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Research management and policy: incentives and obstacles to a better public-private interaction	[ "Research", "Innovation", "Denmark", "Public sector organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A study of innovation and dynamics in public research environments in Denmark (Kalpazidou Schmidt et al., 2003) highlighted factors that characterise dynamic and innovative public research environments. One characteristic feature of such environments is their ability to respond to external stimuli and changes in the surrounding society; they are open and receptive to societal requirements, including those from the private sector, and have well-established networks to international research environments and other actors, such as industry and policymakers. Having those findings in mind - and the increasing demands for societal relevance of outcomes and justification for public funding - a new study was conducted on the public-private sector linkages (Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2003).This article discusses the public research - private sector relationship in Denmark, identifies obstacles that enterprises experience when cooperating with public research institutions, outlines the conditions that influence the relationship and points to improvements. The article addresses the following questions:* What are the perceptions and attitudes of the private sector towards public research - private sector linkage?* What are the obstacles that impede more intensive public-private interaction?* How can the interaction be further stimulated and the resources better used?The issue is being approached from the point of view of the private sector. The article, based on an empirical study conducted among Danish business executives of leading research-based companies, seeks to identify the obstacles to better public-private cooperation and the instruments to further stimulate the interface.With respect to public-private cooperation in Denmark, the state of the art is basically not different from other industrialised countries, in particular European, with high research and technological development (RTD) intensity and well-developed infrastructures, where - as a rule - only parts of the private sector, and mainly larger companies, have established cooperation with public research (see Polt et al., 2001). The results presented here might hence be of broader interest to research managers, policy makers and business executives, as findings could provide tools for improvement of interface activities in other countries with similar conditions.\nMethodology: The study the article builds on had a qualitative approach. It was based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with business executives and research leaders of 31 leading enterprises with extensive research activities and experiences from cooperation with public research in Denmark and worldwide. A range of different companies from all business sectors, spanning from large traditional companies to Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs), were selected in order to obtain a comprehensive illustration of the issue in focus. The main selection criterion was companies' proportion of research input out of the total expenditure. Business executives represented different sectors (spanning from consulting firms and non-profit organisations, to research parks, biomedical and traditional manufacturing industries). Company size varied also - 20 managers were engaged in larger companies with more than 250 employees while 11 were employed by SMEs. 24 interviewees had an academic background, seven of them were researchers as well. The common characteristic of the interviewees was a broad experience from cooperation with university researchers.The collected qualitative data are discussed in the light of relevant quantitative data from other studies in the subject to obtain a comprehensive picture of the problem in focus and at the same time put the issue in a broader context.The article consists of three sections. In the first section, the point of reference for the study is briefly presented. In the second section the results of the study this article is based on are presented and analysed. Finally, in section three implications for research management, policy and practice are discussed.\n1. Point of reference: Denmark is one of the European Unions member states with an above average RTD and innovation performance, keeping a position as one of the richest countries in the world, measured in per capita income. The Danish RTD and innovation system is characterised as a strong and quite well functioning with a number of competitive strengths and few serious weaknesses. The challenges for the Danish system, compared to other countries, are primarily related to application and transmission of knowledge. These challenges are not linked to low industry RTD performance; it is in fact more an issue of behavioural attitude and entrepreneurial culture (European Commission, 2004).Danish industry has traditionally been strongly present in the overall RTD and innovation system (industrial share of RTD is estimated to 69 per cent). The resources used on RTD and innovation in industry, however, show considerable differentiation as regards sub sector and company size with larger companies spending most. In addition Danish SMEs, despite low innovation expenditure, are considered as particularly strong at innovating, networking and cooperating with each other, and with customers and suppliers. This type of entrepreneurial culture has been efficient and was able to partly substitute low SMEs in-house innovation.It is evident that the extent of collaboration between the private sector and public research differs; Larger RTD intensive companies with established research departments have deep-rooted relations with public research. Companies benefit from the cooperation, and have a series of competitive advantages compared to those without interface with public research. A study of 600 private companies in Denmark reveals that nearly 60 per cent of those that have had an actual collaboration with public research institutions point out that knowledge produced by means of public funding is of significance for their companies' innovation capability. These companies call for strengthening of ties with public research (Graversen et al., 2003).Other studies reveal that Danish public research managers and researchers demonstrate positive attitudes to enhanced linkages with the private sector (Graversen et al., 2002; Langberg and Lauridsen, 2001; Lauridsen, 2002).The above mentioned studies confirm that despite willingness to collaborate, the extent and pace of cooperation between public-private, in particular among SMEs, require further attention. The issue of obstacles to such cooperation has not been studied in its full range, and there are only few, primarily quantitative studies within the Danish framework.In conclusion, the overall Danish RTD and innovation system is rather strong with few weak points. One weakness is the limited cooperation between public and private research. A key question is thus whether the Danish and similar systems can continue to be successful in the knowledge-based economy considering the fact that public-private cooperation is limited to large companies and important knowledge is not being exploited.\n2. The study: The main results of the qualitative study are presented in the following sections. The results reveal that there are different perceptions of the function and role of public research (universities are the main producers of such research), their management and leadership, objectives, strategies and instrumentation. Managers describe obstacles to cooperation and offer suggestions to incentives and instruments that can be used to intensify the exchange of knowledge.2.1 Perceptions on and attitudes towards public research\n3. Conclusions: implications for management and policy: The general Danish framework for closer public-private relationships has as such never been more favourable. Nevertheless, in the discussion of framework conditions to public-private interaction it is important to emphasize the differences in the relations defined by sector, type of company and public institution. Larger companies have no difficulties in collaborating with public research institutions. Interface with public research has long been a tradition. Companies have the absorbing capability for a meaningful interaction and have learnt how to manage the relationship. On the other side, parts of public research (mainly applied-oriented) have established institutional structures and readiness to cooperation.As mentioned, SMEs are in a different situation, although some progress has been noticed recently. Many SMEs have little or no experience of this type of interaction due to lack of in-house capabilities and limited information on the existing knowledge reservoir and potential gains of cooperation. Low level of public-private relations among SMEs is as a rule attributed to lack of demand. It is also attributed to lack of knowledge transfer from public institutions.Focusing on the absorption capacity of SMEs, the direct significance of public research is typically low. The type of knowledge usually offered by public research is new technical and methodological knowledge, mainly required by activities oriented towards developing new technologies, materials and products that are market innovations. Activities as such take place in an early stage of the process, before market entry and under low competition conditions. Innovation activities are hence characterised by high uncertainty and low demand for outcome. This implies that only few companies are engaged in such activities that are either start-up by researchers or well-established companies and which use research to launch new activities through joint research or mobility. The great majority of innovation activities are located in later stages of the process, in the redesigning of existing products to market needs, but also in transmission of new research to new areas of application and adoption of new technology produced elsewhere. This kind of activities requires interaction with clients and suppliers, and study of market developments. As a consequence, the public-private relation in RTD and innovation processes is relevant only to a small part of SMEs (see Polt et al., 2001).The ability of companies to benefit from interaction with public research varies greatly. Companies and public institutions use a variety of channels to exchange knowledge and technology. There is hence no single best practice model but different modes of interactions (see Carayol, 2003; Clark, 1998).Focusing on the outcome of public-private cooperation, it is obvious that there is a considerable disparity between outcomes and what is considered as potentially marketable. Despite the fact that science and technology are getting closer to each other and the time-span between invention and commercialisation is decreasing, the time from invention to production and marketing can be long, again depending on sector and market. By tradition, public researchers are reluctant to engage in this process and perceive commercialisation of results as a time-consuming process.Furthermore, there is a divergence between how innovativeness is defined in academia and in industry, which has its origin in the divergence of research objectives between the sectors. Academia defines innovation in terms of advances in knowledge, provision of new subjects for further research and deepening of understanding of processes (know why, how and what). Industry defines innovation in terms of added value, new applications and financial revenues (see Mansfield, 1998). The two definitions do not exclude each other but they often have difficulty to integrate, primarily due to the fact that the main performance indicators for researchers are publications, not applications.In conclusion, important barriers to interaction are differences in objectives of public research and enterprises RTD, incompatible activities and lack of absorbing capabilities, differences in cultures, values and norms, and lack of incentives and reward mechanisms for public researchers.Features of significance for management and policy are below described at different levels and within different operational frameworks, paying in particular attention to measures at structural and contextual, legislative and institutional, cultural and normative level.Structural and contextual level\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the public-private linkage within the Danish research and technological development (RTD) and innovation system, seen from the point of view of the private sector. The relationship between public and private research is an issue of growing interest to management and public policy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on interviews with business managers, the article identifies obstacles that enterprises experience when cooperating with public research institutions and highlights conditions that influence the relationship.\nFindings: - The paper points to ways to strengthen linkages and provides information on how to further stimulate public-private interaction and thus make better use of resources through synergy.\nOriginality/value: - The analysis in the paper offers an insight that can serve as a reference for researchers, managers and policymakers in countries with conditions similar to those of the Danish.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Low-income low-qualified employees' access to workplace learning	[ "Case study", "Workplace learning", "Employee development", "Employability", "Equal opportunities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: An individual's employability is described as his or her ability to qualify for and acquire a job, retain a job and qualify for lateral or upward job mobility in the internal or external job market (Raemdonck et al., 2012). However, discussions of employability tend to focus on transitions from higher education to work, rather than workers' employability with their current employer or within the labor market (Little, 2010). In this discussion article, we examine workers' employability with their current employer and the link to workplace learning.\nPrevious research: Previous research indicates that access to workplace learning is dependent on multiple factors of informal and formal supervisor-subordinate relationships such as value system congruence (Sue-Chan et al., 2012; Markham et al., 2010), assimilation of appropriate behaviors (Spencer and Castano, 2007) and acceptance into peer in-groups who share constructs of socially acceptable group behaviors (Le Clus, 2010; Matsumoto, 2006). Among these factors, access is negatively impacted by unequal power structures (Munro et al., 2004; Spencer, 2002), different socioeconomic status and different worldviews (Croteau et al., 2002; Harley et al., 2002). In addition, employers must work within a budget where most training funds are allocated to high-qualified employees with prior formal education (Spencer, 2002). It is assumed that employees with previous education \"are better prepared to engage in learning\" (Lundvall et al., 2008, p. 689). Consequently, low-qualified employees typically receive workplace learning opportunities that include new hire orientations and job-specific and safety training (Spencer, 2002).\nMethodology: Studies informed by the sociomaterial approach and CHAT typically use a wide variety of qualitative methods, in particular case studies drawing on participant observations and interviews (Fenwick et al., 2011). Following this tradition, our study adopted a qualitative cross-case study methodology to understand three business owners' experiences from their perspective. Merriam (1998) described a cross-case study as multiple individual case studies from similar bounded systems that are analyzed and then compared with the intent to generalize data between the multiple cases. In this study, each business owner was treated as a case and their employment relationships as bounded systems.\nFindings: This section reports major findings of the study. Three themes emerged from our thematic analysis. They are:\nDiscussion and conclusion: Becker (1993) suggested that employers make decisions about investing in employees' learning based on potential returns on investment. He also suggested that employees who do not receive access to workplace learning become less valuable to their organizations, impacting their long-term employability and job mobility with their current employer. In this discussion we focus on workers' employability with their current employers and elucidating the link to accessing workplace learning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the embedded process that enables or constrains low-income low-qualified employees' access to workplace learning in small organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Informed by the sociomaterial approach and cultural historical activity theory, this study adopted a qualitative cross-case study method. Data were collected from three small business owners in Central Texas, USA. Data included interviews and organizational artifacts and were analyzed using a constant comparative and inductive thematic data analysis.\nFindings: This study extends existing literature for low-income low-qualified employees by elucidating business owners' motivations to develop supportive employment relationships. Despite incongruent value systems, subordinates were provided equal access to workplace learning based on organizations' needs and business owners' value systems.\nResearch limitations/implications: The organizations' small size and business owners' position as the sole decision maker potentially create a different embedded context from supervisors who are subordinates in larger organizations. Further, findings from this qualitative study cannot be generalized without caution.\nPractical implications: The findings from this study suggest that workforce professionals should consider the advantages of small organizations for low-qualified clients seeking employment and adult education opportunities. More research is needed to generalize findings that delineate work situations where low-qualified employees can gain equal access to workplace learning and gain access to adult learning opportunities that lead to job mobility.\nOriginality/value: This study identified an organizational context where business owners support workplace learning for low-income low-qualified employees with incongruent value systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Performance assessment for school leaders: comparing field trial and implementation results	[ "Performance assessment", "Licensure", "Aspiring leaders" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper provides evidence on the validity and use of a new performance assessment system currently used in one state - Massachusetts - to evaluate candidate readiness for leadership licensure and initial school leadership positions. Two years of candidate assessments for work products submitted for four performance tasks, each scored using several standards-based rubrics, enabled exploration of measurement validity, the consequential use of passing scores, and the effects of the imposition of fees on candidate assessment participation and performance. Assessment results also allowed for comparison of year-to-year differences in the relationship between scores and candidate characteristics, and of modes of leadership preparation. These results provide critical guidance in addressing the current policy need for valid and reliable authentic leadership assessments and the consequences of their use.\nTheoretical background: The performance assessment concept\nThe nature of the performance assessment for leaders (PAL): The components\nPAL standard setting and passing scores: There were two key assessment differences between the PAL field trial and implementation year: the revision of the instructions and rubrics to clarify standards for both performance; and the creation and subsequent application of content mastery criteria and score levels to candidate submissions to differentiate between meeting and failing to meet minimum performance expectations. Standard setting was conceptualized along a continuum of measured performance for the content standards, and cut scores were determined for the minimum performance level for meeting expectations. In this way, candidates could be separated based on how well they perform, as is recommended by educational psychometricians (Cizek, 2006, 2012; Haertel, 2002; Kane, 1994).\nMethods, data sources and analysis of PAL: The following sections present the PAL score results from the field trial and implementation periods, with analyses that address four research questions:\nFindings: Score patterns over two years\nDiscussion: The study yields several clear findings. First, candidates' score performance was better in the implementation year on all four tasks, and overall, than in the field trial year. The proportion who achieved a passing score increased dramatically: from 69 percent for field trial candidates to 86 percent for implementation year candidates. At the same time, however, the number of candidates dropped from 416 in the field trial year to 153 in the implementation year (when fees and cut scores were added, and instructions and rubrics clarified): a 63 percent decline. The results further suggest that the addition of cut scores and fees, along with clearer instructions and rubrics, may have enhanced the learning, signaling, and motivational aspects of the assessments: candidate performance improved overall, and the number of unprepared candidates dropped between the field trial and implementation years. Given that scores improved, particularly among preparation program candidates, the team concluded that candidates' formal preparation (by programs) for the assessments improved, as the learning potential of performance assessments would suggest. Given that the cut scores clarified readiness expectations for standard-based leadership work, it appears that candidates are not rushing into completing the assessments but, rather, taking their time to perform the work well. Consequently, the results suggest that newly licensed candidates are better prepared than candidates from prior years for leadership work, the intended purpose of the assessment. These findings are consistent with the results for the teacher performance assessment, edTPA (Whittaker et al., 2018).\nConclusions: Performance assessment for professional licensure is a highly promising means of evaluating candidates' mastery of the skills and practices required for a specific license-related position. It has the potential to yield better, more relevant evidence of readiness, while enabling candidates to learn and apply skills in authentic settings, as defined by the expectations for performance assessment and experiential research (Gitomer, 1993; Kolb, 1984; Messick, 1994; Mezirow, 2000). Prior research on PAL concluded that the skills evaluated through this assessment experience are highly relevant to school leader jobs. It also found that the assessment tasks require candidates to engage in relevant, feasible work that often contributes positively to their schools (Orr et al., 2016). The results here extend these findings by showing the consistency, over two statewide administrations of the assessment, of the task components to differentiate candidate performance while measuring different, but related, aspects of leadership skills and practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare two years of results for one state's performance-based assessments for principal licensure Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL). This includes the field trial (2014-2015) and first year of statewide implementation (2015-2016) when passing score requirements and fees were added. Survey results on candidates' career aspirations provide concurrent validation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two years of PAL submissions (n=569 candidates) were scored by trained, certified scorers. Task and total score results were compared by year, preparation pathway and gender. Online feedback survey results on career aspirations for (n=146 candidates) were compared by year.\nFindings: The results show that PAL assessments measure independent dimensions of leadership, differentiate candidates on leadership knowledge and skills, and confirm PAL's internal validity. Implementation year scores were higher than field trial scores, and preparation program candidates scored better than non-program candidates did. Candidate career aspirations were stronger in the implementation year than during the field trial.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is limited to one state's candidates, but findings are generalizable based on the wide range among candidates' districts (demographically and economically).\nPractical implications: The results are promising for the leadership preparation and assessment field, demonstrating the effectiveness of performance assessment for authentic evaluation of leadership candidates' knowledge and skill and overall readiness for initial leadership work.\nOriginality/value: This is the first large scale performance assessment for aspiring leaders designed for state licensure decisions. It is being replicated in another state and shown promise for both formative and summative leadership assessment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Career training with mentoring programs in higher education: Facilitating career development and employability of graduates	[ "Career Mentoring", "Career Behaviour", "Employability", "Career Training with Mentoring", "Career Mentorship" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In Nigeria, the employability of graduates is very vital because there is a general expectation from parents, caregivers and educational financiers that higher education (HE) graduates should, in turn, support them financially. As soon as one graduate from HE institutions, there is an automatic over dependence of many family units on the income of the graduate. The disappointments and frustrations set in when the graduates are unable to get employment either due to lack of employability skills, lack of jobs or lack of relevant career-related information and mentorship to meet the expectations of their parents or caregivers (Pheko et al., 2014). For this, Nigerian HE institutions should ensure that career development programs are established and promoted to motivate students in developing themselves career-wise. Believing that HE credentials lead to better job opportunities and rising incomes, parents and caregivers make ever-greater investments in their children's HE. To the parents' dismay, the children complete the HE programs to join the league of unemployed graduates, who roam the streets in search of white-collar jobs instead of having a smooth transition from school to work.Contrary to the parents' beliefs about the HE-to-labour market transition, Schleicher (2013) noted that having more education does not guarantee automatic transition into better skills, good jobs and better lives. Several researchers have reported that many HE graduates in developing countries are poorly prepared for job placement in the labour market (Hall, 2002; Okolie et al., 2019a, b; Pitan and Adedeji, 2012). Their findings posed some pertinent questions about the relevance of HE programs to fostering career development, quality learning outcomes, productivity and employability of graduates. While some studies have noted disparity between the skills HE students acquire and the real skills required by employers (Bandele and Faremi, 2012; Okolie et al., 2019a, b), others pointed out that the educational programs and the curriculum of HEIs do not allow students to adequately develop their careers or acquire relevant employability skills that employers demand (Chukwu and Igwe, 2012; Otto and Ukpere, 2012).Data about unemployment from the National Bureau of Statistics of Federal Republic of Nigeria (2019) revealed an increase in the unemployment rate of about 22.70% from the second quarter of 2018 to 23.10% in the third quarter of 2018 (see Figure 1).Also, data about youth unemployment from the National Bureau of Statistics of Federal Republic of Nigeria (2019) revealed a constant increase in the youth unemployment rate from January 2016 until the third quarter of 2018 when there was a slight decrease (see Figure 2). Explaining the youth unemployment (Figures 1 and 2) is beyond the scope of this study; however, Okolie et al. (2019a, b) and Oviasuyi et al. (2012) explained that the majority of the unemployed youths in Nigeria are HE graduates who do not possess the relevant skills required by the labour market.The focus of this study is not to learn whether there are jobs available for HE graduates because it is already established in international literature that the major issue with graduate unemployment is not about unavailability of jobs (Cranmer, 2006; De la Harpe et al., 2000), rather lack of employability skills that employers demand. The authors assert that even amid job scarcity, several companies in developed and developing countries still have difficulties filling existing vacancies. In order words, high unemployment exists along with severe skills shortages and unfilled positions in many organizations. To further strengthen their argument, for example, OECD (2012) found that in Egypt, 1.5 million young people were not employed (of which majority were HE graduates), at the same time, as 600,000 vacancies could not be filled. We acknowledge that while scarcity of jobs for thousands of graduates produced each year contributes to HE graduates unemployment in some developed countries (European Commission, 2018), this may differ in developing countries, particularly Nigeria, where careers education, career mentoring, career development learning, career orientations and career training with mentoring (CTM) have not been adequately developed and integrated in the HE curriculum.\nOverview of CTM: Career is defined as the progress and actions that people take all through their lives; it specifically relates to individual's occupations and composed of the jobs they hold, as well as the works they have accomplished over a certain period (Solem et al., 2013; Reddya and Rajaram, 2015; McKenzie et al., 2017). It can also be called one's vocation or profession, which requires the acquisition of specific training (Olaosebikan and Olusakin, 2014). Career is also seen as the totality of one's life experiences, which include paid and unpaid job, volunteer and family activities. Phifer (2003) explained that career is the totality of people's decisions that direct their academic, social, economic, political and spiritual endeavours and reflect the people's unique personality, traits and basic life values. In any case, Bergmo-Prvulovic (2013) in her analysis of EU texts concludes that there is no common definition of the concept of career in the literature. For example, Hooley et al., (2015) used the term \"career and employability learning\" to explain some activities that support young people to think about their futures, build the skills they need and make successful transitions. However, explaining each of the activities that support young people to develop skills for successful transitions is beyond the scope of this study.On the other hand, mentoring is a relationship where an expert (mentor) offers career, psychological or instrumental support to an individual with less experience (protege), to enhance the protege's career behaviour and development (Ogbuanya and Chukwuedo, 2017). Mentoring may not always create positive career development, but it can serve as a good medium to aid less experienced people to develop their careers and also prevent career thwarting or frustrating behaviour. In this study, mentoring is a relationship between the highly experienced persons (professionally trained HE teachers or industry experts linked to the HE system) and the less experienced people (HE students). Such a relationship can foster the career development of the students (mentees).The concept of career is broad, which has led to the emergence of many titles like career coaching, career counselling/career guidance counselling, educational and career guidance counselling, careers education, career mentoring, career development learning, etc. However, while these titles are worth mentioning in this paper, explaining each of them is beyond the scope of this paper. Extensive searches in the literature show that there is no specific definition of CTM, and its use or mention is highly minimal in scholarly works (Ogbuanya and Chukwuedo, 2017). Therefore, in this study, CTM refers mainly to organized training or activities/practices that involve educational, career guidance and counselling by trained professionals. CTM, as a new invention of this study, involves high-quality careers advice, coaching and mentoring that is vital for students to make informed career decisions. It exposes students to job possibilities through job fairs, school-industry placement training, career talks, seminars, career workshops, highly supervised internship programs and other forms of work placement schemes of HE institutions and industries.There is an important distinction between CTM and career education that requires clarification and which motivate the conceptual use in this study. While career education focuses on developing students' knowledge, skills and attitudes through a planned program of learning experiences in education setting to help students make informed decisions about their study or manage their lifelong career journey (Harkins, 2001; Hooley et al., 2014; Hooley et al., 2011; Palladino Schultheiss, 2005; Moote and Archer, 2018; Moon et al., 2004; Porfeli and Lee, 2012), CTM offers students carefully planned careers training with one-on-one coaching supports. In this situation, HE institutions will use the services of professionally trained career experts in designated CTM centres such that students can easily and freely receive career-related first-hand information, ask career-related information, seek answers to personal challenges on their career paths based on their fields of studies and get quality answers. Also, while career education may not need learners to have easy contacts or coaching opportunities with the career education teachers or professionally trained careers experts, CTM does.CTM involves training and one-on-one coaching of learners to enhance the acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills for jobs. CTM may need dedicated centres within HE institutions that can be managed and run by professionally trained careers experts or HE teachers in the field of career development. This form of training can improve job creation, increase earnings, enhance career opportunities and improve students' opportunities to advance and grow in their careers. CTM can enhance vocational development, choice-making, school-to-work transition and good vocational behaviours because the students have more opportunities of seeking answers or solutions to personal career-related questions or challenges directly from career development experts who doubles as their mentors. An important aspect of CTM, which differs from other career education programs, is that while other careers education programs are publicly offered to many students, CTM applies to both public and one-on-one supports.Overall, it is clearer that CTM in HE institutions can help students to (1) develop job search strategy; (2) educating students on how to put together their resume; (3) upgrade and manage their profiles; (4) be able to apply for internships or jobs; (5) network with others to grow their career connections; (6) be able to check job offers and make career decision; (7) make smooth transitions from HEIs to workplaces; (8) acquire creative ideas to shape their future career successes and (9) develop generic skills required by employers. Meanwhile, CTM experts are not different from the typical career experts. However, the difference would be the nature of the services they will provide to the students, which includes identifying occupational goals of the protege, providing career advice and guidance to students, encouraging students' career and personality development, providing training and encouragement to enable students share insights into their organizations to meet organization's goals and to offer suggestions on activities that can benefit the protege's growth and employability.Employability skills\nMethodology: This study draws on interviews with well-qualified and experienced HE teachers from six Nigerian public universities (each from the 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria) and 20 industries also within the 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria. The industries and public universities were selected using purposeful sampling techniques (Patton, 2002). The choice of the public universities and their teachers (lecturers) is because they receive a larger number of student enrolments yearly than the private universities and therefore turn out more graduates yearly who constitute a larger number of unemployed graduates in Nigeria. The reason for selecting the university teachers is because they have long years of teaching experience in the HE institutions and have taught many graduates (employed or unemployed). We, therefore, assume they can offer useful information about the subject of study. On the other hand, the reason for selecting the industry executives is on the notion that they have trained many HE students during job placement programs or students' industrial attachment program (as it is referred to in Nigeria) of the universities. They also have long years of industry work experience and therefore could offer useful information concerning the subject of the study. The qualitative research method was adopted to allow participants to clearly and freely express their views about the purpose of this study (Creswell, 2013).The participants\nResults: The thematic analysis focused on three key themes identified in the data: the current CTM programs in Nigerian HE institutions, implementing CTM through inclusion in Nigerian HE curriculum and possible constraints to effective implementation of CTM programs in Nigerian HE institutions.Theme 1: current CTM programs in Nigerian HE institutions\nDiscussion and conclusion: This study has presented findings of how CTM currently works in Nigerian HE institutions to foster students' career development and employability of graduates. It also presented findings of implementing CTM through inclusion in Nigerian HE curriculum and possible constraints to effective implementation of CTM programs in Nigerian HE institutions. Drawing these three key themes together and linked to SCCT, it is clear that participants are convinced that CTM programs can enhance clarity about students' career ambitions, career interests, personal development plans and employability. The study found that there are some career-related programs or activities that Nigerian HE students are presented with, but such programs have not been effective as to offer graduates quality career guidance and employability skills that employers demand. Acknowledging this, participants recommend establishing CTM centres in all Nigeria HE institutions to offer every Nigerian HE student opportunity to receive first-hand quality career development/guidance, coaching and mentoring opportunities while schooling. Participants are optimistic that such efforts by the Nigerian HE system can improve students' career development and employability outcomes upon graduation. Findings show that overemphasis on the award of certificates than skills acquisition, poor funding of academic programs, difficulties locating quality industries for effective partnerships, difficulties hiring professionally trained careers experts and consultants among others are major constraints to establishing functional CTM centres in all Nigerian HE institutions. This study acknowledges that the current situation in the Nigerian HE system may apply to other developing countries. Acknowledging this, we, therefore, recommend that the findings of this study can be useful to other developing countries.The findings also show a need for restructuring the Nigerian HE curriculum to include CTM programs or modules that students can partake while studying their main courses. The findings show that including CTM programs or activities in the Nigerian HE curriculum can facilitate lifelong learning, acquisition of new skills to enhance career development and employability and coaching students for a smooth transition from school to work. Many of the constraints to establishing functional CTM centres or including CTM in the Nigerian HE curriculum were presented. Participants pointed out that lack of modern career development learning facilities, qualified career trainers and experts, poor learning conditions and over-dependence on the traditional method of teaching that is teacher-centred among others are the major perceived constraints to establishing and running functional CTM centres in Nigerian HE institutions as well as including CTM programs or activities in Nigerian HE curriculum. Despite the perceived constraints, participants were optimistic that establishing CTM centres in every Nigerian HE institution is a key to offering quality careers-related information, employability skills development training, guidance and counselling, and career coaching and mentoring, to HE students. Concluding the literature reviewed, SCCT, and findings, our study suggests significant strategies to facilitate establishing CTM centres in every Nigerian HE institution as well as the inclusion of CTM programs or activities in the Nigerian HE curriculum.Limitations and implications for future study\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study explores how career training with mentoring (CTM) programs work in Nigerian higher education (HE) institutions to foster students' career development and employability of graduates. It also explores how Nigerian HE curriculum can be adequately used to facilitate CTM as well as possible constraints to effective implementation of CTM programs in Nigerian HE institutions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study draws on interviews with well-qualified and experienced experts from six Nigerian public universities (each from the 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria), and 20 industries also within the same 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria that were selected for this study using a purposeful sampling technique. The study interviewed 33 experts comprising 21 senior academics at Nigerian universities and 12 industry executives to reveal substantial information about CTM programs in Nigerian HE institutions.\nFindings: Drawing on the three key themes that emerged during the thematic analysis and linked to social cognitive career theory, it is clear that participants are convinced that CTM can enhance clarity about students' career ambitions, career interests, personal development plans and employability. Findings show that there are some career-related programs or activities that Nigerian HE students are presented with, but the programs have not been effective as to offer graduates quality career guidance and employability skills that employers demand. Acknowledging these, participants recommend establishing CTM centres in all Nigerian HE institutions to provide students with the opportunity to receive quality career advice, coaching and mentoring services while schooling.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study shed light on varying resources required to cope with the demands of labour market in terms of supply of competent workforce that can contribute to Nigeria's economic growth and development. The findings are highly relevant for Nigeria and other developing countries' policy and research initiatives that aim to promote social inclusion and equity and improve better working conditions for all. The findings also have implications for career development and employability of HE graduates in developing world context.