either through \"formal\" mechanisms (e.g. legislative frameworks including scope for public participation), or informal mechanisms such as direct protest, media campaigns and sabotage.* Reduced operational costs and delays. Failure to adequately identify and manage social performance issues can have significant operational costs. In the case of Norco, Shell Chemicals and its refinery joint venture partner found it necessary to spend $50 million in order to address long-standing community grievances about pollution, a lack of local economic benefits and inadequate consultation.* Facilitated access to project finance. Multilateral development banks (e.g. World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), as well as more commercial banks (e.g. HSBC, ABN Ambro) now include environmental and social risks as part of their lending appraisal processes (c.f. the Equator Principles). Adequate a priori identification and management of these risks is likely to avert potential funding delays.* Enhanced reputation. Good social performance is an increasingly critical driver of Shell's global reputation. This may extend to the buying preferences of retail customers, the ability to attract and retain top \"talent\", the attitude of the investment community towards Shell, as well as the attitudes of governments and regulatory authorities in the granting and renewal of operating licenses.The reviews indicate that the greatest management opportunities and social performance challenges are likely to be related to operations or activities with the following characteristics:* major new projects causing permanent change in land use or long term change to local or national economic structures;* facilities such as chemical plants, refineries, terminals, pipelines, oil depots with communities in close proximity;* closure - especially where facilities are a key part of the local economy;* operations with a poor HSE record which have damaged, or are perceived to have damaged the environment, natural resources or health;* joint ventures with companies without strong HSE/ethical/social performance systems - because of the barriers this presents to integrating social performance into operations; and* operations in sensitive locations.To conclude good social performance is now expected of Shell and can be achieved in a way that adds value to the business and society at large. Moreover despite their complexity, social issues can be systematically identified and managed in a structured manner similar to other core business issues such as health safety and environment (HSE).\n3. Social impacts: The reviews highlight a number of ways in which Shell operations have positive and negative impacts on the communities and societies where they operate. First and foremost are the impacts associated with Shell operations themselves. These include direct and indirect, short- and long-term, positive and negative impacts. Second there are other ways in which operations can contribute more broadly, principally through social investment programs. Some of the generic positive and negative impacts associated with Shell's major businesses, as well as areas of broader contribution are highlighted in Figure 1.3.1 Negative operational impacts\n4. Delivering social performance: 4.1 Strategic approaches\n5. Social performance management framework: 5.1 Social performance framework\n6. Social performance integration, gaps and way forward: The reviews indicate that despite much progress a number of important gaps in Shell's capacity, understanding and management of the social aspects of its business operations remain. Overcoming these gaps will be key to ensuring greater consistency in social performance standards across the Shell Group. This chapter seeks to summarize the activities already underway to respond to these gaps, as well as identify future challenges and approaches to address these.6.1 Social performance integration\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Seeks to summarize the findings of research undertaken by the Shell Group to better understand the business relevance, parameters, status and tools and approaches to manage social performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is based on four detailed case studies that combined qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and included distinct operational, business and socio-economic contexts. The paper seeks to build theory around the concept of social performance.\nFindings: - Key findings include that: there exists a strong business case for social performance; good social performance is fundamentally concerned with the identification and management of core business impacts; social issues can be identified and managed in a systematic manner; and The Shell Group is developing and implementing a range of tools and approaches to assist effective management of social issues.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research is based on a limited number of cases from within Shell; further validation of findings could be achieved through similar research in other industrial sectors.\nPractical implications: - Research has highlighted the business case for social performance, key \"ingredients\" of social performance and provides a specific framework and tools for more effective management of social issues.\nOriginality/value: - First time such research has been undertaken within the Shell Group and perhaps similar companies. Paper should be of potential interest value to practitioners (e.g. social performance and CSR managers), academics, policy makers and non-governmental organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Defining user risk in social networking services	[ "Social media", "Risk", "Regulation", "Privacy", "Social networking services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Background and context\nDefining risk: Risk is an elusive concept based on the notion of uncertainty sometimes expressed in terms of the probability of an adverse event occurring. Commonly used definitions of risk as \"a situation involving exposure to danger\" or \"the possibility that something unpleasant or unwelcome will happen\" are not very specific and need to be pinned down (Pearsall and Hanks, 1999, p. 1602). The international standard on risk management starts with an even more general definition \"effect of uncertainty on objectives\" and goes on to say that \"An effect is a deviation from the expected - positive and/or negative\". The Standard does eventually provide a more specific definition: \"Risk is often expressed in terms of a combination of the consequences of an event (including changes in circumstances) and the associated likelihood of occurrence\" (British Standards Institution, 2010). However risk is more widely understood to be an event with a negative outcome, in other words, a threat: \"Risk refers to uncertainty about and severity of the events and consequences (or outcomes) of an activity with respect to something that humans value\" (Aven and Renn, 2009, p. 2). From the regulatory sphere a working definition is: \"[...] risk is usually defined as the probability of a particular event (or hazard) occurring and the consequent severity of the impact of that event\" (Baldwin et al., 2012, p. 82).\nTypologies of risk in the literature: A general typology of risk\nRisks identified in the survey: The survey of UK-based LIS professionals ranked risks to provide an indication of priorities. The score is a weighted calculation. In Table II the item with the highest score is ranked first. In each case the score is the sum of all weighted rank counts:\nA consolidated model of risk: Developing a typology of risk\nDiscussion: A risk model for SNSs\nConclusion: This research has identified risks that individual users of SNSs face as a result of revealing personal data on their profiles or through their online behaviour. Previous attempts to categorise risk have been too general to adequately describe the risk exposure of SNS users. Where there has been a focus on the risks associated with use of the internet or social media, they have tended to focus on a few specific aspects that were topical at the time. A consolidated list of risks reflected the perceptions of risk among a group of library and information professionals surveyed in the UK.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the risks faced by users of online social networking services (SNSs) in the UK and to develop a typology of risk that can be used to assess regulatory effectiveness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An initial investigation of the literature revealed no detailed taxonomies of risk in this area. Existing taxonomies were reviewed and merged with categories identified in a pilot survey and expanded in purposive sample survey directed at the library and information services (LIS) community in the UK.\nFindings: Analysis of the relationships between different risk categories yielded a grouping of risks by their consequences. This aligns with one of the objectives of regulation, which is to mitigate risks.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research offers a tool for evaluation of different modes of regulation of social media.\nPractical implications: Awareness of the risks associated with use of online SNSs and wider social media contributes to the work of LIS professionals in their roles as: educators; intermediaries; and users of social media. An understanding of risk also informs the work of policy makers and legislators responsible for regulating access to personal data.\nOriginality/value: A risk-based view of regulation of personal data on social media has not been attempted in such a comprehensive way before.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intertwining CSR with strategy - the way ahead	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Sustainability", "Corporate strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBorn out of compulsion: With every corporate scam, governments across the world add few more regulations. The corporate failures in the UK and the USA in the early 1990s gave birth to stringent corporate governance regulation. Regulations limit but are unable to prevent corrupt practices. Every time you put an extra or more sophisticated lock, the thief finds even more innovative ways to steal. There is a universal realization the regulation alone cannot ensure good governance and protection of stakeholders' interest. It is essential that corporates run their business transparently and ethically and weigh the interest of all stakeholders while taking decisions.\nCorporate narcissism to altruism: Traditionally and particularly in the Anglo Saxon approach it was assumed as Milton Friedman (1970) puts it \"the business of business is business ...the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.\" The objective of companies was to generate profits and create value for shareholders. Wealth maximization of shareholders was the prime motto of firms.\nCost to benefits: The debate concerning ethics, good governance and CSR is now shifting from costs to benefits. The immediate and obvious benefits are strengthened public relations, improved reputation, reduced risks, licence to operate and an opportunity for cause marketing. A national-level study on CSR among leading business and corporate houses and public sector organizations carried out by TNS India and the Times Foundation in India (2008) found that 90 percent of the companies are involved in CSR initiatives up by almost 50 percent from 63 percent in 1991:\nNot so strange bedfellows: Corporations are private initiatives, true, but increasingly they are becoming public institutions, whose survival depends on the consumers who buy their products and shareholders who invest in their stocks (Paul, 2006).\nCosmetic to strategic: While the response to demands for ethical and responsible behavior by companies has mostly been cosmetic, organizations need to appreciate that ethical behavior, good governance and CSR can be integrated into the companies' strategy right from the beginning to create winning models. The Amul success story is one such glaring example (see Exhibit 1 \"Amul the taste of India\") \"The basic idea of corporate social responsibility is that business and society are interwoven rather than distinct entities.\" (Wood, 1991) CSR, as an integral part of corporate strategy improves stakeholder perceptions and create sustainable business.\nDeveloping a strategic framework: In 1985 Tata Tea originated the selling of polypack tea in India with the concept of Asli Taazgi indicating fresh tea straight from the garden. In the last several years it has beautifully integrated its brand building strategy with CSR. Its advertisement Har Subah Sirf Utho Mat, Jaago Re. (just don't get up, awaken) not only captures the imagination of viewer but sends a message of \"social awakening\". In 2009 it extended the notion to awaken people and fight against corruption with its Aaj Se Khilana Bandh, Pilana Shuru (no more feeding, but serving drink, while khilana literally means feeding is metaphorically used for giving bribes) marketing promotion where a person asking for bribe is instead served a cup of tea.\nConclusion: Companies are slowly learning that good governance and CSR are not something done out of choice, nor is it an added cost to company. CSR is a strategic driver of businesses. CSR orientated organizations gain from a series of tangible and intangible benefits by winning the confidence and support of all stakeholders. The long term benefits for a company integrating social aspects into its business strategy are enormous, such as reducing risk, retaining customers, shareholder support and attracting new investors. Firms need to develop a framework for integrating CSR into their business strategy for long term successful survival.\nExhibit 1: Amul: the taste of India\nExhibit 2: What an idea Sirji\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance and means of making corporate social responsibility (CSR) an integral part of corporate strategy with the help of case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The article explores the transformation of business from being egocentric to socially responsible. With the use of examples it demonstrates how integrating CSR into strategy can create sustainable business models.\nFindings: Firms need to develop a framework for integrating CSR into their business strategy for long term successful survival.\nSocial implications: Corporates and society are intertwined and mutually dependent. Business cannot survive without society's acquiescence nor succeed without its active support.\nOriginality/value: The article explains the benefits of CSR and how to make it an integral part of business strategy to gain a competitive advantage.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Epistemic warrant for categorizational activities and the development of controlled vocabularies	[ "Knowledge organization", "Categorization", "Epistemology", "Warrant", "Epistemic warrant", "Literary warrant" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The classification of works is, of course, a complicated matter. Many systems exist, and many ideas have been propounded over the years. The present proposal suggests that assessing the warrant of a work is a means to categorize content. To be more specific, we propose epistemic warrant as a sound combination to existing warrants, such as literary warrant, to develop controlled vocabularies and classification mechanisms. As the concept of warrant can also be used to categorize and represent the content of a work by classifiers and end-users, we believe epistemic warrant is a good option to consider the purposes and insight of the users without falling into the traps of the user-based and cognitivist approaches.\nWarrant and literary warrant: The concept of \"warrant,\" in knowledge organization, can be understood as \"the rational justification for the introduction of a term or concept into a controlled vocabulary [...] Warrant provides the limits a classificationist sets on source of concepts and terminology, and as a result on the inclusion or exclusion of concepts and terminology\" (Tennis, 2005, p. 86). The warrant of a classification system is \"the authority a classificationist invokes first to justify and subsequently to verify decisions about what classes/concepts to include in the system, in what order classes/concepts should appear in the schedules, what units classes/concepts are divided into, how far subdivision should proceed, how much and where synthesis is available, whether citation orders are static or variable and similar questions\" (Beghtol, 1986, p. 110).\nOther warrants in the literature: As for other warrants that have been proposed or used in the literature, Beghtol (1986) identified and discussed three other warrants related to literary warrant, namely scientific/philosophical warrant, education warrant, and cultural warrant, and also mentioned an academic warrant (p. 117, probably just as a synonym of education warrant) (concrete) institutional warrant (pp. 118-119, that \"produces classes that are mostly discipline-based, but also others, phenomenon- or mission-based, that can accommodate institutions oriented toward a certain phenomenon or guided by a certain mission.\" This is the warrant that was coined and used by Coates for the development of the Broad System of Ordering, Coates, 1978), and enquiry warrant (p. 121). Over time, several other warrants have also been proposed or studied in the literature, including market warrant (Martinez-Avila, 2012), ethical warrant (Beghtol, 2002b), use warrant (Svenonius, 2000), structural warrant (Svenonius, 2000; Kent et al., 1975; Mitchell, 2007 cited in Barite 2011), phenomenological warrant (Ward, 2000), autopoietic warrant (Mai, 2011), logical warrant (Fraser, 1978), gender warrant (Olson and Ward, 1998; Olson, 2003, 2007 cited in Barite, 2011), as well as the aforementioned user and organizational warrants (NISO). These warrants are chronologically presented in Table I and some of them will be briefly reviewed below.\nOntological and epistemological warrants: Historically, warrants have been used as mechanisms for justification of the classification systems. The inclusion and exclusion of terms are implicitly or explicitly based on the different warrants related to the semantic purpose of the systems, which of course should consider the utility of the system. Beyond the syntactic aspects of classifications, these decisions and warrants shape the way meanings are created in the organization and retrieval of documents. Warrant can be treated as a meaningful design choice related to the epistemological foundations of the system (Bullard, 2017). In this vein, the choice (and even development) of the warrant for the construction of the system would relate to the ontological commitment of the classificationist. Birger Hjorland (2013b, p. 171) stated that \"any ontological theory commits us to identifying and classifying a number of phenomena in a specific way-and vice versa; a listing and classification of a number of phenomena may reveal the theoretical outlook of its creator ('show me your classification and I'll tell you what theory you subscribe to').\" Similarly, for the context of warrants, Beghtol (1986) also wrote:One such underlying semantic rationale for a classification system may be identified in the concept of the warrant upon which the system is based. [...] Warrant covers conscious or unconscious assumptions and decisions about what kinds and what units of analysis are appropriate to embody and to carry the meaning or use of a class to the classifier, who must interpret both the document and the classification system in order to classify the document by means of available syntactic devices. The semantic warrant of a system thus provides the principal authorization for supposing that some class or concept or notational device will be helpful and meaningful to classifiers and ultimately to the users of documents(pp. 110-111).\nEpistemic warrant: What follows is a proposal that states that epistemic warrant is a means that can assist information seekers in locating content that closely matches the desired purpose of searches. This can be helpful for both assigning categories to a work and incorporate those categories into the knowledge organization system. It is known that new subject headings are proposed and established using literary warrant when a cataloger is cataloging an item and is not satisfied with the available system, such as the LCSH (Strader, 2012, p. 238). Categorization and classification of information carries the explicit implication that terms assigned to works are indicative of the content of the works. As Rodriguez (1984, p. 17) and Mario Barite (2016, p. 148) pointed out, literary warrant \"is one of the most fundamental principles of subject analysis.\" Means by which the contents of works may be classified are guided by the purpose of helping information seekers locate content which matches the ideational implicature of the works in question. The effort to classify content is a direct application of the purpose of location. Knowledge organization is (and should be) concerned with accomplishing the purpose of classification and it is suggested here that epistemic, as well as literary, warrant can be employed in categorizational activities.\nAboutness: Some theorists apply the action of aboutness description to sentences and use logic and semantics narrowly to describe what the sentence means. Aboutness here is a broader concept; it is applied not to individual sentences, but to extended utterances (usually on a common theme or set of themes). The utterances are claims or observations about something that putatively exists in the world or the mind. Therefore, aboutness embodies a realism about the description of the claims or thoughts. This does not necessarily endorse the truth of the statements or the thoughts; rather, aboutness attempts to represent the knowledge claims inherent in the observations or thoughts. As such, epistemic warrant - as aboutness - is a description of the utterance and its epistemic claims, not necessarily the world as it is. This said, warrant is an epistemic description of what is said or written and reflects what utterances assert. Herein lies the epistemic enterprise of discerning and stating warrant in the knowledge organization framework.\nExamples of epistemic warrant: One example that can be used to illustrate epistemic warrant is Plantinga's own work, warrant and proper function. LCSH assigned to the work are: \"Knowledge, Theory of;\" \"Belief and Doubt;\" \"Cognition.\" The subject headings are not inaccurate, but it is questionable whether all are necessary and sufficient. Since the work is primarily about epistemic warrant, a subject heading such as \"Epistemology, Warrant\" would be useful to anyone seeking information about the topic. Moreover, other subject headings that would be useful to connecting an information seeker to the work's content could include \"probability, epistemic,\" \"induction,\" \"naturalism,\" and \"testimony.\" Furthermore, Plantinga draws heavily from the thought of Thomas Reid, so \"Reid, Thomas\" would be helpful. The headings are warranted, according to the proposal articulated above, by the substantive, manifest, and apparent inclusion of the topics within the work.\nConclusion: The concept of warrant should not be limited just to the selection of terms to use in the development of a knowledge organization systems. Epistemic warrant can also be used to categorize and represent the content of a work by classifiers and end-users and then to propose and warrant new terms for the development of controlled vocabularies. As epistemic warrant can be used to assess the content of a work, it is also a sound and useful complement to some existing warrants, such as literary warrant, that are proven to be problematic when used alone. Unlike user warrant, use warrant, and other warrants, the epistemic warrant is not based on the empiricist claim of \"information requests,\" \"common usage,\" and \"free text searchers,\" but on more pragmatist and epistemological grounds regarding the way users would search for information.