\nOriginality/value: Understanding the role that CTM programs can play in facilitating career development and graduate employability can arguably be of importance within the developing world context. This study, therefore, provides significant suggestions on how to build sustained HEIs and labour market partnership to foster career development and employability of HE graduates through establishing CTM centres in every Nigerian HE institutions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Brand equity, risk and return in Latin America	[ "Latin America", "Emerging markets", "Shareholder value", "Brand evaluation", "Brand equity", "Brand performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Investors are increasingly directing attention to stock performance, which has exerted great pressure on companies to deliver value (Young and O'Byrne, 2001; Rust et al., 2004; Luo, 2008). Hence, the marketing sector has also become responsible for meeting short-term profit targets (Keller, 2013) and has come to view the ultimate goal as contributing to shareholder return (Brodie et al., 2002; Day and Fahey, 1988; Gruca and Rego, 2005; Srivastava et al., 1998; Currim et al., 2017). Furthermore, the sectors of marketing and finance in a company must work systematically to achieve the crucial goal of maximizing shareholder returns (Srivastava et al., 1998; Fine et al., 2017).\n2. Brand and brand equity: Brands, in addition to serving as markers for a company's offerings, have the potential to simplify customer choice, promise quality, reduce risk and build trust by reflecting customers' experience of the product or service they reference (Keller and Lehmann, 2006). Table I shows brand concepts according to some marketing references.\n3. Overview of papers on brand equity linked to shareholder value: Although brand is not a recent issue in marketing studies, there has been an evolution in the way companies use brand-related strategies (Ishaq et al., 2014). This may be associated to the growing recognition of brand equity linked to shareholder value, presented in studies such as Billet et al. (2014), Dutordoir et al. (2015), Johansson et al. (2012), Luo et al. (2013), and others (see Table III).\n4. Material and methods: This study aimed to compare the performance, in terms of risk and return in the stock market of emerging countries of Latin America, more specifically of portfolios of companies with the most valuable brands and portfolios of companies listed on the stock exchanges of these countries. Figure 3 shows a synthesis of the method and the details are explained in the subsequent topics.\n5. Results and discussion: 5.1 Descriptive statistics\n6. Conclusions: As no studies have yet evaluated the association between valuable brands and the creation of shareholder value in the context of emerging Latin American countries, the implementation of the Carhart (1997) model is relevant in this growing scenario in the world market. It is also important to note that the return of shareholder value is a concern in vogue in enterprises. Hence, studies about brand equity and other intangible assets are an interesting theme to explore. They may contribute to company performance as well as to the academy. Although this sort of theme has been researched in developed countries, it is quite incipient in Latin America. In addition, not only the brand, but also marketing activities deserve greater attention from the academy and businesses, due to the fact that marketing activities reflect the market and often companies fail to measure their return and underuse their potential.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to compare the performance of stocks of companies with high brand equity with the stocks of other companies listed on the stock market of emerging countries of Latin America: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The valuable brands (brands with high brand equity) considered were the most valuable Latin America brands according to the Millward Brown reports. Carhart four-factor model was used to analyze performance and the total sample included 732 stocks in the Latin American market collected at Economatica, monthly, for a period of 10 years.\nFindings: The Valuable Brands Portfolio presents the lowest investment risk, suggesting that stocks of companies with valuable brands ensure lower risk investment to shareholders in these emerging markets.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to associate brand equity with the creation of shareholder value in the context of emerging Latin American countries. In addition, the proposed method has also not been used previously to study emerging countries. The association found between a marketing asset (brand equity) and stock market performance contributes to improve the relationship between marketing and finance areas. The results of this study in emerging markets corroborate previous studies in developed markets, strongly suggesting the confirmation of the effect of brand equity on the reduction of risk stock.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Big data application framework and its feasibility analysis in library	[ "Library", "Big data", "Big data application framework", "Challenges and opportunities", "Feasibility analysis", "Personalized information push service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the rapid development of digital information techniques, internet technology, internet of things and cloud computing, data have increased in an unprecedented scale in different fields (Alotaibi and Abdullah, 2016). According to a report from McKinsey, a famous consultancy in the world, the total data volume in the world will up to 15-20 ZB in 2020 and this volume will double every two years in the future (James et al., 2011). There is no doubt that we live in an era of data abundance. These abundant data come from different resources, such as sensors, smart devices, social networking interactions, web pages, videos, images, personal browsing history and online transaction and so on (Wu et al., 2014; Alotaibi and Abdullah, 2016). Meanwhile, the abundant data also present in different formats, such as structured data, semi-structured data and unstructured data (Bello-Orgaz et al., 2016; Zaharia et al., 2016).\n2. Big data and its characteristics: Big data is a hot concept in recent years. Big data is an abstract term and there are different definitions for different researchers due to different concerns. According to McKinsey, big data is used to refer to data sets whose size is large and exceed the capability of existing data analytics tools to mine, collect, store, process and analyze within a specific amount of time (James et al., 2011). Gantz and Reinsel (2011) defined big data as big data technologies which describe a new generation of technologies and architectures, designed to economically extract value from very large volumes of a wide variety of data, by enabling the high-velocity capture, discovery and analysis. Chen et al. (2014) noted that big data is used to describe unprecedented amount of data and it includes masses of unstructured data and semi-structured data that need to spend more real-time to conduct the analysis. Chen and Zhang (2014) indicated that big data is a bundle of huge data sets that come from different sources and with various formats so that it is difficult to use the traditional data analytical systems, tools and techniques to conduct the big data processing and analysis. Pawar (2016) noted that big data is typically a data with large volume and it is difficult to mine, collect, maintain and manage by analysis tools or techniques.\n3. Challenges and opportunities of applying big data in libraries: Recently, with the development of information technology and internet technology such as mobile connectivity and cloud computing, traditional libraries face huge challenges (Feng, 2014). Many readers like to read e-books and they do not need to go to a library to search for relevant information since they can obtain the information by searching the internet and can get information quickly from all around the world (Zhou, 2016). There is a common view that the internet is competing with the traditional library to capture the knowledge management site and some libraries have been restructured and closed down. Currently, lots of readers believe that traditional libraries have been replaced by the internet and libraries have lost the position and charm of knowledge management centers (Julia Sollenberger et al., 2013; Head et al., 2014).\n4. Big data application framework in libraries: Big data application in libraries is a double-edged sword (Kim and Choi, 2016). Big data makes the library service more wonderful but also makes the library suffer the service and the attraction crisis (Fagan, 2014). To avoid the weaknesses and make full use of advantages of big data, we propose the big data application framework in libraries. The application framework mainly focuses on five dimensions: human resource, literature resource, technology support, service innovation and infrastructure construction. The big data application framework in libraries is depicted in Figure 1.\n5. The feasibility analysis of big data application framework: To assess the feasibility of big data application framework, we used a questionnaire survey method to collect data. The data were collected from \"Big data and the library development Summit\", which was held in Guangzhou city, China from 19th to 20th October in 2016. The theme of this summit was how to use big data to promote library development. The attendees mainly included government officials, big data analysts, big data experts and librarians. They all have some knowledge about big data. Considering the research purpose, the research team selected the librarians as the key respondents.\n6. Conclusions: Big data and its applications are one of the hottest research topics which attract extensive attention from industry, government and academics all over the world. In this research, we mainly discuss the big data and its applications in libraries. The concept and characteristics of big data were first introduced. Then, this research provides an overview of challenges and opportunities of applying big data in libraries. The challenges of applying big data in libraries mainly include data accuracy, data reduction and compression, data confidentiality and security and big data processing system and technology. The opportunities of applying big data in libraries mainly include enrich the library database, enhance the skills of librarian, promote interlibrary loan service and provide personalized knowledge service. Finally, this research proposes the big data application framework in libraries from five dimensions, human resource, literature resource, technology support, service innovation and infrastructure construction, and conducts the feasibility analysis. This research provides a comprehensive overview to readers to understand big data and its applications in libraries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to introduce the concept of big data and provide a comprehensive overview to readers to understand big data application framework in libraries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors first used the text analysis and inductive analysis method to understand the concept of big data, summarize the challenges and opportunities of applying big data in libraries and further propose the big data application framework in libraries. Then they used questionnaire survey method to collect data from librarians to assess the feasibility of applying big data application framework in libraries.\nFindings: The challenges of applying big data in libraries mainly include data accuracy, data reduction and compression, data confidentiality and security and big data processing system and technology. The opportunities of applying big data in libraries mainly include enrich the library database, enhance the skills of librarians, promote interlibrary loan service and provide personalized knowledge service. Big data application framework in libraries can be considered from five dimensions: human resource, literature resource, technology support, service innovation and infrastructure construction. Most libraries think that the big data application framework is feasible and tend to apply big data application framework. The main obstacles to prevent them from applying big data application framework is the human resource and information technology level.\nOriginality/value: This research offers several implications and practical solutions for libraries to apply big data application framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Gender research in hospitality and tourism management: time to change the guard	[ "Hospitality and tourism management", "Intersectionality", "Diversity management", "Gender research", "Female managers", "Critical paradigms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Times change. However, gender research focussed on \"women as subordinate\" in hospitality and tourism management has not evolved as it should. The key contribution of this article is to advocate the advantages of a contemporary social science approach, incorporating critical management perspectives, to sectorial researchers. Gender research is not just about women, it is about how gendered roles for women and men are enacted and perceived. This article was prompted by the call for papers on \"female leadership in hospitality\" at an international hospitality management education research conference (CHME, 2018). The statement \"female leadership\", devoid of research aim or context, marked women leaders as outliers, by virtue of biological sex. Imagine how articles or studies on \"male leadership in hospitality\" would be dismissed. The ways gender research is conducted and controlled by academy leaders and gatekeepers has significantly contributed to the male-dominated culture. Gendered processes that privilege men are recorded in tourism studies (Khoo-Lattimore et al., 2019), hospitality research (Morgan and Pritchard, 2018) and events studies (Thomas, 2017). The norm of male keynote speakers and male expert panels is reproduced at firm, industry association and state levels (Walters, 2018).\n2. Theorising biological sex and gender: The notion of gender as socially constructed fits with the contemporary research framings adopted by organisational and business management researchers. However, the variety of complex and frequently contentious, perspectives put forward on how gender should be conceptualised and studied over decades means that theorisation continues to evolve in multi-dimensional ways (Acker, 2012; Broadbridge and Simpson, 2011; Guenther et al., 2018). To assist understanding, foundational gender theorists Calas et al. (2014) identified two principal meta-theoretical approaches to gender: biologically based; or socially constructed.\n3. Gender research in hospitality and tourism management: The preceding discussion has indicated the advantages that contemporary theories and methods would bring to hospitality and tourism management researchers. Carvalho et al. (2019) believe that \"the tourism sector still seems to be reinforcing gender inequalities rather than challenging them\" (p. 90). Most sectoral career studies are gender blind; for example, Cassel et al.'s (2018) study on the career mobility of hotel executives and Wang's (2013) model of hospitality management career competencies. There is a widespread lack of theorisation about the underlying mechanisms that privilege men's careers. Specific talent management processes would benefit from targeted examination, for example, the gendered aspects of geographical mobility (Costa et al., 2017a, 2017b; Ryan and Mooney, 2019). Women are stereotyped as disinterested in overseas assignments, and thus fall outside the subjective recruitment and mentoring processes that regulate transfers (David et al., 2019). Where framings and models more prevalent in other disciplines are used, they bring considerable insights to hospitality and tourism management. Williamson and Harris's (2019) historical analysis revealed that service worker trade unions acted in collusion with employers to systematically exclude women from the protection, benefits and entitlements granted to male members. For gender research to advance and provide constructive direction to industry, seismic change needs to take place in the academy, but first, it is necessary to understand how the current situation arose.\n4. A new gender research agenda: 4.1 Use contemporary gender theories to design studies\n5. Conclusion: Times change and theories change. The preceding sections indicate that adherence to traditional theoretical framings and positivist orthodoxies has stifled the development of critical, meaningful gender research in hospitality and tourism management. The statement \"female leadership in hospitality\" serves as a lightning rod to illustrate the problem with the default system of male leadership and prevalence of masculine perspectives in gender research. The academy must change precisely because gender equality is no longer a philosophical proposition. The THE University Impact Ranking by United Nations Sustainable Development Goal explains why: \"we cannot hope to develop the world sustainably if the needs of more than half its population are not addressed\". THE measures the universities' actions to achieve equality for women and girls across three dimensions, namely, research on the study of gender, their [universities'] policies on gender equality and their commitment to recruiting and promoting women. (THE university impact rankings 2019 by SDG: Gender equality methodology, 2019, para. 1).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the problem with how gender is positioned in hospitality and tourism management studies. It recommends critical theories to investigate how gender is researched in the sector's academic and institutional systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The conceptual study explains contemporary gender theories and gives examples of relevant hospitality and tourism management studies. A four point critical agenda for researching gender is proposed and justified.\nFindings: The study highlights how the focus on \"female leadership\" as different from the male norm and the use of traditional theoretical framings reinforce stereotypes about the primacy of women's domestic commitments to their detriment.\nResearch limitations/implications: A limitation of this academy focussed study is that it has not recommended specific initiatives to combat specific issues of gender discrimination in hospitality and tourism employment. A further limitation is that the primary focus was on critical management theory to explain heteronormative based gender discrimination. It did not discuss queer theory.\nPractical implications: In addition, a new research agenda, steps are proposed to change the masculine culture. Hospitality and tourism universities and research institutions should review men's/women's/gender diverse representation at leadership levels. Critical gender research approaches may also be fostered by sectorial conference streams and journal special issues and university graduate research students should be taught to design such studies.\nSocial implications: The use of contemporary approaches in gender studies will enable researchers to propose more targeted equality and diversity management actions for industry. They will also assist educators to better design curricula that protect and promote the interests of women studying a hospitality, tourism or events degree and those who identify as gender diverse.\nOriginality/value: The paper challenges the masculine status quo in hospitality and tourism management gender studies, arguing that adherence to traditional orthodoxies has stifled the development of critical paradigms and methodologies. Its key contribution is to reveal the advantages that critical gender theorising can bring to further the aim of gender equality by showing practical applications.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Human capital and export performance of small and medium enterprises in Pakistan	[ "Human capital", "Absorptive capacity", "Small and medium enterprises", "Export intensity", "Pakistan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Human capital, defined as the productive knowledge, skills and abilities of employees, has been identified as a key driver of firm performance. Numerous studies (Hitt et al., 2001; Acs et al., 2007; Baptista et al., 2014; Bhattacharya et al., 2014) acknowledge human capital as a source of competitive advantage. Nevertheless, most of the studies considered human capital as a single construct, taking into consideration only specific dimensions of human capital. Different elements of human capital may indeed be relatively more important for different aspects of firm performance. Carpenter (2001) further affirmed that the bundling of human capital with organizational contexts is important. Yet, the literature on human capital and firm performance is mostly focused on large organizations. There are limited studies based on rigorous empirical analyses of the links between human capital and the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Antlova, 2009; Dessler, 2001).The research emphasis on firm performance is important as a majority of SMEs struggle to achieve both growth and survival (Okpara and Okpara, 2011). More than 50% of SMEs failed after seventeen months of inception, whereas only 26% survived beyond six years in operation (Pena, 2002). Even within the surviving SMEs, most of them had not grown significantly (Matlay et al., 2006). For these reasons, this study examines the links between human capital and firm performance by taking SMEs in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan as the case for this study. SMEs play a significant role in the industrial development of Pakistan. They account for 99% of the 3.17 million business enterprises in Pakistan (SMEDA, 2013), of which 20% of the SMEs are engaged in industrial activity (PBS, 2011). SMEs contribute approximately 30% to total export earnings of Pakistan (SBP, 2017). The major export-oriented industries include textile and apparels, leather, sports goods, food, metal and fans (Mubarik et al., 2018). Most of the firms in these industries are owned by the locals, while multinationals comprise less than 1% of the total number of establishments.From the observed trends in firm performance in Pakistan, exports of SMEs have recorded a continuous decline. For 2016-2017, total exports fell by 3%, and manufacturing exports alone declined by 4%, thereby raising the trade deficit to 42% (SBP, 2017). Policy advisers in Pakistan have therefore raised concerns on the deficiency in human capital (Khan, 2005), apart from exogenous factors like stagnant world trade and low commodity prices, for the deteriorating export performance of SMEs. In fact, Pakistan's poor productivity and global competitiveness is also reflected by its position at the bottom of most international rankings. Pakistan ranked 125th in the recent Global Human Capital Index 2017 (Ashrah, 2017) and ranked 147th position in the Human Development Index 2017 (Ahmad, 2016). This seems to suggest that human capital and exportability are two critical challenges for SMEs in Pakistan.There are only a few studies on Pakistan that have examined the aggregate impact of human capital on export performance of SMEs (Batool and Zulfiqar, 2011; Berry et al., 1998; Khalique et al., 2011; Lund-Thomsen et al., 2012). These studies have not comprehensively examined the impact of individual dimensions of human capital on export performance. Existing performance-based studies have also not considered exportability separately, since it is implicitly assumed as part of performance (Teixeira, 2002). Further these studies have not taken a disaggregated approach to analyzing SMEs. This study fills those gaps. First, we take a comprehensive measure of human capital, considering its different dimensions. Second, we disaggregate SMEs by size and by export intensity to provide rich insights into the influence of each dimension of human capital on export performance. Third, we use a newly compiled and a relatively large firm-level dataset of the manufacturing sector SMEs in Pakistan to examine human capital-export performance links. Fourth, apart from the direct effects of human capital on firm performance, we also examine the mediating effect of absorptive capacity on that link.The paper is organized as follow. Section 2 reviews the literature on human capital, the links between human capital and exportability and the mediating role of absorptive capacity. The data, variables and method for examining the human capital-export performance links are detailed in Section 3. Section 4 reports the results. Section 5 concludes.\n2. Theoretical exposition: 2.1 Dimensions of human capital\n3. Methodology and data: 3.1 Conceptual framework\n4. Findings: 4.1 Constructs' reliability and validity\n5. Conclusions and implications: The study analyzes the relationship between the different dimensions of human capital on export performance of SMEs in Pakistan. The study, using SEM, tests the direct and indirect (through absorptive capacity) effects of human capital (overall and by dimensions) on export performance. The results indicate significant and positive effects of human capital and its dimensions on export performance. The results also suggest that absorptive capacity partially mediates the relationship between human capital and firm export performance.The disaggregated analysis brings to the fore the following key points:The influence of the dimensions of human capital on export performance is much higher for medium-sized firms, and high and moderate export intensive firms.The partial mediating effects of absorptive capacity between human capital dimensions and export performance are higher for the medium-sized and high export intensity firms.The results therefore clarify that firm size and export intensity matter when examining the human capital-export performance nexus. Firms that are relatively large (medium-sized firms) and have high export intensity derive more benefits from human capital for their internationalization efforts. It draws an important policy lesson that the bigger challenge then lies with the small firms. Owing to their small size, such firms are not effectively getting the benefits of human capital formation, and their export capability is therefore restrained. The reason may be the lack of firm specific human capital resulting in poor absorptive capacity.Developing human capital is therefore considered essential for improving the performance of small relative to the medium-sized and export intensive firms. Small firms mainly export indirectly through buying houses, and those engaged in the exporting of sports goods, textiles and leather have been severely affected by international competition. After 2000, the exports of these firms stagnated and some even decreased, as in the case of textiles. Small firms are also by far and large neglected by policy makers. This study therefore suggests some form of government support be provided for training small firm employees, which is otherwise not possible as small firms view training as a costly and risky venture in the absence of labor contract enforcement. Any form of financial aid from the government will therefore enable small firms to focus on educating their employees through skill/task specific and general trainings (such as information, communication and technology and intrapreneurial trainings) and subsequently increase the absorptive capacity of their firms. The firms, in turn, need to take some responsibility to link the training types, duration and the budget with the type of skills required. It is worth mentioning here that in general, many firms, not just the small firms, but also the medium-sized and export intensive firms have basically no formal training requirement or programmes in place.Since training matters for engaging in exports as suggested by the findings of this study, it is recommended that targeted training be provided for SMEs. Specific HC development policies, such as improving communication (verbal and written; the latter is important for handling documentation) and marketing skills for both employers and employees, should underscore the general training programmes. From the employer perspective, specific human resource (HR) practices need to be adopted to shift SMEs out of the conventional management style of concentrated leadership responsibility. To improve job stability and compliance behavior (engaging attitude) of employees, both of which are found to be important elements of HC in this study, HR practices should focus on improving job motivation, appraisal and rewards and increase the empowerment of workers through a conducive work environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study examines the influence of human capital, overall and by dimensions, on the export performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. The study also investigates the role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between human capital dimensions and export performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data from 586 manufacturing sector SMEs were collected for analysis. The study applied covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) to estimate the hypothesized relationships.\nFindings: As a whole, human capital was found to exert a direct and indirect impact on export performance, particularly for the medium-sized firms and for firms with medium to high levels of export intensities. Nevertheless, not all dimensions of human capital mattered for export performance. Education and training were found to pose the greatest influence on export performance of those firms.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results suggest that when devising appropriate policies for SMEs, the impact of different dimensions of human capital need to be considered for addressing challenges related to the internationalization of firms. In short, developing the right human capital is essential for SMEs to compete at the international level.\nOriginality/value: Unlike previous studies, this study decomposed the influence of different dimensions of human capital on export performance and assessed the mediating role of absorptive capacity. The study is also among the pioneering studies in SMEs sector of Pakistan to analyze the role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between various dimensions of human capital and export performance.\nPeer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-03-2019-0198\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Parables of consulting	[ "Consultants", "Management consultancy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: When God created the world, all was at peace and the lion lay down with the lamb. This was great for the lamb, which contentedly munched on the grass, but it was hell on the lion, who was starving to death. There was also the matter of the rabbits that were multiplying like, well, rabbits. The bobcats were starving as well, and to make matters worse, the rabbits were jumping all over them, sort of rubbing their faces in it.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To provide the author's opinions about key issues in strategy and the future to the readership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Opinion column.\nFindings: - Discussion of how each consultant believes he/she is a God-like oracle who represents the only way to do something.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Speculative, and based not on rigorous research but on the author's experience of planning engagements across a wide variety of private and public enterprises.\nPractical implications: - Warns strategists about the difficulties of ascertaining whether a consultant has the \"right\" approach.\nOriginality/value: - Expresses several opinions that the author believes have not been expressed (or adequately appreciated) elsewhere.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The benefit of a trustworthy face to a financial services provider	[ "Relationship marketing", "Benevolence", "Halo effect", "Physiognomy", "Social perception" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: When consumers need the service of a surgeon, attorney or an investment advisor, they are in a vulnerable position. These are credence services, and an average consumer does not possess the expertise to evaluate the quality of the service - even after performance. Ultimately, acknowledging the risk, the consumer must trust the service provider. The consumer hopes the surgeon will have nimble hands and make the best alternative choices for his care. The consumer hopes the attorney will make the best arguments for the case. The consumer hopes the investment advisor understands the level of risk willing to be borne and will not recommend alternatives that generate the highest fees for the advisor. Indeed, risk and trust are intimately related (Johansen et al., 2013). In the absence of risk, there is no need for trust. Because consumers perceive more risk in the purchase of services than goods (Murray and Schlacter, 1990), trust is suggested as especially important in services marketing.\nBackground: Information search\nHypotheses development: In the two experiments (described in detail later), the factors of face trustworthiness, credential information and social information will be operationalized at two levels each. In both experiments, subjects encounter a similar scenario. They are asked to imagine that they have saved US$100,000 and they are now looking for a financial advisor to help them invest this amount. A financial advisor is then depicted and described in photo and text stimuli (and the latter is either credential information or social information). Subjects then encounter measures for the dependent variables of cognitive trust, affective trust, patronage intent and amount of money they would entrust to the depicted and described financial advisor.\nHypotheses: Study 1 focuses on the factors of face trustworthiness and credential information. Based on the arguments and evidence presented earlier, the face factor is hypothesized to impact evaluation of affective trust, leading to a main effect for this factor on patronage intent. Credential information is believed to strongly impact cognitive trust, owing to the high bonding cost for CFP designation. Of the two factors, credential information will likely have a stronger effect on the amount of money to entrust. However, there is a possible interaction effect when the two factors are in conflict (the potency of credential information overcoming the effect of face under the high credential condition, but the effect of face expressing itself under the low credential condition). Based on the above, the following two hypotheses are proposed:\nStudy 1: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of credential information (driving cognitive trust) and facial appearance (driving affective trust) on patronage intent and amount of money to entrust to a hypothetical financial service provider.\nStudy 2: The purpose of the second study was to test the facial appearance cue in association with the social information cue, as the two are often found together on social media sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook. Additionally, credential information also appears in Study 2, but there is only one level (CFP designation), and it is uniform across all cells.\nGeneral discussion: The present study makes several contributions. First, building on the service cue conceptualization of Berry et al. (2006), the face of the service provider is presented here as a logical extension of the servicescape (Bitner, 1992). This seems to make intuitive sense, as both provider and servicescape are natural sources for service quality cues, and consumer reaction to both is, ultimately, approach or avoidance behavior. Second, across two experiments, consumer response to the face of an unmet service provider was found to significantly affect patronage intent, with the effect (shown in Study 1) mediated through the affective dimension of trust. Although Koernig and Page (2002) have previously demonstrated that the face of an unmet service provider may significantly affect trust in the provider, that study did not demonstrate a significant effect of facial appearance on satisfaction or purchase intent, and trust was measured as a unidimensional construct. Results in the current study strongly support the premise that a trustworthy face is a significant benefit to a financial service provider.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate three information sources for their influence on trust and patronage intent toward an unmet financial services advisor. The sources were facial appearance, credentials and social information about the provider. Trust in an unmet provider is believed to be important because financial services are transitioning to an online customer interface.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In the two experiments, facial appearance (trustworthy versus less trustworthy), credentials (high versus low) and social information (cooperative versus less cooperative) were tested for their influence on cognitive trust, affective trust, patronage intent and amount of money to entrust to an unmet financial advisor.\nFindings: In Study 1, both facial appearance and credentials significantly affected patronage intent. The effect of facial appearance was mediated through affective trust, and the effect of credentials was mediated through cognitive trust. In Study 2, both facial appearance and social information significantly affected patronage intent. Unexpectedly, respondents' gender exhibited a highly significant main effect and interaction (ordinal) with the face cue for patronage intent.\nResearch limitations/implications: The experimental context was restricted to an unmet financial advisor. Interaction with an actual provider would likely change the perception of affective trust. Also, all depicted and described advisors were men; the effect of provider gender was not investigated.\nOriginality/value: Findings indicate that a personal photo on a business card may either increase or decrease patronage intent. Conversely, communicating credential achievement or an evidence of civic engagement to prospective clients has a favorable effect on patronage intent.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leader-member exchange and employee health: an exploration of explanatory mechanisms	[ "Stress", "Leadership", "Empowerment", "Leader–member exchange", "Employee health" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Leadership research has largely failed to investigate employee health and well-being as outcomes of leadership processes while primarily focusing, instead, on employee performance variables (Grant et al., 2007; Inceoglu et al., 2018). When employee health has been considered in leadership studies it is often used as a mediator and is rarely considered to be an important outcome of its own (Grant et al., 2007), leading to the contention that the understanding of the relationship between leadership and employee well-being is somewhat immature (Grant et al., 2007). Multiple reviews of the leadership and well-being literature have called for new studies to test the mediating variables that explain how leadership comes to impact employee health in order to better comprehend this association (i.e. Grant et al., 2007; Inceoglu et al., 2018).\nTheoretical framework: The social context of the workplace has been argued to profoundly impact the well-being of employees (Van Dierendonck et al., 2004). A basic premise of much thought on employee health is the idea that work experiences impact employees both during the long hours that they are at work and after they have left the workplace (Danna and Griffin, 1999). The quality of the social exchanges that one experiences in the workplace, then, have the potential to create psychological states that impact employee health in a far-reaching manner.\nLeader-member exchange (LMX) and employee health: In their review of research on employee health and well-being, Danna and Griffin (1999) describe a broad array of studies from numerous fields that fail to coalesce around a common definition of employee health. Through this review, the authors derived a conceptualization of health as a combination of psychological factors such as anxiety and physical factors such as general physical health (Danna and Griffin, 1999). For the purposes of this study, we define employee health as both physical health and mental health. While many organizational factors have the potential to impact employee health, this research considers leadership's impact on employee health through two mediating factors of the employee's work environment. These two factors, stress and empowerment, were included in this study because of the strong evidence supporting their associations with both employee health and leadership practice (e.g. Cooper and Cartwright, 1994; Quick et al., 1986; Falk et al., 1992; Evans and Carrere, 1991; Spector, 1986).\nThe mediating influence of stress: Due to the nature of hierarchical organizational structures, pressure from managers can have a profound impact on the stress experienced by subordinates (Sparks et al., 2001). Stress is often defined as a state of mental and physical arousal that stems from an individual feeling like the demands of their environment are greater than their capacity to respond (Hobfoll, 1989). Resources provided to the subordinate from the leader could have the effect of buffering the employee from experiencing stress even in a demanding work environment. LMX has been suggested to be an appropriate conceptualization of this resource distributing leadership model, as individuals in high-quality exchanges receive more resources from leadership than employees in lower quality exchanges (Harms et al., 2017). This perspective implies that the leader can be a resource that the employee uses to help meet the demands of their work environment (Thomas and Lankau, 2009). Examples of resources provided to employees in high-quality exchanges that could serve to assist the employee in meeting job demands include increased communication, decreased ambiguity, social support, high-quality relationships with one's supervisor, leader's appreciation and leader's support (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Harris and Kacmar, 2006).\nThe mediating influence of empowerment: Psychological empowerment describes the unique set of cognitions that must occur in order for one to experience an intrinsically motivating work environment. Specifically, psychological empowerment is thought to exist when the individual finds their work to be meaningful and impactful, as well as when the individual believes that they have adequate autonomy and possess the necessary skills to be successful (Spreitzer, 1995).\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nData analysis and results: The data analysis followed a two-step process using structural equation modeling recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988). First, using IBM SPSS Amos Version 24 statistical software package, a confirmatory factor analysis with 29 items was conducted to statistically assess the discriminant and convergent validity of the four multi-item constructs in question. Means, standard deviations and correlations among constructs are provided in Table I.\nDiscussion: The results of this study suggest that an employee's relationship with leadership is associated with that employee's mental and physical health. This finding implies that leaders in organizations are not only impacting their followers work behaviors, but also have a meaningful impact on the overall health and well-being of those followers outside of the workplace as well. The possibility of improving employee well-being through enhanced leadership practices is valuable to organizations, then, in at least two meaningful ways: by increasing the productivity of the employees at work and by contributing to a healthier environment in which those employees live.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The impact of employee health on organizations, individual employees and society as a whole is vast. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between leadership-member exchange (LMX) and employee mental and physical health. Additionally, two variables with strong empirical and theoretical ties to employee health (empowerment and stress) are explored as potential mediators.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey responses from 182 employees across two organizations were collected to measure study variables. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to analyze data and test hypotheses.\nFindings: An association between LMX and employee health was found to be fully mediated by both empowerment and stress.\nOriginality/value: These findings contribute to the literature by providing evidence of the association between leadership and both the mental and physical health of employees. This phenomenon highlights the significant impact that leaders have on subordinates both at work and in their general lives outside of the workplace. Understanding the mediating pathways through which leadership comes to impact employee health creates new knowledge regarding the manner in which constructs as disparate as leadership and employee health come to form an association.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Challenges of successful reform: an international perspective	[ "Public sector reform", "Public sector organizations", "Private sector organizations", "Organizational structures", "Attitudes", "Behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: It is an open secret that the two decades spanning 1975-1995 witnessed a near universal re-definition of the relative roles of governments, business and markets. The economic and debt crisis of the 1970s forced \"the world's money doctors, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund\" (Sachs, 2005, p. 74) to look for diagnosis, prescription and treatment. Since the 1980s, a premium has been placed on getting more out of public sector resources (Ferris and Graddy, 1998, p. 225). This idea of re-inventing government (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992) is technically referred to as the \"new public management\" (NPM) reform or \"public sector reform\" (PSR), and has been embraced as the contemporary paradigm through which governments need to be reformed and the public sector re-engineered (Antwi and Analoui, 2008a; Hope, 2001). Essentially, NPM is a new management concept that tends to challenge public managers and politicians to act as entrepreneurs of a new, leaner, and increasingly privatised government that places value on the use of public money (Denhart and Denhart, 2000, p. 549). The assumption which has been made globally is: let's learn from the private sector. Efficiency, cost effectiveness, and business-like processes and operations were deemed essential if not vital for \"reforming\" public institutions. What is often taken for granted is that during the last four decades, the private sector did not stand still - there too the emphasis has been on making things work more efficiently (Analoui, 2008). It is important to acknowledge ideologically motivated NPM underpinned by the \"public=bad\" \"private=good\" ethos in most countries, including the UK (Larbi, 1998; Talbot, 1994).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to review a collection of research papers concerned with challenges commonly faced when initiating, implementing and evaluating the results of reform in an international context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A review of the literature on reform, mainly in the public sector, was undertaken.\nFindings: - Reform, in particular within the public sector, has been undertaken in many countries and has proved to be challenging and difficult to manage. The challenges involved in managing reform, as experienced by Western as well as developing economies, have many aspects in common. These include the need to pay attention to appropriate structure, relevant skills and competencies, legislative support, appropriate behaviour and attitudes, and most importantly a visionary leadership.\nOriginality/value: - The reform experiences and concepts documented and reviewed in these papers are original in nature and offer value to scholars, researchers and students of public administration, government, as well as reform policy makers and practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Universal standards in CSR: are we prepared?	[ "Social responsibility", "Standards", "Laws and legislation", "Management accountability", "Law enforcement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained tremendous recognition in recent times. However, debates about CSR seem to have moved from whether corporations have other responsibilities apart from profit maximization to how corporations can comply with broader responsibilities. One way of complying which is increasingly being used is through voluntary initiatives. Modern CSR is generally associated with voluntary non-binding rules that corporations adhere to in an attempt to be socially responsible.There is greater awareness of the need for corporations to be responsible commensurate with their increasing power. This awareness is being raised by corporations themselves; international civil society, which has greater public scrutiny and exerts pressure on corporations to behave responsibly; and the real and potential threat of international legal action regarding foreign direct liability. It is leading to global changes, forcing broader corporate social responsibilities, and the development of CSR universal standards in the areas of human rights, the environment and anti-corruption.The enforcement of such standards is typically through the use of soft law initiatives. This article will address the issue of CSR enforcement of these standards using soft law initiatives. It will examine the positive and negative aspects of soft laws, the relevance of hard laws (regulations) if applicable, and provide suggestions on how soft law initiatives can be more effective.CSR cannot be beyond rules, but should include clearly mapped out rules to which corporations should adhere. This is necessary to ensure that corporations are held accountable and guided towards certain acceptable actions. These rules should be mirrored across the globe to ensure that corporations are held accountable irrespective of the country in which they carry out their activities. Universal standards need a universal approach. A universal approach would take account of the need for adequate and effective enforcement, which would address issues including:* for which standards corporations can be held responsible;* how corporations can be held responsible; and* what sanctions and deterrents would be most effective.In the area of human rights, environment and anti-corruption, the many codes and guidelines which will be discussed in this article will demonstrate that there has been much response to the question regarding for which standards corporations should be held responsible. Soft law initiatives create awareness and make it clear what standards corporations should be responsible for. However, the questions - how corporations can be held responsible, and what sanctions and deterrents would be most effective - still needs much attention. In an attempt to address these questions, the article will examine a number of accountability and enforcement problems prevalent in the use of soft law initiatives for CSR.Section 2 of this article will address the definition and scope of the CSR as it relates to human rights, environment and anti-corruption. Section III will deal with selected soft law initiatives, highlight the positive and negative aspects of such laws; analyze where possible the effects of such laws on CSR; and consider improvements to make such laws effective. Where applicable reference will be made to hard law attempts at CSR. Section 4 will conclude the article.\n2. What is CSR?: CSR covers a wide spectrum. This article will address three main issues at the heart of CSR:2.1 Whether corporations have broad responsibilities other than profit maximization\n3. Soft law initiatives: Soft law norms are created by informal processes, being moral-political obligations in nature. They are subject to looser internal \"sanctions\" to induce compliance, such as peer pressure or generated expectations (Thio, 2004). Soft laws are typically non-binding self-regulatory laws. They refer to the codes, guidelines and standards that are developed to regulate and promote certain expected corporate behavior. Generally, there are advantages to voluntary initiatives. The first and obvious advantage is that they are voluntary, and as a result are non-threatening to companies that adopt them. If adopted willingly and purposefully, they have the potential to create substantial significance in the CSR agenda. They are flexible, and therefore easily adaptable, and are necessary tools in improving corporate behavior.The codes discussed in this article focus on human rights, environment and anti-corruption. They are divided into three categories:1. company codes;2. industry-initiated codes; and3. general codes.The effectiveness of a code depends on a number of factors. These include the influence stakeholders can exert in ensuring compliance, whether the goals of the codes can be achieved, how closely fit the goals of the code are to the adopting company's activities, and transparency mechanisms put in place for implementation, monitoring and compliance. The institutions involved in the creation of a code and the parties that subscribe to it or are signatories to it are also important factors to consider in determining the effectiveness of a code.The governance forces that impact on a company's motivation to behave responsibly include NGOs, companies themselves, corporate peer group pressures, civil society/NGOs, and national and international governance agencies. The activities of some of these forces in the development of voluntary initiatives and motivation towards CSR will be discussed in the following sections.3.1 Company codes\n4. Conclusion: Universal standards for CSR are emerging in the areas of human rights, the environment, and anti-corruption. However, enforcement of these standards is for the time being mostly carried out through soft law initiatives. Such initiatives are voluntary and non-binding. They create much needed awareness for CSR issues and must be complimented. They are necessary tools in improving corporate behavior, but are by themselves inadequate.Many of the soft law initiatives examined in this article lack adequate transparency, monitoring and compliance mechanisms external to companies. This is an area that needs emphasis and encouragement. It may be that NGOs and civil society can play an informed role in ensuring CSR through greater public scrutiny which raises awareness to corporate misbehaviors and pressurizes corporations to take these issues more seriously. There is also a place for the emerging role of international governance agencies such as the lending rules of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. This has not been addressed in any detail in this article and may be a subject for further research.More partnership between the use of soft law initiatives and hard laws, where applicable, is required. An area in which this has been exemplified in this article is anti-corruption standards.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine in detail the positive and negative aspects of selected soft law initiatives and the relevance of hard laws in the pursuit of corporate social responsibility (CSR).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Soft law initiatives are categorized into company codes, industry-initiated codes, and general codes in order to determine more accurately the effectiveness of the codes in enforcing CSR standards. A number of factors relevant in determining the effectiveness of such codes are identified and applied. Partnerships between soft law initiatives and hard laws are illustrated.\nFindings: - Soft law initiatives are necessary tools in CSR. However, transparency, implementation, monitoring and compliance mechanisms are core areas in which the effectiveness of the initiatives needs improvement. Categorizing the initiatives helps to identify specific areas needed for improving effectiveness.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The initiatives examined are limited to those relevant for human rights, the environment and anti-corruption. The paper selects a number of relevant initiatives and does not attempt to examine all initiatives in these sectors. The reference to hard laws focuses on anti-bribery laws.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides useful information on improving the effectiveness of soft law initiatives, which are the current modes for enforcement of CSR; the relevance of hard laws in CSR; and the role of NGOs in ensuring CSR.\nOriginality/value: - The paper identifies the evolution of universal standards in CSR and calls for a universal approach which aims to address the need for adequate and effective enforcement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning from experience: The success of mentoring in the small-business environment	[ "Learning", "Mentoring", "Project evaluation", "Small enterprises", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: When it comes to training, small businesses often miss out. When there are few staff, training days away from the office can mean the business comes to a standstill, and when revenues are relatively low employing professional trainers is often simply beyond the budget. Yet business writing over the past five years has stressed that training is important to the small business, often being effective in improving the owner's management and planning skills and, ultimately, in avoiding failure. It makes sense: if small business owners aren't in a large team environment, with colleagues to offer advice and tasks being covered by people with different strengths, then it is hardly surprising that they make wrong moves. So how can they learn what they need to know, and how can they do it quickly and cheaply?\nComment: This is a review of \"Small business learning through mentoring: evaluating a project\" by Rowena Barrett. The paper is a summary and analysis of a small business-mentoring project, which was carried out in regional Australia. It provides full details of the method and data capture of the project, and discusses feedback from respondents. Having seen a high percentage of positive feedback, Barrett concludes that mentoring is an effective form of training in small businesses, but that it needs to be presented in a structured framework.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Reviews a mentoring project for small-businesses in regional Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments.\nFindings: - When it comes to training, small businesses often miss out. When there are few staff, training days away from the office can mean the business comes to a standstill, and when revenues are relatively low employing professional trainers is often simply beyond the budget. Yet business writing over the past five years has stressed that training is important to the small business, often being effective in improving the owner's management and planning skills and, ultimately, in avoiding failure. It makes sense: if small business owners aren't in a large team environment, with colleagues to offer advice and tasks being covered by people with different strengths, then it is hardly surprising that they make wrong moves. So how can they learn what they need to know, and how can they do it quickly and cheaply?\nPractical implications: - Provides evidence in favor of mentoring as an effective training tool and advises on the best approach to such a program.\nOriginality/value: - The briefing offers the chance to avoid training mistakes by pointing out what must be considered in effective mentoring.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Market challenges, learning and customer orientation, and innovativeness in IJVs	[ "Customer orientation", "Learning orientation", "Innovativeness", "Republic of Korea", "Communication frequency", "International joint ventures", "Market challenge" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Faced with challenging and often saturated markets, firms seek partnerships with others who share similar ideas or values in order to reduce the risk posed by environmental uncertainty (Beckman et al., 2004). In the MNE context, such uncertainty arises from changes in legal regulations, political environments, economic stability, and other institutional conditions (Yiu and Makino, 2002). Market challenges such as market complexity and legal threats are beyond a firm's control (Root, 1988), and MNEs must make appropriate ownership decisions to manage risk.\nTheoretical development and hypotheses: Innovativeness refers to a firm's capability to engage in innovation, which is related to the introduction of new products, processes, or ideas (Hult et al., 2004). Innovativeness is considered one of the central factors influencing performance outcomes, and is a prerequisite for a firm's success (Rhee et al., 2010; Lee et al., 2016; Ma et al., 2015). The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of two distinct but complementary organizational characteristics - learning orientation (Sinkula, 1994; Garvin, 1993; Laukkanen et al., 2013) and customer orientation (Deshpande and Farley, 1998; Deshpande et al., 1993) - on innovativeness (Hult et al., 2004; Rhee et al., 2010). We adhere to organizational behavior literature and classify these constructs as a part of the organizational structure that is vital to promoting innovativeness (Deshpande et al., 1993; Gatignon and Xuereb, 1997).\nResearch method: Research setting and sample selection\nAnalysis and results: Measurement model\nDiscussion: In this paper, a theoretical framework is developed which elaborates the effects of customer orientation and learning orientation on firm innovativeness in the IJV context. Our study contributes to recent streams of research that stress the need for further understanding of key factors contributing to IJV innovativeness. We aim to fulfill this research need by conceptualizing and empirically testing antecedents to innovativeness, drawing support from the established theory of the RBV of the firm.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance a theoretical framework that incorporates the relationship between market challenge and learning and customer orientations, and the influence of these orientations on innovativeness in an international joint venture (IJV) context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors estimate a structural equation model utilizing survey data collected from 199 IJVs in the Republic of Korea.\nFindings: The authors found that while market challenge does not influence learning orientation in IJVs, it does have a significant positive influence on customer orientation. Further, the authors' findings support that both learning orientation and customer orientation have positive impacts on IJV innovativeness. Another interesting finding shows that the impact of learning orientation on IJV innovativeness is significant only when IJVs have high levels of interaction with parent firms. The study also reveals that having a strong learning orientation amplifies the impact of customer orientation on innovativeness in IJVs.\nOriginality/value: Despite increased interest in IJVs, there has been relatively little work linking IJV innovativeness with learning and customer orientations. The study contributes to recent streams of research that seek to understand the role of these orientations in IJV innovativeness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate image no longer leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty: a Malaysian perspective	[ "Perceived value", "Customer satisfaction", "Customer loyalty", "Promotion", "Perceived quality", "Price fairness", "Corporate image", "Internet service providers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Internet service providers in Malaysia are competing with each other to provide high-speed internet so as to enhance customers' satisfaction level. The user satisfaction level of internet service will affect their continuous use of it and their intention to repurchase (Hoehle et al., 2012). On April 1, 2015, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak introduced the application of Goods and Services Tax. The study by BBDO, a Malaysian company, on the June 20, 2015, revealed that brands must demonstrate value to minimize the impacts on the loyalty of consumers after the Goods and Services Tax enactment. Both satisfaction and loyalty of customers are equally important for leading to business success (Ene & Ozkaya, 2014).\nProblem statement: Ookla's study from May 2013 to April 2014 has shown that Malaysia's internet service was slower than that of Vietnam and Cambodia. Malaysia had been listed in the world's top ten countries with the slowest internet connection (Chin, 2014). Ookla's research had been challenged by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission that the finding was not conclusive as the research did not take other factors into consideration other than the internet connection speed. Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission further explained that Malaysia has higher penetration and much larger populations of internet users. However, Chong (2010) claimed that most of the Malaysians are dissatisfied with their internet service providers. To solve this problem, it is essential for this present research to reveal what factors actually influence customer satisfaction and customer loyalty toward Malaysia internet service providers.\nResearch objectives and research questions: The main objective of this study is to explore the determinants of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty toward internet service providers in Malaysia. The main research question is to find out what are the elements influencing customer satisfaction and customer loyalty toward internet service providers in Malaysia.\nSignificance of the study: This study can contribute academically to future researchers who wish to study customer loyalty toward internet service providers. The European Customer Satisfaction Index has been adopted and combined with price fairness and promotion as a new research model that other researchers may look into it further.\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: Corporate image and customer satisfaction\nResearch methodology: Research design and constructs measurement\nResults: Demographic profile of the respondents\nDiscussions and implications: Discussions\nConclusion: The goal of the paper is to understand the relationship of corporate image, perceived quality, perceived value, price fairness and promotion with the satisfaction of customers, as well as the association between satisfaction and loyalty of customer for internet service providers in Malaysia. The result shows that perceived quality is the strongest factor that influences customer satisfaction. On the other hand, corporate image has an insignificant impact on customer satisfaction. Finally, the researchers have also discovered that perceived value, price fairness and promotion are positively connected to customer satisfaction. Furthermore, satisfaction of customer has a significant and positive consequence on customer loyalty toward internet service providers in Malaysia.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to study the factors that influence customer loyalty toward the internet service providers in Malaysia. The five factors used are corporate image, perceived quality, perceived value, price fairness and promotion. The mediating variable of this study is customer satisfaction, while customer loyalty is the study variable.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The primary data collection has been done by distributing survey questionnaires to 338 internet users in Malaysia. The data collected have been analyzed with SAS software.\nFindings: The results showed that perceived quality has the strongest influence on customer satisfaction toward internet service providers in Malaysia. However, corporate image has no relationship with customer satisfaction toward internet service providers in Malaysia. Furthermore, customer satisfaction has a significant and positive relationship to customer loyalty toward the internet service providers in Malaysia.\nOriginality/value: European Customer Satisfaction Index has been adopted and combined with price fairness and promotion as a new research model that other researchers may look into it further. This research may also serve as a guide to internet service providers as they may learn about the underlying factors that affect the satisfaction and loyalty of customers and which factor has the strongest impact.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The art and science of experiential leadership: culture at the core of process change success	[ "Culture", "Organizations", "Performance management", "Arts", "Communications", "Productivity rate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Human capital development - the nurturing and development of leaders, teams and organizations - is increasingly the focus of initiatives to enhance business success. But, despite considerable research and teaching of theory and practice, for most of us it's still tough to actually become a \"good leader.\"\nThe Harcourt Assessment challenge: Harcourt Assessment was a major educational testing and publishing business, devising and scoring national tests in schools and other institutions. Its corporate heritage dates to the beginning of the century when World Book Company was founded and developed a number of educational products. After many corporate mergers, in 2003 Harcourt Assessment, Inc became an operating company of Harcourt General with a goal to improve both teaching and life-long learning. Some of the World Book products were still in the Harcourt Assessment catalogue.A new CEO, Michael Hansen, appointed in July 2006, found a business in trouble. Leadership and collaboration were suffering and error rates in tests were high. As a result, the company was losing clients, taking a pounding in the press, and financially in trouble. Hansen reviewed the strengths Harcourt had to draw on. \"Let's put it this way. The people by and large were highly capable and highly knowledgeable in their respective fields. It was not a situation where you say: \"Look, I have to exchange half of the senior management team, I've got to bring different people into this business and then this business is going to perform ... \"And yet, organizational performance clearly was not reflecting all these potential individual strengths. Hansen recalls the challenge: \"The reality is that intensely personal and people-driven factors ultimately determine the success of any business. I thought, if I can get these people to operate in the first year at 60 percent or even 80 percent of their creative potential, we will have a great business ... These people know every aspect of the testing business and they are extremely motivated. But the question is, how can you use that raw material and turn it into a high performing, creative entity?\"His answer - honest communication \"really treating people with the respect that everyone deserves. I think this is crucial. Generally people have a very good sense for empty management phraseology.\" Honest and personal dialogue about the company's problems among different levels of management and staff would require a safe environment where change can happen. A safe and honest environment breeds new creativity. A fearful, insecure workplace kills it stone dead.\"Before our change process,\" Hansen observed, \"no one seemed to have the bigger picture of the whole company in sight and everyone was simply trying to optimize whatever they could in their own world. The cultural change we initiated was really about making people accountable for what they did. And the accountability had to go hand in hand with teamwork and customer focus. The teamwork really needed to break down the silos, so we coined the phrase ACT which means Accountability, Customer focus, and Teamwork, which I know parallels theater principles of responsibility for your own performance, being focused on your audience, and working as an ensemble.\"\nPartnering to support and facilitate change: In Hansen's experience, the positioning of change is crucial. \"If you say to our staff, 'Look, we're going to coach you to get better performance and really make you more creative,' they're going to say: 'What? Are you kidding me? I mean, the house is on fire and you're trying to massage people's souls? Why are you doing this?' It takes a fair amount of determination and experience to take this kind of risk ... \"Therefore, Hansen believed that Harcourt needed a disinterested outside party to help facilitate that process. \"For many people such a profound departure from what they were used to meant they needed some framework, some support, and some continuous coverage by way of coaching. The senior management team needed to regain trust in the leadership - and they needed to gain trust in me. It was important that I wasn't seen as coming in with the troops from outside, trying to teach them how to run the business. That would have prevented us from making progress.\"Hansen had known The TAI Group from his days as a partner at The Boston Consulting Group, which first engaged The TAI Group more than a decade ago to work on high-level partner development. Hansen subsequently worked with TAI to help his team develop a new corporate approach when he headed strategy at European media giant Bertelsmann. \"Philosophically, performing arts people share my fundamental principles about creativity. So I figured the alignment of philosophy, as it were, between The TAI Group's underlying performing arts approach and my beliefs would help achieve just that.\"The TAI Group's role at Harcourt was to create an environment conducive to change, supporting Hansen as he rebuilt functionality in the business, while helping the executive team find alignment and new ways of working effectively together on the massive problems facing the organization. The TAI Group's successful track record with Hansen, combined with his sensitive positioning of the firm as a change \"partner,\" enabled his own executive team to engage in the process without prejudice against a non-traditional consulting approach. Change had to come quickly, so this reestablishment of a functional and productive organizational culture, proceeded in parallel with a fundamental reengineering of operational processes, initiated and run by the Harcourt staff.\nUsing performing arts techniques: The initial focus was on developing collaboration in and between divisions. Allen Schoer, the founder and current CEO of The TAI Group, explains how TAI approached the challenge. \"Whenever we enter a critical situation like this the stakes are high. How we engage with the individuals is vital to the success of the whole exercise. It's central to creative enterprise and leadership in the performing arts, too. Directors must constantly take disparate groups of highly capable individual and competitive performers and create an ensemble sufficiently aligned for it to attain high levels of performance in very stressful environments.\"At Harcourt, our objective was first to let the personal start to emerge. People began to see what was truly important to them, their values, emotions and essential drivers. This awareness guided how people explained what they wanted, how they listened, communicated and worked effectively with others. When people see what deeply motivates others they start to see where they're aligned rather than where they differ. This is a critical shift for individuals and organizations,\" Schoer said.\"What we did, coming directly from how performers have to work, was to take people beyond their fears to a practical place where they were able do things they hadn't thought possible,\" Schoer said. \"Action and change happen in the dynamic of positive, creative relationships. We used performing arts techniques to get people on their feet to feel what it's like to communicate and relate in ways they'd never done before. For example, getting Harcourt's teams to share personal stories or make passionate speeches, then hear immediate, honest feedback from peers, created vulnerability and willingness to listen on new levels. Difficult conversations began to have greater conviction and certainty.\"Referring to one of many executive team workshops he facilitated, Schoer reveals the process of energizing relationships and spurring communications. \"I led this two-day session some months after the project started. And at the end of the session, we had many easel sheets all around, and some of them were about the qualitative side, not just the strategic action steps. And so I said at the end of the second day, 'Let's just focus on all the ones that are qualitative, about who you are and what you said about each other: your assets, the way you work together, what you bring to the table. Just look at those and pretend you're an outsider. If you were to see all those qualitative attributes about the people in this company, how would you feel about it?'\"And there's this long, profound silence, which led to a long conversation and the realization: 'You're not the same people you were when I first met you.' And I gave them specific examples, real data points, on how they're working together with each other in just a short period, where before they were throwing hand grenades at each other. I reminded them of one member's success in creating a new team and how she had shared her own strategies with the rest of the team. I had them reflect on how the new CTO's approach has started to forge previously impossible communications with the sales team. And I talked about how they had facilitated monthly off-sites that would prepare for the Pearson transition (Pearson acquired Harcourt Assessment in the midst of TAI's engagement) preserving culture, values and jobs.\"We got people aligned and working together. We reengineered the 'human capital.' The spirit was up. New creative avenues opened up. And they became proud of themselves and each other in the middle of a horrifying year,\" Schoer said.It is nothing new to say the best leaders stimulate the creativity of others. As individual character emerges, leadership capabilities and skills naturally emerge too. But for TAI, the essence of lasting change in groups and individuals is \"experiential learning,\" enabling people to face and overcome fears, doubts and hesitations. This is knowing \"what it feels like\" to really act in a powerful, relational and impactful way.This TAI challenge to clients - \"We're excited about what you haven't created yet\" - sums up our own experience of what happens when people understand their underlying motivations and \"drivers.\" They start to speak honestly about how they see the world, listen to others \"in the present,\" seek alignment rather than difference, and then - simply act. Our goal is to enable clients to have more vital relationships with their colleagues, friends, and families, and become more powerful in their practical daily life and work. Schoer says: \"We're not therapists. We focus on helping individuals and organizations uncover their own way of working - their own methodology - and develop that.\"The case of the turnaround at Harcourt Assessment, reveals how these approaches can promote rapid shifts in executive behavior and, in this case, help a dramatic turnaround in the company's financial fortunes.\nMeasuring success: Critics often point out the apparent difficulty of measuring the success of change projects, which are driven by attention to human performance. How did Hansen and his team measure success? First and foremost, by the numbers: In mid-2006, Harcourt had slipped into the red and signs were for more of the same. When the company reported its results in mid-2007, profit was healthily back in the black.Hansen's view is that the cultural leg of the strategy was as important, and played as robust a role, in the turnaround as the major improvements in testing processes and overall operations. \"The reality was that it [culture change] was really driving the success of the other two, and I don't think it's an overstatement to say the cultural work was a critical piece in the success of this entire turnaround.\"Employee feedback seems to bear out this judgment call. An employee satisfaction survey, carried out in mid-2007 showed clear attitudinal changes. Staff were asked to rate the senior team's performance. A total of 72.4 percent of staff reported the team encouraging teamwork and collaboration, nearly 25 percent higher than the previous year. Asked whether they had confidence that the company's strategy and goals would position it for business success, 76.2 percent responded favorably, more than 30 percent up from the previous year. Seventy-nine percent said that, all things considered, the company was changing favorably, up from just 44 percent. Those having trust and confidence in the overall job being done by the senior leadership team were at 77 percent, up from 43 percent. Finally, 73.2 percent of staff rated the ability of top management favorably, up from just 37 percent a year before.\nReflections on the change process: \"I believe people have a desire to put their own imprint on the world they live and operate in. Giving them avenues to actually execute on that unleashes an enormous amount of potential for a business, or for any organization, to perform better,\" Hansen said in an interview after the turnaround. \"I've found that bringing a performing arts perspective to that desire makes a crucial difference.\"Other Harcourt executives have also reflected on the change process. The then legal counsel Scott Barnes clearly sees the work as highly-effective organizational performance consulting: \"My previous experience of this kind of work began with the mechanics and etiquette of teamwork. What surprised me was that the new work took individuals as the starting point. It helped to bring a clear focus on what my motivations were - we looked at key motivators. I started to understand what was driving me and my behavior - and to channel that to make me work for the organization rather than creating conflict within it ... \"Barnes referred to the central importance of this experiential, rather than cognitive, approach. \"We started interacting with others - finding out about what I call other people's 'freaky buttons' ... We got more comfortable putting ridiculous ideas on the table and seeing what happened,\" he said.Harcourt Assessments' director of public relations at the time, Russell Schweiss, said \"... vulnerability and humility are watermarks of good leadership. Sometimes there's nothing healthier than being vulnerable in front of people that you're working with regularly, so they can see your humanity. Because they are human, too, they know they have weaknesses. To see someone else admit to it gives them the freedom to do the same.\"Schoer adds that this is at the essence of the actor's performance. \"Actors face this vulnerability, the potential for public humiliation, every time they audition or stand on stage in front of an audience. The way we train ourselves to overcome this and turn it into a positive energy can be extremely powerful for people in business.\"Businesspeople, like actors, should be able to recognize the potential of each new assignment, making them, as TAI continually is, \"excited about what you haven't created yet.\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To show that: as leaders refine business performance, they are increasingly focusing on human capital performance - how leaders and teams deliver outstanding performance and productivity. Leaders who are paying practical attention to the inner aspects of behavior are often reporting strong cultural shifts in individual engagement and collaborative teamwork affecting all aspects of company performance. These personal aspects of performance can be effectively addressed using the experiential techniques and approaches common to the arts and performing arts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This article describes the case of Harcourt Assessment, a large education testing and publishing business, which underwent a dramatic business turnaround in 2006-07. This article is based on analysis of the change methodology adopted by Harcourt Assessment and its consulting firm, The TAI Group, in 2006-2007, extensive interviews of key executive participants in the engagement, and analysis of the firm's employee survey in 2007.\nFindings: - Participants in the turnaround of Harcourt Assessment were consistent in their assessment that the deliberate adoption of a change strategy focusing on individual motivators and collaborative group alignment using a creative, performing arts-based approach was critical to the project's success. These evaluations were also consistent with the attitudinal changes reported in the 2007 employee satisfaction survey of views on senior team performance, teamwork and collaboration, strategy and trust.\nOriginality/value: - The case study and findings demonstrate the measurable value of adopting a practical, disciplined approach to profound corporate culture change based on the experiential principles of the performing arts. This approach, with individual motivations and behavior at the core, can be critical to creating an aligned culture capable of delivering sustained high performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors influencing accounting students' career paths	[ "Career development", "Career planning", "Career management", "Career interest", "Career path" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants, accounting is a system of recording past transactions, organizing source documents, and analyzing companies' financial performance and position. In Malaysia, the accountant profession is regulated by a statutory body called the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), which was established under the Accountants Act of 1967. Apart from regulating accounting practices, the MIA also plays a significant role in enhancing the competency level of accountancy professionals in meeting market demand. As reported by Nor et al. (2013), Malaysia plans to have 80,000 professional accountants by year 2020. However, the total number of registered MIA members in the country is only 29,624 in the year 2013/2014. The number is still far behind the target amount. Apart from that, as reported by Southern University College in 2014, Malaysia also has a shortage of qualified tax accountants as well as qualified cost accountants. One of the reasons is an outflow of trained and qualified accounting professionals to neighboring countries such as Singapore. The number of members recruited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) indicates a slanted preference by accounting students. In year 2013, ACCA recruited 10,361 new members, while CIMA only recruited 5,527 new members. The low number of member recruitment in CIMA may be an indicator of accounting students' preference toward their career paths. Hutaibat (2005), as cited in Hutaibat (2012), explained that the lack of preference for management accounting could be due to the lack of formal education in management accounting. Past literature revealed that other influencing factors using the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) include intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, third parties influence, and career exposure.\nLiterature review: Social cognitive career theory (SCCT)\nResearch methodology: This study is conducted in one of the private universities in Malaysia. The institution is selected as it represents a reputable higher learning institution which recruits a huge number of accounting students annually for its accounting program. The authors attempted to obtain the list of students for accounting program from the university management. However, it was turned down. Hence, without a sampling frame, convenience sampling, which is one of the non-probability sampling techniques, is applied. Convenience sampling refers to a sampling method where responses to questionnaires are obtained from respondents who are conveniently available in providing it (Sekaran, 2003). According to Choy et al. (2011), as long as the proportion of target population has insignificant influence toward the validity of result, convenience sampling is suitable to be used. Nevertheless, the researchers applied extra care during the data collection process to ensure the result is fairly distributed among the first-, second-, and third-year accounting students. The questionnaires were distributed in three different lecture sessions as an effort to cover all accounting students from first, second, and third year of their studies.