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to update and review the concept of warrant in Library and Information Science (LIS) and to introduce the concept of epistemic warrant from philosophy. Epistemic warrant can be used to assess the content of a work; and therefore, it can be a complement to existing warrants, such as literary warrant, in the development of controlled vocabularies. In this proposal, the authors aim to activate a theoretical discussion on warrant in order to revise and improve the validity of the concept of warrant from the user and classifier context to the classificationist context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors have conducted an extensive literary review and close reading of the concept of warrant in LIS and knowledge organization in order to detect the different stances and gaps in which the concept of epistemic warrant might apply. The authors adopted an epistemological approach, in the vein of some of the previous commenters on warrant, such as Hope Olson and Birger Hjorland, and built upon the theoretical framework of different authors working with the concept of warrant outside knowledge organization, such as Alvin Plantinga and Alvin Goldman.\nFindings: There are some authors and critics in the literature that have voiced for a more epistemological approach to warrant (in opposition to a predominantly ontological approach). In this sense, epistemic warrant would be an epistemological warrant and also a step forward toward pragmatism in a prominently empiricist context such as the justification of the inclusion of terms in a controlled vocabulary. Epistemic warrant can be used to complement literary warrant in the development of controlled vocabularies as well as in the classification of works.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents an exhaustive update and revision of the concept of warrant, analyzing, systematizing, and reviewing the different warrants discussed in the LIS literary warrant in a critical way. The concept of epistemic warrant for categorizational activities is introduced to the LIS field for the first time. This paper, and the proposal of epistemic warrant, has the potential to contribute to the theoretical and practical discussions on the development of controlled vocabularies and assessment of the content of works.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Can productivity be socially embedded? Reflections on some productivity measures of 2000s	[ "Productivity", "Social embeddedness", "Labour relations", "Social partners", "Polanyi" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the last four decades governments in those countries where there is a functioning system of collective interest representation have sought ways to reach agreements with employers' organizations and trade unions, or encouraged them to agree among themselves, in order to attain economic goals which deemed favourable for common public interest. When these agreements were of tripartite and formal nature they are called social pacts, that is, \"publicly announced formal policy contracts between governments and social partners\" (Avdagic et al., 2011). These formal agreements were different from collective bargaining at national level in terms of their targets, required commitments and envisaged duration. In fact they were essentially designed to provide guidelines for bargaining negotiations at all levels in order to coordinate them so as to attain the envisaged social and economic policy objectives but they always included various trade-offs that made this coordination beneficial for each social partner.\nProductivity initiatives and industrial relations: The first wave of social pacts in Europe have been signed during the 1970s and 1980s. In this period as the Keynesian policies began to suffer from rising inflation and increasing unemployment, in many countries governments initiated negotiations with trade unions and employers' organizations in order to agree on some macroeconomic measures that entailed wage moderation. In exchange for curbing their wage demands, however, trade unions would receive compensation in the form of more public spending, employment creation and more voice in the realm of politics. Some prominent agreements of the 1980s such as Wassenaar Agreement in the Netherlands or Declaration of Intent in Denmark or National Recovery Plan in Ireland should be considered examples of this first wave. The next wave of social pacts began to emerge in the 1990s, under quite different circumstances characterized by the dominance of monetarist policies, austerity measures and gradual erosion of bargaining institutions. In this period trade unions' support was needed not only for wage moderation but also for the new welfare reforms, which required some degree of retrenchment but carried the risk of electoral defeat for governments (Visser, 2005).\nItems in productivity initiatives: Joint assessment of the causes of low productivity\nCollective interests and productivity: In order to comprehend the way in which these measures may lead to a sustainable productivity partnership, it is necessary to identify the interests of all involved parties and then to reveal how the mentioned measures may serve those interests (see Figure 1). However, in this section, besides this exercise I will also argue, by introducing the notion of virtuous circuit of productivity, that one should judge any measure not only in terms of the extent to which it directly contributes to the basic interests of industrial relations actors but also (and essentially) in terms of how it would increase productivity, which in turn would serve interests of all actors simultaneously. Though, it is necessary to emphasize that, while keeping increasing the productivity as the primary goal of all measures, at least some items included in a partnership agreement should directly serve the basic interests of involved actors so as to keep them motivated.\nInstead of a conclusion: socially embedded productivity: In this final section I would like to introduce the idea of socially embedded productivity by drawing on Polanyi so as to reveal the basic notions that should be incorporated into any labour friendly productivity initiative.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of items that are included in recent productivity programmes in various countries and integrate these items with the ideas of virtuous circuit of productivity and socially embedded productivity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In depth analysis of an illustrative set of productivity measures. The analysis reveals how each measure/programme could make sense to the industrial relations actors. A new conceptual reformulation of analysed measures and programmes.\nFindings: Bilateral productivity deals between trade unions and employers are not necessarily good from the perspective of national policy making. For this kind of uncoordinated productivity measures, though may be good for individual enterprises, may increase unemployment by pushing other domestic competitors out of the market or compelling them to lay-off workers in a reactive fashion. By drawing on Polanyi, one may argue that it is possible to strike a good balance between productivity concerns and societal interests by embedding the former into the latter.\nResearch limitations/implications: The purpose is to introduce a new conceptualization, thus the empirical material is meant to be illustrative rather than extensive.\nOriginality/value: By using graphical displays and empirical argumentation two new concepts are introduced: first, virtuous circuit of productivity and second, socially embedded productivity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using activity-based costing and economic profit to grow the bottom-line	[ "Activity based costs", "Profit", "Forecasting", "Pricing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Activity-based costing (ABC) is one of the few management inventions to actually have its inception in industry as accountants at General Electric in the early 1960s began thinking in terms of \"activities\" and tried to link activities to costs (Johnson, 1992). It was not until the 1980s, however, that ABC came with force in product costing and manufacturing to remedy the apparent shortcomings of volume-based costing systems that much literature has been devoted to describing in great length and depth. Since then, ABC has spread in a variety of industries and for a large number of applications.\nA brief overview of ABC and EP: ABC is a costing system that is based on the formulations of activities, resources and cost objects, and these three elements are linked together in cause-and-effect relations called cost, resource or activity drivers. To appreciate the implications, it is important to understand that \"cost\" can be defined as a measure of resource consumption that relates to the demand for jobs to be done, whereas \"expense\" is a measure of spending that relates to the capacity provided to do jobs (see, for example, Cooper, 1990).Management must match capacity to demand and not the other way around. Thus, changes in spending or supply of a resource is therefore not related to a change in the resources, as in volume-based costing systems, but rather a change in activity consumption, which in turn causes change in resource consumption. In other words, products consume resources indirectly via their consumption of activities. From a managerial perspective this fact implies that costs cannot be managed - rather, one must manage activities, which, in turn, impacts costs. Often, this requires a change in mindset, but although it is possible to implement ABC and continue with \"business as usual\", this is rarely what happens (Kaplan, 1992).However, the most visible difference between volume-based cost assignment and activity-based cost assignment is that activity-based assignment employs drivers that keep track of how cost objects consume activities (activity drivers) and how activities consume resources (resource drivers), whereas volume-based assignment relies on simply unit-level characteristics such as labor hours, machine hours, and so on. In other words, the drivers keep track of the transactions, which is useful because transactions drive overhead costs whereas the unit-level characteristics ignore this fact and simply relate everything to volume. The drivers may occur at many different levels, for example, unit-level drivers (triggered every time a unit of a product is produced) and batch-level drivers (triggered every time a batch of products is produced).Other levels exist as well, but the point is that the resource and activity drivers reflect the actual consumption (of activities and resources) as closely as is economically feasible. By analyzing the interplay between drivers, the associated activities and cost objects, we can improve the overall resource utilization - \"produce more with less\", as it were.While ABC in itself focuses on transactions, ABC and EP match due to the fact that processes require capital to function. Thus, by linking the cost of capital and operating costs to activities, we get a more complete picture of the costs of an activity, which subsequently makes it possible to calculate the EP for all cost objects. This is necessary because some products, customers and processes may incur disproportional cost of capital (in both positive and negative directions) and hence change the recommendations provided by standard ABC.Mathematically, EP is found as follows: RevenuesLess Operating costs and expenses Operating profits before taxLess Taxes Net operating profits after taxLess Cost of capital Economic profitTo include EP considerations into an ABC model we rely upon two critical points:1. The identification and usage of capital drivers to trace the cost of capital. Capital drivers are analogous to resource drivers and activity drivers and work the same way.2. The computation of the cost of capital.Commonly, the (percentage) cost of capital is calculated as a weighted average because company in reality cannot distinguish debt from equity. This weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is then multiplied by the net book value of the assets to calculate the (monetary) cost of the capital. Positive EP implies an increase in the book value because net operating profits after tax are greater than the cost of capital. Although the link between EP and market value is debatable and less clear, one thing is sure; EP cannot be negative over time without having negative consequences for the market value.\nABC and EP at an automotive parts manufacturer: In this section, you will read about the model and some of the results it produced that shook the ground at an automotive parts manufacturer, called \"Company\".In the autumn of 2000, Company needed to set prices for their products, but management knew that their current pricing model was fundamentally flawed for a variety of reasons, and they needed help to remedy this situation. They knew, however, that they needed ABC information to set prices more correctly.From experience, we asked in the initial meeting for a lot of data, such as complete BOMs, list of customers and sales, number of invoices by customer and so on because these data are inevitable and they can provide an early warning of potential data problems. It is important to scrutinize the BOM carefully because most companies have a bad habit of mixing overhead costs and direct costs in an attempt to assign costs more \"correctly\". Company was no exception, and on top of that they had an intricate standard costing system. This was also partly the reason why they no longer trusted their pricing model; there were simply too many factors that had been added over time they did not understand.The ABC & EP model\nConclusion: The benefits of ABC by itself as well as in combination with EP are beyond any doubt. For most cost objects in this case, the EP analysis did not add new insight to the ABC analysis because there was a quite uniform usage of capital, except for some customers as argued earlier. The main effect of the EP analysis in this particular case is to make top management aware of the fact that the company has to make structural changes to survive in the long run. All too often implementation of the results of clear analyses strand on poor implementation and lack of top management commitment, but in this case the dire EP situation was too serious to ignore and the decision-support was strong and stood the test of scrutiny from the COO of Company, who was one of the architects behind closing down Product Line.Something else that caught corporate attention is the fact that they had made a faulty decision concerning the discontinuation of Product Line. Furthermore, these low-margin products that they believed to be unprofitable were made even more profitable by building a simple, activity-based forecasting model and changing prices accordingly. Other long-term changes were also implemented, which turned Company into something really profitable.Clearly, ABC and EP together are really powerful eye-openers and primers for change. Possibly the greatest benefit of ABC and EP is that management can act on facts. Clarity promotes action, but only if there is a genuine interest amongst managers to do what is right: Action without clarity is risky while clarity without action is cowardice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to present an approach and a case that shows how activity-based costing (ABC) and economic profit (EP) can be used to improve the profitability of a company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The objectives of the article are achieved primarily through the discussion of a case combined with a few literature references. The subjects are forecasting, ABC, EP and the approach to the topic is mainly a case study.\nFindings: - On the theoretical side it seems evident that combining ABC and EP is a good idea for a variety of purposes. In the case study. numerous practical findings for the specific company are also presented.\nResearch limitations/implications: - From a research perspective it is clear that we cannot judge from this article whether combing ABC and EP is smart in all cases or not.\nPractical implications: - The article clearly shows that ABC and EP can be combined with great results (at least) in some cases. The article also addresses some insight that might be useful for many practitioners.\nOriginality/value: - The value of this article lies in providing a clear and real case for why and how to combine ABC and EP. As far as I know the value offered by this article is quite unique. The article's audience is practitioners as well as academics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Barriers to lean implementation in the construction industry in China	[ "Implementation", "Barriers", "Lean practices", "Large Chinese construction firms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In more recent years, Toyota Way principles (Liker, 2004) and equivalent terms such as lean thinking (Womack and Jones, 1996) have gained popularity and have become recognized as strategic means that can substantially contribute to improving quality, productivity and other performance indicators. Attempts have been made to seek their implementation both the inside and outside of manufacturing. The success in implementing lean practices can be attributed to various factors, including a shift in thinking (Atkinson, 2010; Shook, 1997), organizational behaviour (Sim and Rogers, 2009) and a culture that focusses equally on waste elimination and development of human resources (Liker, 2004).\nLean practices within construction context: The lean concept is often associated with the automotive industry, as Toyota has made major contributions to the development of lean principles, tools and techniques (Liker, 2004; Womack and Jones, 1996). Womack and Jones (1996) claimed that lean practices would spread to all areas of manufacturing and also cross into other industries. The promises of lean - using smaller workforces, less space, while transforming the existing operation and obtaining great improvements in the areas of quality, productivity and others (Womack and Jones, 1996) - have drawn attention from construction practitioners (Koskela, 1992; Ballard and Howell, 1998). Lean in the construction industry maintains the two main targets of waste elimination and value maximization for clients (Koskela, 1992). Over the years of development, much work has focussed on the implementation models of lean from the manufacturing sector to the construction sector (Diekmann et al., 2004; Salem et al., 2006). Unlike those contributions, this present study explores the problems of implementation, rather than the techniques themselves; hence, the set of potential barriers is the subject of investigation in this present study.\nBarriers to implementing lean practices: a review: There are reports that many lean adopters are not as successful in reaping the benefit of lean as Toyota, the best practitioner of lean manufacturing (Liker, 2004). Obviously, there is something hindering the implementing of lean practices. Morris and Lancaster (2006) have advised that management ideas must be appropriately adapted to local conditions during their transfer from manufacturing to other sectors, or else barriers may arise. Lean requires significant shifts in thinking and behaviour (Shook, 1997), as well as cultural changes at the organization level (Sim and Rogers, 2009), such as new approaches to production and to serving customers, and a high degree of training and education of employees from upper management to the shop floor. This is because people need to clearly understand the reasons why the way they do things need to change; otherwise, they will generate resistance. To complete the list of potential barriers, it is worth identifying implementation barriers to lean in construction. Forbes et al. (2002) conceded that the main obstacle to the implementation of lean in developing nations is that construction firms do not emphasize productivity or quality initiatives. This seems to imply that they lack the kaizen or continuous improvement mindset in quality and productivity improvement initiatives. Similar observations were also made in Sri Lanka (Senaratne and Wijesiri, 2008) and Indonesia (Abduh and Roza, 2006). Alinaitwe (2009) identified many barriers to lean production under different management concepts, including just-in-time (JIT), total quality management (TQM), concurrent engineering and others, and detailed the barriers by grouping these into two groups:\nMethodology: In this study, a group of implementation barriers described in the literature above forms the basis for a questionnaire survey. As this present study is a part of a larger research project, the subject covered in the survey only pertains to the 22 barriers identified for implementation. The basic research question is: what are the barriers to the successful adoption of lean practices in China's construction industry? Despite the fact that lean was not a well-known term among the respondents (Gao and Low, 2012), several studies have shown that the leading Chinese construction firms have, in fact, acquired some lean principles and tools for implementation (Gao and Low, 2013; Gao et al., 2012). Therefore, the research sampling frame comprised the large Chinese construction firms, which fall into the categories of \"premier\" and \"first\" classification. However, due to accessibility issues, personal contacts of the researchers were used to identify willing research participants. With the help of Beijing's VENCI Institute of Construction Management (a high-level training provider for construction management in China) and the Chinese Construction Association, some 400 large Chinese construction firms were contacted and requested to take part in a study about barriers to lean practice within their firms. A brief description of what lean refers to was given on the first page of the questionnaire, which help all the participants to have a basic overview of what lean entails prior to filling out the questionnaire. The survey participants were then asked to gauge their level of agreement with the 22 barriers listed. Each item was scored on a 5-point scale from \"1 = insignificant\" to \"5 = highly significant\" in terms of whether the given barriers were thought to inhibit the implementation of lean practices. The questionnaires were sent to participants in February 2011. By May 2011, 91 questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 22.75 per cent. As shown in Table II, among the respondents, a large majority are highly experienced, with 60 and 30 per cent having more than 10- and 20-years' working experience, respectively.