\nData analysis: Table II summarizes the demographic profile of respondents of this study. The respondents consist of 173 (56.54 percent) females and 133 (43.46 percent) males. Most of the respondents are 21 years old, 22 years or older, and 20 years old at 30.07, 29.08, and 27.45 percent, respectively. The remaining respondents are 19 years old (13.40 percent). There are 106 respondents (34.64 percent) in their second year of the degree program. Respondents in the first and third year number at 88 (28.76 percent) and 86 (28.10 percent), respectively. Only a small number of students (8.50 percent) are in the fourth year as these are students who extended their three-year degree program. More than half of the respondents (51.63 percent) do not have family or friends who are accountants. Close to half of the respondents (147 respondents, 48.04 percent) have indicated that the accounting program was their first choice.\nConclusion and discussion: The findings of this study have concluded that intrinsic motivation and career exposure have positive relationships with career path. However, extrinsic motivation and influence of third parties do not have significant relationships with career path.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that influence accounting students' preference toward career paths. Career path refers to the choices of jobs and occupational positions an individual may choose to hold. Accounting students may choose to advance their career into one of the following areas: financial accounting, management accounting, taxation, auditing, finance, etc. According to past literature, choices of career path are influenced by intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, third parties, and career exposure.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A self-administered survey was used to collect data from students in a reputable private university in Malaysia. This university recruits a huge number of accounting students annually for its accounting program. A total of 306 questionnaires were collected for data analysis using statistical analysis system.\nFindings: The findings of the study suggest that undergraduate accounting students are more influenced by intrinsic motivation and career exposure in selecting their career paths, whereas third parties and extrinsic motivation are less likely to influence undergraduate accounting students' career choices.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results, however, could not be generalized to all accounting students in Malaysia since the study was collected from only one private university in Malaysia and non-probability sampling technique was applied. The theoretical contribution of this study is the inclusion of new variables in the model.\nPractical implications: Professional accounting bodies may benefit from the findings of this study as it may provide a basis in designing member recruitment strategies.\nOriginality/value: This paper fulfills an identified need to study how shortage of certain career path for accounting students could be resolved.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Extending consumer ethnocentrism theory: the moderating effect test	[ "Perceived quality", "Consumer ethnocentrism", "Perceived brand image", "Perceived price", "Willingness to buy domestic products" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent decades, consumer ethnocentrism has attracted significant attention from researchers and practitioners because it plays a significant role in predicting consumer behavior when purchasing domestic/imported products (Huddleston et al., 2001; Nguyen et al., 2008). Theoretically, consumer ethnocentrism is an intrinsic motivation and can be defined as a perceived moral obligation to buy domestic products when people believe that their personal or their country's national well-being is under threat from imports (He and Wang, 2015; Sharma et al., 1995). The understanding of consumer ethnocentrism affecting the willingness to buy domestic products is an important issue in the marketplace. For example, consumers in developing countries tend to perceive imported products as being of higher quality than domestic products; thus, they prefer imported products (Bi et al., 2012). Indeed, high-tech products from the USA and fashion apparel and cosmetics from Western Europe represent high-quality imported products for consumers in developing countries. One example of this phenomenon is iPhone's hot sales to developing countries. According to Liberty Times Net (2015), in 2015, iPhone sales in Greater China surpassed sales in the USA for the first time, growing 71 percent to $16.8bn and accounting for one-third of Apple's second-quarter revenue. In addition to quality, price and brand image are the main concerns for consumers evaluating the products (Chiang and Jang, 2007). Low and Lamb Jr (2000) argued that strong brands add value to consumer purchase evaluations. Zeithaml (1988) indicated that people evaluate products on the basis of their perceptions of price and quality. Therefore, perceived quality, perceived price and perceived brand image can be viewed as three critical antecedents influencing the willingness to buy the products or services.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Consumer ethnocentrism\n3. Research method: 3.1 Subjects\n4. Analysis of empirical results: 4.1 Empirical results\n5. Conclusions and suggestions: 5.1 Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While the idea that consumer ethnocentrism influences the willingness to buy domestic products is a well-known assumption for marketers, the purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of consumer ethnocentrism on the willingness to buy domestic products in developing countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Hierarchical moderator regression analysis and simple slope analysis are used to test the postulated hypotheses, and 385 consumers in Taiwan are studied.\nFindings: The findings revealed that consumer ethnocentrism, perceived quality, perceived price and perceived brand image are significantly associated with the willingness to buy domestic products. Moreover, consumer ethnocentrism significantly moderates the relationships of the model.\nResearch limitations/implications: Consumer ethnocentrism increases the positive effects of perceived quality and perceived brand image on the willingness to buy domestic products in developing countries, whereas it may increase the negative effect of perceived price on the willingness to buy domestic products.\nPractical implications: The results of this study suggest that practitioners should not only improve the quality and brand image of domestic products but also avoid putting a high price on domestic products to increase the willingness to buy domestic products for consumers in developing countries.\nOriginality/value: This study advances the consumer ethnocentrism theory by adding the moderating effect of consumer ethnocentrism to the model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Respectable femininity: a significant panel of glass ceiling for career women	[ "Gender", "Glass ceilings", "Respectable femininity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Females constitute about 51 per cent of the world population but are marginally represented in the work force generally and the higher echelons of management particularly. The situation remains an issue of concern for the proponents of optimal utilization of human capital and the campaigners of work force diversity seeking competitive advantage for the contemporary organizations. The extant literature about the exclusion/alienation of females from the formal work places, starting from the early twentieth century, has attributed the phenomenon to gender stereotypes where women are labelled as \"nurturers or care takers\" and men are characterized as \"ambitious or charge takers\", hence more suited to the managerial positions in the organizations (Parson and Bales, 1956). Such stereotypes initially based on physiological and functional differences between men and women were depicted to result in a clear-cut distinction of tasks so that the men were expected to be concerned mostly about their jobs and careers, whereas women were assigned the care-giving activities (Rossi, 1977; Becker, 1981). This gendered division of labour ultimately culminated in various forms of discrimination and rendered women disadvantaged in terms of opportunities for education, employment, success and advancement in their careers. According to contemporary theorists, the structures of the labour market and of society in general are responsible to produce and reproduce gender asymmetries in the world of work and organizations (Kanter, 1977; Acker, 1992). Gender relations are considered to be practiced at many levels of the organizational structures and practices, varying from the explicit to the subtler, including the ways in which work is organized, defined, rewarded and represented (Edwards and Wajcman, 2005). Men are earning more than women for comparable work and progressing more easily up the career ladder than women do. In a large number of professional organizations, women evidently encounter subtle barriers in their upward career progression, especially when it comes to attain the highest echelons of management, whereas equivalent men just careen along with a comparative ease (Gatrell and Swan, 2008). This phenomenon of invisible barrier in the career advancement of female managers, commonly termed as \"glass ceiling\", is visible in varying degrees both in the developed and developing world and appears strenuously resistant to various legislative interventions aimed at levelling the playing field for both genders (European Commission, 2010).\nLiterature review: In the wake of an intensely competitive corporate sector owing to ever-growing phenomenon of globalization, the career management has witnessed a major shift whereby the employers increasingly expect their employees to self-manage their careers at their own individual level (Bridges, 1995). Various techniques have been reported in the literature to be used by the incumbents for self-managing their career and achieving the desired positions through promotions and/or salary increases. The concept of \"positioning\" in exerting a desirable influence on the key gate keepers of the organizations and endeavour for creating a balance between the demands of work and non-work domains (King, 2004); accumulating \"social capital\" through building social networks (Baker, 2000; Cross and Prusak, 2002; Tymon and Stumpf, 2003) and a strive for \"impression management\" (Kilduff and Day, 1994) are a few important career self-management techniques being effectively used by individuals for achieving career success and progression\nResearch methodology: Population/sample\nResults: During the course of semi-structured, in-depth interviews of the respondents, the theme of \"respectable femininity\" emerged prominent in the accounts of both the female and the male respondents, where both sexes seemed to concur on the acceptable codes of gendered behaviour averring the obligation of the working women to abide by these rules for maintaining their reputation and honour in the society. The concept of career women is still quite novel in the society of Pakistan, and women have to go to an extra length to prove their legitimacy in the arena of work places along with establishing a respectable reputation in the eyes of the societal forces. The most recurring themes in this context were \"domesticity\", where women have to give priority to their household duties over their career demands; \"respectable interaction\" with the male colleagues characterized by \"emitting the right kind of signal\"; and \"downplaying femininity\" by adopting \"mannish attitude\".\nDiscussion: This research study mapping a lesser charted course of investigating the role of \"respectable femininity\" norms in the professional lives of working women and their clash with conventional career management techniques has attempted to reveal the mechanism whereby the paradox of becoming a \"good woman\" and a \"successful careerist\" at the same time develops in to a series of subtle barriers in the female professional careers mounting, ultimately, to become a significant panel of \"glass ceiling\" in their career progression.\nConclusion: This research study has corroborated the findings of earlier studies in the South Asian context (Radhakrishnan, 2009; Patel, 2006; Fernando and Cohen, 2014) pertaining to the paradox between respectability norms and career management techniques, which ultimately leads to constrain the advancement of females to higher echelons of management. However, the study has made additional contributions to the extant literature on the subject as follows.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to explicate the role of \"respectable femininity\" norms in the work lives of professional women and investigate the extent to which they impact female career advancement (or lack thereof) by way of creating a clash with the traditional career management techniques of accumulating social capital and managing desirable impression.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The qualitative research design was deemed appropriate for the study to gain an insight of the incumbents' work experiences. The opinions, thoughts, experiences and expressions of the participants were gauged through in-depth, semi-structured interviews to ensure the coverage of all the relevant aspects while retaining the flexibility to obtain rich and detailed data beyond the preconceived questions.\nFindings: It was found that working women in Pakistan feeling guilty of violating the norm of \"confinement to private spheres\" appeared obliged to abide by the respectable femininity principles of \"domesticity\", \"restrained networking\" and \"toning down their femininity\" to maintain an \"honourable\" reputation/image in the society; however, these norms, in turn, created a significant hurdle in their career advancement by way of constraining their capacity to exploit the career management techniques of accumulating \"social capital\" and employing \"impression management\" tactics.\nOriginality/value: This research will add credence to the scant literature pertaining to the role of \"respectable femininity\" in the professional lives of working women. The study showcases the female's enigmatic struggle of becoming a \"good woman\" and a \"successful careerist\" at the same time which culminates in to a series of subtle barriers in their professional careers mounting ultimately to become a significant panel of \"glass ceiling\" in their progression.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Focus of attention at work and organization-based self-esteem	[ "Organizations", "Employees behaviour", "Employees attitudes", "Organization‐based self‐esteem", "Focus of attention at work", "Self‐verification", "Job complexity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Over the past several decades there has emerged an extensive literature focused on self-esteem within the organization environment (Bowling et al., 2010; Brockner, 1988; Pierce and Gardner, 2004). Early on, the science of self-esteem at work revolved around global (chronic) self-esteem (Brockner, 1988). Subsequently, the work of Epstein (1979) and Tharenou (1979) was instrumental in the movement toward the examination of self-esteem with measures specific to the domain under investigation (e.g. the job itself). It was this line of thinking that led to the development of \"organization-based self-esteem\", a conceptualization and assessment of personal worthiness within the work and organizational context (Pierce et al., 1989).\nMethod: Sample and data collection\nResults: Table I provides the descriptive statistics, reliability estimates (coefficient a), and correlations amongst all of the study variables for sample 1, and Table II provides the same information for sample 2. H1 states that there is a positive relationship between job complexity and OBSE. This relationship is supported (r=.47 and 0.52, p<0.01, in samples 1 and 2, respectively). H2a through H3b stated that OBSE would be related to all of the attitudinal variables, and these hypotheses were supported for all of the variables in both samples. For samples 1 and 2, respectively, OBSE correlated significantly (at least at p<0.05) with overall job satisfaction (r=0.72 and 0.43), organizational commitment (r=0.45 and 0.27), turnover intent (r=-0.44 and -0.47), and absence intent (r=-0.38 and -0.06). Observed support for H1 through H3b is consistent with much prior research on OBSE (e.g. Pierce and Gardner, 2004).The remaining hypotheses were tested with multiple regression. Predictor variables were standardized prior to these analyses to facilitate interpretation of statistically significant results. H4 stated that job focus and job complexity would interact in predicting OBSE, and H5 stated that off-job focus and job complexity would interact in predicting OBSE. Results for these analyses are presented in Table III. In support of H4, the job focusxjob complexity interaction was statistically significant in sample 2 (p<0.01), but not in sample 1. H5 was supported by statistically significant interactions in sample 1 (p<0.05) and in sample 2 (p<0.01). When plotted, the significant interactions supported H4 and H5 (see Figure 2 for an illustration). The positive relationship was stronger between job complexity and OBSE for employees with a high job focus than for employees with low job focus (H4). The positive relationship between job complexity and OBSE was stronger for employees with a low off-job focus than for employees with a high off-job focus (H5). Thus, job complexity has stronger relationships with OBSE when employees are focusing on their jobs, and weaker when they direct their attention away from the job.H6 and H7 stated that OBSE would interact with job focus (H6) and off-job focus (H7) in predicting the study's dependent variables (a-d). The results for these analyses are presented in Table IV (job focus) and Table V (off-job focus). In support of H6a-H6d, in sample 2 all of the interactions of job focus and OBSE on the four dependent variables were statistically significant[1]. In sample 1, however, there was only one statistically significant interaction of job focus and OBSE on overall job satisfaction. In all cases the interactions, when plotted, reflected stronger relationships between OBSE and the dependent variables (positive for satisfaction and commitment, and negative for turnover intent, and absence intent) when job focus was high rather than low. See Figure 3 for an illustration of one of the significant interactions.In addition, in sample 2 there are statistically significant interactions of off-job focus and OBSE on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and absence intent. There were no statistically significant interactions of OBSE and off-job focus in sample 1. When plotted, the significant interactions provide mixed support for H7a, H7b, and H7d. The interaction on organizational commitment in sample 2 reflects a stronger positive relationship for low off-job focus employees than high, supporting H7b. All of the other significant interactions indicate stronger OBSE-attitude relationships for high off-job focus employees than low. See Figure 4 for an illustration of one of the significant interactions. This is opposite to H7, as it appears that employees high in both OBSE and off-job focus have more favorable reactions (lower absence intent) to the work environment than do high OBSE-low off-job focus employees.\nDiscussion: Consistent with the extant OBSE literature we observed a positive relationship between job complexity and OBSE, as well as OBSE having a positive relationship with employee job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and a negative relationship with both absenteeism and quit intentions. However, the primary focus of the present study was the boundary conditions for the hypothesized development of OBSE, as well as its theoretical consequences. We hypothesized that the relationship between perceived job complexity and OBSE would be stronger for employees who have a strong job focus of attention, as opposed to a weak job focus. Further we hypothesized that the relationship between job complexity and OBSE would be weaker for employees whose attention was focused away from the job than employees who focused less on off-job factors. Both hypotheses were supported by statistically significant interactions of focus of attention and job complexity on OBSE. Employees who focused more on their jobs, and less on off-job matters, appeared to react more to their perceived job characteristics in the development of OBSE. Results were produced in both samples, although the number and significance of interactions in sample 1 were weaker. The weaker results in sample 1 were probably due in part to the much smaller sample size, and concomitant lower statistical power to detect interactions. Moderating (interaction) relationships are typically very small in magnitude, and consequently interactions are very difficult to detect (Aguinis et al., 2005).OBSE interacted with job focus in predicting all of the study's dependent variables, in support of H6. The well-documented relationships between OBSE, and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover and absence intent, were stronger when employees had a high job focus. Close examination of the direction of the interaction revealed that when OBSE was high, there were large differences in job attitudes when job focus was high versus low. For low OBSE employees it did not seem to matter whether they had a high or low job focus (see Figure 3). Our results suggest that employees with high OBSE self-verify with more positive work attitudes when they are more focused on their jobs; high job focus intensifies the OBSE-outcome relationships.The results for tests of H6 were, for the most part, opposite to predictions. The relationships between OBSE and the hypothesized dependent variables were stronger for employees who focused much of their attention on off-job factors while they were at work, compared to employees who had a low off-job focus. A close examination of the direction of these interactions indicated that for employees with high OBSE, there was not a large difference between high off-job and low off-job focus employees (see Figure 4). The interaction was produced primarily by the difference in job attitudes for low OBSE employees. When OBSE was low, job attitudes were much more negative when employees had a high off-job focus than a low off-job focus. Employees who viewed themselves as being relatively worthless in their organizations developed worse job attitudes when their attention was also focused away from the organization. It seems as though low OBSE employees verified their self-views with poor job attitudes, and that psychological withdrawal from the organization (off-job focus) intensified this relationship. Alternatively, low OBSE employees might reasonably divert their attention away from the source of their negative self-evaluations (the organization).Limitations\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the questions \"How does employees' focus of attention at work theoretically relate to organization-based self-esteem?\", and \"Does job focus and off-job focus moderate relationships between organization-based self-esteem, and employee attitudes and perceptions of job complexity?\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Participants in two different samples completed questionnaires containing measures of organization-based self-esteem, focus of attention at work, job complexity, and a variety of attitudes and behavioral intentions.\nFindings: - What and how much employees think about when they are at work changes relationships between organization-based self-esteem and employee perceptions of and attitudes towards their workplaces. Job focus and off-job focus of attention intensified or weakened relationships with organization-based self-esteem.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Conclusions about causality are constrained by the cross-sectional data collected in this study.\nPractical implications: - It appears that managers should attempt to draw employees' attention to self-esteem bolstering aspects of their jobs; and away from debilitating ones.\nSocial implications: - Societies benefit by having members with positive well-being, to which organization-based self-esteem may contribute.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first theoretical analysis and empirical study of relationships between organization-based self-esteem and employee focus of attention at work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An exploratory study of alignment ERP implementation and organizational development activities in a newly established firm	[ "Strategic alignment", "Manufacturing resource planning", "Internal control", "Internal auditing", "Corporate governance", "Organizational development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper focuses on the strategic alignment of organizational development activities and the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in a new venture. Increasingly, the advance of information technology (IT) is evolving toward a strategic role with the potential not only to support chosen business strategies, but also to shape new business strategies (Presley, 2006; Wideder et al., 2006). In recent years, a large number of organizations have implemented ERP in an integrated suite of systems and information resources for operational and management processes across a broad range of business activities (Buonanno et al., 2005; Ward et al., 2005). Many previous studies (Huang et al., 2004; Frank, 2004) concentrated on offering architectures, models and critical factors for the successful implementation of ERP systems. Parr and Shanks (2000) suggested that management support, business experts, empowered decision makers, deliverable dates, champions, vanilla ERP, small scope, definition scope and goals, balanced team, and commitment to change are the critical success factors for ERP implementation. Besides, this, the implementation process needs to consider organizational knowledge sharing or transfer (Jones and Price, 2004; Lee and Lee, 2000), corporate national cultures (Krumbholz et al., 2000), and enterprise application integration (Devadoss and Pan, 2007; Lee et al., 2003).However, these previous studies are typically conducted based on well established firms and have neglected the implementation of ERP in the new ventures context. Firm stages such as emergency, early growth, later growth, maturity, and death represents not only mere changes over time; rather they function as a proxy for many strategic issues (Hite and Hesterly, 2001). In addition, new firms fail because entrepreneurs inefficiently deal with management production and organizational design and development (Williamson, 1985). ERP systems reflect a new phase in the information about organizations, integrating various business processes within and between organizations. Apparently, how to integrate the ERP implementation along with the new ventures organizational development is of critical importance to the new firm's survival and growth, but this critical issue has not yet been demonstrated.With this issue, this paper explores the practices of ERP implementation with the new ventures organizational development. The main purpose of this paper is to understand the process of aligning ERP implementation with the organizational development. For instance, this study is interested in knowing how a new venture can employ ERP in facilitating a newly established firm's growth, under the constrained resources context. More specifically, this study intends to answer the following research questions:RQ1. What are the appropriate ERP implementation considerations for a newly established firm's growth?RQ2. How can ERP implementation and organizational development activities be aligned over time?In order to answer these questions, this study adopts a case study research method. The process of case study research is interpretive, which is driven by the epistemology of interpretivism which allows us to understand the practice and the articulation of rationale or philosophy of practice in order to improve the practice (McCutcheon and Jung, 1999). The analysis is based on an in-depth case study from TCT (a pseudonym), a Taiwanese fabled integrated circuit (IC) design company focusing on wireless communication. This study explores the process of aligning ERP implementation with the case company's organizational development.The next section discusses, the background of ERP implementation and the context of new ventures. This discussion provides a theoretical background of the research issue. This is followed by a detailed description of the case. Subsequently, the analysis and findings of the study are discussed. The implications of organizational development for the ERP implementation and management of IT projects are also discussed. The final section concludes by discussing future research directions.\nTheoretical background: The implementation of ERP\nMethodology: Research methods such as case study are most suitable to capture the complex of aligning the ERP implementation strategies with organization development. In addition, studying ERP implementation in new ventures requires a deep appreciation of the context of new firms. Therefore, this study adopts an in-depth case research method for the gathering and the analysis of data. The research steps of this study can be seen in the Appendix 1. The case research strategy allows the exploration of unforeseen phenomena and offers better insights into the inter-dependencies among the factors captured in the study (Benbasat et al., 1987). It is believed that case study research is most appropriate in gaining in-depth knowledge of the practices of the process of ERP implementation in new venture development, at least in the holistic understanding as presented.An interview-based qualitative approach was adopted. Face-to-face interviews were conducted each lasting two-three hours. In total of 16 interviews were supplemented by follow-up e-mail exchanges with continuous secondary data analysis enabled for all collected information from January to May, 2007. The interviews were unstructured, with only a standard set of questions that were designed to help initiate and guide the interview process. Some typical questions can be seen in the Appendix 2. The nature of the research questions, the type of data necessary for generating answers to the main research objectives, and the wider practical considerations of feasibility, time and resources were the main issues which influenced the design of the research (Blaikie, 2000; Blaxter et al., 1996).All of the interviewees have worked in TCT for at least five years, thus providing insightful personal observation and ensuring the quality of data. Furthermore, this study also interviewed a senior staff who was the advisor to the ERP project during 2000-2004. His role was to be the consultant addressing issues raised by the users and managers. He also assisted in the planning and implementation of an ERP project along with consideration of organizational development. The interviewee involvement in the whole ERP implementation process allowed collection through direct observations, interviews, and the review of the company. The involvement of this key advisor in the entire ERP implementation process makes the data collection easier by his candid revealing of many interesting accounts of key events in the implementation process.\nThe case: This section provides a description of the case. The global leading position and maturity of the foundry industry have stimulated the growth of IC design industry in Taiwan. According to statistics data obtained from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, the Taiwanese chip foundries achieved 73 percent of the global production value (including IC packaging industry) which was ranked number one globally in 2004. Back then, the goal of production value was expected to reach US$46.7 billion in 2006, in comparison with product value US$33.2 billion in 2004. Taiwan is also the world's second largest supplier of IC designs, next only to Silicon Valley, accounting for 28 percent of the world's output (www.gov.tw). Accordingly, it is worthwhile to pay much more attention to this industry as the foundry industry does have brilliant economic performance.Established in 2000, TCT is a fabled IC design company focusing on wireless communication. The company's CEO expects the applications market for bluetooth IC to have matured in the near future. Through an alliance with global partners and the self-developed key technologies, TCT is the first company in Taiwan to provide both Bluetooth and personal handy system based on IC and became the primary supplier of the ICs.Regarding of the issue of ERP implementation activities, quite a number of process models have been developed by researchers (Tan and Pan, 2003; Pan and Pan, 2006). These models show ERP implementation states including design, implementation, stabilization, continuous improvement, and transformation. Accordingly, the description of this study is divided into four stages: the initial phase, search solution phase, building standards phase, and leveraging the value of IT phase which are identified in the ERP implementation processes as follows.Stage 1. The initial phase-assess organizational niche\nLessons learned and discussions: The main purpose of this paper is to explore the practices of ERP implementation along with a new firm's organizational development activities. Drawing on a case study from the Taiwanese IC design industry, this study shows that, in the context of conducting a new venture's organizational development, ERP implementation should be considered in stages. Table I summarizes the stage, key issues and findings in terms of ERP implementation context, content and process.A strategic alignment model purposed by Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) identifies the need to specify two types of integration between organization and IT domains: strategic integration and operational integration. The former is the link between business strategy and IT strategy reflecting the external components. The later is the link between organizational infrastructure and processes and IS infrastructure and processes. In this study, in the initial stage, TCT focuses on this R&D. In the searching solution stage, TCT tried to deal with the capability of ERP functionality to both shape and support this business strategy. It goes further and deals with the corresponding internal domains. It links organizational infrastructure and processes and ERP infrastructure and processes in the building standards stage. Finally, it highlights the criticality of ensuring internal coherence between the organizational requirements and expectations and the delivery capability within the ERP functions in the leveraging the value of the IT phase.In this study, business strategy serves as the driving force to conduct the implementation of ERP. As shown in Figure 1, borrowed from Henderson and Venkatraman (1993)'s concept, this perspective is anchored on the notion that business strategy is the driver of organizational design choices and the design of ERP infrastructure.Figure 1 shows the TCT strategic alignment process model from this case study. The solid arrows indicate direct processes which link the development of strategy. The alignment perspective is a widely understood perspective as it corresponds to the classical view of strategic management (Presley, 2006). The broken arrows show the assessment of implementing the chosen business strategy through appropriate IT strategy and the articulation of the required ERP infrastructure and processes. In this case, TCT seeks to identify the best possible ERP competencies through a strategic alliance of two software vendors, DSC and Xacce's. It is important to identify the specific roles of management to make this perspective succeed. That is, business strategy serves as the driver to conduct the strategy alignment along with top management playing the role of strategy formulator and technology visionary and IT/IS management playing the strategy implementer and technology architect in this case study (Henderson and Venkatraman, 1993).This case also offers potential lessons that may have a bearing on the future management of ERP implementation. Four important lessons may be drawn from the practices of the ERP implementation in the case of TCT. These lessons include:1. considering the firm's established process with ERP implementation;2. examining the potential;3. aligning the ERP implementation with ISO, ICA, and corporate governance; and4. employing IT governance in leverage ERP's value.The following provides a detailed description of these lessons, and the implications and future research directions are also discussed.Lesson 1. Linking ERP implementation with organizational development\nConclusion: In response to the RQ1, this study provides the much needed empirical suggestions into the notion that the alignment of organizational development issues in the ERP implementation process is just as important as the economic considerations of adoption. By employing an in-depth case study of a new venture from Taiwanese IC design industry, it has demonstrated that the practices of organization development and governance issues are indeed important topics in ERP implementation research.Regarding the RQ2, this study contributes to ERP implementation research in a number of ways. First, this study has identified, in a new venture, the various stages of ERP implementation processes, and the distinct context and characteristics found in different stages. This study had derived four distinct stages of ERP implementation, including:1. linking ERP implementation with organizational development;2. acquiring resource form related business groups;3. aligning ERP implementation with ISO, ICA, and corporate governance; and4. employing IT governance in leveraging ERP value.This study clearly depicts that the context of a venture company influences ERP implementation processes implicitly and should be taken into account in ERP decisions. This set of considerations which this study reports as findings have not been previously examined. Second, these findings suggest that unique industries where no ready-to-use ERP systems are available need to be considered in pursuing the effectiveness of ERP implementation. According to Yeh et al. (2006), there are four areas in which domestic ERP vendors perceive themselves as having competitive advantages over foreign venders: their ability to meet special requirements, the ability to support the flexibility and speed of domestic companies, the benefits of direct implementation, and the ability to learn from their engagement with local customers. Although this case company integrates two ERP systems successfully, the business strategic alliance and system integration still remain problematic. Based on the findings of this study, it is worthwhile to study the underlying psychological and environmental factors influencing user adoption behavior (Lim et al., 2005), taking into consideration organizational development needs. Third, ERP should be considered not only as an information system, but also part of corporate governance systems. Fourth, the implementation of ERP also facilitates the development of IT governance in pursuing overall strategic alignment, value delivery, resource management, risk management, and performance.This single case study has provided the valuable empirical insights for the practices of ERP implementation. It is acknowledged that there is the limitation of the case study method for this paper. However, the analysis of this case study did provide a vocabulary that researchers and practitioners could employ in following similar process in new ventures, so that future ERP implementation processes can be compared and benchmarked. ERP systems in Taiwan's hi-tech industries also play the similar role as that in the Asian firms or in Western firms. For future studies on the subject, additional investigation is needed to ascertain the impacts of different stages on the effectiveness of ERP implementation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The importance of alignment of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation for organizational strategies has been widely recognized. However, ERP implementation in the context of new ventures has not yet been convincingly demonstrated. Furthermore, how to align ERP implementation with organizational development in new ventures deserves further examination as new ventures are in the emergency or early growth stage and thus have distinct concerns in adopting ERP. Against this background, the main purpose of this paper is to explore how ERP implementation can facilitate the organization development of new ventures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study adopts an in-depth case study method for gathering and analyzing data. The case research strategy allows the exploration of unforeseen phenomena and offers insights into the inter-dependencies among the factors captured in the study. It is believed that case study research will be most appropriate in gaining in-depth knowledge of the practices of ERP implementation in new venture development.\nFindings: - Drawing on an in-depth case study from a Taiwanese IC design house, this study shows that, to leverage the value of ERP system, the implementation should consider the firm's growth stages, the unique industrial characteristics, the influences from the business group, and the alignment of the internal control and audit function, corporate governance, and information technology governance.\nPractical implications: - The findings of this study contribute to the literature on ERP implementation and organization development in new ventures. The implications and future research directions are also discussed.\nOriginality/value: - This single case study has provided valuable insights into the practice of ERP implementation. Furthermore, data analysis of this study provides a set of vocabularies that researchers and practitioners could employ in similar organizational processes as in new ventures. Accordingly, future ERP implementation processes can be compared and benchmarked.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social media as a vehicle for user engagement with local history: A case study in the North East of Scotland	[ "Communities", "Social media", "Scotland", "Photo elicitation", "User engagement", "Local history", "Digital storytelling", "Heritage organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In addition to the traditionally curated local studies section within the public library service, there are a significant number of independent and community-led local history initiatives operating throughout the UK. Social media offers new opportunities for documenting and remembering the society (Henninger and Scifleet, 2016) and for displaying the historical content of these community archives. In particular, the format of social media provides a readymade and easily accessible platform for sharing personal and family photographs, both of which are important in the development of cultural memory (Kuhn, 2007). Further, with the easy accessibility of technology, more people are telling personal stories via digital means, thereby indicating a shift from more traditional methods of storytelling to digital storytelling (Couldry, 2008).