\nAnalysis of results: Perceived barriers to implementing Toyota way practices\nPrincipal component analysis: categorizing the barriers: A principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was used to determine the underlying structure of the barriers to lean implementation. This is presented in Table IV. Prior to the factor analysis, a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test was conducted to help assess the factorability of the data (Fields, 2000). This KMO test measures the adequacy of a sample in terms of the distribution of values for the execution of factor analysis; the acceptable values should be greater than 0.5 (Fields, 2000). The result of the KMO test in this study was 0.81, suggesting that the variables are adequate for factor analysis. Table IV presents the rotated factor structure matrix for the given barriers to lean implementation in Chinese construction firms. Included in the table are the barriers, the contents of which are further categorized into six factors:\nDiscussion and managerial implications: This study clearly shows that the implementation of lean practices by large Chinese construction firms is associated with many potential barriers. The six broad categories of barriers arising from the PCA are:\nConclusions: As in other developing countries (Senaratne and Wijesiri, 2008), construction firms in China have not been affected by lean practices to a large extent. This study offers a thorough overview of the barriers to implementing lean practices in various contexts, with a focus on construction. A survey was conducted to investigate 22 barriers related to implementation of lean practice in the construction setting from Chinese building professionals. The results of this study support and are consistent with the results reported in the literature: that the most crucial obstacles to lean practice can be associated with the lack of a long-term philosophy, the absence of a lean culture in the organization and so on. All these require more attention from top management for implementation to work. Certain factors have not been given sufficient attention, such as the limited use of the D&B procurement mode, employee resistance to change and the rigid hierarchies found in most organization structures. Moreover, PCA was used to produce several dimensions of the potential barriers to lean implementation in the Chinese construction industry. Realizing the full potential of lean practices in the Chinese construction industry requires that Chinese building professionals overcome the barriers in the following areas: people and partner, managerial and organizational hurdles, lack of support and commitment, cultural and philosophical issues, government-related issues and procurement-related issues. The barriers identified in this study can be used to help guide building professionals to conduct self-audits of their current implementation of lean initiatives, if any, and to assist in the development of action plans designed to overcome such barriers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to build on previous research into lean practices and the associated barriers reported in various contexts to empirically address the question of what possible barriers exist to hinder the implementation of lean practices in the construction industry in China. Despite the potential that lean practices have to improve quality and productivity while reducing costs, successful stories of lean deployment are not frequently heard of.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A large-scale survey of Chinese building professionals is used to identify these barriers.\nFindings: The results suggest that the most crucial barriers to implementation of lean practices, as perceived by Chinese building professionals, include \"their lack of a long-term philosophy\", \"the absence of a lean culture in their organizations\", \"the use of multi-layer subcontracting\" and others. This study also reports the findings using a factor analysis that shows the six underlying factors hindering the implementation of lean practices in the Chinese construction industry, namely, people and partner issues, managerial and organizational issues, lack of support issues, culture and philosophy issues, government issues and procurement issues.\nOriginality/value: This study offers a thorough overview of the barriers to implementing lean practices in various contexts, with a focus on construction. This study also contributes to the knowledge by recommending the measures that can be taken to appropriately overcome the barriers identified.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainability ratings in residential development: a worthwhile endeavour?	[ "Sustainability", "Housing", "Consumer decision-making", "Residential development", "Sustainability rating tools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is an increasing need to enhance the sustainability of the built environment. This is due to it being a substantial consumer of limited resources, materials and energy; while also contributing greatly to emissions during construction and operation. Residential buildings globally contribute somewhere in the order of 17 per cent to carbon dioxide emissions and consume 27 per cent of energy, and the building sector per se, accounts for 40 per cent of global energy consumption with anticipated increases expected (Najet et al., 2015). Further one third of the world's energy-related greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to buildings (Robert and Kummert, 2012). The building sector in Australia is responsible for 45 per cent of annual energy consumption, 40 per cent of raw energy consumption, 12 per cent of water consumption and in addition produces 44 per cent of the nation's solid waste (Pitt and Sherry, 2014; Hayles and Holdsworth, 2008). There are in excess of 200,000 new homes built each year in Australia (Housing Industry Association Economics, 2015) and with each new home the social, economic and environmental repercussions of their current construction approach in regards to the level of sustainability are locked in and will impact current and future generations in Australia for the next 50-100 years.\nBackground: Australia has a complexity of issues facing the housing sector, from housing affordability and urban sprawl to housing sustainability and responding to the challenges of climate change. These issues are not singular to the Australian environment but are widespread across developed countries. However, Australia's dwelling energy efficiency and sustainability levels lags behind other developed nations, particularly in relation to new homes (CSR, 2014; Obst, 2015). The prolific development of sustainability and energy efficiency rating tools have developed over the past two decades in an attempt to engage consumers in the sustainability agenda. Further, the rating systems developed in the Australian context have been designed to create an effective \"third-party\" verification system. Done to provide a way in which to avoid misinterpretation of sustainability or energy efficiency characteristics and quality, and to prevent potential market mistrust or failure through incomplete knowledge, understanding or information provided (Akerlof, 1970). Although a range of rating systems in the Australian context, comprising both mandatory and voluntary approaches to sustainability (and/or energy efficiency) appear to be having only incremental effects in terms of market penetration and engagement; perhaps still due to the limited awareness, knowledge and trust in the certification schemes. As recent research suggests, there is a perception by builders that consumers (home buyers) disengagement with sustainability and energy efficiency is one of the key barriers to enhanced sustainability in the new home sector (Pitt and Sherry, 2014).\nMethod: This paper reports on the pilot study of consumers who have purchased a new home in an estate that has been certified using a sustainability certification. The sample was collected through developers who chose to certify their estates through a mainstream certification programme. The developers assisted in the survey dissemination to maintain anonymity of their customers. As such, they sent out an e-mail to their broad client database and included an explanatory e-mail about the research, endorsed by the organisation with a link to the survey.\nResults: The results section is structured as follows: analysis of consumers' awareness and perception of common housing sustainability certifications; examination of consumers' awareness of their own dwelling and development certifications; and analysis of the housing characteristics consumers seek.\nDiscussion: The need to increase the level of sustainability and resilience in the built environment is imperative. It is clear the developers and builders need to engage more with and encourage consumers to enhance and increase their demand for sustainability. Driving the suppliers to provide residential housing and estates that are more resilient, incorporating more sustainable homes and broader estates initiatives. This would then have the added benefit of reducing the need for future retrofitting or modification in the future of homes and residential areas.\nLimitations: This study has a range of limitations. As it is a pilot study, the sample size is small, although it has provided an interesting perspective when considering the background of the sample. As all participants had purchased within a sustainability certified estate and built a home with a sustainability certification, it was surprising to note the low level of awareness. It was expected by the researchers that as consumers in this sample purchased within a known sustainability certified estate this would potentially create a significant level of bias amongst the sample. This potential bias was perhaps noted in the responses to their level of environmental consumerism, yet this did not translate across to an increased awareness nor a majority knowing their home and development was sustainably certified. Due to the small sample and the possible bias, the generalisability of the findings is limited. However, the findings of the research demonstrate an important consideration for industry and government in the lack of awareness and knowledge consumers have on the rating systems, even though they have purchased at a voluntarily certified estate and built a home, which requires a mandatory rating. Future research and the expansion of this research will seek to remove the bias and examine consumers from a range of certified and non-certified estates.\nConclusion: This study demonstrates that consumers in sustainable developments like to believe that they are environmentally friendly consumers and that sustainability and environmental considerations play a role in their decision making. However, when actually purchasing a new home, this study demonstrates that even in a target sample where they have purchased within an estate with sustainable attributes and certification, there is little attention paid to certification in the process of purchasing a house. As a result, the objective of sustainability rating systems is to engage consumers in creating a more sustainable built environment, yet this is clearly not being achieved as shown in this study due to limited awareness and trust in certifications. This may be because of the lack of communication of the consumers of the existence of the rating and/or the known benefits of the rating. Given the desire to identify themselves as environmentally friendly consumers, to create greater engagement in sustainability ratings, better communication is required for consumers. Educating, demonstrating value and benefits, and engaging consumers in certification outcomes could potentially drive increased knowledge, awareness and value in the rating systems available.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Rating tools for the built environment were designed to engage consumers and enhance sustainability and resilience. However, the intended outcomes of these rating systems appear to have limited implementation in the residential new housing market in Australia. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers' motivations and experiences who have purchased houses that are situated in a sustainability-based certified development and will have been required to comply with mandatory dwelling certification.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper explores the awareness and perception of sustainability ratings and whether the motivations for purchasing in the sustainably certified development have heightened their awareness of sustainability and the resilience of new housing. This has been investigated through a pilot study of consumers who have purchased land in a certified estate and built a new home, through an online survey.\nFindings: The findings reveal that the rating systems are at present not having the desired influence as first thought; that is, to inform consumers of the sustainability of a dwelling or property and to instigate trust of the environmental credentials of the property.\nResearch limitations/implications: This illuminating case study of participants who have purchased a sustainable rated development demonstrates that regardless of their concern for environmental issues, consumers have both low awareness and trust in the ratings. Despite this, consumers do seek value from these credentials to the overall property.\nOriginality/value: This study aims to illustrate the disconnect in engagement between developers, builders and new home buyers in relation to sustainability certification and implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Fiat-Chrysler deal: looking for a good returns from M & A	[ "Governance", "M\n\t\t\t\t\t&\n\t\t\t\tA", "Automotive sector", "Cross-border acquisition", "Fiat-Chrysler", "Strategy in M\n\t\t\t\t\t&\n\t\t\t\tA" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The automotive market, which has always been characterized by strong competitive pressure, has undergone drastic changes since the 1990s. This has had obvious implications for the management methods adopted by automobile manufacturers, who are fighting for survival. The change, which began in the early 1990s, when the first strategic alliances between different industry groups were born, rose sharply as a result of the deep economic crisis that hit the Western European world at that time.\n2. The Fiat-Chrysler case: From an industrial point of view, the Fiat situation in 2009 was characterized by ups and downs:\n3. Conclusions: From the above case, it appears that one of the main issues that needs to be addressed in the quest for a successful cross-border merger is a higher degree of integration of the two merging entities, from industrial and financial points of view. Products and markets, therefore, need to be complementary and compatible, so that the positive effects of economies of scale through the sharing of purchasing and technologies can be fully leveraged. Finally, to achieve a satisfactory level of integration, both entities must be willing and able to work together and focus on the same overall objective.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate the cross-border acquisition's process through the Fiat-Chrysler case. Many automotive companies have considered cross-border mergers and acquisition (M\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on the analysis of a cross-border acquisition: the qualitative approach allows authors to better understand all the dynamics, complexities and problems that characterize companies facing this process (Yin, 1984). Authors used public information, Internet sources and Fiat's documents to gather all the necessary information.\nFindings: In a cross-border acquisition, compatibility and complementarity of products and markets are fundamentals, whereas unmanaged cultural differences, as well as misunderstanding of the real motivations, are a slow but deadly poison: integration and a clear common focus on the final target are key factor for success.\nResearch limitations/implications: The investigation is limited to the strategy used by Fiat-Chrysler. If the authors' suggestions can be confirmed or improved by using other case studies, guidelines could be very useful to companies dealing with M\nPractical implications: The paper offers recommendations on how big companies can manage a cross-border acquisition, illustrates the key steps to be successful and tries to define the necessary elements for a successful M\nOriginality/value: The paper shows how two real multinational companies operating in the automotive sector have decided to become one entity; moreover, it highlights the fundamental steps of the process, giving to the management a good example of what must happen in reality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Artisan, cultural and tourism entrepreneurship	[ "Editorial", "Artisan", "Creativity", "Culture", "Entrepreneurship", "Handicrafts", "Tourism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been a growing interest in artisan entrepreneurship in the global economy due to the expansion of the creative industries and increased focus on homemade goods and services that have a cultural component. This has led to the talent-based creative class creating an artisan economy that reinvigorates cities and encourages the development of businesses that value the traditions in a community by incorporating a social mission rather than having a purely economic rationale. Artisan entrepreneurs value their business ideas as being unique in the marketplace because their craft is often tied to the social fabric of a community. This helps revitalize communities by championing individual interaction in the business venture creation process that incorporates sustainable decision making. Artisan entrepreneurs are motivated by economic and lifestyle goals in building their businesses by engaging with the community and developing their crafts (Eikhof and Haunschild, 2007). Artisans are sometimes referred to as craftspeople as they make products that have a cultural association with a community, region or country. This is an important way of preserving the cultural heritage of a region as the artisans make authentic and original products that are part of the tourism experience.\nArtisan entrepreneurship: Artisan entrepreneurs have been referred to as cultural or lifestyle entrepreneurs due to the emphasis on creative industries. This is due to the sale of handicraft goods and services being linked to the tourism industry of a region (Ratten and Ferreira, 2017). Artisan entrepreneurs have also been referred to as cultural or lifestyle entrepreneurs due to the emphasis on creative industries. In addition, there has been increasing interest in the artisan economy that has resulted in a new orientation toward more locally made products and services (Curtis, 2016). Artisan entrepreneurs are an important cultural component of the global economy and understanding their behaviors is crucial as they are transforming regions through their focus on creative and cultural endeavors (Kapp, 2017). Cultural production firms focus on innovation and product differentiation that leads to more value-added economic benefits. In addition, cultural producers specialize in customized products that tend to last longer and have less market volatility than lager manufacturers (O'Connor, 2004). Curtis (2016, p. 239) states that \"entrepreneurship in the craft community may produce a spillover effect.\" Thus, cultural entrepreneurship involves the strategic investment of human, financial and social capital for business venture reasons (Zhou et al., 2017). Artisan entrepreneurs are part of the craft community as they are individuals who see an opportunity in the marketplace and then create a business venture. This means that the entrepreneurs are proactive about creating opportunities by seeing gaps in the marketplace that require creativity and innovation (Russell and Faulkner, 2004).\nOverview of articles in the special issue: The first article titled \"Artisan entrepreneurship: a systematic literature review and research agenda\" by Tobias Pret and Aviel Cogan provides a good overview of the development of artisan entrepreneurship as a research field. The article highlights how the literature on artisan entrepreneurship is still at the infancy stage and needs more methodological rigor. This is an important finding as more emphasis is being placed on the cultural and creative industries so the research on artisan entrepreneurship is expected to grow in the future.\nFuture research avenues: In this special journal issue, we have enriched existing scholarship on the creative and cultural industries by providing international examples about artisans in terms of tourism development but more research is needed on artisan entrepreneurship. This will enable the highlighting of the role of cultural and social capital in building competitiveness in the tourism industry. The results of the articles in this special journal issue reveal that increasingly cultural capital is important in building entrepreneurial capacity in a region. However, more research is needed on the role of artisan entrepreneurship as the application of the artisan concept in entrepreneurship is comparatively lacking in entrepreneurship journals. This is despite the growing in interest due to the maker movement, slow food and revival of the handicraft industry. More research is required on these emerging social movements in terms of how artisan entrepreneurs bring about social change in society. This could include an emphasis on sustainability or environmental forms of artisan entrepreneurship that combine research on the natural environment with the craft industry.\nPolicy implications: Artisan entrepreneurship is of increasing interest to entrepreneurship and tourism policy makers due to the development of skills and resource networks that involve a cultural component. Artisans play a dynamic role in regional competitiveness by utilizing cultural or social ties in business ventures (Tregear, 2005). Traditionally artisans were viewed as not being entrepreneurial due to their focus on the craft rather than financial motives. This has changed with the interest in value-added and unique artisan products that have a cultural connection to regions, which is being emphasized by tourism authorities. The articles in this special journal issue stress the importance of education and training for artisan entrepreneurs in local communities. Ensuring crafts are passed down generations is an important part of the education process and ensures cultural preservation of regional heritage. Tourism agencies can help artisan entrepreneurs educate others about their craft and find customers who are interested in their products. This enables a dialogue to develop between artisan entrepreneurs and their community about how to increase tourism in their regions.\nManagerial implications: There are several practical implications from this special issue for artisan entrepreneurs. As discussed in the articles there are different ways artisans can leverage their cultural capital to encourage more tourism. To develop more interest in their businesses artisan entrepreneurs need to cooperate with tourism providers. This will help make people aware of the cultural capital in a region and foster regional development. Moreover, artisan entrepreneurs that link their businesses to a specific tourism event can further transform their cultural capital into economic opportunities. Due to the competitiveness of the tourism industry this provides artisan entrepreneurs with a useful way to collaborate with others in their community in terms of cultural projects. Tourism entrepreneurs tend to focus on businesses that facilitate a chosen lifestyle and way of life by seeking out interpersonal relationships with competitors and peers to encourage a mutually beneficial work environment. Entrepreneurial societies have an environment that supports the exchanging of information and risk-taking behaviors in business development. Environments that are more conducive to entrepreneurship are more likely to tolerate risk and be willing to try need ideas. Human capital refers to a person's competences, skills and knowledge that are the result of both experience and education (Zhao et al., 2011). This human capital is evident in artisan businesses but it needs to be marketed in the appropriate way by entrepreneurs.\nConclusion: The findings of the articles in this special issue contribute to a better understanding about the role of artisans in the development of cultural tourism. As there is increased interest in local, handmade and cultural products, this special journal issue has developed the research on the importance of artisans to the entrepreneurship literature. Moreover, the articles in this special journal issue have developed theory about artisan entrepreneurship and how it differs to other types of entrepreneurship. This is an important step in the evolution of the research field of artisan entrepreneurship and its place within the broader cultural and tourism literature. Hopefully, the articles in this special journal issue will provide a good foundation for the development of the artisan entrepreneurship stream of research. This is an important way to show the complexity of the entrepreneurship process but also the unique cultural aspects artisan entrepreneurs have in society.