\nLiterature review: Photo elicitation\nResearch design: In order to better understand the research problem identified above, a mixed research design was adopted. Essentially, at the heart of phenomenology is the desire to examine and understand the lived experience; therefore, the philosophical underpinning does not constrain the methods of data collection, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed. It is proposed that in converging the two data sets, this has allowed for a fuller explanation of the phenomenon and has created scope for the research question to be addressed on different levels. Both forms of data were collected at the same time during the research project and subsequently integrated in the interpretation and analysis stage of the project.\nQualitative data: Over the course of a 30-day period extending from 30 July to 28 August 2016, an image was posted daily at 11:00 BST to the Heritage Centre's page with a short caption describing the photograph and/or inviting user participation where relevant. At the end of the 30-day period, each of the posts was captured and coded according to the schemes outlined below, in two separate and distinct phases. First, the posts were coded for their \"communicative intent\" (Henninger and Scifleet, 2016) as shown in Table I.\nQuantitative data: Operating the Heritage Centre's page as the page manager allowed for the use of Facebook's \"Insights\" function to gather quantitative data on user activity on the page and on posts appearing on the Page. A quantitative analysis of: general page metrics; page post metrics; and likes, shares, reach and engagement, was conducted. Facebook Insights allows for the exporting of collated data directly to Microsoft Excel of either page metrics or post metrics for a specific date range. Although there is the capacity to generate a significant volume of data through Facebook's Page Insights tool, some of the data can only be captured for the preceding 28-day period and cannot be tailored to a specific timescale. It is acknowledged that this lack of specificity may limit the utility of some of the statistics, but that there is still research value in the data generated.\nAnalysis of findings: Both the language and cultural identity of the North East of Scotland is reflected in the qualitative research results through the use of local dialect, Doric. As can be observed from the comments of Facebook users, the use of Doric by individuals is commonplace. Doric is a distinctive set of dialects heard in the North East of Scotland and is regarded as being a distinctive form of Scots (McClure, n.d.) unique to the area. Indeed, the language itself is \"instantly recognisable as a mark of the highly individual and proudly-proclaimed identity of the North-East\" (McClure, n.d.), and is therefore inherently and strongly linked to the cultural memory and cultural identity of the area.\nThe value and impact of digital ephemera: As noted above, for a period of 30 days, a post was made to the page featuring either a black and white or colour photograph, along with a relevant caption. As can be seen from the results of the coding exercise displayed in Table III, a clear majority (71 per cent) of comments related directly to the content of the photograph, with the remaining 29 per cent representing a comment on indirect content. None of the users engaged in discussion or conversation with other users on content which would be regarded as \"associated content\" according to the coding scheme described above. It should be noted that any comments consisting solely of user \"tags\" were excluded from this portion of the analysis.\nDigital storytelling and social media: To enable the analysis of the role of social media in digital storytelling and documentation of local history, comments made by users on Facebook posts to the page were analysed and evaluated on the basis of their content. The focus of this aspect of the research project was not only to analyse whether Facebook was capable of enabling user-created narratives but also to establish whether a connection with community members was built in the process (Conrad, 2013).\nDiscussion of findings: The value and impact of digital ephemera\nConclusions: The research contributed to a previously underresearched area and, within the confines of the case study, demonstrated that social media represents a new opportunity for engaging users and displaying historical content that can be successfully exploited by community heritage organisations for whom a social media presence can often have disproportionately significant impact (and, indeed, be a requirement for funding from bodies such as Heritage Lottery Fund or various tourism- or visitor attraction-related organisations). Importantly, as noted above, the research has also demonstrated the merit and value of photo elicitation techniques not only within the local history context but also for the wider information science field due to the quality and depth of the information obtained and the levels of user engagement experienced. The research reinforced the emotional, visceral reactions that images can have within a community and its sense of its own identity. Several instances within the research strongly emphasised the collective memory of the community and the power of photographs, together with a storytelling narrative to affect or to move individuals and, indeed, the wider community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine issues associated with user engagement on social media with local history in the North East of Scotland and to focus on a case study of the Buckie and District Fishing Heritage Society, a small but very successful and professionally-run community-based local heritage organisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach using photo elicitation on social media was deployed in conjunction with analysis of the user interactions and the reach insights provided by Facebook to the page manager. Additionally, a focus group was used.\nFindings: The research, although focussed on an individual case study, offers significant lessons which are more widely applicable in the local history and cultural heritage social media domain. Key aspects include user engagement and how digital storytelling can assist in the documentation of local communities ultimately contributing to local history research and the broader cultural memory. The significance of the image and the photo elicitation methodology is also explored.\nSocial implications: The research demonstrates new opportunities for engaging users and displaying historical content that can be successfully exploited by community heritage organisations. These are themes which will be developed within the paper. The research also demonstrates the value of photo elicitation in both historical and wider information science fields as a means of obtaining in-depth quality engagement and interaction with users and communities.\nOriginality/value: The research explored the underutilised method of photo elicitation in a local history context with a community possessed of a strong sense of local identity. In addition to exploring the benefits of this method, it presents transferable lessons for how small, community-based history and heritage organisation can engage effectively with their audience.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The service hand-off: effects of multivendor service performance on customer satisfaction - an experimental study	[ "Customer service management", "Strategic alliances", "Vendor rating", "Internet" ]	[ { "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.We've come to the realization that even the biggest companies can't go it alone (Executive for customer service alliances at Xerox (Hickins, 2000)).In an economy where services are becoming increasingly dominant (Edvardsson et al., 2005a; Vargo and Lusch, 2004), the primary units of exchange are competencies and knowledge, rather than physical goods; goods become the embodiment of these competencies, knowledge, and consequent services. Thus, service becomes a fundamental medium of exchange. Furthermore, the level of service quality experienced by the customer naturally influences the levels of satisfaction and future purchase intention (Cronin et al., 2000; Liljander and Strandvik, 1995).\nConceptual background: Edvardsson et al. (2005a) report that existing distinctions between goods and services are too narrow and outdated - that service is a perspective on value creation, best understood from the viewpoint of the customer. Similarly, Edvardsson et al. (2005b) developed a new model depicting how organizations co-create value with customers who test and experience a service prior to purchase and consumption. Also in that vein, studies of self-service technologies such as telephone banking and automated hotel checkout draw on the new service-dominant logic to show how consumer readiness moderates adoption constructs and actual trial (Meuter et al., 2005).Customer service and alliances\nTheory and hypotheses: Based on the preceding conceptual and substantive examples, as well as calls for more research into how services shape the new marketing landscape (Edvardsson et al., 2005a), we developed and tested hypotheses related to customer satisfaction with multi-vendor post-sales services, integrating B2B and B2C phenomenon. The customer complaint and service recovery literatures (for summaries, see Maxham and Netemeyer, 2003; Johnson, 2002) are also germane to our hypotheses, which relate to perceived levels of customer satisfaction performed. Moreover, our objective is to test hypotheses regarding the unfolding of a relationship jointly owned by two service providers that spans several time periods. Levels of perceived performance of the service providers are measured throughout the process. Important contextual, temporal and outcome conditions are either manipulated or measured according to the experimental design. The dual-provider scenario is consistent with studies of \"co-branded\" services (Nygaard and Dahlstrom, 2003) designed to gauge how consumers feel about each of the providers. The main dependent variable is the level of service performance as perceived by the subject/customer in the experiment. For purposes of this study, the first firm contacted by the subject/customer is referred to as the First Responder. If the First Responder could not resolve the problem, the subject would then be referred to the second firm, which we call the Second Responder.Contextual perceptions\nResearch context and methods: This research method is consistent with other studies that have used the internet as an experimental setting to examine service satisfaction (Ekeledo and Sivakumar, 2004). McGrath (1982) observed that any empirical work usually gravitates towards one of three areas: preciseness (e.g., laboratory experiments), realism (e.g., field/case studies), or generalizability (e.g. surveys, theory development). Achieving all three desirables is impossible, creating what McGrath calls a \"three-horned dilemma,\" in which researchers are forced to \"sit on\" one or more horns as they make trade-offs among the three ideals. In this study, we conduct an internet-based experiment that extends beyond the laboratory, garnering the control benefits of experimental design and the realism of an on-line service experience. In today's marketplace, consumers routinely deal with service web sites. We sacrifice a degree of generalizability, since subject motivation must be simulated. We create both a problem and a context that generated sufficient motivation for subjects to seek a timely resolution to a product issue. We then test for the presence of the hypothesized phenomena. Generalizability beyond the context of the study is left to future research.Subject motivation and experience\nModel: The hypothesized effects are estimated within a hierarchical linear model with non-randomly varying slopes (Bryk and Raudenbush, 1992). Level I of the model represents the baseline relationship with the first responder, capturing the main effects of the problem severity (ProbSeverity), a priori perceptions of the First Responder's capabilities (FRCapability), subject motivation (LagTime), resolution time (LapsedTime), First Responder communication (Relayed), and outcome (Resolved). Level I main effects are used to test H1a-H1f: Equation 1 The second responder's involvement is introduced as a Level II moderating effect. Level II interactions are used to test H2a-H2f: Equation 2 The last interaction (g61SecondResponderi Relayedi) is omitted from the model because it is redundant. By definition, the problem has been relayed at the time of the second responder's involvement. The model is estimated using OLS regression.\nResults: Model estimates are reported in Table III. The overall R2 for the regression was 0.24. Unexplained variance is due largely to individual heterogeneity not captured in the model. Differences between responses from the two subject pools were tested by introducing a dummy variable into the model. The effect was insignificant and the variable was subsequently removed from the model. We can be confident that the unmeasured heterogeneity will not bias the results since the data were gathered experimentally.Contextual perceptions\nDiscussion: The primary objective of this study is to model and test the conceptual underpinnings of a simple service alliance involving two producers and their common customers. Perceptions, temporal effects and outcome events were modeled as baseline effects on producer's performance evaluations at Level I of our model. Level I of the model represents the alliance condition, where the efforts of the Second Responder are unseen, occurring \"behind the scenes.\" The no-alliance condition was introduced at Level II of the model. Here, the First Responder overtly relays the problem to the Second Responder, thereby incurring damage through possible credibility loss and the failure to deliver a solution. A complex longitudinal experiment was designed and conducted to measure the hypothesized effects. The anticipated main effects are supported, validating the model's baseline. Positive bias regarding the producers' capability has a positive effect on customer evaluations throughout the service exchange experience. Increased problem severity has the opposite effect. Increased lag-time before a customer complaint tends to elevate evaluations, while increased time-to-resolution lowers evaluations. Evaluations plunge with unfavorable news (i.e. relay condition) and rise with favorable news (i.e., resolution). These results are not surprising. However, they are important because they provide a stable baseline for modeling hierarchical interactions for academics as well as suggestions for managers as to how to structure customer service interactions.Implications and future research\nConclusion: In the new service-dominant economy, marketing logic has been altered by shifts in market conditions: from isolated transactions to on-going exchange relationships; from isolated products to complex systems; from vertical supply chains to hybrid value networks and alliances. The longitudinal experiment conducted in this study simulates important dimensions of this new environment. Customer attitudes and evaluations are tracked throughout a structured exchange experience, in which service responsibilities migrate across firms. Findings show that the performance perceptions of one firm can be seriously damaged by the activities of another firm when problems are overtly relayed between firms without a formal service alliance. More specifically, findings show that perceptions of product producer initially called upon to resolve a problem can be severely damaged by the unorchestrated involvement of other producers. Customer goodwill decreases as prior credibility dissipates. Performance evaluations drop as problems are transferred or relayed. Negative time-to-resolution effects are amplified and finally, credit for resolution is denied. Producers can ameliorate such damage by creating back-end service alliances, where one producer retains ownership of a problem until it is resolved. As long as the service burden is symmetric throughout the alliance, all participants are likely to gain efficiencies and increased customer satisfaction.Providers of goods and services have long known that to gain consumers' favor, they must positively influence attitudes and behaviors throughout a decision process. This is especially true in the new facets of exchange, namely competencies and knowledge. Marketers wishing to increase revenues through customer satisfaction and loyalty need to create customer goodwill at each step of an exchange experience, and through the lifetime of the relationship with their alliance partners as well as their customers (Nordin, 2004; Johnson, 2002). The methods and results of this study will become more relevant as academics and practitioners alike continue to investigate the benefits and challenges of satisfying customers in an increasingly complex service environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Simple transactions are evolving into complex service relationships that require the attention of multiple organizations. When integrated products fail, customers must determine which organization is responsible and capable of resolving the problem. If the initial firm contacted cannot resolve the problem, it is then passed on to another until resolution. The objective of this paper is to determine how customer satisfaction with one organization may be moderated by the subsequent performance of another organization following the service issue hand-off.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data otherwise unavailable from the market are collected using a unique, longitudinal internet-based experiment, wherein customer satisfaction is monitored throughout a complex exchange experience. During the exchange, problem ownership transfers from one firm's service organization to that of another.\nFindings: - Results show three forms of damage resulting from a service hand-off: a credibility loss; a dissatisfaction compounding effect; and a resolution delivery failure effect. When problem resolution requires the attention of a second service provider, customer perceptions of the initial service provider are influenced by the performance of the second provider.\nPractical implications: - A service provider can often avoid substantial damage to customer satisfaction by establishing, a priori, formal back-end partnerships with other service providers.\nOriginality/value: - Organizations typically do not monitor customer satisfaction once a service problem is abandoned or handed-off to another organization. In this experimental study, customer satisfaction is carefully monitored as service exchange crosses organizational boundaries during a service experience simulated over the period of one week.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workplace thriving in China	[ "Chinese", "Learning", "Role ambiguity", "Thriving", "Vitality", "Learning goal orientation", "Exploration at work" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The construct of thriving has attracted increasing attention in positive psychology since the inception of the socially embedded model of thriving at work (Spreitzer et al., 2005). Researchers argue that a thriving work life is a key indicator of individuals' overall quality of life, given the important roles of work and careers in one's general life (e.g. Zhai et al., 2017). Embedded in this model, thriving is an individual difference characteristic defined as \"the psychological state in which individuals experience both a sense of vitality and a sense of learning at work\" (Spreitzer et al., 2005). While vitality denotes a positive feeling of energy and aliveness, learning reflects one's sense of acquiring and applying knowledge and skills. These two components supplement each other and are both essential in explaining the thriving state. Due to potential conceptual overlap, it is important to distinguish thriving from employee engagement, which refers to \"a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption\" (Schaufeli et al., 2002). While thriving shares similarities with engagement in terms of vigor/vitality, a thriving state requires the simultaneous existence of vitality and learning. Acknowledging their distinction, Spreitzer and Porath (2012) state that high-level engagement can lead employees to thrive at work.\nStudy 1: assessing workplace thriving in the Chinese context: Methods\nStudy 2: a test of factors influencing thriving: The first objective of Study 2 is to employ the seven-item WTS compiled in Study 1 to explore the enablers and barriers to Chinese employees' thriving experiences. Through testing the relationships of thriving with learning goal orientation, exploration at work and role ambiguity, we also attempt to provide evidence regarding the structural validity of this scale. The structural (e.g. convergent) validity of a scale is usually tested through relating it to constructs to which it is conceptually and/or empirically related (DeVellis, 2016). Because both positive and negative factors are important to understand workplace thriving (Cullen et al., 2018), we consider three variables that reflect both sides. While learning goal orientation and exploration are theoretically and positively associated with thriving, role ambiguity is a potentially negative antecedent. Below we provide theoretical explanations regarding how these variables could affect thriving.\nStudy 3: a supplementary examination: Studies 1 and 2 supported the content and structural validity of the WTS. Researchers suggest that test-retest reliability should also be examined to ensure that an instrument is relatively stable over time (Schutte et al., 1998). Study 3 supplemented Studies 1 and 2 by examining the test-retest reliability of the WTS.\nGeneral discussion: The present series of studies refined a context-specific instrument and investigated the antecedents of workplace thriving among Chinese individuals. This research makes important contributions to the literature. First, the newly refined and validated WTS will help empirical research measure thriving more appropriately in Chinese or perhaps similar contexts. The present research demonstrated that the seven-item WTS is a reliable measure for workplace thriving in the Chinese setting. For example, two types of indexes, Cronbach's a and the test-retest correlation, indicated that this scale has high reliability. The validity tests showed that the WTS is highly consistent with Spreitzer et al.'s (2005) conceptualization of thriving at work by including two sub-components: vitality and learning. It should be noted that these two components are not independent but complement each other; indeed, it is their coexistence that characterizes the individual's thriving state. As shown in the present series of studies, the WTS displayed a higher order factorial structure represented by vitality and learning at the first order. These results suggest that the WTS is able to empirically capture the conceptual connotation of workplace thriving.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Workplace thriving is a psychological state that promotes employee health and development. In addition to presenting a useful instrument that captures the nature of a thriving work life in China, the purpose of this paper is to investigate important factors that influence one's thriving status within this national context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using diverse approaches across different samples, Study 1 contextualized the content of a workplace thriving scale (WTS) to fit the Chinese context. Study 2 tested the effects of learning goal orientation, exploration at work and role ambiguity on workplace thriving, employing a mediation model. As a supplement, Study 3 examined the test-retest reliability of workplace thriving.\nFindings: Study 1 confirmed that in the Chinese setting, workplace thriving is a higher order construct represented by both a sense of learning and a sense of vitality. Study 2 found that learning goal orientation and exploration at work fostered thriving, while role ambiguity reduced thriving. Also, exploration mediated the relationship between learning goal orientation and thriving. Study 3 verified that the WTS was reliable over time in the Chinese setting, further increasing the reliability of results from Studies 1 and 2.\nOriginality/value: By rigorously and formally contextualizing the concept/construct of workplace thriving in China, this paper is informative for future research on thriving at work in Eastern cultures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Foreign direct investment and the SME sector	[ "Foreign direct investment", "Economic resilience", "New firm creation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Whether countries are developed, emerging, or less developed often there is a considerable allure to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to a local or regional economy as this has the potential to create jobs and provide access to new technologies (Acs et al., 2007a). In addition to the direct influence on employment there are also potential secondary beneficial effects on job creation, or protection, through local businesses acting as suppliers to the foreign business (Javorcik, 2004) and local businesses and future start-ups gaining access to world leading technology (Acs et al., 2007b). However, FDI has been criticised as footloose (Gorg and Strobl, 2003) and seeking locations with the lowest labour costs regardless of the source of this advantage (Bellak et al., 2008). Thus, FDI may not embed itself within the local economies, meaning that few local businesses benefit from supply contracts (Phelps et al., 2003; Simmie and Martin, 2010). Workers in such foreign affiliates would have less opportunity to display autonomy and intuition, distancing the local workforce from business ownership and entrepreneurship making it appear less feasible (Storey, 1994; Mueller, 2006). Further, competition from foreign affiliates for customers and inputs may weaken the existing small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector (De Backer and Sleuwaegen, 2003).\n2. FDI and entrepreneurship: 2.1. The local and regional development context of the UK\n3. Data and methods: 3.1. Measuring foreign influence\n4. Results: 4.1. Foreign employment influence and the entrepreneurship index\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1. Discussion of results\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship are potential routes to recovery (Girma and Wakelin, 2001; Lyon et al., 2002), existing literature is divided on the relationship between the two. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of foreign investment on the local SME sector after the 2008 financial crisis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Local authority district data from Great Britain is used to examine the influence of foreign firm employment on the size of the local SME sector as a proportion of all firms, and foreign firm influence on firm births in the locality. In order to control for local geographical, infrastructural and economic conditions regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between foreign business employment and indigenous business activities.\nFindings: The potential for technological spillovers and spinout activities appears to dominate with firm birth rates higher where there is greater foreign firm employment. However, there is also evidence of crowding out in relation to the existing SME sector, which is found to be reduced in size where foreign influence through employment is greater.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results here indicating a complementarity relationship between foreign influence on employment and firm births is important for policy makers looking to revive struggling local economies. However, the relevant support needs to be in place to maximise the benefit from the supply of new entrepreneurs generated.\nOriginality/value: Unlike many other studies the relationship between the SME sector, firm births and foreign influence is considered at a local level and where economic conditions are more uncertain and economic recovery is less taken for granted. A better understanding of the relationship allows more appropriate policy to be developed in order to aid local economies to recover.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A call to action on two fronts: better objectives and better strategies	[ "Health education", "Objectives", "Welfare" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Health education per se, is not an end in itself: it is a strategy for the achievement of a much more important, over-all objective; the maintenance or, where possible, the improvement in the community's welfare. Health education is intended to motivate a change in behaviour among a certain target audience which will result in an improvement in the community's welfare. \"Welfare\" is a flexible term. It can mean something as broad as \"quality of life\" or some quite specific aspect of this quality of life. Health education strategies might be intended to bring about a reduction in morbidity and mortality due to some specific harmful behaviour, tobacco smoking for example, or a reduction in violence against women or the use of condoms to prevent the spread of disease. This paper addresses two issues: the objectives that health educators set themselves - are they attacking the right targets, and are the strategies being developed to attack those targets the right strategies?\nThe current target: Unfortunately, an objective as broad as \"to improve the community's welfare\" is too general, too imprecise and too complex to be really useful in strategy generation. The first step is to reduce the general objective to more specific sub-objectives or targets that are more readily identifiable and measurable. These targets are both more specific in scope, and more immediate in timescale than the overall objective. In an ideal world, the targets are integrated and aligned in such a way that a strategy towards the achievement of one such objective does not hinder and may even help efforts towards any of the other objectives and achievement of all the sub-objectives will lead to the achievement of the overall objective in the most efficient way.Very often there is a lack of consistent direction and coordination in health education's targets. There have been many fads or \"hot topics\" in health. Take the treatment of tobacco products for example. A long time ago, King James described the habit, \"a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs and in the black, stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless\" (Gately, 2001). More recently, it was encouraged. By the time of the Second World War, cigarettes were included in ration packs to help morale and to help cope with wartime stress. Then Richard Doll published his (Doll and Hill, 1950) paper setting out the link between tobacco smoking and cancer and in 1964, the US Surgeon General declared it the single greatest cause of avoidable mortality and morbidity in the USA (U.S. DHEW, 1964). Since then, tobacco smoking has been a consistent target for health educators around the world.Other campaigns over the last 50 years have been less consistent. Older readers may remember campaigns against aluminium in cooking utensils and antiperspirant deodorants as it was erroneously believed to be implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease. The regular updates to the list of \"known carcinogens\" may well be undermining public confidence this branch of medical research. Often, it is a question of balance, avoiding over-reacting to a particular piece of research which might suggest a new \"target.\"\nHealth educators need to get out more often: Sometimes it is a question of recognising the interconnectedness of many health issues. Failure to recognise this interconnectedness might be due to an oversimplification when selecting a target to attack. Many, if not most, of the threats to a communities' welfare are complex, multi-faceted phenomena but there is a tendency to attack one aspect of the problem to discover \"the cure\" for cancer, domestic violence or tobacco smoking. There are at least two possible reasons for this narrowness. One is lack of breadth in the opinions sought in the exploratory stages. Health educators need to get out more often and build a more diverse network of collaborators. If we take a complex problem to a surgeon, the surgeon is likely to find a surgical solution and if we take the same problem to a physician, a psychologist and a sociologist, each is likely to find a different solution. While each solution may be effective, the most efficient solution might draw on elements from all of these disciplines. Very often health education practitioners are comfortable in their own expertise, publish findings in journals within specific areas of interest and contribute to conferences of like-minded people. There is a need for even greater cross-disciplinary collaboration to ensure that strategies are developed with an understanding of the big picture.Another possible reason for a narrow focus is, while health educators are aware of the other aspects of the problem, these other aspects are too far outside health education's sphere of influence for it to have a role. For example, in many countries, the prevalence of tobacco smoking increases with socio-economic depravation. Most anti-smoking activists regard the level of socio-economic depravation to be so far beyond their influence as to be regarded as a macro-environmental factor that is not specifically addressed in strategy development. Greater cross-disciplinary collaboration will not only confirm or deny this evaluation, it will enlist other expertise in developing a better integrated, multi-faceted attack on the target.\nAt very least, do not cause harm: It is no longer acceptable for a commercial organisation to ruin the health of its workers in the pursuit of profit or for health educators to solve one problem while exacerbating another. In Australia, health educators have consistently attacked the spread of melanoma among the population by encouraging people to stay out of the sun and when exposure to the sun is unavoidable, to cover their skin with clothing, hats, lotions etc. Since these campaigns have been running, the incidence of sun-related melanoma has fallen. Unfortunately, sunshine is the best source of vitamin D which promotes calcium absorption, the principal defence against osteoporosis. As melanomas have decreased, osteoporosis has increased (Sinclair, in press).In a similar vein, a reduction in salt consumption was part of an attack on coronary and circulatory diseases. The predominant form of table salt previously available in Australia and New Zealand was iodised, it had iodine added. The move away from salt and the switch to \"pure\" sea and rock salt may well be accompanied by an increase in iodine deficiency with its attendant impairment of cognition and psychomotor development in young people (Skeaff et al., 2005).\nUse the right strategies: For a start, developmental research often relies heavily on self-reports of peoples' behaviour. This is in spite of the fact that there is ample evidence to suggest that people are unreliable reporters of their own behaviour. Edwards (1957) discussed the idea that people tend to over-report socially desirable behaviour and under-report undesirable behaviour. Other authors have found discrepancies between self-reported behaviour and behaviour measured by other means, people under report what they regard as socially undesirable behaviour and over report the socially desirable. For example, Heller et al. (1998) found that cotinine checks revealed a three percent increase the number of male smokers in a sample compared with a self-reporting survey among the same group. de Meyrick and Yusuf (2006) found a 40 percent discrepancy between the amount of money smoking households reported spending on tobacco products and the size of the retail tobacco market calculated from government tax receipts from retail tobacco sales. Health education strategies must be based on proven research methodologies but there is a need for health educators to be at the forefront in the development of more accurate measures of what can sometimes be highly emotional topics.Health education strategies often either explicitly or implicitly apply one of the familiar, hierarchical models that can trace their ancestry back to E.K. Strong's (1925) Awareness - Interest - Desire - Action (AIDA) model. A survey through the last twelve months in Health Education will uncover at least one reference to Prochaska but it also identify a lot of papers whose strategies are based on the application of similarly hierarchical, didactic models that imply that communicating information (educating) the target audience will lead to a predictable change in behaviour as the audience moves through a logical succession of stages or states of mind. Hall (2002) has proposed that the whole process is not so clearly sequential and logical but more to do with the emotions associated with the behaviour, rather than the behaviour itself or its consequences. This might explain why we regularly encounter high levels of awareness of the damage caused by tobacco smoking among young smokers, who continue to take up smoking nonetheless. An anti-smoking campaign based on this approach would aim to set up expectations of negative feelings about smoking in likely situations where the young person might be enticed into experimenting with tobacco rather than on the likely medical consequences that will afflict the smoker twenty to thirty years in the future.\nMake the strategies fit the task: Another issue with many health education strategies is a tendency to generate \"one size fits all\" solutions to complex problems. This may be related to the over-simplification urge mentioned above. For example, in many countries, the same health-consequences campaign message is directed at addicted adult smokers trying to quit and young people at risk of taking up the habit. Many analyses indicate that reactions to these campaigns differ across genders and smoking status. The efficient health educator will tailor the strategy to fit the problem and the audience.\nConclusion: Health education will make the most efficient contribution to a genuine, long-term improvement in communities' welfare when it attacks the right targets. Selection of the right targets will involve broader consultation and collaboration with other disciplines and recognition of the big picture. The strategies used to attack these targets will be based on the best research available and take advantage of contemporary understanding of behaviour change.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show how health education is a strategy used to achieve the objective of maintenance and improvement in the community's welfare.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper addresses two issues: are health educators attacking the right targets, and are the strategies being developed to attack those targets the right strategies?\nFindings: - Health education will make the most efficient contribution to long-term improvement in communities' welfare when it attacks the right targets.\nOriginality/value: - Shows how the strategies used to attack the right targets will be based on the best research available and will involve broader consultation with other disciplines.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Look before you leap: Learning from the experience of a flagging KM initiative at a healthcare organisation in Asia	[ "Knowledge management", "Project management", "Health services sector", "Asia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge is now widely recognised as a strategic asset in improving organisational performance. As one of the major management strategies in recent times, knowledge management (KM) has attracted the attention of various organisations which aim to enhance their business efficiency, performance and competitiveness. In academic journals and trade publications alike, successful accounts of KM initiatives abound. The stellar outcomes range from significant cost savings, improved earnings, more efficient customer handling to better utilisation of resources. Among the commonly quoted examples is Xerox's $100 million savings from the Eureka database (Brown and Duguid, 2000), Dow's savings of $4 million in the first year of its KM implementation (Davenport et al., 1998) and Hewlett-Packard's exemplary \"Electronic Sales Partner\" (Davenport and Prusak, 1998). The picture is equally buoyant among organisations in the healthcare industry. The knowledge-support system implemented at Brigham and Women's Hospital was reported to have reduced medical errors (Davenport and Glaser, 2002), while Macmillan Cancer Relief produced highly useful materials for cancer patients and care givers through its communities of practice (Donaldson et al., 2004).Amid zealous implementations of KM projects and euphoric celebrations of KM successes are untold stories of failures and lacklustre results. In fact, 84 per cent of KM programmes exerted no significant impact on the adopting organisations (Lucier and Torsilieri, 1997). This paper therefore serves as a warning for administrators and managers eager to introduce KM to their organisations but to whom the potential pitfalls of KM initiatives had never been revealed.\nAims and objectives: The failure of a KM project usually does not occur abruptly but is attributable to a series of factors that emerge as the project progresses. Thus, to supplement previous work which studied KM projects that had completely failed (Braganza and Mollenkramer, 2002; Storey and Barnett, 2000), this paper examines a flagging but yet-to-be abandoned KM project at a healthcare organisation in Asia. Grounded in a case study approach, the findings are validated against a framework of KM failure built from the review of related literature. The results also afford a more nuanced perspective of how the failure factors identified in the framework were germane to the case. By exposing these factors, administrators and managers in the healthcare industry who intend to implement KM projects can be better informed of the risks involved. For researchers, this paper serves as a call for a greater inquiry into KM projects in the healthcare industry that are facing impending failures. As more empirical and theoretical studies in this area become available, a formal body of knowledge in managing KM risks will eventually emerge.\nLiterature review: KM projects and the healthcare industry\nMethodology: This research was a case study conducted at Emmanuel Medical Centre[1], a large healthcare organisation in Asia. Although it was characterised by formal management sponsorship, clearly articulated targets and the deployment of technology, the organisational-wide KM project at Emmanuel showed unpropitious signs shortly after a year of implementation. The well-meaning intention of systematically managing knowledge in the organisation somehow failed to yield the expected results. Moreover, a number of staff were left frustrated and disillusioned. The case is thus an interesting departure from the many successful accounts of KM projects hitherto published. It is also fertile with lessons for those interested in KM project implementation.The case study method is not only robustly-validated but particularly suited for organisational research (Mayasandra and Pan, 2005). Staff members who were either involved or familiar with the KM project were identified and interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Built on the KM failure factor framework presented earlier, the questionnaire was designed to cover four aspects of the KM project, namely, technology, culture, content and project management. Each interview session lasted approximately half an hour on average. The rationale for conducting the interviews was to draw rich, contextual details which could not have been elicited via closed-ended survey instruments. The interviewees totalled 12 persons including a management staff, the project leader and his team members, external KM consultants as well as medical doctors, nurses and nursing educators. The involvement of such a variety of stakeholders allowed data to be obtained from multiple levels and perspectives. In addition, archival data in the form of email correspondences, presentation materials and web sites were collected to triangulate against the responses given by the interviewees. Contradicting data which could not be reliably verified from officially released sources were omitted. Thus, only data which yielded a consistent pattern were admitted and analysed.\nBackground of case: Emmanuel Medical Centre is a large and privately-owned healthcare organisation in Asia. With a staff strength of more than 1,200, Emmanuel offers a wide range of general and specialist services including acupuncture, aesthetic surgery, outpatient chemotherapy, orthodontics and other surgical procedures.Over the last few years, the senior management at Emmanuel began to recognise the importance of KM on its organisational practices. This was fuelled by the fact that healthcare services are knowledge-intensive activities. Furthermore, with a tight employment market in healthcare-related industries, there was a persistent shortage of doctors and qualified healthcare professionals such as pharmacists, imaging specialists and laboratory technicians. As at March 2004, more than half of Emmanuel's nursing workforce were foreigners. The threat of losing invaluable organisational knowledge due to staff movement was real to Emmanuel.Hence, a KM steering committee was formed to consider the implementation of an organisation-wide KM project. The committee engaged a team of external KM consultants and jointly developed a high-level KM plan which included the prototype of a web-based system. The senior management, particularly the CEO, was impressed with the overall strategy, design concept as well as the user-interface and technical capabilities of the system. The pilot phase of the KM project named \"Lessons Learned\" (LL) was thus approved and launched in the middle of 2004.LL was intended as a method to archive corporate lessons and to prevent the loss of operational knowledge in important medical procedures. Specifically, three subordinate goals were set, namely to reduce training gaps, reduce duplication of efforts and encourage the growth of cross-departmental communities of practice. The project involved setting up an intranet system that comprised an expert directory as well as compilations of medical best practices in the form of lessons learned, contributed largely by experts and senior staff. An electronic discussion board which allowed staff to exchange views and clarify doubts was also set up to foster a sense of community.After three months, the pilot project was deemed a success. Convinced of its potential, LL was formally rolled out in September 2004. Two main sets of targets were set. Related to content creation, the first set of targets was to identify and compile at least 23 medical practices by September 2005 and another 59 practices by June 2006. The second set of targets was related to user participation. The goal of 10 per cent of all medical staff to visit and browse through at least one practice in LL by September 2005 was set. This percentage was targeted to increase to 100 per cent by 2008. Additionally, the discussion board was expected to be a platform for active dialogue, knowledge sharing and the means to extend the knowledge surrounding each practice.About a year later in September 2005, 25 medical practices were completed and made available in LL; 12 more were in the pipe-line for development. However, only a dismal 0.94 per cent of the medical staff was found to have logged into LL. Furthermore, very few new discussion threads were created after the pilot phase. The expert directory was fully functional but rarely used, even by new staff. Interviews with several staff revealed a lack of motivation and even frustration with using LL. A nurse from the Ambulatory Services explained:I'm so busy at work! There's really no time for me to access the LL at all. On top of that, I heard from my colleagues that the materials up in LL are no big deal. If there's something I'm not sure about, I can also ask. Why check up the LL?A nursing educator in the Human Resource Department who specialised in infection control prevention measures lamented:We have a target to meet which is to develop 8 practices in LL per year ... We're just getting pushed all over the place to get the materials up.None of the three goals of reducing training gaps, reducing duplication of efforts and encouraging the growth of cross departmental communities of practice appeared even to have been remotely achieved. Having missed the first year usage target by a wide margin as well as faced with disgruntled stakeholders on the ground, the KM project at Emmanuel was unlikely to survive without the incessant support of the pioneering staff. The KM project at Emmanuel was clearly a flagging one.\nReview of failure factors: Technology-related factors\nDiscussion: Technology\nConclusion: Enticed by successful accounts of KM implementations, many organisations embark on KM initiatives with the view that their well-intended efforts, coupled with the presence of success factors, will naturally result in the better management and exploitation of their knowledge assets. This paper, however, reveals that KM project failure is a reality that administrators, managers and researchers have to reckon with. Seen through the lens of a theoretical framework of KM failure, the flagging KM project at Emmanuel has afforded a nuanced perspective of each of the failure factors.First is technology. Apart from technical and budgetary considerations, managers of KM projects ought to be cognisant of the users' IT literacy level and their language proficiency. These otherwise obscured sociological issues were found to affect the usability of KM systems. Thus, where necessary, IT training and a multilingual support for the KM system ought to be considered.The next failure factor is culture. Particularly salient cultural forces were knowledge-hoarding mentality, lack of motivation to utilise the KM system and the social stigmatisation of mistakes. The \"knowledge-is-power\" notion can be dispelled with tweaking the performance appraisal system to recognise both individual and collective efforts. The lack of motivation to utilise the KM system could be mitigated by embedding KM activities into everyday work processes. To overcome the fear of making mistakes, the top management could provide a psychologically-safe environment in which individuals are free to experiment and learn.The third factor is content. Where the tacit nature of content does not lend itself to be codified easily and effectively, the role of the KM system must be emphasised as one that augments rather than supplants any social learning relationships such as mentoring and peer interactions. Additionally, managers of KM projects ought to be ethically above-board when dealing with confidential knowledge content which involves patients.The final factor is project management. A prudent roll-out strategy invariably utilises a pilot phase to anticipate problems and assess users' acceptance of the KM system. For the experiences of the pilot to be meaningful, it must resemble the main project as closely as possible in aspects such as the measurement scheme, the intended user group and the level of support from the management.By bringing to light these factor failures which plagued the KM project at Emmanuel, administrators and managers in the healthcare industry can be better informed of the pitfalls of a KM implementation. Hopefully, this awareness leads to an enhanced chance of a successful KM initiative.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to examine a flagging but yet-to-be abandoned knowledge management (KM) project at a healthcare organisation in Asia through a case study approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Semi-structured interviews with a variety of stakeholders familiar with the project were conducted. Additionally, archival data in the form of email correspondences, presentation materials and web sites were collected to triangulate against the responses given by the interviewees.\nFindings: - The findings which are validated against a theoretical KM failure framework afford a nuanced perspective of how the failure factors identified in the framework were germane to the case.\nPractical implications: - By exposing these factors, administrators and managers in the healthcare industry who intend to implement KM projects can be better informed of the risks involved. For researchers, this paper serves as a call for a greater inquiry into KM projects in the healthcare industry that are facing impending failures.\nOriginality/value: - This paper reveals that KM project failure is a reality with which administrators, managers and researchers have to reckon.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluation of building performance for strategic facilities management in healthcare: A case study of a public hospital in Australia	[ "Facilities management", "Building performance", "Healthcare building", "Hospitals", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The study of building performance efficiency is regarded as an effective way to identify the essentials for strategic facilities management (Shohet, 2006; Atkin and Brooks, 2009; Noor and Pitt, 2009). These authors consider performance measurement as a central and necessary tool in evaluating the efficiency of facilities management. A number of studies (Wauters, 2005; Boussabaine and Kirkham, 2006; Shohet, 2006) identified the importance of the current status of building performance in saving core activities. However, many critical problems of facilities management service delivery are unidentified since benchmarking is not undertaken periodically. Amaratunga and Baldry (2002) urged that performance measurement be meticulous in a way that is practical to facilities management (FM) operations and techniques, otherwise it become to be superficial.\nLiterature review: Building performance evaluation\nResearch methods: To fill the gaps mentioned above, this study employed the AEDET tool for performance evaluation. The objective was to evaluate healthcare users\nData analysis: Table II describes three statistical methods used. The research adopts the procedures used in Yeung et al. (2007) and Yang et al. (2009).\nValidation of the building performance elements: Testing Cronbach's coefficient alpha\nDiscussions of survey results: The results indicate that for Building Functionality, \"access1\" ranked first among the 20 sub-elements (Table III). This means that good access is a top priority in the building performance in regards to the functionality of a healthcare building. However, according to the results of factor analysis, this factor scored the lowest in the 20 items listed. As discussed in the literature review, this finding was in line with several researchers\nConclusions: The importance of building performance in facilities management has been recognised by many scholars and professionals. With a focus on healthcare buildings, this study hopes to fill a gap that has been explored in section two of this paper. It is crucial to explore the current state of building performance and to identify significant items in relation to building performance. This study explored the importance of building performance in terms of function, impact and quality. Further to that, building performance ranking and their underlying relationship have been explored.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the main elements of building performance, namely, building function, building impact and building quality in order to promote strategic facilities management in healthcare organisation to improve core (health) business activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on current available toolkits, a questionnaire is issued to healthcare users (staff) in a public hospital about their level of agreement in relation to these elements. Statistical analysis is conducted to regroup the elements. These regrouped elements and their inter-relationships are used to develop a framework for measuring building performance in healthcare buildings.\nFindings: The analysis helped to clarify the understanding and agreement of users in Australian healthcare organisation with regards to building performance. Based on the survey results, 11 new elements were regrouped into three groups. These new regrouped elements will be used to develop a reliable framework for measuring performance of Australian healthcare buildings.\nOriginality/value: Currently there is no building performance toolkit available for Australian healthcare organisation. The framework developed in this paper will help healthcare organisations with a reliable performance tool for their buildings and this will promote strategic facilities management\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Home sewers' satisfaction with fit of apparel patterns	[ "Clothing", "Design", "Customer satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The focus of this study was to examine home sewers' satisfaction with the fit of apparel produced from home sewing patterns and to determine whether home sewers believed that adjusting sewing patterns improved the fit of apparel made with the patterns. Pattern adjustment is the term used in the home sewing industry to refer to a variety of methods used to change dimensions of the paper pattern to more closely approximate the measurements of the wearer. For example, a sleeve pattern may be lengthened or shortened according to the measured length of the person's arm. Modifying garment length and width to accommodate cup size at the bust is also a common adjustment. Amount of ease for comfort and amount of ease for style are factored in when making pattern adjustments. Improved fit from adjusted patterns may seem a logical result; however, the process of adjusting patterns requires advanced skills that typically require specific training or experience. Since sewing and pattern adjustment are skills not routinely taught in schools today and the knowledge is no longer passed from one generation to the next, most home sewers likely have limited access to gaining these skills. Therefore, we hypothesize typical home sewers might not have the skills to accomplish good fit of home-sewn apparel. Thus, the scenario of a home sewer investing considerable time and money to make a garment and then being frustrated with the fit is a very likely and an unfortunate outcome. If home sewers are not satisfied with apparel made from patterns, the industry will lose future sales. It is therefore useful to investigate factors that could contribute to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with pattern fit and final outcomes from adjusting patterns to improve garment fit.\nReview of literature: In the 1980s the home sewing industry in the USA suffered a downturn, which limited home sewing pattern selection available to the home sewer. The three major pattern companies - Simplicity, McCall's, and Butterick - were each acquired in leveraged buyouts. An indication of the level of change was seen when Simplicity and McCall's were sold multiple times. A reaction to this industry transformation was streamlining offerings from these companies, putting emphases on home sewing, children's patterns, and easy-to-construct patterns that do not require complicated fittings (Strom, 1992).The home sewing industry recovery began by the 1990s. The 1992 Census of Retail Trade conducted by the US Commerce Department documented that $5.1 billion was spent in 1992 on sewing and related supplies, up 21.4 percent from the $4.2 billion recorded for 1987. The American Home Sewing and Craft Association (AHSCA), a trade organization, reported that more than 30 million women aged 24-54, mostly college educated, were home sewers (Owens, 1997). Their number one reason for sewing was relaxation. A second reason for sewing was to have garment styles in sizes and colors that cannot be found in stores. Owens (1997) also found that some women sew to save money and some \"look to sewing to have clothing that cannot be found in plus sizes\" (p. 39).Changing life styles have influenced sewing. The Encyclopedia of American Industries (2004) states that the demise of home sewing was related to the increase in affordable off-the-rack clothing and an increase in the number of working mothers (p. 2). Durack (1997), in a study of the historical development of home sewn patterns, found that pattern users were \"displeased with ill-fitting garments that looked 'home-made'\" (p. 2). Thus, issues with fit of patterns may be another strong influence on the struggles of the home sewing industry. It is logical that contemporary women would not be willing to invest precious time in adjusting sewing patterns if the results are not satisfactory.Satisfaction is a major goal of consumers when purchasing a product. Likewise, producers and sellers of products strive to satisfy the consumer. Dissatisfaction may lead to changes in consumer behavior such as discontinuing purchase, switching to another brand, publicly complaining about a product and/or initiating negative word-of-mouth communication (Day, 1977; Bearden and Teel, 1983; Francis and Davis, 1990; Kolodinsky, 1992; Slama and Williams, 1991). Satisfaction/dissatisfaction is a complex construct that may be explained as a process that begins at the purchase stage, follows through to the consumption stage and results in behavioral responses to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product or service (Chen-Yu, 1995). Cadotte et al. (1987) posited that satisfaction/dissatisfaction is a psychological state resulting from an evaluation process and that evaluation is the result of the consumer comparing expectations and outcomes.Chen-Yu (1995) details three predictors of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction:1. consumer expectations;2. disconfirmation; and3. perceived performance.A home sewer purchasing a pattern, fabrics, and trims to construct a garment may have expectations of success in adjusting the pattern to fit herself. She expects to achieve the flattering image that is presented in the pattern catalog or on the pattern envelope. The evaluation process can be quite lengthy depending on how long it takes for the home sewer to complete sewing the garment. The premise of the expectancy disconfirmation model is that satisfaction is a function of the extent and direction of disconfirmation beliefs (Halstead, 1989). Confirmation/disconfirmation results from the consumer's comparison between product expectations and perceived product performance. So, if the home sewer achieves or exceeds her standards of good fit for the completed garment, positive disconfirmation is reached reinforcing future purchases. However, Erevelles and Leavitt (1992) found that if expectations are just met and not exceeded, indifference is a likely result. If performance is worse, in other words the fit of the garment is not meeting the standards of the home sewer and expectations are not achieved, the results are negative disconfirmation and intent to purchase is weakened.Several studies indicate that women are not satisfied with the fit of ready-to-wear apparel (DesMarteau, 2000; LaBat, 1997; Goldsberry et al., 1996). Because apparel patterns have traditionally been based on the same pattern development strategies, sizing systems and grading methods, dissatisfaction with the fit of home sewn apparel may be similar to dissatisfaction with ready-to-wear apparel (Salusso-Deonier, 1989). As efforts are ongoing to improve fit of ready-to-wear apparel fit, a few companies are focusing on methods of improving the fit of home sewing patterns and others are trying custom fit technologies. Vogue Pattern Company enlisted the help of Sandra Betzina, author of several books on sewing and fit, to develop a line of patterns targeted to older women who have stopped sewing because they cannot find patterns to fit their changing bodies. According to Vogue these patterns are not large-size patterns, but new configurations that are \"cut larger in the waist and tummy, fuller across the arm, narrower in the upper front chest and broader across the back\" (Vogue Patterns, 2006, p. 54). Unique pattern company introduced use of body scanning to develop custom-fit patterns to the home sewing industry. The company scans customers at home sewing stores and customers can then order patterns made with measurements extracted from the scans (see www.uniquepatterns.com/). The impact of this technology on the quality of fit and price of patterns may influence the home sewing market in the near future. FashionCAD is an example of a company that has emerged to provide customized fit as a way to address frustrations with the fit of commercial patterns and ready-to-wear apparel (see www.fashioncad.net/). That a single software license for this system costs $1,295 suggests that there is demand for new solutions to an old problem. Current research that may bring refinements to patterns in ready-to-wear and commercial patterns falls under the SizeUSA collaboration intended to improve the fit of computer-generated custom patterns by using body scanning technology to accumulate a large database of anthropometric measurements (see www.sizeusa.com/ and www.missouri.edu/ ~ news/releases/simmonssizeusaresults.html). This new insight on body shapes and sizes may lead to changes in the apparel pattern industry. Therefore, it is timely to investigate consumers' use of and satisfaction with home sewing patterns.\nMethod: Questionnaire and data collection\nAnalysis and findings: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion and conclusions: The focus of this study was to examine home sewers' satisfaction with the fit of apparel produced from home sewing patterns and if adjusting patterns tended to improve the fit of apparel. Results demonstrate widespread dissatisfaction with the fit of all patterns with greatest dissatisfaction with larger sizes and pants. While experienced sewers were able to get faster and better results from fitting patterns than were inexperienced sewers, all respondents were generally dissatisfied with the outcome and with the process. Frustration was an underlying theme across all respondents. Thus, the scenario of a home sewer investing considerable time and money in making a garment and then being frustrated with the fit of home sewn apparel is indeed what was found in this study. The home sewing industry is well advised to find methods to consistently produce patterns that fit without complicated adjustments or extensive time commitment. The joy of creating satisfactory apparel from patterns cannot occur unless there is more consistent success for the home sewer assisting them in meeting their expectations.Consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction research suggests that consumers will be satisfied if their expectations are exceeded. If expectations are just met, indifference is the likely result. Pattern companies could encourage more realistic expectations from consumers by presenting sewn garments on models in a full range of sizes. Providing updated, easy-to-read size charts and basic pattern blocks based on new anthropometric studies would increase likelihood that patterns will provide better fit for home sewers.Strategies to aide home sewers in their quest for better fitting home sewn apparel could also include:* simplifying pattern adjustment methods;* teaching pattern adjustment methods; and* using computer technologies to provide custom-fitted patterns.These strategies have been used in various ways with varying degrees of success, but further developing each may be useful.Simplifying pattern adjustments may mean offering shapes with less body-defining silhouettes that depend somewhat on the fashion of the time. Other strategies may be possible. Research could lead to adjustment methods that are incorporated into pattern shapes and that are accompanied by easy-to-follow adjustment instructions. Educating home sewers about apparel fit and how to achieve it has been hit-and-miss. Pattern adjustment classes are occasionally offered by community education systems, and books, videos, and CDs are available for home sewers. However, pattern companies have not invested in consistent efforts to educate consumers about pattern adjustment. Pattern companies might benefit from developing short courses that could be offered in home sewing stores or on the internet. Use of computer technology, body scanning and computer pattern adjustment, is currently used by several companies, but access may be limited, especially for home sewers in remote areas, and some sewers may be reluctant to invest in unproved technology. The Unique Pattern Company appears to be leading the way with this technology, but other major apparel pattern companies do not appear to be using this technology as a direct outreach to consumers.Home sewing of apparel has the potential of being a creative activity and a source of attractive, well-fitting apparel. However, the home sewing pattern industry will have to address the concerns home sewers have in attaining satisfactory fit to reach that potential.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to explore home sewers' satisfaction with the fit of garments made from home sewing patterns and to provide useful information to the home sewing industry to improve products and services for the target consumer.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Home sewers attending home sewing expos in the states of Minnesota and Washington were surveyed to determine satisfaction with fit of home sewing patterns and to determine factors that may affect satisfaction with the patterns.\nFindings: - The results clearly indicate that these respondents were frustrated with the fit of home sewing patterns and that their efforts to adjust patterns for better fit were typically not successful.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limited sample does not allow generalization, but may lend some insight into problems the home sewing pattern industry may have in attracting and maintaining customer loyalty.\nOriginality/value: - Although there are many studies demonstrating consumer dissatisfaction with the fit of ready-to-wear apparel, few studies have focused specifically on the home sewing pattern industry. This industry could benefit from further understanding of its customer base.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Enhancement of product development capabilities of OEM suppliers: inter- and intra-organisational learning	[ "Product development", "Learning organizations", "Buyer‐seller relationships" ]	[ { "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.\n1. Introduction: Strategic outsourcing and the management of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationships have been an important business practice as well as research area. Scholars suggest that to maintain competitiveness, firms should focus on the identification and accumulation of their core competencies while strategically delegating other value-added activities to global suppliers (Gottfredson et al., 2005; Quinn and Hilmer, 1994; Venkatesan, 1992). Through strategic outsourcing, firms can take advantage of supplier capabilities to reduce production costs and to accelerate new product development (Araujo et al., 1999; Sheth and Sharma, 1997). Therefore, the success or failure of the final products depends not only on the marketing capabilities of the firms, but also on the manufacturing, research, and development capabilities of their suppliers. The knowledge and capabilities of suppliers thus substantially influence OEM customers' competitiveness (Asmus and Griffin, 1993).Fierce global competition has resulted in rapid changes in technological environments as well as customer tastes and preferences, further shortening the product life-cycle. Firms thus need to introduce new products constantly. Recent researches on NPD have pointed out that to announce new products efficiently and effectively, firms must secure the involvement and support from their suppliers (Bonaccorsi and Lipparini, 1994; Handfield et al., 1999; Petersen et al., 2005; Ragatz et al., 1997). On the other hand, from the suppliers' viewpoint, NPD capabilities have become increasingly important if they want to retain their OEM customers (Swink and Mabert, 2000). Therefore, in addition to taking OEM orders and manufacturing for OEM customers, suppliers also need to constantly enhance their technology and organisational capabilities. Specifically, suppliers must learn and absorb new knowledge and technology to enhance their NPD capabilities (Swink and Mabert, 2000; Wu and Hsu, 2001).In an OEM customer-supplier relationship, the customer usually possesses more technological and marketing knowledge than the supplier. Prior studies on partner relationships argue that suppliers with strong learning intent usually learn more knowledge and technology from their OEM customers (Hamel et al., 1989; Hamel, 1991; Ernst, 2000; Hobday, 1995; Wu and Hsu, 2001). The NPD literatures further state that firms can learn from their customers and integrate customer knowledge into the NPD process to increase the performance of new products (Stump et al., 2002; Joshi and Sharma, 2004; Koufteros et al., 2005).However, knowledge acquisition itself is not enough for an organisation to enhance its capabilities. As the literature on organisational learning point out, after obtaining new knowledge from the customers, the suppliers still need to absorb and integrate the knowledge to cultivate new organisational capabilities (Helleloid and Simonin, 1994; Leonard-Barton, 1995; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Kostova, 1999; Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). Therefore, both inter-organisational learning and intra-organisational learning are crucial in the whole learning process of the OEM partner relationships. Nevertheless, prior studies that simultaneously investigate inter- and intra-organisational learning remain rather limited (Hillebrand and Biemans, 2004; Takeishi, 2001). Facing this research gap, this study thus aims to empirically investigate the relationships between learning intent, inter-organisational learning, intra-organisational learning, and product development capability of OEM suppliers. Data were collected via a questionnaire survey on 147 OEM supply relations from 117 Taiwanese information technology (IT) companies[1], with structure equation modelling as the analytical tool.\n2. Literature and hypotheses: Organisational learning is a process that helps organisations to improve their actions through increased knowledge and understandings (Fiol and Lyles, 1985; Sinkula, 1994; Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993; Slater and Narver, 1995). Learning occurs at various levels, including individual learning, group learning, organisational learning (Crossan et al., 1999; Crossan and Berdrow, 2003), and inter-organisational learning (Levitt and March, 1988; Santoro et al., 2007). Generally speaking, organisational learning literatures suppose that learning behaviours start at the individual level. Individuals develop and accumulate knowledge, but such knowledge does not equal organisational knowledge because the latter develops through further social interactions between organisational members and is stored and accumulated at a non-personal level, such as a group or organisational level (Real et al., 2006). Such kind of non-personal-level knowledge might be explicit or implicit, deeply embedded in organisational routines, such as norms, rules, processes, traditions, strategy, culture, beliefs, and so on, directing the behaviours of organisational members (Levitt and March, 1988). Organisations continuously accumulate and change their knowledge bases by learning to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of value activities and to enhance and renew organisational capabilities (Day, 1994; Helleloid and Simonin, 1994).Thus, organisational learning can be viewed as a process of knowledge acquisition, distribution, interpretation, retention, and application (Huber, 1991; Slater and Narver, 1995). To enhance its capability, the firm thus needs to acquire new knowledge to carry out the learning process (Helleloid and Simonin, 1994). Firms can acquire new knowledge via market exchange, inter-organisational cooperation, and/or intra-organisational creation (Bresman et al., 1999; Choi and Lee, 1997; Helleloid and Simonin, 1994). This research argues that suppliers mainly acquire new knowledge through inter-organisational learning in the OEM relationships, and then assimilate new knowledge through a process of intra-organisational learning (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). This research uses the expression of interactive learning to refer to inter-organisational learning, while internalised learning was used to refer to intra-organisational learning.Interactive learning means that suppliers gain knowledge and skills from their OEM customers by interacting with them. Because suppliers must produce an ordered product specification and design for the OEM customers, they have good opportunities to access new technology and to learn from the OEMs (Wu and Hsu, 2001). Suppliers may also encounter difficulties during the process of product development and manufacturing and the OEMs may help in solving the problems. Suppliers are also given the chance to cooperate with OEMs to study and learn about NPD.Internalised learning is the supplier's internal knowledge assimilation process. According to the organisational learning literatures, in addition to acquiring new knowledge through inter-organisational interactions, suppliers in the OEM relationships also distribute, interpret, share, store, apply and internalise new exterior knowledge. In the knowledge internalising process, suppliers convert new knowledge to usable knowledge for absorbing and storing (Hedlund and Nonaka, 1993). The NPD teams of suppliers also transform exterior knowledge to create new knowledge, and then diffuse and store it (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). In short, suppliers must accelerate both interactive and internalised learning to enhance their product development capabilities.2.1 Learning intent\n3. Research method: 3.1 Research context\n4. Results: 4.1 Measurement model, reliability and validity\n5. Discussions and implications: 5.1 Discussions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Faced with increased global competition, suppliers must continually update their technology and capabilities to effectively respond to the rapid changes in customer requirements. In the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supply relationships, it is particularly important for suppliers to enhance their product development capabilities by learning from customers. However, few existing studies have empirically explored this issue. This paper aims to fill some of the gaps.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on the organisational learning perspective, this paper investigates learning between the suppliers and customers of OEM relations as well as its impact on suppliers' product development capabilities. Structure equation modelling was used with data collected from 147 OEM supply relations of 117 Taiwanese information technology (IT) companies. The relationships among learning intent, interactive learning, internalised learning, and product development capabilities were examined.\nFindings: - Results show that suppliers with a high learning intent are able to facilitate inter-organisational and intra-organisational learning to enhance their product development capabilities.\nOriginality/value: - The paper proposes and empirically tests a model to explain how the OEM suppliers' product development capabilities are enhanced by the relationships between learning intent, inter-organisational learning, and intra-organisational learning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Forms of knowledge and operation pattern of virtual GUI platform: An analysis of China Zhejiang Online Technology Market	[ "Knowledge management", "Knowledge transfer", "Universities", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The triple helix of university-industry-government (GUI) relations, proposed by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (1995, 1997, 2000), links between the three institutional actors: industry, university, and government. In one form or another, most countries and regions are presently trying to attain some form of triple helix. The common objective is to realize an innovative environment (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000). These arrangements are often encouraged, but not controlled by government, whether through new \"rules of the game\" direct or indirect financial assistance, or through act or new actors to promote innovation. In addition, government can function to stimulating network development among nation states and across institutional boundaries (Leydesdorff and Etzkowitz, 1998). In order to promote innovation, the Chinese Government has taken a series of measures including the establishment of virtual GUI platform. In 2002, the first online technology market was built with the guidance of government. Nowadays, there are more than 50 online technology markets in China. The US Council on Competitiveness (1998) points that the country that encourages an infrastructure of links among firms, universities and the government therefore gains a competitive advantage through quicker information diffusion and product deployment. Whereas, to the online technology markets in China, the operation efficiency is generally low and the online technology markets represent more as an empty hull and decoration (Zhang Gang, 2005). Margues et al. (2006) argue that the performance of a system of innovation relies on the intensity and efficiency of the interactions between the chief agents involved in the generation and dissemination of knowledge at the present time. Inspired by this argument, this paper analyses the operation pattern of the virtual GUI platform from the perspective of knowledge.In the next section, this paper introduces forms of knowledge and interactive mode between industry and university in innovation. The paper analyzes the innovation knowledge rich in industry and university and the interactive context which is needed to generate and diffuse knowledge. We devote a section of the paper to analyzing the special case of the China Zhejiang Online Technology Market (ZJOTM). This paper has discussion and suggestion at the end.\n2 Forms of knowledge in industry and university and the context needed for knowledge interaction: 2.1 Forms of knowledge in industry and university\n3 Methods and data: Based on the existing literature, this paper analyzes the knowledge rich in industry and university, respectively, the knowledge interactive mode and corresponding interactive context qualitatively, which provides a theoretical framework for analysis the operation pattern of virtual GUI platform. Following this theoretical framework, this paper analyzes the case of the ZJOTM, which has been viewed as a model for the national virtual GUI platform. The operation pattern and effect of ZJOTM are discussed. The material and data about ZJOTM is collected mainly from the web site (www.51jishu.com). In addition, this paper uses the comparative analysis method. We select the online innovation virtual network of American Innocentive Technology Trade E-business Company (Innocentive) as contrast. The material about Innocentive is mainly from its web site (www.innocentive.com).\n4 Case study: Zhejiang Online Technology Market (ZJOTM): 4.1 Introduction to ZJOTM\n5 Discussion and suggestions: This paper has identified both explicit and tacit forms of innovation knowledge rich in industry and university, respectively. We argue that knowledge interaction between university and industry is important for knowledge creation and innovation. According to the types of knowledge interaction between university and industry, this paper recognizes the context needed for knowledge interaction between industry and university as virtual ba, physical ba and practice ba. This paper argues that the knowledge infrastructure generated by the triple helix model of GUI just provides a \"ba\" for knowledge interaction. The virtual GUI platform provides a \"virtual ba\" for knowledge interaction between industry and university. However, only virtual ba is not sufficient, physical ba and practice ba are also needed. Therefore, the operation of virtual GUI should utilize the complementary action of physical ba and practice ba. Moreover, it is better to adopt channels considering the knowledge and sector characteristic.The findings have important implications for government policy makers, university and industry practice for designing and implementing knowledge-base innovation strategies. In order to promote knowledge creation and innovation, the government should build/provide all kinds of context for knowledge interaction between industry and university, including virtual ba, physical ba and practice ba, and deploy the ba flexibly according to the knowledge and sector characteristic. For most of the knowledge owned by university and industry are tacit, university and industry should effectively and efficiently use the function of physical and practice ba, rather than only the virtual when designing and implementing knowledge-base innovation strategies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the operation pattern of the virtual university-industry-government (GUI) platform from the perspective of knowledge.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Following a theoretical framework, the case of the China Zhejiang Online Technology Market (ZJOTM) is analyzed, which has been viewed as a model of the national virtual GUI platform. The operation pattern and effect of ZJOTM are discussed. The material and data are collected mainly from ZJOTM web site.\nFindings: - According to the types of knowledge interaction between university and industry, this paper recognizes the context needed for knowledge interaction between industry and university as \"virtual ba\", \"physical ba\" and \"practice ba\". The virtual GUI platform just provides a virtual ba for knowledge interaction between industry and university. However, only \"virtual ba\" is not sufficient, \"physical ba\" and \"practice ba\" are also needed. Therefore, the operation of virtual GUI should utilize the complementary action of physical ba and practice ba. Moreover, it is better to deploy the ba flexibly according to the knowledge and sector characteristic.\nOriginality/value: - The paper specifies the innovation knowledge rich in industry and university and the knowledge interaction context needed, that provides a favourable framework to study the operation pattern of the virtual GUI platform. The findings also have important implications for government policy makers, university and industry practice for designing and implementing knowledge-base innovation strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effects of a major disaster on skills shortages in the construction industry: Lessons learned from New Zealand	[ "Skills", "Human resource management", "Construction industry", "Earthquakes", "Strategic planning", "Labour force" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Having a skilled and productive workforce has been central to the construction sector's growth and success (Agapiou et al., 1995; Chan and Dainty, 2007; Construction Skills, 2005). Literature has revealed a number of factors which can create a shortage in construction skills. In particular, cyclical changes in construction demand has been recognised as a major challenge facing construction firms and their workforce (Bennett, 2005; Fan et al., 2011). This has manifested as large boom periods where there is more demand for labour than can be met, followed by bust periods where significant numbers of partially trained and fully trained construction workers are often lost to other industries and rarely return (McGrath-Champ et al., 2011).