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on emerging research avenues for artisan entrepreneurship. The key findings of the articles in the special journal issue are discussed in terms of potential research issues that need to be discussed in future work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An overview of the main themes of artisan entrepreneurship in terms of cultural and tourism perspectives is undertaken. This helps to establish artisan entrepreneurship as a new and emerging field of entrepreneurship studies.\nFindings: There is more interest in artisan entrepreneurship due to its role in revitalizing economies and placing emphasis on cultural heritage and traditions.\nOriginality/value: This paper will provide directions for future research on artisan, cultural and tourism entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Importance-performance ratings of corporate social responsibility practices by employees in Macao's gaming industry	[ "Macao", "Corporate social responsibility", "Importance ratings", "Importance-performance analysis", "Gaming industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The hospitality sector has grown significantly over the past 30 years as more people all over the world have high disposable incomes to travel, dine out, enjoy and experience (Larke et al., 2016; UNWTO, 2017). Today, the hospitality sector is one of the economic pillars in many countries or cities (Cardenas-Garcia et al., 2015; UNWTO, 2017). It includes hotels, casinos, resorts, theme parks, spas, restaurants, cruise lines, car rental firms and airliners. As hospitality services inevitably require the consumption of resources, produce pollution and put pressure on local communities, many hospitality firms start embracing the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Holcomb et al., 2010; Holcomb et al., 2007; Kang et al., 2010; Lee and Park, 2009; Tsai et al., 2012). In particular, hospitality firms such as casinos that can have negative social consequences view CSR as a way to improve their social reputation, attract talent and loyal employees and improve customer and stakeholder perceptions.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Corporate social responsibility in the gaming industry\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: Of the 570 copies of questionnaire we distributed, 298 usable sets of data were returned, yielding a response rate of 52.3 per cent. Among the 298 respondents, 59.1 per cent were male and 40.9 per cent were female. In total, 51 per cent of the 298 respondents were in the age group between 20 and 29 years, followed by those in the age group between 30 and 39 years (35.9 per cent). In total, 35.2 per cent of the 298 respondents were single and living with their parents, followed by those married with kids (30.5 per cent). Then, 58.7 per cent of the 298 respondents had completed secondary education, followed by those having a bachelor's degree (35.2 per cent). A total of 56.4 per cent of the 298 respondents had worked as front-line employees, followed by those working as managers (17.1 per cent). In total, 53.7 per cent had worked in casinos for four years or more. Table II presents the demographic profile of the 298 respondents.\n5. Discussion: Gender had no significant effect on perceived importance and performance ratings of CSR practices. Casino employees regarded labor practices, consumer issues to be more important than responsible gaming, the environment and human rights records of suppliers. The means of importance ratings of all items of labor practices and consumer issues were 4.0 or above while those of all items of the environment, responsible gaming, and human rights records of suppliers were below 4.0. It is not surprising that four of the five labor practices items were perceived as the most important attributes from the employees' perspective.\n6. Conclusions: The paper explored importance and performance ratings of CSR practices in Macao's gaming industry based on the 298 responses collected from casino employees. The analyzed results showed that employees rated Labor Practices as the most important set of practices including \"providing good wages and health insurance,\" \"creating a health and safe working environment\" and \"be fair and honest with employees\", followed by \"protecting consumer data and consumer privacy\" - an item of consumer issues. Employees were generally satisfied with the above practices. The importance-performance analysis indicated that employees perceived \"promoting work-life balance\" to be quite important but firms did not perform well in this CSR practice. While \"promoting work-life balance\" was included as an item of community involvement, this practice is much more relevant to employees than the other items of community involvement such as \"supporting the use of technology in local community,\" \"supporting local community, grassroots economically\" and \"supporting local youth development.\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Employees play a significant role in implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. This paper aims to examine the perceived importance of CSR practices and identifies improvement areas of CSR practices using the importance-performance analysis from Macao's casino employees' perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a literature review of CSR in the hospitality industry and ISO 26000, a comprehensive set of CSR practices including responsible gaming practices was identified. Data were collected from 298 casino employees. Importance-performance analysis as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to identify important CSR practices and the factor structure of CSR in Macao's gaming industry.\nFindings: Employees rated \"providing good wages and health insurance\" as the most important practice, followed by \"creating a health and safe working environment\" and \"be fair and honest with employees.\" The importance-performance analysis shows that employees perceived their firms performing well in \"providing good wages and health insurance,\" \"protecting consumer data and consumer privacy\" and \"providing good consumer service and support.\" The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicate that CSR in Macao's gaming industry encompasses seven factors, namely, \"Labor Practices,\" \"The Environment,\" \"Fair Operating Practices,\" \"Consumer Issues,\" \"Human Rights,\" \"Community Involvement\" and \"Responsible Gaming\".\nOriginality/value: Casino employees shape customer experience, recognizing and understanding how employees view CSR practices can help casino operators refine their CSR initiatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of the motor vehicle industry on employment and research innovation in Australia	[ "Australia", "Research and development", "Input-output analysis", "Motor vehicle industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Following the demise of Mitsubishi in 2008, the other three major motor vehicle manufacturers in Australia announced that by 2016 (Ford) and 2017 (Holden and Toyota) they will also move their assembly lines overseas. These decisions attracted extensive media attention preceded by a significant amount of government assistance. The Productivity Commission (2014) notes that there are about 260 businesses in Australia that supply accessories and components to the Australian automotive sector. According to Dowling (2014), these small-part suppliers cannot remain viable without contractual agreements with the car manufacturers. As such, the resulting domino effects associated with each shutdown will be unlikely to be confined to the motor vehicle industry itself. For example, although Toyota is regarded as a Japanese car, up to 70 per cent of the Camry's parts are Australian made, the same as with the Ford Falcon (Skulley, 2013).\nSignificance of the motor vehicle industry: The share of an industry in total output or employment shows only the sector's direct contribution to the economy and it does not reveal the number of jobs indirectly created in other sectors as a result of induced economic activities in the industry concerned (Valadkhani, 2003). In order to measure the indirect contribution of an industry to output or employment we should take into account the sectoral linkages. Conventional backward and forward linkages identify the leading or key industries by measuring the strength of sectoral inter-dependencies utilising the Leontief inverse matrix. The normalised direct and indirect output backward and forward linkages for the jth sector are defined as follows:\nResults and policy implications: The latest Australian IO table (2009-2010) has 114 sectors, in which competing imports are directly allocated in the table (ABS, 2013). In order to use the Python programme (developed by Nazara et al., 2003) in this paper, we first aggregated the number of sectors from 114 to 97 as the maximum number of sectors in the free version of this software is 97. All transactions recorded in the table are expressed at basic prices and in millions of Australian dollars[3]. Following the ABS (2013) definition, full-time equivalent employment is defined as full-time plus 50 per cent of part-time employment.\nConcluding remarks: The demise of motor vehicle assembly in Australia has effects that continue to be hotly debated. In terms of technology acquisition and innovation this sector is a leading industry. A brief review of past economic and managerial studies accords with the current economic policy orthodoxy that says motor vehicle assembly cannot survive in Australia. This paper then turns to the implications for the human capital intensive subsector, PSTS, which has strong links with motor vehicle assembly. This paper uses the supply- and demand-driven IO models to determine the effects of the shutdown of the motor vehicle industry on sectoral output and employment. To this end the latest (2009-2010) IO table has been utilised to examine the existing linkages between the motor vehicle industry and the remaining 96 sectors of the Australian economy, particularly focusing on the PSTS industry which plays an important role in technology acquisition with widespread R\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the likely economy-wide impacts of the complete shutdown of the motor vehicle industry on output and employment in Australia using the latest input-output (IO) table (2009-2010).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Both supply- and demand-driven IO models are employed to determine the extent, and pattern, of the resulting output and job losses in upstream and downstream industries. An analysis of the first-order field of influence is also conducted to observe how output multipliers in other sectors respond to changes in the self-use-input-requirement of the professional, scientific and technical services (PSTS) industry.\nFindings: The PSTS industry (with a significant research and development (R\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper identifies a number of industries that are more likely to be heavily influenced by the resulting lack of R\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to examine the effects of the shutdown of the motor vehicle industry on employment in Australia. The results also have broader implications for other developed countries that have declining motor vehicle industries. The findings suggest that the global decline in the motor vehicle industry can adversely affect investment in R\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Chain restaurant patrons' well-being perception and dining intentions: The moderating role of involvement	[ "Well‐being perception", "Perceived value", "Brand attitude", "Involvement", "Chain restaurant", "Behavioral intentions", "Brand awareness", "Brands", "User involvement", "Behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumer well-being (CWB) refers to how much a brand positively contributes to a quality of life perception (Grzeskowiak and Sirgy, 2007). On a practical level, CWB indicates how consuming a brand's product contributes to enhancing a consumer's perception of quality of life (Sirgy et al., 2007). The concept of CWB has been in the spotlight for practitioners and scholars in the field of marketing recently as consumers have begun more and more to consider quality of life as an important goal (Lee and Sirgy, 2004; Samli et al., 1987; Sirgy, 2001; Sirgy et al., 2007). High levels of CWB lead to higher levels of consumer quality of life, which reflect higher levels of life satisfaction, overall happiness with life, absence of ill-being, greater social well-being, and other positive attributes (Grzeskowiak and Sirgy, 2007). For these reasons, well-being perception currently is one of the most important criteria that consumers consider when they make decisions about purchasing a brand's products and/or services (Sirgy et al., 2007).It can be argued that when consumers choose a restaurant, well-being perception plays an important role in the decision-making process. When consumers consider a set of restaurants in their minds, they unconsciously consider which restaurants can have a positive impact on their quality of life. For patrons who place great importance on dining out, their well-being perceptions have a stronger impact on their decision-making processes, since involvement plays a moderating role in decision-making (e.g. Cobb and Hoyer, 1985; Olsen, 2007; Smith and Bristor, 1994; Tarkiainen and Sundqvist, 2005).Despite the importance of well-being perception and the moderating role of involvement in dining out decision-making, no previous research has examined the role of well-being perception in patron behavior, and little is known about the moderating role of involvement in patrons' decisions about which restaurants to visit when dining out. For this reason, chain restaurant marketers have been under constant pressure to find more effective marketing tactics that will appeal to patrons' well-being perception, but have no practical guidelines to do so. Chain restaurant marketers also lack marketing tactics that take into account patrons' dining involvement.The existing restaurant research heavily focuses on brand, perceived value, and satisfaction, and the impact of these factors on behavioral intentions (e.g. Ha and Jang, 2010; Hyun, 2009; Kwun and Oh, 2004; Park, 2004; Ryu et al., 2010). It is therefore highly worthwhile to investigate the causal relationships between patrons' well-being perception, brand perception, perceived value, and behavioral intentions with the moderating role of dining involvement. Findings in these key areas can significantly expand the current restaurant literature. In addition, this study is the first to examine the role of patrons' well-being perception in dining intentions, and the results of this study are expected to provide the first practical implications for chain restaurant marketers in creating well-being-focused marketing strategies.This research was conducted in the chain restaurant setting, which is a set of related restaurants with the same brand name in many different locations that are managed either under shared corporate ownership or franchising agreements (Hyun, 2009). As a result, a chain restaurant's menu, service, and operation are standardized. For this reason, significant findings in the chain restaurant context can provide important, practical implications for a large number of owners/managers.Based on theoretical backgrounds, this study derives a structural model that shows the theoretical relationships between brand attitude, perceived value (utilitarian value and hedonic value), CWB, and behavioral intentions. The moderating role of involvement based on the review of literature is also incorporated into the study (see Figure 1). The model was tested using a sample of actual chain restaurant patrons.\nLiterature review: Consumer well-being (CWB)\nBrand attitude: Consumers hold certain degrees of positive and negative attitudes toward a particular brand, and brand attitude refers to the attitude with which consumers behave toward a particular brand (De Chernatony and Riley, 1998). Mitchell and Olson (1981) further defined brand attitude as an individual's internal evaluation of an object such as a branded product, and suggested that attitudes are often stable and enduring predispositions to behavior. The concept of brand attitude has been in the spotlight in marketing research because it is strongly believed that customer loyalty is influenced by brand attitude, which is formed by indirect experiences such as advertising promotions (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001; Fournier and Yao, 1997; Keller, 2003; Suh and Yi, 2006).Chain restaurant companies therefore invest tremendous amounts of expenditure in an effort to create or maintain a positive brand image. For example, Yum! Brands donates $80 million to the World Food Program (Restaurant News, 2010) and pledged to donate 20 million hours of hunger relief volunteer services. Community involvement efforts such as these can greatly improve the brand image of a chain restaurant, thus creating customer loyalty (Keller, 2003; Suh and Yi, 2006). In branding literature, another key role of brand attitude is its influence on consumers' perceived value (Bagozzi et al., 1999; Derbaix and Vanhamme, 2003; Erevelles, 1998; Hicks et al., 2005; Zeelenberg and Pieters, 2004). The next section of the literature review discusses the relationship between brand attitude and perceived value.\nThe influence of brand attitude on perceived value, CWB, and behavioral intentions: Perceived value\nThe influence of perceived value on CWB and behavioral intentions: Kotler and Armstrong (2010) stated that delivering superior value to consumers improves their well-being perception. In psychological terms, the greater the value that a consumer has experienced from a brand, the more likely that he or she will feel pleased, thus resulting in a greater level of perceived well-being (Meadow and Sirgy, 2008; Sirgy et al., 2007; Sirgy et al., 2006). Not only such conceptual studies but also empirical studies have further supported the theoretical argument between perceived value and CWB (e.g. Meadow and Sirgy, 2008; Sagiv and Schwartz, 2000). For example, Sagiv and Schwartz's (2000) empirical study examined the relationships between consumers' value perception and their subjective well-being perception. Using the empirical data collected from 82 student consumers, they found that various types of value perceptions positively influence consumer social well-being perception.Similarly, Meadow and Sirgy (2008) empirically examined the relationship between a consumer's value perception derived from satisfaction and his or her well-being perception. They analyzed a sample of 249 elderly consumers in a retail industry and found that consumer-perceived value derived from consumption experiences (e.g. purchasing food, housing, household furnishings, clothing, accessories, medical care, transportation, and education) contributes to the perceived well-being of the elderly consumer. Although the studies mentioned here do not separate value according to utilitarian value and hedonic value, we expect two types of value to influence customers' well-being perception respectively, which leads us to our fifth and sixth hypotheses:H5. Utilitarian value positively influences customers' well-being perception.H6. Hedonic value positively influences customers' well-being perception.The existing theoretical background supports that two different types of perceived value (utilitarian and hedonic value) directly contribute to consumer behavioral intentions (Cronin et al., 2000; Sirohi et al., 1998; Sweeny et al., 1999). Specifically, it was found that consumers who perceived high utilitarian value from their consumption experiences tended to feel accomplishment, which results in positive behavioral intentions (Babin et al., 1994; Zeithaml, 1988). For this reason, scholars have postulated that utilitarian value is directly related to behavioral intentions and loyalty (Babin and Babin, 2001; Cronin et al., 2000; Dick and Basu, 1994; Swinyard, 1993).Empirical studies support this theoretical relationship. For instance, Stoel et al. (2004) examined shopping mall customers' utilitarian value, hedonic value, and repatronage intentions. They analyzed data collected from 276 participants at a shopping mall, and showed that both utilitarian shopping value and hedonic shopping value influence repatronage intentions. In the restaurant setting, Ha and Jang (2010) examined the relationships between hedonic/utilitarian value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions using data collected from 607 restaurant patrons. Based on their data analysis, it was found that although both hedonic and utilitarian values have positive and significant impacts on customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions, the effect of utilitarian value is stronger than that of hedonic value on behavioral intentions.It is believed that hedonic value is also related to behavioral intentions since studies in environmental psychology have shown that affective experiences in the consumption experience can be important antecedents of approach or avoidance motivations, such as behavioral intentions (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982; Donovan et al., 1994). Empirical studies further support this theoretical argument (e.g. Babin et al., 2005; Jones et al., 2006; Ryu et al., 2010; Stoel et al., 2004; Wakefield and Barnes, 1996). For example, Ryu et al.'s (2010) study analyzed the behavior of 395 students in a casual fast food restaurant in order to examine the relationships between hedonic value, utilitarian value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Structural equation modeling analysis was conducted, the results of which revealed that hedonic and utilitarian values are associated with behavioral intentions indirectly via customer satisfaction.Similarly, Jones et al. (2006) examined the relationships between utilitarian/hedonic shopping value, customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repatronage intentions in retail industries. They analyzed data collected from 245 respondents who participated in a survey, and found that both utilitarian and hedonic shopping value had positive impacts on behavioral intentions. In the restaurant segment, Park (2004) examined the relationships between patrons' perceived hedonic value and revisit intentions. After analyzing empirical data collected from 279 restaurant customers, it was found that a significant relationship existed between the two constructs.H7. Utilitarian value positively influences patrons' behavioral intentions in the chain restaurant industry.H8. Hedonic value positively influences behavioral intentions.Scholars (e.g. Grzeskowiak and Sirgy, 2007; Jones and Sasser, 1995) have postulated that perceived well-being reflects the consumer's positive experience with a brand, and positively influences revision intentions. In turn, the element of perceived well-being plays a significant role in a company's marketing success. Dagger and Sweeney's study (2006) demonstrates the close relationships between service quality, service satisfaction, perceived well-being, and behavioral intentions in an oncology clinic. They analyzed data collected from 1,118 clients and found that perceived well-being has a positive impact on consumer behavioral intentions. The findings specifically indicated that intention to revisit a health clinic is affected by the client's perception of well-being perception.The existing research conducted in the restaurant context further supports this theoretical argument. According to restaurant patron behavior research, CWB is one of the important motivations of patrons' dining out behavior (Carpenter, 2007; Finkelstein, 1989; Ha and Jang, 2010; Park, 2004; Tse and Peter, 1988). As such, when patrons experience high levels of CWB from their dining experiences, they tend to revisit the same restaurant in the future. In other words, when patrons feel that their quality of life has been improved from their dining experiences, they show higher revisit intention. Integrating the theoretical and empirical backgrounds, the following hypothesis can be derived:H9. Well-being perception positively influences behavioral intentions.The moderating role of involvement\nProposed model: Based on the hypothesized relationships, this study proposed a conceptual model (Figure 1).