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Skills shortage faced by the New Zealand construction industry\n3. Research method: A mixed method approach, namely, triangulation, was adopted for this research due to the nature of the inquiry. Creswell (2003) suggested that triangulation suits research that involves collecting data either simultaneously or sequentially to best understand research problems. The methods used for data collection in this study were an online questionnaire survey of construction organisations, field observations, interviews, and focus groups. According to Chang (2010), basic quantitative descriptions can provide a valuable baseline background to help identify issues for a more in-depth, qualitative or quantitative study for a particular event. Therefore, the quantitative method, namely, a questionnaire survey along with statistical analysis, was employed at the first stage to identify the skills challenges faced by construction employers in Christchurch and the critical factors they perceive have affected their skills availability.\n4. Research results: 4.1 Skills challenges faced by construction employers\n5. Discussion: The types of skills that were subject to shortages during the Christchurch earthquake reconstruction were similar to those of normal times. According to Comerio (1998), disasters do not completely change pre-disaster economic conditions; instead they simply magnify trends or conditions in place before the disaster strikes. This was the case in Christchurch, where the pre-existing shortages for both structural and geotechnical engineering occupations, along with the specialist trades associated with housing and infrastructure construction, and project management professionals seemed to be intensified by the earthquakes. Research findings show that the earthquakes had changed the landscape of employment requirements and compounded the skills shortages in the construction industry.\n6. Conclusion and recommendations: Skills development is fundamental to the development of the construction industry (Fox and Skitmore, 2007). Based on a questionnaire survey and in-field investigations in Christchurch during its recovery from the 2010/2011 earthquakes, this study sheds light on the sorts of resource challenges faced by the construction industry responding to the demand for large-scale reconstruction. By surveying construction employers operating in Christchurch, this paper has focussed on identifying the factors that affected skills availability for disaster recovery projects in order to gain insights into the effects of a large earthquake event on construction skills development.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effects of a major disaster on the management of human resources in the construction sector. It sets out to identify the construction skills challenges and the factors that affected skills availability following the 2010/2011 earthquakes in Christchurch. It is hoped that this study will provide insights for on-going reconstruction and future disaster response with respect to the problem of skills shortages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A triangulation method was adopted. The quantitative method, namely, a questionnaire survey, was employed to provide a baseline description. Field observations and interviews were used as a follow-up to ascertain issues and potential shortages over time. Three focus groups in the form of research workshops were convened to gain further insight into the feedback and to investigate the validity and applicability of the research findings.\nFindings: The earthquakes in Christchurch had compounded the pre-existing skills shortages in the country due to heightened demand from reconstruction. Skills shortages primarily existed in seismic assessment and design for land and structures, certain trades, project management and site supervision. The limited technical capability available nationally, shortage of temporary accommodation to house additional workers, time needed for trainees to become skilled workers, lack of information about reconstruction workloads and lack of operational capacity within construction organisations, were critical constraints to the resourcing of disaster recovery projects.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research findings contribute to the debate on skills issues in construction. The study provides evidence that contributes to an improved understanding of the industry's skills vulnerability and emerging issues that would likely exist after a major disaster in a resource-limited country such as New Zealand.\nPractical implications: From this research, decision makers and construction organisations can gain a clear direction for improving the construction capacity and capability for on-going reconstruction. Factors that affected the post-earthquake skills availability can be considered by decision makers and construction organisations in their workforce planning for future disaster events. The recommendations will assist them in addressing skills shortages for on-going reconstruction.\nOriginality/value: Although the study is country-specific, the findings show the nature and scale of skills challenges the construction industry is likely to face following a major disaster, and the potential issues that may compound skills shortages. It provides lessons for other disaster-prone countries where the resource pool is small and a large number of additional workers are needed to undertake reconstruction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Traceability data management for food chains	[ "Supply chain management", "Food products", "Tracer methods", "Extensible markup language" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the past decade, the credibility of Food Industry safety schemes was heavily challenged after a number of food crises, such as BSE and food-and-mouth disease. The necessity of sufficient traceability systems to tackle such crises brought into light the need for reassessing and updating traceability systems currently implemented in the food sector.The EU Regulation 178/2002 regarding the establishment of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) set the foundations towards more strict traceability requirements in food sector and paved the way for further legal requirements at a national level assuring information flow transparency and efficient traceability in the Food Industry of each country-member of the EU. According to the EU Regulation 178/2002, which took effect on 1st January 2005:food and feed business operators shall be able to identify any person from whom they have been supplied with a food, a feed, a food-producing animal or any substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or a feed. Moreover, food business shall have in place systems and procedures to identify the other businesses to which their products have been supplied. This information shall be made available to the competent authorities on demand.This Regulation does not lay a specific methodology to be followed by all food business operators. Instead of that, food companies are free to choose those mechanisms that fit their needs and ensure efficient traceability for their products. According to ISO Quality Standards, traceability is defined as: \"the ability to trace the history, application or location of an entity by means of recorded information\" (ISO 8402:1994). Moreover, the same institution introduced at the beginning of 2006, two new standards that define the requirements for a traceability system within a food safety management system and the data that needs to be retained (ISO 22000:2005 - Food safety management systems - requirements, and ISO 22519 - traceability system in the agriculture food chain - general principles for design and development).In the food chain, traceability means the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food producing animal or substance through all stages of production and distribution (Figure 1).According to definitions at Article 3, (EU General Food Law Regulation):... stages of production and distribution refer to any stage including import, from and including the primary production of food, up to and including its sale or supply to the final consumer and, where relevant to food safety, the production, manufacture and distribution of feed.The efficiency of a traceability system depends on the ability to collect safety and quality related information. There is a wide range of traceability schemes currently used in food supply chains, from paper based to sophisticated IT-enabled (Food Standards Agency, 2002). IT-enabled systems have been developed and introduced over the recent years in the food sector, based on technologies implemented in more sophisticated industries, such as pharmaceuticals (Wilson and Clarke, 1998). Bar code and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies have been implemented in food chains, reducing errors associated with manual data handling, thus making tracking more feasible (Salin, 1998; Karkkainen, 2003). The development of software systems and databases (data pools) increases the efficiency in collecting, transmitting and analyzing larger volumes of safety and quality related data (Wilson and Clarke, 1998; Food Standards Agency, 2002).The main objectives of this paper are to identify the needs in data that are considered as fundamental for the efficient food traceability and to introduce a generic framework (architecture) of traceability data management that will act as guideline for all entities/food business operators involved. After a short review of the main developments in the examined sector and the related EU legal requirements regarding traceability systems, all data related to the effectiveness and efficiency of food supply chains traceability schemes are identified, scrutinized, and categorized. Then, a four-step data management framework is introduced, aiming at automating and improving traceability by using internet technologies. This paper concludes with the assessment of the results and some suggestions for future research.\nAnalyzing traceability in the food supply chains: The efficiency of a traceability system depends on the ability to track and trace each individual product and distribution (logistics) unit, in a way that enables continuous monitoring from primary production (harvesting, catch, and retirement) until final disposal to consumer. The means and technique for identifying the uniqueness of product may differ in each stage of the supply chain (bar-code, papers, RFID tag, computer produced labels, etc). An efficient traceability system shall be able to link all these different techniques to an integrated product monitoring system. Moreover, a traceability system shall follow some rules defining which data must be collected and transferred at each stage of the supply chain. This can be achieved by standardizing collected data and the structure of the messages used for storing and transferring data. Several workgroups are currently developing methodologies towards data standardization as mentioned above, such as food trace and trace check in the EU, and can-trace data standard in Canada.According to supported functions, traceability schemes can be distinguished in two types: logistics traceability which follows only the physical movement of the product and treats food as commodity and qualitative traceability that associates additional information relating to product quality and consumers safety, such as pre-harvest and post-harvest techniques, storage and distribution conditions, etc.Logistics traceability provides with business information regarding logistics operations such as quantity, origin, destination, dispatch date, allowing the rapid tracking of product current location, origin and destination, in case of there is a need for immediate recall or withdrawal from market.When such a product is located, a qualitative traceability system enables the identification of the source of the hazard and the cause that generated it, providing all data required to assess the conditions and methods followed for producing, processing, and distributing the product. It must be clarified here that an efficient qualitative traceability system does not improve product safety, neither its quality. The role of such a system is to assure consumers health and safety by enabling rapid recall and withdrawal of hazardous products in case of food crises.According to the awareness needs of consumers and the required level of transparency, traceability information flow in the supply chain can be distinguished in two types: one step up-one step down flow and aggregated information flow. Most of the food businesses follow the first information flow model, which is also suggested by EC Regulation, 178/2002. According to one step up-one step down model, some traceability information is kept in each stage of the supply chain while other follows the product at the next stage of the chain. In this case, the final consumer receives only the necessary information that allows the identification of some of the product's basic features concerning its origin and quality. Although the consumer does not have direct access to all the information, since he/she does not follow the product along the supply chain to the point of sale, it is feasible to recover it by accessing each stage of the supply chain downwards. This \"filtering\" of information in each stage of the supply chain makes the traceability system very flexible and easy to use, while it is easy for the user to retrieve all the required information by accessing data bases of the previous or the following link.The second information flow model is implemented when aggregated information follows the product all the way to the retailer point of sale. This happens in cases when it is necessary for the consumer to have immediate access to information related to all stages of production and treatment, from farm to fork. This model is followed usually for organic products, fresh fish and meat for which particular production and treatment methods have been followed, or for products that need to specify that are GMO free (Food Standards Agency, 2002).\nLiterature review for management of traceability data for food supply chains: Many models have been proposed for supporting traceability information, each viewing the issue from a different perspective. Physical traceability, quality information management and batch dispersion are the main key points that the proposed models suggest. Jansen-Vullers et al. (2003) suggested a four elements structure for traceability:1. physical lot integrity, which determines the traceability resolution;2. collection of tracing and process data;3. product identification and process linking; and4. reporting/system data retrieval.Based on the above elements a reference data model was developed, which enables traceability information modeling. Kim et al. (1995) proposed a quality-focused ontology in which the fundamental concepts of Traceable Resource Unit (TRU) and primitive activity were introduced. Ontology is defined as a coherent set of representation terms together with textual and formal definitions that embodies a set of representation design choices (Noy and McGuiness, 2000). Kim et al. defined primitive activity as a chain's basic operation and TRU as a unit that no other can have the same characteristics from a traceability point of view. Using the semantics of their model and first order logic, they define some rules for traceability. Van Dorp (2003) introduced a traceability application as well, based on gozinto graphs. The latter are graphs that represent material consumption during product manufacturing, finally introducing the concepts of bill of materials (BOM) and bill of lots (BOL). Moe (1998) suggested the two main contexts in which traceability can be used and in which it covers the fundamental concepts included in advanced traceability systems related to products and their processing:* product; in which it relates material, processing history, distribution and location; and* data; in which it relates calculations and data generated through the quality loop.Full traceability requires information for the total product's lifecycle. In cases of supply chains where food products are subject to alteration operations, such as slaughtering and chopping in meat industry or milking and pasteurization in dairy industry, full traceability requires information about animal breeding procedures, batch dispersion, BOM and distribution information. On the contrary, in cases of non-processed products, such as fresh produce, full traceability requires only farming and distribution information. Distribution information includes lot and packaging information.\nTraceability data management conceptual framework for food supply chains: In this paper, a framework for the management of traceability data is introduced for fresh, non-processed food products supply chains. The main objective of this framework is the establishment of an environment that will support information flow transparency and efficient decision making in the examined supply chains. Traceability data management framework consists of the following phases:* identification and classification;* transformation and modeling;* processing; and* presentation of traceability data.Identification and classification\nConclusions: One of the major weaknesses of the agricultural industry is the information gap that exists among entities in the agri-business supply chains, originated either by unwillingness to share information, or by inability to do so due to lack of sufficient means and inaccessibility to sophisticated technologies that allow efficient and transparent information flow in supply chains. Recently, increased importance is placed on the information flow either as need raised from governments and retailers in order to deal with safety issues, or as a need of the retailers to improve performance across their supply chains. These latest developments in the industry have indicated a need for closing the information gap between food supply chain members, by creating common information and data sharing strategies.The narrow profit margins under which most of the agri-business operate, the need for immediate distribution and sale due to the perishability of the products regardless of the offer price, the multi fragmented base of the majority of fresh produce supply chains and the low educational level of a high percentage of farmers make any investment in sophisticated technologies a very difficult task.An integrated traceability system must be able to file and communicate information regarding product quality and origin, and consumer safety. The main features of such a system are the following:* adequate \"filtering\" of information;* information extracting from databases that already exist for supporting food quality and safety standards (HACCP, ISO, GAP, GMP);* harmonization with international codification standards EAN-UCC; and* harmonization with internet standards and up to date technologies.The framework presented in this paper fulfills all the above features. The data utilized in the model already exist in data bases that support HACCP and ISO standards, while data communication tools (RFID, EPC) are based in EAN-UCC standards. Data processing uses XML technologies and information filtering is achieved by implementing the five elements model presented and analyzed above. This framework main feature is the simplicity in use and the ability of communicating information through commonly accessible means such as the internet, e-mail, and cell phones. This makes it particularly easy to use, even when it comes to the base of the supply chains (farmers, fishermen, cattle breeders, etc).The development of a common language that will ensure efficient traceability and rapid product recall in case of food crises remains a great challenge and an imperative need for the food industry to regain consumers' confidence. The development of an internet based software application that will automate the implementation of the model proposed in this paper is a step towards the right direction.The final aim is the creation of an environment that will promote collaboration between agribusinesses, improve product quality and protect consumer health and safety.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The main objectives of the paper are to identify the needs in data that are considered as fundamental for the efficient food traceability and to introduce a generic framework (architecture) of traceability data management that will act as guideline for all entities/food business operators involved.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The traceability system introduced is based on the implementation of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) technology. In the first stage, the necessary traceability data are identified and categorized. In the second stage, the selected data are transformed and inserted into a five-element generic framework/model, using PML (Physical Markup Language), which is a standard technology of XML.\nFindings: - The assessment of information communication and diffusion underlines that the particular model is simple in use and user-friendly, by enabling information flow through conventional technologies.\nPractical implications: - The main feature of this framework is the simplicity in use and the ability of communicating information through commonly accessible means such as the internet, e-mail, and cell phones. This makes it particularly easy to use, even when it comes to the base of the supply chains (farmers, fishermen, cattle breeders, etc).\nOriginality/value: - An integrated traceability system must be able to file and communicate information regarding product quality and origin, and consumer safety. The main features of such a system include adequate \"filtering\" of information, information extracting, from already existed databases, harmonization with international codification standards, internet standards and up to date technologies. The framework presented in this paper fulfills all the above features.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Defining strategic processes in investment companies: An exploration study in Iranian Investment Companies	[ "Organizational processes", "Corporate strategy", "Balanced scorecard", "Iran" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Investment companies (ICs) are financial brokers who sell stocks to people and invest their profits on a variety of portfolios. The main function of an IC is to build a portfolio with desirable risk for the purpose of investing in a profitable way. This can be achieved by selecting the suitable stocks and selling or buying them.Organizations are required to produce goods and services at a low cost, with high quality and with fast and flexible responsiveness to customers' needs (Venkatraman, 1994; Hughes et al., 2006). This puts pressure on organizations to redesign the way in which they conduct their business and build information systems to support new processes (Venkatraman, 1994; Hughes et al., 2006). In addition, competitive pressures and improvements in information technology constantly force organizations to re-evaluate their business strategies (Venkatraman, 1994; Porter, 2001). The business process reengineering (BPR) framework for organizational and societal impacts of IT is composed of three major pillars: process, people, and technology. These three elements must be aligned with each other as well as with the needs of the customers and the market (Al-Shammari, 2005). As BPR is seen as a relatively new concept for business improvement, its methods and approaches are still developing (Al-Mashari and Zairi, 2000). There are several approaches and methodologies which have been introduced by a number of authors (Yu and Wright, 1997; Kettinger et al., 1997; Davenport and Short, 1990; Petrozzo and Stepper, 1994; Klein, 1994; Barrett, 1994; Harrison and Pratt, 1993; Guha et al., 1993; Johansson et al., 1993; Furey, 1993).Also, this paper presents the BSC as a useful framework to provide a holistic viewpoint in ICs. In addition, the technique that many companies have selected is the BSC (Keyes, 2005). This heralded by the Harvard Business Review as one of the most significant management ideas of the past 75 years. The BSC has been implemented in companies to both measures as well as manages the IT effort (Carr, 2003). The keyword here is \"balanced\". It reflects the four BSC perspectives (customer, business processes, learning, and innovation and financial), long- and short-term objectives, as well as measures between qualitative and quantitative performance (Keyes, 2005). The BSC approach is more than just a way to identify and monitor metrics. It is also a way to manage changes and increase a company's effectiveness, productivity, and competitive advantage (Keyes, 2005). In the early 1990s, Kaplan and Norton developed the BSC approach to compensate their perceived shortcomings of using only financial metrics to judge corporate performance (Kaplan and Norton, 2000). By mid-1990s, the BSC became the hallmark of a well-run company. Bain & Co's Management Tools report that had surveyed more than 600 businesses, found that 62 percent were using the BSC approach. General Electric, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Mobil are among the many well-publicized companies using this approach (Bain & Co., 2003). A beneficial side- effect of the use of the BSC is that, when all measures are reported, one can calculate the strength of relations between the various value drivers (Van Der Zee and Jong, 1999). The BSC identifies the information required to measure performance against the business objectives (Kaplan and Norton, 2000). It provides a way of reaching to a consensus on the priority of IS investment to achieve business objectives (Ward and Peppard, 2002; Ward and Griffiths, 2000).This study is conducted to identify typical ICs processes. Since the nature of ICs appears in their processes, this research concentrates on determining the processes of ICs especially based on literature review. These processes are categorized into BCS's dimensions. Then the processes are ranked based on the company strategy using a statistical survey which finally leads to the definition of strategic processes. The final two steps are done by studying ten top Iranian ICs (for questionnaire, Appendix).This paper is organized in six sections. After the introduction, Section 2 includes theoretical background and Section 3 elaborates the research methodology. Section 4 is dedicated to the research case studies. Finally, discussion and conclusion are in Sections 5 and 6, respectively.\nTheoretical background: An IC is an entity which its main duty is to render professional investment management services to the shareholders' invested capitals. Parts A and C of section one of the investment company Act of 1940, defines an IC as:Any issuer which is engaged or proposed to be engaged in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding, or trading in securities, and owns or are proposed to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40 per centum of the value of such issuer's total assets (exclusive of Government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis.Another definition notices that ICs are organizations which derive their profits solely from the investments in the securities of their subsidiaries in the case of considering IC as a holding company (US Department of Energy, 1994). The result is a huge profit for the investment companies.According to Investment Company Fact Book in 2006, an IC is a corporation, trust, or partnership that invests pooled shareholder dollars in securities appropriate to the entity's - and its shareholders' - investment objectives. The main types of ICs which are shown in Figure 1 are: mutual, or \"open-end\", funds, closed-end funds, unit investment trusts, and exchange-traded funds which is a relatively recent adaptation of the investment company concept:1. Open-end (mutual) funds. A mutual fund is an IC that buys a portfolio of securities selected by a professional investment adviser to meet a specified financial goal. Investors buy fund shares, which represent proportionate ownership in all the fund's securities. A mutual fund is considered as an \"open-end\" fund for two main reasons:* it is required to redeem (or buy back) outstanding shares at any time, at their current net asset value, which is the total market value of the fund's investment portfolio, minus its liabilities, divided by the number of shares outstanding; and* virtually all mutual funds continuously offer new fund shares to the public (Investment Company Institute, 2006).2. Closed-end funds. A closed-end fund is an IC that issues a fixed number of shares that are traded on a stock exchange or in the over-the-counter market. Like mutual funds, the vast majority of closed-end funds are also externally managed. Assets of a closed-end fund are professionally managed in accordance with the fund's investment objectives and policies and may be invested in stocks, bonds, or other securities. Like other publicly traded securities, the market price of closed-end fund shares fluctuates and is determined by supply and demand value in the marketplace (Investment Company Institute, 2006).3. Unit investment trust (UIT). UIT is an IC that buys and holds a generally fixed portfolio of stocks, bonds, or other securities. The UITs are also externally managed. \"Units\" in the trust are sold to investors, or \"unit holders,\" who, during the life of the trust, receive their proportionate share of dividends or interest paid by the trust. Unlike other investment companies, the UIT has a stated date for termination, which varies according to the investments held in its portfolio. At termination, investors receive their proportionate share of the UIT's net assets (Investment Company Institute, 2006).4. Exchange-trusted funds (ETF.) An ETF is an IC, either an open-end fund or an UIT, whose shares are traded within a day on stock exchanges at market-determined prices. Therefore, the ETF has the features of an IC (diversified portfolio, professional management), but its shares trade in the retail market like an equal security. Unlike mutual funds, investors buy or sell ETF shares through a broker just as they do for the shares of any publicly traded company (Investment Company Institute, 2006).\nAn overview of strategic processes definition methodology: The methodology defined by Hanafizadeh and Moayer (2008) is used to define ICs strategic processes. This methodology helps ICs focus on processes which have more impact on the organization's objectives. In order to achieve these objectives, four steps are designed. The details of steps which are mentioned in the case study section have been shown in Figure 2:1. Determining the processes of ICs based on the literature review. In this section, ICs processes are depicted and identified based on literature review.2. Categorizing the processes using the BSC framework. ICs' processes are categorized in the BSC perspectives. As mentioned before, the BSC framework not only focuses on financial perspective but also measures organization's objectives based on three other perspectives (customer, internal process, learning, and innovation).3. Ranking the categorized processes by statistical analysis of the questionnaires. In this section, experts' viewpoints and also managers' standpoints are used to define strategic processes among other processes that are completely based on the strategy. Generally, the term of competitive strategy is considered as the firm's strategy, in consequence, company's strategy can be changed from one company to another. Our concern of competitive strategy is the strategy which is applicable in the competitive environment. Our intention is to rank IC's processes according to how well they support a particular strategy.4. Determining the strategic processes of ICs. This section analyzes the data obtained from the questionnaires. This analysis identifies and ranks the strategic processes in ICs in order to meet the strategy. Then, strategic processes are determined among other processes. Hence, in each perspective, one process with a better rank is chosen as the strategic one.\nCase study: implementation of strategic processes definition methodology in investment companies: First step: processes of investment companies\nDiscussion: In this research, according to the holistic viewpoint of the BSC framework, one process is chosen from each perspective. It means that, other processes with a better rank in the Friedman test in each perspective are ignored. For instance, although professional investment management and brand licensing are ranked higher in Friedman test, business process support is selected. As a result, diversification, shareholders service management, business process support and innovation are chosen as strategic processes in ICs. Nevertheless, due to the lack of experts in IC's comparing to business companies, the number of respondents is one of the research limitations. The other reasons of their improper reception for questionnaires are as follows:* They were told that if they have not had enough knowledge and skill in required fields, they should have not answered the questions.* Carelessness, irresponsibility and not returning the questionnaires in required time are other reasons for the low numbers of questionnaires.The strategic processes are highlighted in Figure 5.\nConclusion: Defining the strategic processes or processes with strategic nature is the main goal of this research. Since these processes do not exceed four or three, organizations with limited budget and time are able to focus on such processes. By using this methodology, organizations determine strategic processes which are critical in achieving their objectives.ICs are able to save their time and budget in achieving their goals by concentrating on their strategic processes. The ICs strategic processes belong to each BSC perspective. These strategic processes play key roles in achieving ICs' strategic objectives.This research is based on multi case studies. Generalization has to be interpreted cautiously and limitation of the case studies should be kept in mind. Furthermore, the strategy of the research is a competitive one and the strategic processes are chosen according to this strategy. They may be changed based on other strategies.For future research, critical success factors (CSFs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) can be determined based on the strategic processes. This would be useful for reaching IC's strategic objectives.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to define the strategic processes or processes with strategic nature of investment companies (ICs). This goal is achieved by proposing a methodology for selecting strategic processes among the processes of ICs based on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework and the statistical analysis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Ten leading Iranian Investment Companies (ICs) were selected whose processes represented those in the field. Through administration of a questionnaire, the processes under study were ranked based on their degree of contribution to the IC's strategy.\nFindings: - This paper defines the common ICs' processes based on surveying the literature review. By using the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework, ICs are able to define the processes which are critical in achieving organizations' objectives. These processes are ranked based on company strategy using a statistical survey which finally leads to defining strategic processes. Determining strategic processes in business process reengineering (BPR) is of great importance owing to time and budget limitations.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research is based on multi case studies. It therefore has its limitations which should be taken into consideration in interpreting and/or generalizing the results obtained from the study. The paper is partially based on previous findings of a literature review. Furthermore, the strategy considered in this study is a competitive one and the strategic processes are chosen according to this strategy which can be changeable. In interpreting the result, these limitations should be kept in mind.\nOriginality/value: - Defining the strategic processes for ICs helps them to allocate their resources to the processes which directly contribute to the company's strategic goal. This paper builds a portfolio of ICs' processes highly related to organization strategic goals. Therefore, these processes are the appropriate candidate in BPR project investment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of foreign direct investment on trade in Pakistan: the moderating role of terrorism	[ "FDI", "Terrorism", "Exports", "Imports", "Trade deficit", "Trade partners", "System GMM", "Pakistan", "F21", "F40", "H56" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI. Introduction: Wars shatter institutions, retard economic activities and hamper economic connectivity (Blomber et al., 2004). Wars also reduce the attraction of a country for trade and investment and therefore they impose huge cost on an economy (Blomber and Hess, 2006; Mirza and Verdier, 2014). Just like wars, terrorism [1] increases the cost of doing business, decrease exports, damage infrastructure, cause instability and shatter the confidence of foreign and local investors (Caplan, 2002). Recently, the organized acts of terrorism severely dented social fabrics and economic activities both at local as well as on global scale. Therefore, to tame the menace of terrorism, responsible states were rendered with no option but to join hands and fight a war against terrorism. In the beginning, it was considered that the \"War on Terror\" will eradicate the menace in a few months but in reality, the prolonged war on terrorism rendered many economies vulnerable to adverse consequences (Shah et al., 2016b).Terrorism affects almost every department of an economy but external sector is more vulnerable to terrorism (Abadie and Gardeazabal, 2008; Enders and Sandler, 2006). Terrorism discourages foreign investment and decrease the spillover impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) by pushing it to enclaves (Volker and Schumacher, 2004). Terrorism adversely affects the FDI trade nexuses and decrease exports by increasing the costs of security and transportation and by decreasing labor productivity (Caplan, 2002; Bandyopadhyay et al., 2014). These issues pose equal challenges to develop and developing economies but external sector in small open economies (like Pakistan) are more vulnerable to the adverse impact of terrorism (Sandler and Enders, 2008).Pakistan economy struggled on external front for long. Therefore she introduced a number of policy reforms in the 1990s mainly to revamp external front. Economic reforms in Pakistan attracted substantial FDI and helped export to pick momentum (Shah et al., 2016a). But 9/11 changed the ground realities in Pakistan. Pakistan becomes a front line state in the \"War on Terror\". There onward, FDI inflows in Pakistan defied economic logic and increased substantially in the face of recurrent acts of terrorism. However, Pakistan export did not show any improvement in the same period of time. Rather, Pakistan imports and trade deficit increased along with an increase in FDI inflows. This raised questions on the effectiveness of FDI inflows in abnormal situation and invite attention to explore the moderating role of terrorism in the FDI trade nexus for a small country like Pakistan.This research effort gives a new dimension to the study of the FDI-trade nexus by introducing the menace of terrorism to the impact of foreign investment on trade. Overall this paper contributes to the literature on FDI and trade on two fronts. (1) Despite surge in terrorism across the globe and its adverse impact on FDI, hardly any study explored the impact of terrorism on the role of FDI in determining exports, imports and trade balance, especially in Pakistan where more than 70,000 people perished and economy suffered $123 [2] bn losses in the last 2 decades because of terrorism. The paper tries to fill this gap. (2) The literature suggests that the cost and the incident of terrorism affect economic activities differently (Shah et al., 2016b; Gour; Samai, 2014). Therefore, in this study, we separately capture the impact of the incidents and cost of terrorism on FDI in determining trade and trade balance in Pakistan. Dividing terrorism into cost and incident is a novel approach and has never been used before to understand the link between major economic variables.The research sequence of the paper is as: Section-2 discusses FDI, trade deficits and the war on terrorism in Pakistan; Section-3 reviews the literature; Section-4 deals with methodology and data sources; while Section-5 presents results and analysis. Section-6 concludes the paper.\n2. FDI, trade balance and war on terrorism in Pakistan: 2.1 Net FDI inflows into Pakistan\n3. Literature review: 3.1 FDI and trade\n4. Methodology and data: 4.1 Methodology\n5. Empirical results and discussion: 5.1 The impact of FDI and terrorism on exports and imports:\n6. Concluding remarks: Pakistan initiated a number of policy reforms in 1990 in order to attract FDI and boost trade in order to integrate itself to the global economy. Pakistan successfully lured foreign investors, particularly trade partners, to invest in Pakistan and benefited from the inflows of FDI. FDI inflows and imports into Pakistan increased rapidly after liberalization; however, export did not follow the trend. Pakistan was struggling with the external sector problems when terrorism griped the country and compelled it to fight the menace of terrorism with full force. Resultantly, Pakistan suffered losses on external front where the cost and incidence of terrorism significantly altered the impact, if not the course, of the macroeconomic indicators in Pakistan. Therefore, in this paper we focus on the role of FDI in trade in the face of growing cost and incidents of terrorism in Pakistan.We found that terrorism retarded exports and increased imports and thus bulged the trade deficit of Pakistan. Terrorism pushed FDI to enclaves in safe and non-tradable sectors such as oil exploration and construction and therefore, FDI inflows in Pakistan did not contribute to exports, rather it increased imports and widened Pakistan trade deficit with partner countries. This shows that Pakistan not only suffered from the direct cost of terrorism but terrorism indirectly affect Pakistan macroeconomic variables. Today trade deficit pose a serious threat to economic stability in Pakistan. Therefore the need is to fix the loophole and terrorism off course is one of the biggest menaces that need to be fixed before putting the economy back on track.In order to correct economic imbalances and reduce pressure on external front, Pakistan needs to thwart the rampant acts of terrorism along with encouraging FDI into tradable sectors. Pakistan also needs to improve domestic capacity for better utilization of incoming FDI. At the same time, Pakistan should encourage imports of capital goods and machinery to support domestic production and enhance local productivity. Otherwise the issue of Pakistan perennial trade deficit is difficult to be addressed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Pakistan suffered with the menace of terrorism for long and become a front line state in the \"War on Terror\". Terrorism shattered Pakistan economy and rendered her external sector vulnerable to instability and uncertainties.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Therefore, using system generalized method of moment (GMM), this paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on exports, imports and trade deficit in the face of unabated terrorism in Pakistan.\nFindings: The findings of the paper suggest that as terrorism in Pakistan increased, FDI contribution to Pakistan exports decreased while FDI contribution to Pakistan imports significantly increased. Terrorism also disrupted the chain of local production and increased Pakistan reliance on imports. Thus terrorism widened Pakistan trade deficit of Pakistan and expose Pakistan to external imbalances.\nOriginality/value: Despite rise in organized acts of terrorism and its adverse impact on various departments of economy, hardly any study bothers to check its impact on trade and investment nexus. This is the first study of its nature that looks deep down to understand how terrorism affects the relation of major economic variables.