\nMethodology: Sample\nData analysis: Descriptive statistics\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research was to investigate the structural relationships between chain restaurant patrons' brand attitude, utilitarian value, hedonic value, well-being perception, and behavioral intentions with the moderating role of involvement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A review of the current literature in these areas revealed ten theoretical hypotheses, from which the authors derived a structural model. The model was tested utilizing data collected from 433 chain restaurant patrons. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were utilized to test the proposed theoretical relationships.\nFindings: - Data analysis indicates that brand attitude and hedonic value bear a positive impact on patrons' well-being perception. However, it was revealed that utilitarian value does not have significant impact on patrons' well-being perception. It was also found that well-being perception is the most powerful determinant of patrons' positive behavioral intentions. More importantly, well-being perception played a full mediating role in the relationship between hedonic value and behavioral intentions. Lastly, it was revealed that the moderating role of involvement in the relationships between well-being perception and behavioral intentions is significant.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The findings emphasize the significance of the study variables in maximizing patrons' well-being perception and in inducing positive behavioral intentions. Since there has been little study of consumer well-being (CWB) in the chain restaurant industry, the model verified here may serve as a guide for future research aimed at understanding the formation of CWB and its potential impact on other marketing variables in the chain restaurant industry.\nOriginality/value: - The model verified in this study is the first that explains the formation of CWB and its impact on patrons' behavioral intentions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual assets based management for innovation: Lessons from experiences in Japan	[ "Intellectual property", "Innovation", "Assets management", "Japan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Changing business environment: The most characteristic irreversible changes in the recent economy are globalization of economic activities and arrival of the knowledge economy. In addition, aging societies will be soon realized in many advanced western economies and North-east Asian countries, among which Japan is the front runner of aging in its speed and timing.Globalization of economic activities has accelerated the borderless competition between companies, universities and governments that intend to realize better business environment. Especially, the rise of emerging countries where the production cost are very low have generated a large impact on the situation of global competition to the extent that companies in advanced countries including Japanese ones cannot survive the simple price or cost competition any more, especially in commodities which only pursue a specific function without any differentiated features.The transformation to the knowledge economy has been accelerated due to the low-cost, high-speed and massive transaction of knowledge, enabled by the outstanding development of ICT technologies, especially after last several decades of the twentieth century. The fact that in the USA, the share of intangible assets out of the total corporate value is reported to be almost 70 per cent in late 1990s (Government of Japan, 2004), is one of the evidences of the progress of knowledge economy. At the same time, knowledge becomes obsolete in a shorter time than before, thanks to ICT technologies.The most important change in the knowledge economy is the shift in value. While the supplying power of countries including emerging economies is rapidly evolving, customers have come to be satisfied not with a product or service itself, but with the value incorporated, as long as it overlaps with their own sense of value and to pay a lot on such a selected product or service.Since the origin of the value is the combined knowledge or wisdom peculiar to each supplier, knowledge, wisdom and the combination of it have been recognized as a decisive factor in the knowledge economy. In other words, the richer life people in advanced countries or emerging economies lead in economic and physical terms, the more they pay for goods and services, embracing the value which coincide with their taste, while the less they pay for others. Due to such a change in the modern economy, the intangible knowledge and wisdom play a more important role than tangibles. Responding to this, companies now need to be more conscious about knowledge, wisdom and favor of their clients and to take customer-oriented approach, in order to be competitive in the knowledge economy.Regarding the aging with declining birth rate, the official estimate in Japan predicts that the total population in 2050 will be around 92 million, which is almost 25 per cent less than that of today in the most pessimistic case (National Institute for Social Insurance and Population, 2002)[1]. This estimate typically shows that it would be difficult for a country with aging and declining birth rate to enlarge quantitatively the economy where companies cannot resort to the scale of economy to maintain the corporate profit. Moreover, when the population is decreasing, the deflationary pressure is dominant especially in the commodities without differentiation, due to the declining demand in absolute terms. As a result, the production or sales of those would not help companies to maintain profit nor to sustain the growth.Under these circumstances, it is not too much to say that the capability for differentiation by making the maximum use of knowledge or wisdom decides the destiny of a company and a country. Namely, it has become more and more important how to continue generating effective knowledge and wisdom, by converging or fusing existing ones and by utilizing the outside ones, including those of customers, in the changing situation where the knowledge becomes more easily obsolete due to the flood of information.\n2. Intellectual assets based management and innovation: In the intensification of globalization and the arrival of the real knowledge economy, innovation is more and more substantial for sustainable corporate profit and economic growth. One of the preconditions to bring about innovation is the capability for differentiation. And the other is the management to produce differentiated products and services in the way they meet the potential needs of the market. Since the origin of differentiation lies in the accumulation of the intellectual assets, the intellectual assets based management (IAbM) to effectively utilize those is essential for innovation.2.1. The era of innovation\n3. Current status of IAbM and innovation in Japan: The challenge Japan is facing at is partly related to the quality of the corporate management as one of the conditions for innovation. Therefore, whether corporate managers can execute IAbM or not is a decisive factor affecting the sustainability of a company and the capability for growth of the economy as a whole. In order to promote IAbM, Japanese government published the guideline for companies to disclose it, based on an intensive study. Certainly, some companies have already published reports, but still the number is limited, and the quality needs to be improved.3.1. Present situation and challenges for innovation in Japan\n4. The second stage of Japanese efforts to promote IAbM: Learning a lot from the achievements and experiences in the first phase explained above, GOJ is now stepping forward to the second phase of promoting IAbM, where she puts more on its function as a prerequisite for innovation, enlarges the target and variety of policy measures.4.1. IAbM as a national policy\n5. Achievements so far in Japan: The most prominent achievement so far is that the number and the range of people concerned is increasing and enlarging, while private sectors, including stock exchange, certified public accountants and chamber of commerce, step up their own attempts. Certainly it is important that the government leads this movement and raise the consciousness, yet the more important is that people concerned voluntarily try what they can do, with a correct understandings of each other's activity to proceed in a step by step basis.5.1. JASDAQ's initiative\n6. What is realized by innovation and IAbM: IAbM and innovation generate a lot of benefit not only for companies but also the country, and they can play a role of providing solution for the common agenda in globalization especially in advanced countries.6.1. Merits of IAbM\n7. Conclusion - expectation for the future: Innovation is seen as a key for sustained growth of a company and economy. If we succeed in continuously creating innovation, we can prosper and co-exist with each other, through enlarging the frontier of the economy even in a global market, instead of sharing the fixed sum.Moreover, innovation realized from the combination of intellectual assets peculiar to a country, a company or a region with cultural elements can generate a lot of winners, even in intensified global competition. Toward realizing this optimal situation, to promote IAbM as an engine for innovation, has a critical importance in the policy agenda. In reality, a lot of attempts are ongoing in Japan in this direction, including voluntary efforts by private sectors.Since innovation, led by IAbM, could be a solution for the common global agenda most advanced countries are facing at, more international cooperation is to be expected.There are already some international efforts in this issue, including works in OECD and the creation of the New Club of Paris among people who have interests in intellectual assets. These activities will expectedly accelerate sharing of successful experiences among participants, from which each member learn a lot, and encourage companies to implement their own IAbM. The more people are convinced with the importance of IAbM for innovation, the more benefit the world citizens can enjoy. It is the very goal of initiatives in Japan.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to make clear why innovation matters now, how intellectual asset based management is related to it, how innovation and excellent management contribute to the world economy and what is necessary from now on, taking Japanese experiences into account.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper summarizes the current status on innovation and intellectual asset based management, analyzes the expected function of them, and extracts implications from it.\nFindings: - This paper finds that intellectual asset based management has a close logical relation with innovation, and could be a solution for challenges caused by globalization.\nPractical implications: - International cooperation on promoting innovation through intellectual asset based management could save the world economy.\nOriginality/value: - This paper illustrates the implications of increasing interests in intellectual assets from various points of view, especially in relation to innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Career studies in search of theory: the rise and rise of concepts	[ "Careers", "Career development", "Employability", "Career studies", "Literature analysis", "Career success" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: To be distinctive and survive as a recognized and established discipline, an academic field needs to develop its own theory, models and concepts (Hatch and Cunliffe, 1997; Markoczy and Deeds, 2009; Shapira, 2011). In the continuous, cyclical process of discipline development, the accumulation of narrative and of empirical knowledge advances to the point at which a conceptual framework emerges, leading finally to model and theory development (Sallantin and Cerri, 2012), which is the unique characteristic of the discipline in question. Yet it is never easy to distinguish true theoretical progress from fads (Abrahamson, 1996; Abrahamson and Fairchild, 1999; Birnbaum, 2000; Starbuck, 2009). This is particularly the case for the careers field, where the challenges of studying careers have been inspiring an ever increasing number of scholars. There are more and more journals, handbooks and international conferences dedicated to career studies. The career research community is growing. What makes the discipline even more complex is that the concept of career is not the property of a single theoretical or disciplinary view. Rather, there are a number of different disciplinary perspectives from which careers are studied, among others, psychology, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, history and geography (Arthur et al., 1989). While the diversity of these approaches contributes to the richness and creativity of the discipline, it also adds confusion and a sense of lack of direction. Furthermore, the number of concepts involved in the study of careers has also been growing (Arnold and Cohen, 2008).\nLiterature review: The fact that career studies are conducted from diverse perspectives has the potential to enrich our understanding of careers (Arthur, 2008). However, without establishing bridges between these perspectives the discipline could easily develop, and arguably already has, into a collection of theories, each inevitably depicting only partial truths about careers but without connections between them.\nMethods: Data collection\nResults: Our first research question was: \"What are the terms that have shaped career research from 1990 to 2012?\"\nDiscussion and conclusions: Our aim in this paper is to support the development of the career field by complementing earlier theoretical literature reviews with an evidence-based one. We provide an evidence-based historical review, which brings clarity to the discipline and can serve as an aid to revealing new research directions.\nFuture research directions: The questions the findings evoke lead us to a basic question about the ontology of the discipline: what constitutes career scholarship? The results suggest that the discipline has been so far individually focussed. We would like to encourage, though, opening up the horizons of the career field to other career-related areas even more. For instance future studies could broaden our understanding about career networks, mentoring or about the relationship between health and career. This suggestion is also in line with the latest proposition of Gunz and Mayrhofer (2012), which suggests that the study of career involves the simultaneous application of three perspectives examining the career actor in relation to their location in the social space they occupy, their condition at any given time, and the timescale over which these events happen.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce further clarity to career scholarship and to support the development of career studies by complementing earlier theoretical literature reviews with an evidence-based historical analysis of career-related terms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data from 12 career scholars were collected using the historical Delphi method to find consensus on the career terms that have shaped career studies between 1990 and 2012. The authors then explored the literature by collecting data on the occurrence of these terms, analyzing frequencies and trends via citations and indexes of citation using a mixed-method combination of historical literature review and performance analysis.\nFindings: Career scholarship is indeed a descriptive field, in which metaphors dominate the discipline. Career success and employability are basic terms within the field. The discipline tends to focus narrowly on career agents. There is a plethora of terminology, and, contrary to the expectations, concepts introduced tend not to fade away.\nOriginality/value: The authors offer an overarching perspective of the field with a novel mixed-method analysis which is useful for theory development and will help unify career studies. Earlier comprehensive literature reviews were mostly based on theoretical reasoning or qualitative data. The authors complement them with results based on quantitative data. Lastly, the authors identify new research directions for the career scholarship community.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The use of open government data to citizen empowerment: an empirical validation of a proposed model	[ "Bangladesh" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The contemporary process of social change is determined by the progress of the culture of transparency and accountability, the socio-technological advancement of the Web and the opening of public sector data (Gertrudiscasado et al., 2016). These circumstances force governments to rethink their models of social intermediation and transform the growing demand for access to open data and user participation in new mechanisms that enable citizen empowerment. Empowerment is a theoretical model for understanding the process and consequences of efforts to use control and influence over decisions that affect one's life (Perkins and Zimmerman, 1995; Zimmerman and Warschausky, 1998). It is an intentional, ongoing process focused on group participation, an equal share of valued resources and has greater access to and control over those resources (Zimmerman, 2000). According to Rappapon (1984), empowerment refers to gain mastery over one's life by making their own decision.\n2. Research model and hypothesis development: 2.1 Citizen empowerment and open government data\n3. Methodology: In this section, research design, questionnaire and data collection procedure and data analysis are discussed.\n4. Results: 4.1 Respondents' demographic profile\n5. Discussion: The results indicate that the influence of transparency construct on accountability (H1), participation (H2) and empowerment (H3) is positively significant. As suggested Abu-Shanab (2015), the findings confirm the importance of transparency in citizen empowerment. This implies that, the extent to which OGD provides relevant, updated, accessible and usable information help citizens to take the right decisions and make their governments accountable for their actions. Transparency ensures data will be available, accessible and open to all that promote trust, increase participation and accountability (Bertot et al., 2010). After the introduction of RTI Act and Open government initiative, citizens can access public sector information, participate, give feedback in social media and make accountable to their administrators for their actions taken (Ministry of Finance, 2017). Actions and decisions taken by the government are now more transparent to the citizens and enable them to become more enthusiastic to participate in political activities. Therefore, our findings are the exact reflections of the present socio-political conditions of Bangladesh.\n6. Implications and limitations: 6.1 Implications for theory and practice\n7. Conclusions: Empowering citizens to make meaningful use of open data is a challenge somehow less central than others to OGD policies (Concilio et al., 2017). Little research to date has either rigorously explained the content of such empowerment or demonstrated the impact of OGD on citizen empowerment process. To fill this research gap, the study investigated the impact of OGD on citizen empowerment through an integrated model based on the major pillars of OGD (i.e. transparency, accountability, participation and collaboration). To validate our proposition, an empirical test was conducted using a survey from the university students and professionals in a South Asian country, Bangladesh. Data were analyzed using PLS method based on the SEM. Direct and indirect effects of the determinants influencing citizen empowerment were analyzed, and the most important ones identified were, namely, transparency, participation, accountability and collaboration. According to the authors' observation, this is the first model to measure citizen empowerment based on the pillars of OGD. These findings open a new dimension of open government movement and appeal to focus more on citizen empowerment process. The policymakers and systems developers use the research findings to develop and implement an effective open government system.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of open government data (OGD) on citizen empowerment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study advances the body of knowledge on OGD by proposing an integrated research model based on transparency, accountability, participation and collaboration dimensions. The research model was empirically tested using 275 responses using the on-paper survey from the university students and professionals in Bangladesh. Data were analyzed using the structured equation modeling technique.\nFindings: Findings revealed that transparency and participation have a positive and significant direct and indirect influence on citizen empowerment through accountability and collaboration. Overall, the four basic pillars of OGD such as transparency, participation, accountability and collaboration interrelated with each other and have the impact on citizen empowerment.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study has proposed an instrument that sums the dimensions of open government, which avoids tautology and redundancy among OGD dimensions. More research should be done to validate the proposed model and the instruments used in this study.\nPractical implications: For the researchers, this study provides a basis for further refinement of individual models of empowerment. For practitioners, understanding the key constructs is crucial to design, refine and implement OGD systems and applications that empower citizens, create public values and strengthen the democratic process.\nOriginality/value: This research is the first step that empirically investigates the impact of OGD on citizen empowerment which is the ultimate goals of any democratic government.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Works councils and employer attitudes toward the incentive effects of HRM practices	[ "Training", "Wages", "Management attitude", "Employee involvement", "Performance pay", "Non-union worker representation", "Profit sharing", "Further training", "Promotions", "High wages", "Multivariate probit model", "J33", "J50", "M52", "M53" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Works councils provide a highly developed mechanism for non-union worker representation (Freeman and Lazear, 1995; Jirjahn and Smith, 2018; Smith, 1991, 2006). While they play a role in corporate governance in many West European countries, a unique feature of German works councils is that they have acquired quite extensive powers (Jenkins and Blyton, 2008). A growing number of econometric studies confirm that works councils substantially shape the personnel policy of firms in Germany. Firms with works councils pay higher wages, have larger internal labor markets, provide more training and are more likely to adopt performance pay, family friendly practices and flexible working time arrangements. This gives rise to the question of whether the shaping of personnel policy is positively or negatively valued by employers. Do employers consider the increased adoption of human resource management (HRM) practices fostered by works councils as performance-enhancing or do they consider it as useless or even counterproductive?\n2. Background discussion: 2.1 Shaping the personnel policy of firms\n3. Data, variables and methodology: 3.1 Data set\n4. Estimation results: 4.1 Basic estimates\n5. Future research: There is a need for continued research within this theme. One important further step would be to examine the interaction effects of works councils and HRM practices on outcome variables such as productivity, profitability, innovativeness, personnel turnover and workers' identification with the firm. This could provide additional evidence of whether or not works councils have an influence on the effectiveness and functioning of the HRM practices. While research on such interaction effects remains in its infancy, a few exploratory studies indicate that works councils indeed can be associated with an increased effectiveness of HRM practices. Findings by Smith (2006) and Zwick (2004, 2008) suggest that productivity-enhancing effects of employer provided training are stronger when a works council is present. Jirjahn (1998) obtains the result that a combination of works councils, autonomous production teams and profit sharing for employees is associated with increased productivity. However, more research on the interaction of works councils and HRM practices is certainly warranted. In this context, it would be particularly important not only to consider formal, but also informal HRM practices (Mohr and Zoghi, 2008; Yanadori and van Jaarsveld, 2013).\n6. Conclusions: Previous econometric studies have shown that the incidence of a works council is associated with an increased use of various HRM practices. However, the formal use of HRM practices does not necessarily mean that these practices are valued by the employer. From a theoretical point view, the interpretation of the empirical findings is ambiguous. The link between works councils and HRM practices may reflect a redistribution or a collective voice role of codetermination. Against this background, our study examines whether or not works councils contribute to positive attitudes toward a series of HRM practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: A growing number of econometric examinations show that works councils substantially shape the personnel policy of firms in Germany. Firms with works councils make greater use of various human resource management (HRM) practices. This gives rise to the question of whether employers view the shaping of personnel policy positively or negatively. Against this background, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of works councils on employer attitudes toward HRM practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data from manufacturing establishments, multivariate and recursive multivariate models are applied to estimate the determinants of employer attitudes toward HRM practices.\nFindings: The incidence of a works council increases the probability of positive employer attitudes toward the incentive effects of performance pay, profit sharing, promotions, further training and worker involvement in decision making. However, it decreases the probability of positive employer attitudes toward high wages. The results suggest that works councils play a redistribution role in wages and a collective voice role in the other HRM practices.\nOriginality/value: The study complements examinations focusing on the influence of works councils on the formal presence of HRM practices. There are two potential limitations of focusing solely on formal HRM practices. First, the formal presence of a practice does not necessarily mean that the practice is effectively used. Second, a firm may informally use HRM practices even though the practices have not been formally adopted. The study provides insights into the question of whether or not works councils influence employers' support for the various practices. This support can be important for the effective use of the practices, regardless of whether they are of formal or informal nature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring the service gaps in the roles of quantity surveyors in the emerging market	[ "Performance measurement", "Service quality", "Construction industry", "Benchmarking", "Competitive advantage", "Project management", "Quantity surveying", "Service gap", "Demand side" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The construction industry is an economic investment and its relationship with economic development is well posited. The contributions of the construction industry towards the advancement of the national economy are significant. While some have recognised that the construction industry can be used to regulate the economy, others tend to differ. What is certain is that, irrespective of the position one takes regarding the relationship of the construction industry to economic growth, it does not in any way invalidate the importance of the construction industry in regards to providing the necessary infrastructures that stimulate economic development (see, e.g. Myers, 2013). The importance of the construction industry is unique among the major economic sectors in any country regardless of whether the country is underdeveloped, developing, or developed. Fast developing countries are now referred to as emerging economies. Emerging economies are committing the larger part of their expenditure on massive urbanisation, globalisation, and infrastructure renewal.\nEconomic development and the construction industry: There are many different definitions for \"emerging market\". International institutions like the IMF, World Bank, the Economic, and BMI have different countries in their classifications. However, the major yardsticks that constitute important variables for the consideration of a country is the desire to urbanise, develop, liberalise, close infrastructure gaps, increase the middle class group, poverty reduction, and economic diversification. The emerging markets enjoy rapid and faster economic growth as measured by GDP, making them the driver of global growth. For instance, as emerging economies aim to \"emerge\" [transform] into a developed country, government spending on the provision and maintenance of the needed infrastructures are significantly higher compared to how it used to be. The emerging countries are estimated to grow two to three times faster than developed nations and more than 80 per cent of global investment is currently coming from the emerging markets; the current investment opportunity with China and India alone account for about 40 per cent of that growth (see BlackRock Investment Institute (BII), 2011). Accordingly, there are high investment opportunities in the emerging countries for the global construction industry. It was estimated that the emerging countries will contribute approximately 55 per cent of investments in the construction industry by 2020 (see also Schilling, 2013). In 2010, China became the largest construction market, overtaking the USA.\nThe changing roles of quantity surveyors: The construction industry is changing rapidly due to various indictments of poor performance and changing client requirements. There is increasing awareness on accountability and transparency. Today's clients are more demanding and sophisticated. The clients want their projects to be completed on schedule, within budget, with maximum performance, reliability, safety, and meeting other criteria within their client value system. From an economic perspective, the principle of scarcity and choice, to be specific, human wants (client value system) are insatiable but the resource (money) to satisfy the want is quite limited. Therefore, there is a need for efficient resource utilisation. The clients are pushing the construction industry to take a cue from the automobile and electronic industries. The stringent requirements of the progressive clients to achieve their value system are the drivers of the transformation in construction (Cartlidge, 2006) and it will continue to be so in the years ahead as clients will always demand the best value for their money. Construction clients are becoming increasingly impatient with their investments in the construction industry. While this is happening, the changing requirements brought by emerging markets are further complicating the construction business' environment.\nThe gaps model of service delivery: A service is an activity provided by one party to another. Service users may be delighted, satisfied, or dissatisfied with the services they received depending on whether or not the service met or exceeded their assessment of the services (Johnston et al., 2013). The extent of the differences depends on many factors. For our purpose, differences refer to the \"gap\" or service quality deficiencies. Research that focused on analysis of this gap is the SERVQUAL model. The SERVQUAL model has been tested extensively (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Zeithaml et al., 1993; Parasuraman, 2010). The application of the principle involves comparing actual performance of one organisation (i.e. producers) on a set of services with the perceptions of another organisation (i.e. consumers) on the same set of services. A gap or mismatch exists if actual performance fails to meet expectations. In addition, a gap exists between what a member of a team believes he or she provides, with what the other members believe they provide. By extension, with respect to the service provided by quantity surveyors, the hypothesis is that the perceptions and expectations of other players in the construction industry do not differ from the understanding of the services quantity surveyors service deliver. In other words, there is no relationship between the measurements of the quantity surveyors and the measurements of other professionals on the modern services that the quantity surveyors provide.\nOutline of the methodological issues: In order to achieve the aim of this study, the study combined a literature review and survey questionnaire. Altogether, 23 services expected of quantity surveyors in an emerging market are addressed to respondents. The emerging roles are the roles that the quantity surveyors do not \"traditionally\" offer. These new roles are consistent with the requirements of the emerging market. However, while some of the services are gradually being offer by quantity surveyors in other places like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, in most developing countries like Nigeria, these services are yet to be accepted as quantity surveyors duties and responsibilities. The roles were modified based on a literature review (see Table II). Table II tabulates the services against their authors. There is no consensus on the services quantity surveyors offer in different economies. A very plausible reason for this is that the nature and scope of the services depend on the knowledge, skills, and experience of the quantity surveyors and the nature of the industries or sectors within which the quantity surveyors provide their services. Experience of the clients and nature and types of the projects is crucial in the engagement of quantity surveyors. Latest researches are also constrained in terms of the exact scope of the services that quantity surveyors should or are providing. This research, though built on the existing studies, goes beyond current research by sensitising the current knowledge on the services that quantity surveyors should provide in the emerging economies in addition to measuring the gaps in the services that quantity surveyors provide.\nData presentation, analyses, and discussion: Respondents' profile\nConclusion and implication: This paper evaluated the services that quantity surveyors provide to create awareness on the services that quantity surveyors provide in changing construction markets. It also depicted the extent to which quantity surveyors are involved in the total procurement and management of built assets. The original hypothesis for this study is that quantity surveyors are providing the services required of them in an emerging construction market. The roles of the quantity surveyors are evolving, but for them to remain relevant they need to diversify and provide services that meet the requirements of other players and are created by the current construction culture. Given the increasing difficulty to access capital, varying clients' interests, quantity surveyors should take the opportunity to diversify more to the upstream supply chain by promoting different procurement strategies. The construction industry must meet growing demands for sustainable built environments and harness technology to drive innovation, especially in energy efficiency. The construction industries in other emerging markets have been rapidly responding to this demand. This is sharply in contrast with the services that Nigerian quantity surveyors provide that are largely cost management at the tactical stage of the project. The services discussed in the paper specifically relate to the construction industry. The roles of quantity surveyors in other industries including the oil and gas and petrochemical are not addressed. In addition, the experiences of the clients on these services are not addressed. This is largely because of the one-off nature of the industry clients and comparing their experiences on the topic would not be adequate.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The opportunities that the emerging markets present to the players in the construction industry means that the players need to expand on the scope and size of their responsibilities and duties to the stakeholders. Each of the professionals now demands more specialised and sophisticated services from one another. The other players in the construction industry now require more emerging responsibilities and duties from the quantity surveyors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles that \"modern\" quantity surveyors play by measuring the gaps that exist in the services that the quantity surveyors provide.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Primary data are collected through survey questionnaires. In total, 23 roles played by modern quantity surveyors are identified and addressed to the respondents to rank the rate at which quantity surveyors provide these \"emerging\" services. The collected data were analysed statistically.\nFindings: The results of the findings led to the conclusion that the quantity surveyors were not meeting the expectations of other players. Therefore, for competitiveness, quantity surveyors need to better meet demand expectations.\nResearch limitations/implications: This findings of this research are constrained to the services or functions that the quantity provide in the construction industry.\nPractical implications: This knowledge is valuable to academic institutions that offer quantity surveying programmes, to practicing quantity surveyors, governments, and other players in the construction industry. It will allow quantity surveyors to reconcile supply and demand expectations.\nOriginality/value: There is no known conclusive empirical study on services offered by quantity surveyors in any emerging markets. Therefore, the findings offer a fresh understanding on the services of quantity surveyors not only in Nigeria but elsewhere. While some of the services are common, others are peculiar to emerging markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Finding the redemption sweet spot: debunking the top ten myths about couponing	[ "Coupons", "Marketing", "Direct marketing", "Consumer goods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The overall decline in coupon redemption rates in the USA and Canada raises a question as old as coupons themselves - what prompts a consumer to redeem?\nFinding the sweet spot: Today's marketplace suggests that coupon face value alone is not enough. Most consumers need time in addition to value - more time than an increasing number of brand marketers are giving them.In fact, the research shows a significant change in consumer redemption time for targeted coupons over a recent ten-year period. From 1996 to 2000, consumers took an average of 5.5 months from coupon distribution to redemption. In the following five years, from 2001 to 2006, average redemption times for the same consumer leapt to 6.5 months, nearly a 20 percent increase. Time, along with value, are two important variables to consider when looking to predict consumer coupon behavior.Of the two factors, value and time, value in recent years has been stable or increasing, while the trend has been to cut expiration lengths. In the vast majority of cases, a shorter expiration length reduces redemption far more than any corresponding increase in value can make up.In fact, a thorough dissection of the ICOM coupon database shows there is an \"optimal value-expiration sweet spot\" for most target groups.The sweet spot is a combination of value-relative-to-retail price, and expiration length, that yields maximum redemption. Particularly in the case of attracting new brand users, there is no significant benefit, redemption-wise, to exceeding the optimal face value or extending the expiration date.For example, the data shows that the sweet spot for a food and beverage coupon targeting competitive product users is as follows: 26-50 percent coupon value with a 12-month expiration period. Altering the expiration length or the value-relative-to-price could result in missing the \"sweet spot\" and have negative impact on redemption.The key learnings from ICOM's database analysis indicate that much of the conventional wisdom about couponing strategy is wrong. Many false notions fail to acknowledge that the redemption of targeted coupons is now less immediate, due to today's busier lifestyles, more dual incomes and expanded home inventories.\nThe top ten myths about coupon redemption: A careful deconstruction of the ICOM database reveals new philosophies that smart marketers should consider when designing coupon strategies. The shifting consumer paradigm demands that couponing change also - or redemption rates will suffer. The following are the top-ten myths and subsequent facts that emerged from the study.Myth #1: short-term expirations drive immediate sales\nPatience and consumer specific tailoring are key to success: North American marketers searching for a strategy that enables them to cut through the clutter created by their competitors' proliferation of offers should adopt the following best practices.Be patient. Try longer expiration, some of the highest incremental lift will come from competitive users. Target smarter. Optimize the face value of offers. Design promotional programs to fit specific business objectives.Find incremental consumers. Rewarding current consumers with plenty of mass distributed offers is a short-term move. Brands are built by taking share away from competitors, or by bringing new users into an emerging product category.Be realistic. Consumers have busy lives. They shop in multiple channels, some of which do not like to accept coupons. Give them some time to get around to trying your product.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to uncover common and outdated misconceptions about couponing and present new, updated strategies that can improve redemption statistics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - ICOM sought to understand the landscape of couponing by examining data from a 20-year database compiled through the course of designing 6,300 targeted direct mail programs and issuing 425 million coupons to 28 million US and Canadian households that voluntarily provide information about purchasing preferences.\nFindings: - The paper exposes important information about current consumer behavior with regards to coupons and coupon redemption. The research identifies a \"sweet spot\" which, when coupon value and expiration length criteria sync, creates perfect conditions and drives coupon redemption.\nPractical implications: - Marketers must rethink coupon campaign strategies to accommodate the changing consumer and couponing market. This paper offers straightforward recommendations for altering approach.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides a fresh profile of the couponing market and variable drivers of consumer redemption, derived from an unprecedented amount of consumer data gathered over an extended period of time.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Visual management in highways construction and maintenance in England	[ "Lean construction", "Visual management", "Roads", "Building Information Modelling", "Highways", "Infrastructure construction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Partly due to the concrete lean construction vision of and contractual obligations imposed by the main governmental client, the deployment of lean construction has gained momentum in England's highways project supply chain since 2009 with the increasing implementation of some lean construction techniques, active lean construction engagement of some large contractors and significant efficiency targets (Chen et al., 2012; Drysdale, 2013; Fullalove, 2013). Lean construction is an umbrella term referencing to a combination of operational research and practices tailored to the architecture, engineering and construction industry that take their roots from the lean production system developed at Japanese automobile manufacturers (Koskela, 1997; Green, 1999; Howell, 1999; Jorgensen and Emmitt, 2008). The broad gamut of lean implementation efforts includes visual management (VM) as an information management strategy based on the effectiveness of sensory communication to increase process transparency (Achanga et al., 2006; Bhasin and Burcher, 2006; Parry and Turner, 2006; Alves et al., 2012).\nVM: VM is one of the core practices of the lean production system (Bryde and Schulmeister, 2012). It is a managerial strategy that suggests sharing relevant and easy to understand sensory information close to its point of use to increase the level of process transparency or the communication ability of process elements (Koskela, 2001), to stimulate discussion and coordination among the workforce (Bititci et al., 2016), to facilitate self-management and continuous improvement (Murata and Katayama, 2010), to impose consistency and discipline in process outcomes (Monden, 1998), to set a systematic mechanism to share relevant and objective information from the organisational environment (Suzaki, 1993) and to support internal and external marketing efforts (Liff and Posey, 2004). The main characteristics of VM are (Greif, 1991) the information is presented in a self-service fashion to create information fields, the information is entirely determined ahead of time, and it relies little or none on verbal or textual communication. Ultimately, all those outcomes contribute to an increased process transparency and the realisation of the main lean production system goals of reduction of process waste, mitigation of overburdens on process elements and minimising the unevenness or fluctuations in processes (Ohno, 1988). Given the necessary training and opportunity in place, staff can develop their own visual systems by their own work process needs (Suzaki, 1993; Hirano, 1995; Galsworth, 2011).\nVM in construction: The implementation of VM in construction has found place for itself in mostly the lean construction literature. The earlier discussions revolve around how to increase process transparency on construction sites (Koskela, 1992; Dos Santos et al., 1998; Formoso et al., 2002; Heineck et al., 2002). The gist of those discussions is to integrate more information into construction process elements, to remove barriers before construction information flows, to learn more about and adopt transparency increasing practices from the manufacturing industry into construction (e.g. the 5S) and to try novel VM tools and techniques for construction with the help of emerging technologies.\nResearch methodology: In order to understand the current VM implementation conditions and future VM implementation options for highways construction and maintenance projects in England, the case study and focus group research methodologies were used. The initial research strategy adopted was exploratory and relied on multiple case studies. Exploratory case studies are suitable when a phenomenon out of the researcher's control is investigated in its real life context (Yin, 2003). In management research, case studies have often been used to study events that are unusual, noteworthy, unfamiliar, or involve change. Furthermore, case studies are frequently employed to explain the implementation of new methods and techniques in organisations (McCutcheon and Meredith, 1993). The unit of analysis in this investigation is the VM implementation strategy and its practical means (visual tools) adopted by different highway construction and maintenance sites. The case studies provided with rich insights on the current VM realisation and future research/application opportunities.\nCase study findings: Before the detailed discussion of the cases, a summary of the main findings from the case studies can be seen below:\nFocus group findings: Following the case studies, a VM event was organised for professionals from the highways sector, lean construction consultants and academia to raise awareness of the VM subject and to create a platform for the discussion of the topic (see Plate 8 for the focus group participants working on the VM subject). The findings from the group studies can be seen in Table VII.\nDiscussion of the findings: The main finding from the case studies and focus groups is that the current VM implementation scope in highway construction and maintenance projects in England can be broadened beyond visual performance boards and extended more into the production area (construction field). Stronger collaboration ties with academia will help raise awareness on the range of VM implementation options in conventional and BIM-based VM solutions for the companies in the future. Additionally, action and design science research efforts can be undertaken within industry-academia collaborations for pilot VM implementation projects. Successful implementation cases will give impetus to the lean construction and VM efforts in the sector. Inter-company lean construction training curricula can also be redesigned with the support of academia for more emphasis on the diverse lean and VM practices.\nConclusion: VM as a visual communication strategy constitutes a fundamental part of lean production and construction deployments. It was found that the VM strategy has taken some momentum recently in the highways construction and maintenance supply chain in England in accordance with the main governmental client's lean construction vision. This resulted in large contractors taking VM in their lean implementation agendas and accordingly, an increase in the number of publications discussing those implementations. However, the VM implementation efforts are still limited (mostly revolving around visual performance boards) with room for improvements in practice, particularly on the construction field. The highways construction and maintenance sector in England should investigate the current VM situation and future implementation ideas discussed in this paper to take their ambitious lean construction goals further.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current visual management (VM) practices in highways construction projects in England.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Following a comprehensive literature review, the research topic was investigated by using five case studies and focus groups.\nFindings: The main findings are the current implementation of VM is limited, particularly on the construction field, there are some identified points (suggestions) that require attention to disseminate and advance the current practices further many conventional and Building Information Modelling (BIM)-based opportunities to extend the current VM implementations exist for the sector.\nOriginality/value: The highways construction and maintenance sector in England has been systematically deploying lean construction techniques in its operations for a while. One of those lean techniques is a close-range visual communication strategy called VM. The literature on the VM implementation in construction is scarce and generally limited to the building construction context. This paper documents the current industry practice in conventional and BIM-based VM and identifies a set of recommendations and some VM ideas for future implementation efforts in the highways construction and maintenance sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The managerial challenge of business interaction: behind the market facade	[ "Evolution", "Cooperation", "Conflict", "Interaction types", "Interorganizational", "Network features" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The research programme of the IMP Group (impgroup.org) has demonstrated that business managers operate in a landscape characterized by network-like patterns of interaction between multiple resources and the activities and the corporate and individual actors that are associated with them. This network of interaction stretches between and across company boundaries. It is through interaction that managers seek to combine, adapt, develop and exploit diverse and widely distributed economic resources. Business interaction drives economic evolution and corporate development. But the variety and complexity of interaction also provide critical challenges for business managers. This paper presents a descriptive structure that tries to capture some of the diversity of business interaction and the managerial challenge that arises from it.\n2. Coping with the diversity of interaction: We will use the concepts of duel and duet (Hakansson, 2010) as a starting point for analysis of the diversity of business interaction and the managerial challenge of coping with it.\n3. The managerial challenge of the effects of interaction: All business managers operate in many interaction processes. Each of these processes has the potential for complex, far-reaching and often unplanned effects on particular elements of internal resources and activities and related external actors. Coping with these evolutionary effects represents the second aspect of the managerial challenge of business interaction.\n4. The managerial challenge of combining internal and external networks: This paper started from the position that interaction is a central economic phenomenon in a business landscape that is characterized by complex interdependencies between the multiple resources, activities and actors associated with different companies. In the first section we identified the first of the challenges of business interaction as coping with the diversity of business interaction: how to handle an external network consisting of quite different business relationships. In the second section we identified the range of internal effects of this external interaction on both of the companies involved in a relationship. We identified the second of the challenges of business interaction as how to coordinate and dynamically relate to these changes or how to develop an appropriate internal network. In this section we will examine the third of the challenges of business interaction, how to develop the managerial skills that are required to bring these two types of networks together: to integrate the interactions between a company's internal resources, activities and actors and those of its counterparts.\n5. Conclusions: managing complex business interaction: This paper has described three aspects of the managerial challenge of business interaction: the challenge of operating within the diversity of interaction; the challenge of coping with its particular internal effects and the challenge of combining the internal and external networks of a company into the evolving strategy of a company. All managers approach the challenge of business interaction with unique skills and experience, with a set of resources to which they have access, together with a pre-existing pattern of interdependencies and a set of issues and problems that they face. Variations in this \"baggage\" lead to the distinctive approach and contribution of individuals and companies and the uniqueness of each interaction process. However, the distinctiveness of managers' approaches in different processes is mediated by considerations of costs and benefits and the limits of the managers' experience in similar situations. These considerations lead managers to seek at least some commonality in the processes that they seek and the approach they take within different processes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address three aspects of the managerial challenge that arises from the process of business interaction: the diversity of interaction; the dynamic effects of interaction; and the integration of interaction into company operations and strategy. The paper develops a typology which characterizes different types of interaction in order to identify the managerial issues they represent.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on the empirical research programme of the IMP Group (impgroup.org) and on a recent large scale research project within that programme.\nFindings: The paper seeks to identify the dynamic effects of each type of interaction on the resources and activities involved in it and address the implications that these effects have for management. Finally, the paper discusses how the challenges and opportunities presented by business interaction can be integrated into the general management of a company.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is mainly based on detailed empirical observations focusing some special features. Focusing other aspects would give another result.\nPractical implications: Important for all companies having important business relationships.\nOriginality/value: Gives a new view of managerial challenges related to the variety in business relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sleeping with your enemies - and what happens later	[ "Stakeholders", "Crisis", "Crisis communication", "Adversaries", "Opponents", "Post-crisis relationships" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and purpose of the study: Public relations scholars and practitioners stress the role of organizational relationships with its key publics. They are aware that even the best-planned, most advanced public relations programs cannot guarantee successful relationships with strategic constituencies, especially those whose existence depends on opposition to the organization (Grunig et al., 2002, p. 460).\nLiterature review: There is a vast body of academic research and professional handbooks on publics, and crisis communication, which is relevant to the handling of opponent publics during and after crises. Perhaps, the most important research on publics should be credited to Grunig who defined and identified one of the two key terms in public relations: \"public\" (Kim and Ni, 2013, p. 126).\nMethodology: Qualitative research was chosen to reach out to respondents who are unwilling to participate in quantitative research programs, due to their senior positions in the public relations industry in Poland, usually busy schedules, and focus on managing daily operations. Moreover, a number of crisis communication managers in Poland are limited, and therefore any attempt to address their majority or to compile a representative sample for a survey was not likely to bring any results.\nData collection: To better understand communication with opponents during and after crises, ten in-depth personal interviews with senior communication executives were conducted in April and May 2018 in Warsaw. The interviews lasted 45-80 min and were based on a questionnaire developed from the concepts of crisis communication, opponent or activist publics and communication techniques, supplemented by the author's professional background. Due to non-disclosure policies of respondents' clients and employers, the researcher asked about more generic issues and focused on mechanisms, strategies and methods used in communication with opponent publics before, during and after crises.\nSampling: The study used a purposive and highly selective sample of senior communication practitioners whose opinions can explain such issues as conflicts, arguments and crisis communication. Respondents were selected from the author's network of communication experts in Poland, built during his three decades in the public relations industry. Sampling was based on respondents' professional statures and accomplishments, and on their experience in crisis communication. Respondents were assured of confidentiality and agreed that their names or affiliations would not be disclosed, except for generic descriptions. This group included eight males and two females, aged 40-65, with long communication experience (lasting 15-30 years), who personally handled major crises.\nData gathering, analysis and interpretation: Data were gathered during semi-structured interviews, supported by a ten-item questionnaire based on a literature review and professional experience of the author. Sample questions were fielded according to the questionnaire; however, when respondents wanted to rephrase issues to be discussed or to add their comments on communication with opponents, they were allowed to do so, and the interview did not strictly comply to its scenario. Interviews were finished when all subjects of interest were covered, and answers began to be redundant.\nFindings: This study brought a breadth of knowledge, professional suggestions, opinions and comments on crisis communication, role and evolution of opponent publics in crises and methods to handle them during controversies and later. The respondents - who all handled major crises personally - represented diverse organizations: public relations agencies and communication departments at top Polish firms and institutions:\nAfter the war: How to get along after an extended period of hostility\nResults and conclusions: The research clearly identified that Polish crisis managers are aware that their opponents are among the strategic publics that need to be addressed before, during and after a crisis. Despite their knowledge, some communication managers - perhaps influenced or forced by bosses or clients - still resort to one-way, propaganda-like public relations strategies in crises. The reason for such inconsistency might be that many Polish executives (who make final decisions on organizational strategies in crises and supervise public relations teams) prefer showing their point of view rather than engaging in a difficult dialogue with negative publics.\nPractical and social implications: The research sheds light on how to handle relationships with adversaries during and after a crisis. It prepares an institution facing a crisis for a post-crisis stage by developing relationship strategies with opponents to be implemented during the crisis and afterward.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find out how organizations communicate with their opponents during crises and later.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative research that is interviews with crisis communication professionals in Poland was conducted to explore their opinions, attitudes and practices toward opponents in crises, communication tools employed, methods of settling conflicts and ways of getting along with the former opponents later.\nFindings: Communication and crisis managers provided in-depth insights on how they approach opponents during crises and later. Even though public relations professionals are aware that communicating with activist or hostile publics in times of turmoil is important, they pay more attention to internal publics and media. Senior executives often perceive media and journalists as crucial channels to reach out to different stakeholder groups during crises. Ongoing communication with opponents (or former opponents) - also after crises - mostly remains a high call for public relations professionals.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to corporate and crisis communication research by presenting how opponent publics are handled by communication professionals in crises. It shows that most organizations need to rethink their crisis strategies to include opponents in their relationship building, and to maintain these relationships with former opponents beyond the time of crisis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of business process configurations on user motivation	[ "Information technology", "Motivation", "Business process management", "Competence", "Case management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Structuring the activities of organizational members into business processes is among the dominant approaches to achieving organizational coordination (Hammer, 2010), and information technology (IT) is recognized as a powerful business process enabler (Davenport and Short, 1990, Rosemann and vom Brocke, 2010). Organizational adoption of IT typically results in changes to organizational routines (Goh et al., 2011; Leonardi, 2011), and conversely, changes in organizational routines are often implemented through changes in IT. IT and organizational routines profoundly influence the job design of individual process participants and, as a result, can impact individual-level outcomes such as motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity (Graen and Novak, 1982; Hackman and Lawler, 1971; Hackman and Oldham, 1976; Maxwell, 2008).\nTheoretical underpinnings: Motivation research\nResearch hypotheses: Satisfaction of the universal psychological needs for autonomy and competence provide an essential link between business process configurations such as process rule complexity, case backlog, case presentation method, and individual motivation (see Table I for definitions of constructs employed in this study).\nResearch method and study context: We tested the formulated hypotheses using an experimental simulation involving students enrolled in undergraduate business courses at a large public university in the USA. We employed a 2x2x2 experimental design, where process rule complexity, backlog, and case distribution method were each manipulated at two levels, and perceived competence, perceived autonomy and motivation were measured using a survey administered immediately after the completion of the experimental task.\nExperimental procedure and treatments: To ensure generalizability of our results to real-life work environments while maintaining a high level of experimental control and internal validity, we selected experimental simulation as a research approach. Like laboratory experiments, experimental simulations involve the manipulation of independent variables, but are characterized by \"an attempt to retain some realism of content\" (McGrath, 1981, p. 185). In our study, this realism of content was maintained by using an actual business process. As a part of the experimental simulation, subjects were asked to act as associates in a catering company and to process catering requests using the Catering Order Entry System, a web-based application developed for the study. The catering order process was chosen because it was easy for study participants to conceptualize, and was confirmed as both accurate and complete by representatives of an actual catering organization. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the eight treatment groups.\nMeasurement instrument: Levels of perceived autonomy, competence, and motivation were captured using a survey. The survey was administered immediately following completion of the experimental task, and responses to survey questions were associated with the information about experimental treatment groups for each subject. A scale for autonomy was developed based on the Basic Need Satisfaction at Work Scale (Deci et al., 2001; Ilardi et al., 1993), while a scale for competence was developed based on the Perceived Competence Scale (Williams and Deci, 1996; Williams et al., 1998). We operationalized intrinsic motivation in terms of motivation to complete more work and items were developed by the researchers for the measurement of this construct. All questions in the measurement scales were formulated in relation to the participant experiences during the experimental task. Table II displays the items used in our questionnaire.\nAnalysis: Data description and validity checks\nHypothesis testing: In order to test the hypotheses specified in our research model, a three-phased approach was used. First, the data were examined to ensure that they adequately conform to the assumptions of the planned statistical procedures. Second, the effect of our experimental manipulations on autonomy and competence was examined using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and ANOVA techniques. Finally, the relationship between autonomy, competence, and motivation was assessed using multivariate linear regression.\nDiscussion: The results of our study suggest that business process configurations influence the perceived competence level of process participants, an antecedent of intrinsic motivation. The effect of process rule complexity on competence is rather intuitive. Complex process rules require more time to learn (Muketha et al., 2010) and participants have less time to complete work. The inability to complete work within a defined time limit is an emotional stressor (Garst et al., 2000), which reduces feelings of competence. The results obtained in the experiment are based on a short exposure to the process and relatively simple business rules. Although, in real settings, processes participants typically have more time to learn underlying business rules and process work, the actual business processes are significantly more complex (Rosemann, 2006). Therefore, we expect this relationship to hold in real settings.\nLimitations and future research: In interpreting the results of the study it is important to note several limitations. First, this study focusses on a narrow subset of business process configurations, and future research should engage in a systematic examination of other configurations which may influence motivation and other individual outcomes. Second, we have focussed factors that influence motivation through competence and autonomy. Future research should examine business process configurations which may influence relatedness perceptions of process participants. In terms of the generalizability of our study results, reliance on experimental settings as well as the use of college students as subjects is a limitation. In addition, our study participants had less exposure to the process and less time to work with the IT than would be expected in real settings. Although we attempted to retain content realism by asking participants to work with a real business process, the study lacked contextual realism. Therefore, replication of the study in a field setting may be a fruitful direction for future research. Additionally, we have considered a relatively simple business process, with only one process participant. With typical business processing spanning multiple participants, business functions, or even organizations (Hammer, 2010), to ensure the broader generalizability of our results, the effect of complexity, backlog and distribution method in more complex, multi-participant settings needs to be examined. Finally, the study employs a binary manipulation of process rule complexity, and a binary conceptualization and manipulation of backlog. Repeating the experiment with these factors manipulated at several levels will be a useful extension of this study.\nConclusions: Organizational business processes and IT systems provide the context for a substantial part of human activity. As such, they provide an environment that can either encourage or inhibit the intrinsic motivation of organizational members. Satisfaction of universal psychological needs for autonomy and competence are critical to fostering intrinsic motivation. To the extent that business processes create conditions that are nutritive or non-nutritive to the satisfaction of the needs for autonomy and competence, they are likely to promote or impede the development of intrinsic motivation in process participants.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how business process configurations influence motivation among process participants.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An experiment was conducted in which business process rules complexity, work backlog, and case distribution method were manipulated. Participant motivation and its antecedents were measured using a survey.\nFindings: The study finds that business process configurations influence the motivation of process participants through their effect on perceived competence. Increasing business process rules complexity reduces competence. The effect of case distribution method on competence depends on backlog. Sequential distribution undermines competence in the presence of backlog, and enhances competence when backlog is absent. However, batch distribution results in higher competence in the presence of backlog than in its absence.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study confirms the applicability of self-determination theory for analyzing the effect of work settings, including business process configurations, on employee motivation. The study further demonstrates the applicability of the task technology fit model in the context of business process automation.\nPractical implications: The study suggests that reducing process complexity through the use of information technology can benefit process participant motivation. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of case distribution method on performance expectations.\nOriginality/value: While much of the extant research has considered the enhancement of business processes at the organizational level, this study examines how business process design can be used to preserve and potentially enhance the motivation of human process participants.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The facilities management market in Denmark	[ "Facilities", "Market research", "Denmark", "Standards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: One of the interesting things about Facilities Management (FM) as a field of practice is, that is a combination of, on one side an internal corporate function under constant reformation in accordance with the development and the changing needs of the core business, and on the other side a market in considerable growth and consolidation due to the increase in outsourcing and the business strategies of a range of different types of provider companies. This combination of internal and external relationships and business incentives gives strong dynamic forces, which shape this field of practice and the related profession and academic discipline. The author has in a recent article in Facilities presented an empirical study of the origin and constitution of FM as an integrated corporate function (Jensen, 2008). This article will focus on the external relationships by presenting a study of the FM market, where a proposal for a new European standard on a taxonomy of FM has been used and tested for the first time.At the Centre for Facilities Management - Realdania Research (CFM), which started in 2008, we have as the first finished research project carried out a study about the Danish market for Facilities Management. We see it as a necessary basis for our research to get a better documented overview of the FM area in general, and the project about the FM market is a central element in creating such an overview. The author of this paper is head of CFM and was project manager of the project. It was done in collaboration with the consulting company Ramboll Management, who were responsible for the data collection by a large number of telephone interviews and data analyses, including estimation of the size of the total Danish FM market.One of the big challenges of researching the market for FM is the lack of a clear identification and delimitation of this market. Therefore, an important step in the project has been to make such identification. I have been responsible for this and have utilized my concurrent involvement in the ongoing European FM standardisation work in CEN/TC348 to test the proposed taxonomy for FM, which has been developed since 2006 and prepared for public hearing in 2009. I am vice-chairman of the Danish mirror committee and have been involved in both the technical committee and the work groups under CEN/TC348, which developed the first European FM standard on terms and definitions (CEN/TC348, 2006a) and the new proposal for the FM taxonomi (CEN/TC348, 2008b).This paper presents the main results concerning the Danish FM market as well as the results of the test of the proposed European standard for a taxonomy of FM. The aim is to make an evaluation of the proposed taxonomy, which can form a basis for improvements in the taxonomy before it is finalised and approved as an official European standard. The taxonomy is a crucial element in the development of a common identity for FM and therefore of great importance for both research and practice, including how the market for FM can be understood and investigated in the future.The paper starts by presenting the state-of-the-art both for the European FM standardisation and for market research within FM in Europe. Then the research methodology for the project in general and the market surveys in particular is explained. After that the main research findings of the surveys are presented divided in results for providers, clients and the total Danish FM market. The survey results are discussed and the use of the proposed taxonomy of FM is evaluated. The conclusion gives recommendations for improvements in the taxonomy.\nState-of-the-art: The European FM standardisation\nResearch methodology: The basis for the research\nResearch findings: Results for the providers\nDiscussion: The results of the surveys\nConclusion: The state-of-the-art of market research in FM shows that there are big variations both in the estimations of the market size and in the methods applied. The study presented here is the first independent in depth study of the Danish market and by using a large number of telephone interviews it has covered a larger share of the market than most FM market studies in other countries. It is also the first market research study to use the new proposal for a European taxonomy of FM as a basis for identification of the FM market.The results of the evaluation of the taxonomy show that particularly the broad way of using space as a FM product creates problem. It is not in line with the thinking among practitioners to include space acquisition as well as development, administration, operation, maintenance and utilities in the same item. The idea to include space acquisition in the taxonomy is fine and can be a good way forward in developing the scope of FM and supporting the use of life cycle thinking, but to include it in the same main product as operation and maintenance is problematic. Therefore it is strongly recommended to separate the product of space in one or more products for space acquisition or provision and one or more products for property administration, portfolio optimisation, maintenance and operation, and utilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to present the results of market surveys in Denmark, which have been based on and used to test a proposal for a new European standard for a taxonomy of Facilities Management (FM).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The market research included surveys of both the client side and the provider side and was carried out by a management consultant company by telephone interviews based on definitions developed from drafts for the European FM taxonomy standard by a university researcher, who is a member of the standardisation work group.\nFindings: - The proposed taxonomy for FM is in general a good basis for researching the market but in particular the definition of space including acquisition as well as development, administration, operation, maintenance and utilities in the same main product is problematic.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The market research is limited to the Danish market, but the results of the test of the proposed European standard for an FM taxonomy has implications for the whole of Europe.\nPractical implications: - The results of the test of the proposed European standard for an FM taxonomy should lead to adjustments in the way space is treated in the taxonomy before it becomes accepted as a new European standard.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first time that the proposed taxonomy standard for FM has been tested in empirical research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of SMEs in improving the competitive position of the European Union	[ "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "European Union" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Of late an increased importance has been given to small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with regards to the industrial policy of the European Union (EU). Indeed the opening up of greater competition in the single market has introduced both increased opportunities and threats for SMEs. This article sets out to question whether this revised role is justified. The various approaches towards SMEs in member states will be contrasted. The main benefits to be achieved from increased policy focus on SMEs will be considered. It is then further questioned whether the enterprise policy is focused on the specific needs of SMEs and to what extent policy can be harmonised across member states.SMEs now account for 99 per cent of activity in the EU, according to the \"European competitiveness report\" (Commission of the European Communities, 2003). The definition of SMEs includes all firms employing up to 250 people according to Johnson and Turner (2000). There is also a requirement on turnover activity in order to be classified as a particular type of firm (see Table I).\nSMEs have a lot to offer: SMEs offer substantial benefits arising from the ability to work flexibly from your own home particularly if you are a micro firm where has seen much growth of late. Flexible working can be more easily done by small firms, working on line helps save transport costs to and from work as well as saving time and avoiding possible delays. People may feel willing to put in extra time when working from home in a more comfortable environment. Advantage West Midlands Regional Development Agency states the average cost of manning a desk of square metres in an office location is approximately PS500 per month in the UK. In addition office environments can also cause more stress and more work from home may help reduce possible differences of opinion that may occur between certain members of staff. However Harris (2003) shows that benefits from working from home are better for individuals without families since there may be a conflict with family pressures for some people. Small firms have had less problems with labour relations than their larger competitors. Small firms have traditionally offered the benefit of being able to change production quickly compared with larger firms. There has been an increased importance to provide more differentiated products for consumers as traditional markets have become saturated. Furthermore small firms can also offer a specialised personal service, thus further differentiating business activity. The more traditional theories of business organisation such as that of Chandler (1990) suggested that you needed to be big to be successful and achieve the benefits of economic of scale. Indeed earlier thinking by Cecchini (1988) suggested that small firms may lose out as large firms get the benefits of economics of scale. However recent evolutionary theories, e.g. Jovanovic (1992), have shown smaller firms to have greater benefits for economic activity.Smaller firms tend to be younger firms that are more willing to take risks and become more innovative than their larger counterparts as suggested by Hall (1995). Small firms have a role to play in increasing innovation and reducing the productivity gap when the EU is compared with the US, according to the \"European competitiveness report\" (Commission of the European Communities, 2003). In addition Johnson and Turner (2000) shows that SMEs tend to employ younger people who may be more efficient and willing to learn new skills. Moreover, Small firms have become involved in job creation in business sectors where there have been recent decreases in unemployment as a whole that has not always been the case for larger firms. There is also a role for SMEs in reducing the productivity gap between the EU and the US, see Table II. Larger firms in manufacturing tend to be suffering from over capacity and deindustrialisation whereas there have been more small firms focussing business activity in the newer and greater growth potential tertiary industries. A recent CBI survey, in January 2004, in the UK for 2004 suggests that over 48,000 jobs will be lost in the manufacturing sector in 2004. In addition there will be further shifts in call centre jobs from the UK to other emerging markets such as China and India. The CBI suggests also that the UK and Europe should focus on innovation, which we shows great potential for, and for more valued added production. It is further suggested that the EU needs to support the complete innovation process since many goods have been innovated in Europe but further designed and produced elsewhere in the world. Small firms in addition benefit from a reduction in legal requirements, for example full sets of accounts do not need to be made public as in the case of larger firms quoted on stock exchanges. Small firms further benefit the economy in that many people often have a first job with a small firm rather than a larger one, workers also benefit from using a broader range of skills which may benefit society in the future years ahead.The recent EU policy of encouraging national governments to establish lower taxation and supporting technology parks has also helped create an increased number of successful small firms. Small firms have succeeded further internationally where industrial clusters have been developed to support a range of small business development activities.\nEU policy-making: More recently the EU has begun to focus on entrepreneurship as part of its industrial policy rather than focusing mostly on large-scale innovation. Small firms tend to be more flexible and engage in adaptive innovation that brings further economic benefits. Product differentiation and lateral thinking help create a broader product range in order to create more choice and employment opportunities. Policies have included advice on exporting as well as money for start up. Information technology training has also been seen as a vehicle for entrepreneurs since small firms tend to benefit from flexible working hours. Further policy has also involved creating clusters of firms that can work close to each other and create further spin offs associated with technology parks, for example, having a presence where there are many firms in a particular industry is likely to attract many visitors. The new green paper on entrepreneurship (European Foundation for Management Development, 2003) sets out to promote awareness of the benefits of entrepreneurship through business start-ups. The first green paper in 1995 showed the need to focus on small business and innovation rather than on industrial policy per se. The EU had been giving subsidies and loans to business in many strategic areas by means of its industrial policy which ran through the 1980s and 1990s. These days there is a separate source of support for enterprise in addition to targeting large world class industrial sectors such as aeroengines and biotechnology. There has also been an increased emphasis on deregulation of markets rather than on automatic subsidies as first shown in the 1993 white paper on growth, competitiveness and employment (European Commission, 1993).Information technology has been seen as an important part of SME policy since more firms are doing business on the internet. Kula and Tatoglu (2002) show that some SMEs are also using the internet as a tool for their marketing strategy. Indeed more should be done to encourage greater use of information technology in a variety of roles in order to gain a competitive advantage over rival country firms.The EU has recognised there to be a need for a compensation mechanism in order to see the single market flourish. Furthermore, the regulation mechanism that has been initiated to create a single market should help allow SMEs the opportunity to gain access to a larger market. This has been seen to be the case as more SMEs have become involved in international business. Exporting firms need advise on market entry strategies. According to Johanson and Vahlne (1977) firms tend to export first and later may become involved in Greenfield, alliance or merger activity as the internationalisation process progresses.Small firms and enterprise policy has evolved out of many previous EU policies associated with the industrial policy framework. Any new focus on enterprise policy will therefore show elements of these main strands. Recent industrial policy has begun to focus on supply-side measures and deregulation in order to complete a single market, this approach was very much evident in the white paper on growth, competitiveness and employment (European Commission, 1993). The recent sixth framework initiative focuses on funding key areas including information technology, biotechnology, innovation, the creation of an information society, achieving sustainable growth, and over EUR17 billion have been devoted to this between now and 2006. The policy expands on the fifth framework in that there has been an attempt to link together more the key priority areas. However much of these funds have gone to larger firms with research records in the past.Small firms can also benefit from regional policy initiatives including start-ups and ESF funding. Small firms have in addition participated in education and business partnerships including ESPRIT and RACE and recent organisational contact schemes such as Europarternariat and the establishment of 275 European business information centres linking chambers of commerce. There is advice for those wishing to export and use new information technology.Moreover, there is a European charter for small businesses established in 2002. This is to support a friendly environment for small business.The main areas focus around improving skills and education, advice and support on start-ups and streamlining the legal and regulation process for SMEs. Networking is also encouraged for small firms in order to create knowledge and expertise as well as clustering firms in key sectors in order to create additional benefits and trade.The 2003 green paper (European Foundation for Management Development, 2003) views opportunity recognition and the exploitation of creativity as being crucial for success. Risk taking and sound management applicable to all business sectors are other key attributes. Half the rate of people as a percentage of the workforce, are willing to set up a new business and the EU has more unemployment compared with the US, according to the paper. Policy focus is on identifying barriers to preventing entrepreneurial activity. Indeed some regions of Europe show less activity than others, often in areas with low activity there has been more concentration on manufacturing and large-scale factory employment where often the population does not know of many entrepreneurs. There is also a lack of awareness of business culture in Europe which needs to be better understood according to the European Foundation for Management Development. Education is essential. There has also been a movement in EU countries to simplify taxation procedures and introduce more favourable rates for SMEs.\nContrasting national policies: There has always been a change in approach towards supporting firms in EU countries. In the UK since the 1980s there has been the introduction of an increased free market philosophy where it has been thought that limited intervention and more market forces would lead to an environment that would bring the best out of firms. The dirigiste approach more commonly found in France and Germany allowed for more government support in the hope that this would lead to more long-term investment and that these conditions would bring out the best in firms.Examples of the difference in support for SMEs can be shown from the national level, according to Lauder et al. (1994). Germany for example allows for subsidised finance of SMEs in addition to offering a lower inflation and interest climate than the UK. Even though interest rates are lower now than in the UK at 3.75 per cent (January 2004), the rate is 2 per cent in the Eurozone and also lower in both the US and Japan at under 1 per cent. German SMEs have also been offered subsidised finance in addition to this. Tax rates in the UK have been lower than Germany but more recently Germany has reduced rates. The UK has moved even further and the VAT for small business start-ups has been reduced by 4 per cent in the pre-budget report in 2003.Germany also varies from the UK in that local regions are given more power to allocate regional assistance whereas in the UK most of the regional assistance is only given out from EU aid. In Germany there have been more clear guidelines for support compared with the system of TECS in the UK. The former TECS and recent learning and skills councils though have offered more focused support whereas the German system has supported more long-term apprenticeships with regards to taking on new staff. Schemes in the UK such as the New Deal have encouraged firms to take on workers at low cost. In addition, costs of hiring and firing tend to be higher in the UK as well as social security and unemployment benefit being lower than in Germany. This may encourage small firms to take on more staff, especially with a lower minimum wage in the UK, but workers may be less willing to remain loyal to their employers. German firms have made more headway on innovation over a broad range of sectors whereas British firms have showed pockets of expertise in a small number of sectors including, for example, pharmacy. Success, according to Van Reenen (1997), has been due to good links with universities and research laboratories that have been in clusters across a small number of regions including Oxford, Cambridge and London.\nConclusion: It has been shown that the role in supporting SMEs has changed both in EU policy approach as well as from a national perspective. The EU has now begun to coordinate a more specific policy rather than perceiving enterprise policy as an addition to industrial policy as was the case in the past. There is now an understanding that policy should include the broad range of skills necessary to encourage entrepreneurship, innovation and internationalisation. Policy is now being coordinated around these key main areas. National policy of promoting SMEs has varied in EU countries as has been shown in the cases of the UK and Germany, this reflects key differences in industrial policy. However, gradually there is more convergence as all countries see the need for policies that make it easier to succeed in today's increasingly competitive global environment. These policies have included reducing red tape, encouraging networking and clustering, an increased understanding of the importance of information technology, and knowledge of the markets which they may wish to export to. There have also been funds allocated to encourage start-ups. However success will very much depend on whether such initiatives take off in all of the many regions of the EU rather than creating further regional disparities. More positively though, having such a broad range of enterprise initiatives in EU policy-making as is the case today should help encourage activity across a wider section of both regions and industries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper sets out to examine the increasing importance of small firms in the European Union (FEU). It further contrasts policy making in EU member states and it traces the development of an emerging EU-wide policy-making process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Theories of entrepreneurship are drawn upon and data on the role of small firms are considered.\nFindings: - Evidence suggests that some reorganisation of policy making in this field may be justified.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limitations of current policy making are considered and suggestions are made on how enterprise policy making should be shaped in the future.\nOriginality/value: - Further work contrasting the success of other global competitors may also be warranted.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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