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is emotional intelligence the panacea for a better job performance? A study on low-skilled back office jobs	[ "Emotional intelligence", "Affective commitment", "Work performance", "Low-skilled back office jobs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The reason behind the success of people or companies is an issue that generates great attention amongst executives and scholars traditionally, depending on the level of analysis.\nConceptual background and hypotheses: The concept of EI\nResearch methodology: Participants\nResults: First, we tested whether age and gender were related with the three variables of interest. Age was significantly correlated with affective commitment (r=0.23, p=0.001). There were also differences between the sexes in EI, with women having greater values (independent samples t-tests, t=2.19, p=0.03).\nDiscussion: Since Salovey and Mayer's (1990) conceptualization of EI, this concept has received a substantial amount of attention and research in the organizational behavior, human resources, and management literature for testing its predictive and construct validity. Several reports have provided favorable evidence regarding the predictive and construct validity of EI beyond personality traits and cognitive ability (Ashkanasy and Daus, 2005; Brackett and Mayer, 2003; Law et al., 2004; Joseph and Newman, 2010; O'Boyle et al., 2011). To date, a number of different models and measures of EI have been developed (Bar-On, 1997; Goleman, 1995; Mayer and Salovey, 1997) and compared according to their theoretical structure and to the way they measure EI. Compared to ability models, mixed models of EI (Bar-On, 1997) have been identified as those that define EI as a mixture of emotion-related competencies, personality traits and dispositions. As suggested by Ashkanasy and Daus (2005) although these mixed models might show conceptual overlaps with other measures, the measures developed from these approaches should better predict work-related outcomes, including job performance (Ashkanasy and Daus, 2005; Cherniss, 2010). In fact, even when some findings might generate concerns regarding the construct validity of mixed EI measures (Joseph et al., 2015), they agree in nominating mixed EI instruments as especially useful tools for predicting job performance. According to this evidence, mixed EI instruments assess, in an efficient manner, a combination of ability EI and self-perceptions, in addition to personality and cognitive ability, all of them relevant for better work-related outcomes (Joseph et al., 2015).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI), organizational affective commitment (AC), and performance at low-skilled back office positions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In all, 397 participants in low-skilled back office positions from a service company completed a questionnaire assessing EI, AC, and performance. The authors used multiple regression models for testing whether higher levels of EI and AC predicted better performance. Additionally, they tested to see whether EI and AC were positively related.\nFindings: The results showed that workers in low-skilled back office positions with higher EI and AC had better performance. In this sense, intrapersonal skills and mood management were the dimensions of EI with the highest predictive power. Also, EI and AC were positively related, with intrapersonal skills and adaptability being the dimensions of EI most closely associated with AC. Finally, the predictive power on performance was increased when EI and AC were considered simultaneously.\nOriginality/value: Traditionally, the involvement of EI and other personal dimensions in increasing organizational commitment and better work performance has been studied in high-skilled and executive positions, as well as in front office low-skilled positions. However, there is little empirical evidence regarding the simultaneous influence of EI and AC on performance in low-skilled back office positions. This gap prompted this research, which suggests that the investment of organizational resources is mandatory for improving EI and, hence, organizational commitment and work performance in these employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Channels of financial sector development and rural-urban consumption inequality in India	[ "Microcredit", "Inequality", "Financial sector development", "SBLP" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The relationship between financial sector development (FSD) and poverty reduction in developing countries has received much attention in recent times. The two key channels of financial development to affect income inequality and poverty levels are economic growth (the indirect channel) and the access to finance channel (the direct one). The linkage between FSD and economic growth through efficient allocation of savings and enhancement of productivity has been extensively examined (e.g. Goldsmith, 1969; King and Levine, 1993; Calderon and Liu, 2003; Kar et al., 2011; Menyah et al., 2014). Extending the finance-growth nexus, researchers also examined the indirect link between FSD and poverty reduction/income inequality through economic growth (Beck et al., 2004; Honohan, 2004; Odhiambo, 2009; Ang, 2010; Tiwari et al., 2013).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 FSD, economic growth, and poor (indirect channel)\n3. The model: In order to assess the direct, medium-direct, and indirect impact of FSD on RUCI, the paper uses panel data of 15 major Indian states over the period 1999-2000 to 2011-2012. The dependent variable is inflation-adjusted rural-urban consumption ratio (RUCR), while the explanatory variables are microcredit intensity, bank credit, bank deposit, rural population share, and output growth in the state. The econometric models considered in the paper are as follows:(1)\n4. Data and key statistics: 4.1 Data\n5. Empirical results and discussion: Table III suggests that the three measures of financial development (microcredit, bank credit, and bank deposit) are highly correlated with each other. Therefore, if we include them all together as independent variables in the same regression equation, we may run into the problems of multicollinearity. To avoid this problem, this paper includes each financial development variable in a separate regression equation. This approach enables us to obtain more precise estimates of the impact of each of the financial development variables. The paper, thus, has a total of six regression equations. The first three equations use RUCR as the dependent variable and each of the three financial development variables as independent and the remaining three equations use log transformation of RUCR as the dependent and each of the three financial development variables as independent.\n6. Conclusions and policy implications: This paper divides the access to finance into direct, medium-direct and indirect channels of FSD and finds that the effect is pro-urban in nature resulting in a declining RUCR and increasing RUCI. Further to the existing studies, the direct link examined in this paper suggests that even microcredit increases the rural-urban income inequality in India.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct (microcredit), medium-direct (bank credit), and indirect (through economic growth) effect of financial sector development (FSD) on rural-urban consumption inequality (RUCI) in India using state-wise annual data from 1999-2000 to 2011-2012.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A panel data analysis for a sample of 15 major Indian states using the generalized method of moments estimators provides an empirical evidence for the direct (microcredit), medium-direct (bank credit), and indirect (economic growth) effect of FSD on RUCI.\nFindings: FSD is pro-urban in India resulting in a declining rural-urban consumption ratio (RUCR) and increasing RUCI. The negative effect of FSD on RUCR is greatest through the medium-direct channel followed by the indirect and direct channels.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study questions the social banking initiatives of the government in rural areas where more than 80 percent of the poor reside. There is a need for restructuring financial inclusion programs with a shift in their focus on rural areas and an improved mechanism to target the poor.\nOriginality/value: The paper proposes that formal financial services by banks are primarily availed by non-poor and urban population and hence acts as a medium-direct channel whereas the semi-formal financial services by microfinance institutions specifically target the rural poor and act as a direct channel to affect the poor. It is the first ever study to use state-wise data on microcredit disbursed under Self-help Group Bank Linkage Program to assess the direct impact of FSD on RUCI.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
E-maintenance and information logistics: aspects of content format	[ "Maintenance", "Data analysis", "Content management", "Communication technologies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In today's society we are greatly dependent on the correct functioning of technical systems, a phenomenon which has made us vulnerable to disturbances. Over time, stakeholders' requirements of these systems' functions will change due to technical development, varying operational environments, changing laws and regulations, and so on. Hence, in order to maintain a high level of stakeholder satisfaction throughout the whole lifecycle of systems, those organisations responsible for the systems have to be responsive to changes in requirements through improved maintenance and system modification. Many complex technical systems are also critical ones, with stringent requirements of safety, dependability and costs throughout the system's lifecycle (Juran, 1992; Moubray, 1997; Sommerville and Sawyer, 1997; Herzwurm and Schockert, 2003; Liyanage and Kumar, 2003; Foley, 2001).Maintenance is an approach that can be applied in order to ensure the safety and dependability of technical systems, and also to decrease the cost of operation throughout the system's life (Juran, 1992; Moubray, 1997; Sommerville and Sawyer, 1997; Herzwurm and Schockert, 2003; Liyanage and Kumar, 2003; Foley, 2001). Hence, different maintenance methodologies have been developed in order to manage the complexity and criticality of technical systems and their functions. Two examples of established maintenance methodologies are reliability-centred maintenance (RCM; Nowlan and Heap, 1978) and total productive maintenance (TPM) (Nakajima, 1988). Both these methodologies emphasise continuous improvement founded on fact-based decisions, and close cooperation between different stakeholders such as production, maintenance, and system design. Physical asset management may be seen as the highest level of maintenance management, and is achieved through a combination of RCM and TPM that, together with continuous improvement, aims at maintenance excellence (Campbell and Jardine, 2001). There is also an emerging view that maintenance not only reduces business risks, but also should be seen as a value-adding process in today's dynamic and competitive business environment (Liyanage and Kumar, 2003; Markeset and Kumar, 2003).However, it should be noted that even though maintenance is intended to ensure system safety and dependability, there are numerous examples of cases where the maintenance of complex and critical systems has resulted in accidents with extensive losses. Some examples of maintenance-related accidents are the leak from a chemical plant at Bhopal (India, 1984), the Piper Alpha oil platform fire (North Sea, 1988), the disaster at the Phillips petrochemical plant in Texas (USA, 1989), the explosion and fires at the Texaco refinery at Milford Haven (UK, 1994), the chemical release and fire at the Associated Octel Company Limited in Cheshire (UK, 1994), the derailment and collision at Ladbroke Grove (UK, 1999), and the derailment near Hatfield (UK, 2000). In addition to safety aspects, improper maintenance may also cause the system to deteriorate and thereby create quality deficiencies, such as delays and non-conforming products causing economical losses (Ollila and Malmipuro, 1999). Numerous studies also show that, paradoxically, between 50 and 70 per cent of all equipment fails prematurely after maintenance work has been performed (Nowlan and Heap, 1978; Moubray, 1997; Reason and Hobbs, 2003). One major cause of maintenance-related incidents and accidents is insufficient communication and information transfer within and between different phases and activities of the maintenance process (Holmgren, 2005, 2006; Holmgren and Soderholm, 2008). Insufficient information between different maintenance echelons is also one major cause of \"no fault found\" (NFF) events within industries such as the automotive, train, trucking, and aerospace industries, where costs, safety, and dependability are affected negatively (Soderholm, 2005, 2007). One reason for the importance of proper information and communication within maintenance is the diversity of necessary content (e.g. both static and dynamic data regarding technical system, resources, and organisation) in order to perform different activities within the maintenance process. Hence, the approach taken to e-maintenance has the potential to improve the management of content necessary to perform activities related to the maintenance process and thereby improve dependability, safety, and life cycle costs of critical systems (Parida et al., 2004; Parida and Kumar, 2004; Lee et al., 2006).Even though there are multiple views of what e-maintenance actually is, one common and vital part is the application of information and communication technology (ICT) to achieve effective information logistics within the maintenance area (see, for example, Koc and Lee, 2001; Tsang, 2002; Parida and Kumar, 2004; Iung and Crespo Marquez, 2006; Muller et al., 2008). The aim of information logistics is to provide just-in-time (JIT) information to targeted users and to optimise the information supply process, i.e. making the right information available at the right time and at the right location (Heuwinkel et al., 2003; Haseloff, 2005). Four fundamental aspects that need to be considered when establishing an information logistic solution are:1. content management;2. time management;3. communication management; and4. context management (Heuwinkel et al., 2003; Haseloff, 2005).However, existing efforts related to the structuring of e-maintenance often neglect content management and focus on the three other aspects - see, for example, Levrat et al. (2008) and Muller et al. (2008). This is an unsatisfactory situation since the other three aspects of information logistics can be considered as a support to content management since they aim at the provision of JIT content to targeted users and optimisation of the information supply process.Hence, the purpose of this paper is to describe aspects of content sharing within an e-maintenance solution, in order to merge the two areas of maintenance and ICT in a content management perspective. This, it is believed, will contribute to a reduction of maintenance-related hazards caused by insufficient availability of information and communication in relation to the maintenance process.\n2. Management of content for maintenance purposes: There are a number of contributions that intend to support operation and maintenance management by the provision of artefacts, such as technologies, methodologies and tools. Some of these contributions that are relevant for e-maintenance from a content management perspective are summarised in Table I. The selection of contributions has been based on the following four criteria:1. the artefact as such contributes in establishing an e-maintenance platform;2. the artefact is based on, or intended to be used within, an ICT application;3. the artefact can be used to provide an e-maintenance solution; and4. the artefact can be used for sharing content relevant for the maintenance process.The first column of Table I, \"Content management related contributions\", lists some of the contributions that are relevant for content management within e-maintenance, for example AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD). The second column, \"Maintenance specific\", states whether a contribution is especially intended for maintenance purposes, or if it is a generic contribution that can be applied within maintenance. The third column, \"Application domain\", highlights whether a contribution addresses a specific application domain (e.g. aerospace) or whether it is generic. The fourth column, \"Service domain\", indicates which type of services within the application domain the contribution addresses (e.g. technical publications). The fifth column, \"Aspects of Information Logistics\", indicates which of the four aspects within information logistics that is addressed by the contribution (i.e. management of content, time, communication and context). Finally, the sixth column, \"Examples of artefacts\", provides examples of technologies, methodologies and tools related to a contribution (e.g. the standard S1000D). The remaining part of this section provides a more detailed description of the contributions listed in Table I.2.1 Maintenance-specific contributions\nDiscussion and conclusions: One of the main objectives of e-maintenance is to enhance and support the maintenance process by establishing a content sharing process based on ICT that provides the right information at the right time, of the right quality, to the right actor. This content sharing process includes activities such as data collection, data filtering, data aggregation, data analysis, data distribution, and data visualisation.One of the main issues that brings complexity to the process of information sharing is that the underlying data that need to be shared are produced within different processes, such as the business, operation, modification and maintenance processes. Each of the processes involved may utilise a number of different technologies implemented in a complex ICT environment. These heterogeneous ICT environments put new requirements on the process of content sharing.One of the major requirements is the content format issue, which means that a sharable content must be packaged in a format that is not proprietary and can be managed by every involved part of the process. Another requirement is the structure of the content, which means that a sharable content must be structured in accordance with a known, accepted and committed content model that describes the structure, semantics, and validity of the content. Hence, the question of the content format and content model is one of the major issues that needs to be considered when establishing an e-maintenance solution.Fortunately, there are multiple academic and industrial artefacts available that can be used to establish an e-maintenance solution. Hence, artefacts from MIMOSA, ISO, ISA-95, and OASIS have relevance for, and should be considered, in order to develop an e-maintenance solution that supports the overall business and maintenance processes. It should also be noted that even if the artefacts above have relevance for all the phases of the maintenance process, it does not mean that they overlap each other in all aspects. Hence, the relevance and applicability of each artefact should be assessed and determined for every specific business case.Furthermore, XML seems to be a widely applied format for data packaging. One of the reasons for this is probably the flexibility of XML, which provides the ability to separate content from its content model and presentation. B2MML is one XML application that defines a number of XML schemas, based on the object models from the ISA-95 standard. B2MML defines attributes, elements, and data structure in a hierarchical XML-based manner. The schemas can be used to package information about different information objects and also as an interface between different processes and activities within a process. Another XML-based application that offers term definitions and data structure is MIMOSA's OSA-EAI. There are also other standards and initiatives that provide object models and data structures mostly based on XML, such as OASIS's PLCS and PPS, which address the different part of the operation and maintenance processes.It seems as if current information exchange standards are mostly developed and adapted for use in system-to-system interaction. However, the decision-making process requires a high human intervention, especially within maintenance, which sooner or later comes down to maintenance execution performed by technicians. This requires standards for information transforming in a system-to-human interaction, which is partly provided by XML-based microformats.This paper covers mainly content, which is one of the essential aspects of information logistics. This aspect not only deals with the format, structure and ontology related to the content, but it also highly affects the other aspects of information logistics, which are time, communication and context. These aspects provide scope for further research related to infrastructure and service architecture within e-maintenance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to describe aspects of content sharing within e-maintenance, with a view to merging the two areas of maintenance and ICT in a content management perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach is an explorative literature study covering aspects of ICT. The analysis is founded on theories related to maintenance and maintenance support. The conclusions of the study are corroborated by experiences from earlier software development and testing.\nFindings: - Most existing contributions to the e-maintenance debate seem to suffer from too wide a gap between data processing and knowledge management. This tendency can be due to too great a focus on data collection, without any clear identification of the stakeholders' requirements. Hence, a mature e-maintenance solution should focus on the enhancement of service-oriented information logistics based on content sharing for an output-based information strategy.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study focuses on the needs of content format and transformation content, which includes data format, data structures and data type for objects that are relevant for the maintenance process. Hence, further research could include aspects of infrastructure and service architecture, which are on a higher level of an e-maintenance solution.\nPractical implications: - The paper contributes with knowledge that supports decisions about content format in the development of an e-maintenance solution. This can in turn support a reduction of maintenance-related hazards through the improved use of ICT.\nOriginality/value: - This paper describes the importance of content management within the e-maintenance approach. Hence, the paper has implications for both practitioners and researchers as described above.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The mediating effects of customers' intimacy perceptions on the trust-commitment relationship	[ "Professional services", "Services marketing", "Relationship marketing", "Intimacy theory", "Trust-commitment theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing positions trust and an accompanying sense of commitment as the foundational building blocks upon which strong marketing relationships are built (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). The variables mediate the associations that exist between relationship drivers and outcomes in the \"key mediating variable\" model of relationship marketing. Paradoxically, although significant research has examined the relationship that exists between the two variables (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999; Palmatier et al., 2013; Tax et al., 1998), some have suggested that too much attention has been paid to the antecedents of trust and insufficient attention paid to the interactions that exist between trust and other relationship components (Geyskens et al., 1998). Specifically, there is a need to examine other mediators in the relationship-building process (Atuahene-Gima and Li, 2002; Palmatier et al., 2006; Sirdeshmukh et al., 2002).\nBackground and literature review: Intimacy in interpersonal and service relationships\nMethods: Data collection\nResults: Measurement model results\nDiscussion: Our purpose in this study was to examine intimate customer relationships in the professional services context. Based on a review of the literature and findings from a series of qualitative interviews, we proposed and tested a model which examines the mediating effects of interactive communication and social bonds on the trust-commitment relationship. In so doing, we addressed the criticism levied by some that research has focused too much attention on the antecedents of trust while failing to adequately consider the interactions between trust and other relationship components (Geyskens et al., 1998). We answered calls for research aimed at the identification of relevant mediators in the relationship-building process (Atuahene-Gima and Li, 2002; Palmatier et al., 2006; Sirdeshmukh et al., 2002).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to draw from intimacy theory in examining the mediating effects of interactive communication and social bonds on the trust-commitment relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is conducted in the professional services context. Qualitative and quantitative data are gathered from respondents engaged in attorney-client and real estate-client relationships. Unstructured, in-depth interviews are first conducted for use in model development. Study hypotheses are examined and mediation tests are conducted utilizing the serial multiple mediator model proposed by Hayes (2013).\nFindings: Study findings indicate that intimate relationships in the professional services context are characterized by interactive communication and social bonds, and that the variables act as full mediators of the trust-commitment relationship. Though trust has a positive and significant effect on commitment in isolation, this relationship becomes nonsignificant when simultaneously accounting for the effects of the two variables.\nPractical/implications: Study findings suggest a need for programs designed to assist professional service providers in the development of intimate customer relationships. The importance of interactive communications and social bonding should be emphasized in these programs.\nOriginality/value: The study is one of the few empirical papers to investigate the role of intimacy in service relationships and the first to illustrate its mediating effects on the trust-commitment relationship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Merck salesman "haunted" by his past: The challenge of adapting to a different organizational culture	[ "Organizational culture", "Organizational behaviour", "Career development", "Pay structures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: \"Only one thing counts in this life - get them to sign on the line which is dotted.\"\nNew organizational culture: Howard had previously been an officer with significant responsibility in the US Navy's nuclear-submarine fleet, which had a contrasting culture to the one he was experiencing at Merck.At the time of leaving the Navy in 2001, Howard was confident that his move to corporate America would be straightforward. He was sure he would succeed in a corporate environment because of the level of managerial responsibilities he had demonstrated and the leadership skills he had developed.\"If there is a mismatch, would any corporate job disappoint me? If I were to change careers again, should it be to another pharmaceutical firm, or to Wall Street? Or would a return to the navy be all that would make me happy? How could I not be happy at a top-ranked firm like Merck? Wouldn't it make more sense to stay here and work on my interpersonal skills before making a career move?\" Howard pondered.Merck had enjoyed a formidable reputation and had been named by Fortune magazine as America's most admired company for seven years in a row from 1987 to 1993. Its long-term commitment to social responsibility had played a role in its strong reputation.However, Howard felt that Merck's reputation was struggling because of poor salesmanship of an anti-cholesterol drug.One of Howard's colleagues revealed: \"The Merck sales effort has not always been all that it could be, and part of the problem has been the sales-incentive plan.\"\nChanges to the sales plan: In 2003 the Merck sales division changed its method of computing the sales plan, which denoted the standard amount of sales required to gain a standard bonus.It changed the plan from dollar value of sales to one half market share and one half dollar value. Market share was computed on the basis of medical-doctor prescriptions and therefore excluded some institutional buys, such as government purchases.Howard felt this was an error that HR had made designing the plan and he realized that sales results were based on new rather than total prescriptions purchased, which caused salespeople to focus on maximization of new-account volume rather than total prescriptions purchased.Merck's sales division used a virtual-office approach. The sales people in the Maple State district, where Howard worked, rarely met in person.In his role, Howard visited some 180 physicians over a three-week period for brief meetings, during which he would discuss the four drugs he was responsible for selling and explain about the diseases the medicines treated, making product-to-product comparisons.He had initially joined Merck in an engineering capacity following an interview that was brief - in contrast to the grueling process he had gone through to get into the navy.A transfer to sales a year later was also brought about following a short interview.The rigor of the Navy's selection, training and education for its nuclear fleet exceeds almost any selection and training in US industry.Howard's naval training showed him how submarine officers take responsibility not only for their own actions but also for all the men that work for them.The Navy culture tends to be more matter-of-fact than most Fortune 500 companies. Its founder, Admiral Rickover, was known for being abrasive but emphasized efficient task execution with an obsession with safety to cut down on the risk of a nuclear accident. Competence and hard work, rather than rank, established the individual's position in his naval culture.In contrast to Howard's virtual team at Merck, the submarine force demanded intensive face-to-face interaction.\"The submarine force emphasizes leadership to a greater degree than does the corporate world,\" said Howard. \"At Merck, politics are the focus even at the lower levels, while in the nuclear fleet politics become the focus only at the higher levels of the hierarchy.\"\nA popularity contest: Howard believed that promotions and recognition in the navy were based on performance and were consistent with the safety and engineering culture. At Merck, in contrast, he felt the reward system was more of a popularity contest that did not fit in with the company's aim of increasing sales. He questioned whether the sales-plan levels depended on whether the district manager liked the individual sales person or on objective environmental factors.Unfortunately, Howard's appraisal proved that he was justified in being nervous. Despite an impressive sales performance, Howard's bonus was kept at an average because, Peter Keating explained, \"you are not paying attention to market share\". Howard's leadership potential was classed as \"low\".Howard's challenges in adjusting to Merck were interpersonal and political. The political differences partly came about from his difficulty in adapting to differences in culture between the Navy and Merck. He was unable to put the objective metric of sales aside in favor of the political and interpersonal metric that his boss at Merck advanced.Merck required political skill, partly because of the incentive system, and Howard feared he could not adapt to the soft demands on which his salary increases and plan level depended.\"Maybe I should have stayed with the nuclear fleet, if just to appease Rickover's ghost,\" Howard thought.\nComment: This review is based on \"Howard Roark and the ghost of Admiral Rickover\", by Mitchell Langbert, of Brooklyn College, New York, Michael Stanchina, of New York University, New York, and Donal Grunewald, of Iona College, New York. It considers the plight of Howard Roark, who has been highly influenced by his time as a naval officer and the approach of Admiral Rickover. Despite being confident that he can fit into any other organization, Roark discovers it harder than he anticipated adapting to the organizational culture at Merck and worries that he is haunted by Rickover's approach, which did not favor interpersonal skills. The article uses the interesting experience of a single individual to highlight some of the complex issues surrounding organizational culture.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to contrast the cultures of two organizations - the US Navy's nuclear-submarine force and large pharmaceutical firm Merck - through the experiences of former naval officer turned pharmaceutical salesman, Howard Roark.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper starts and finishes with Howard Roark's appraisal. It considers the history of Merck, and Admiral Rickover and the nuclear navy, and explains Roark's employment history.\nFindings: - The paper shows how Roark's challenges in adjusting to Merck were interpersonal and political, and how leadership skills need to be adapted according to the environment.\nPractical implications: - The paper gives an insight into managerial skills, human resource strategy and organizational behavior.\nOriginality/value: - The paper illustrates the importance of being able to adapt to different organizational cultures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
So you want to be an interim manager in pharma: The aptitudes and skills needed for success	[ "Interim managers", "Problem solving", "Recruitment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Many pharmaceutical companies face skill gaps across their organizations. Some do not have the right people in place which, combined with freezes on permanent recruitment, may mean that more junior employees have to take on more complex work for which that they may not yet be ready. How do companies find the skills they need and solve their business problems quickly and easily?\nThe challenges of being an interim manager: Good interim managers are highly sought after. However, coming in from outside - fitting in with the culture and quickly delivering exceptional results - is not easy and not everyone is suited to this way of working.These are some of the challenges that either appeal or appall:* working across a range of time zones;* traveling between countries;* juggling different and demanding clients;* recognizing that one has been brought in to solve a specific problem, not to become a permanent employee;* guiding without interfering;* managing client expectations; and* coping with down-time when the contract finishes.Interim management can be a satisfying career for those with an independent spirit who might get bored by a routine work environment or frustrated by less capable managers controlling their destiny. For others, it may be the flexible and independent working style that suits them.\nInterim management in action - Lizzie Thomson: For Lizzie Thomson, interim management is all about mindset. \"Interim management is much more than being a consultant - you go into a company when there is an issue or a gap in its infrastructure,\" she explained. \"You need a kind of terrier mentality, which I have been accused of having! You keep going until you find out what the problem is, and then come up with a plan to solve it.\"As a mother, she appreciates the work-life balance: \"Because I do global work from home, I eliminate a two-hour commute. I generally take parts out of my day to do whatever is required with the children. This means that while I am starting my day at 6 a.m. and am still working at 9 p.m., it isn't a continuous activity.\"How did you become an interim manager?\nInterim management in action - Iain Cockburn: Why did you decide to become an interim manager?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to outline what it takes to be a successful interim manager in today's pharmaceutical industry, based on the experiences of two people currently in the role.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper explains when it is and is not appropriate to employ an interim manager, and details the main advantages and disadvantages from the points of view of both the company and interim manager involved.\nFindings: - The paper describes the main challenges as: working across a range of time zones; traveling between countries; juggling different and demanding clients; recognizing that one has been brought in to solve a specific problem, not to become a permanent employee; guiding without interfering; managing client expectations; and coping with down-time when the contract finishes.\nPractical implications: - The paper demonstrates how interns may help companies to solve a particular problem quickly and easily.\nSocial implications: - The paper explains that, when companies are feeling the pinch and may have frozen their recruitment of permanent employees, interims offer immediate support and expertise but are dispensable.\nOriginality/value: - The paper contains much to interest companies thinking of taking on an interim and individuals considering interim management as a career.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Smoothing the path of integration	[ "Customer service management", "Change management", "Leadership development", "Skills training", "Behaviour modification" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Implementing business integration solutions can be a time consuming and expensive process. Inevitably involving sweeping changes, the process demands the total buy-in of everyone in the organization. Careful management of the training and communications process is as vital as choosing the right technology in delivering on service improvement objectives and meeting ROI expectations.\nPlanning ahead for training: Putting in place an internal communications and training strategy can make a real difference to the final outcome. To be successful, however, this needs to be planned in from the start, not just during the \"go-live\" period.There is often a misunderstanding as to what is involved in behavioral and skills development training. The research-based approach adopted by AchieveGlobal requires a lot of planning in advance of actual classroom or workshop sessions. Just as it is important to involve representatives from a range of operational areas in specifying the appropriate IT solution, it is important to work with the client to understand the desired outcomes and to talk to representatives at all levels of the company. The results of this initial consultation phase are then used to inform the strategy development process, mapping out the route by which the vision will become a reality.An important part of this development is to not only to understand the various audiences and determine the likely areas of resentment or anxiety but also to identify any training gaps, where specific skills may be required to ensure change happens in a specific way.Knowing where you want to get to also helps with future benchmarking, carried out to measure the success of such programs. Finally, a consensus needs to be reached on how the necessary information should be presented to achieve maximum buy-in.Of vital importance is to feedback views and details of progress at every stage. Where there is a phased roll-out, this can help build confidence and anticipation in those areas where the new system has not yet been implemented, as well as creating a sense of bonding and team-building among those involved in initial briefings and consultations.Providing opportunities for staff to give their feedback is also essential. Allowing them to engage with the process will deepen the sense of ownership and can provide valuable insights to assist with the customer service improvement process and day to day use of the new systems.Commitment from above has also been shown to be a principal factor in influencing the success or failure of major new system implementations. Skepticism in senior or line management teams needs to be overcome and a clear understanding established of the value of such systems in improving relationships with customers. Lack of internal champions or conviction from above can lead to reluctance to use the system going forward, resulting in eventual disuse.Returning the example of Trend, the implementation began with a strategic workshop for the executive team. This helped to shape the content of the training and ensured that there was ownership and buy in to the concept from the outset.Two programs were then cascaded down through the organization. All managers attended \"Driving Service Excellence\" (DSE), a two-day workshop designed to build coaching capabilities and reinforce the skills that their teams would learn on their specific course. Trainers used models such as the customer report card and the \"three rings model\" to ascertain what customer service really is and how clients score it, ranging from \"dazzling surprise\" to \"disappointing and time wasting\".The rest of the company benefited from the \"delivering service excellence\" program, a two-day interactive workshop that focuses on what Service Excellence means to Trend as a business and the critical integration between the customer and relevant employees. All of the groups were mixed which helped with the sharing of issues, challenges and ideas. There were sessions covering the importance of detail and accuracy, thus eliminating contract misunderstandings, as well as techniques for handling objections and angry or emotional customers.The final aspect of the course concentrates on internal issues and the need for seamless communication between departments.In order to overcome any skepticism towards the software integration or cynicism regarding the associated training, a letter was first sent out by the managing director explaining why the program was important to the company and that each individual employee should embrace the learning of new technology and practices.Trend worked hard to ensure that everybody knew why the training was relevant to them and each session was introduced and closed by a manager who could deal with and take ownership of any internal issues that came up. This gave clear and concise messaging throughout the implementation process. Program material was customized to reflect Trend's unique business offering and included case study examples of field service engineers.Each workshop was conducted by a mix of qualified AchieveGlobal trainers, blending charismatic and energetic delivery skills with thorough knowledge and experience of their individual area of coaching expertise.Jenny Powell, Account Director at AchieveGlobal, thought Trend's dedication to development was particularly significant:It really made a difference to involve all employees in the implementation process; it meant that there would be a great deal of interaction between teams during the training course and the business could use a common customer service language.\nTaking stock: Tangible and measurable results from training initiatives can sometimes take a long time, but at Trend there was an immediate impact in staff morale, motivation and departmental communications with a plethora of glowing internally referenced e-mails supporting the increase in service standards. More importantly, the difference has been recognized by Trend's customers and acknowledged in a series of congratulatory testimonials.\nMoving forward: Hoping to build on the momentum of the initial program, Trend plans to introduce \"booster\" training so that any new skills learned can be maintained and enhanced.Sharing best practice has now become a company standard and there is a DSE notice board that displays all positive e-mails from satisfied customers.Last but not least, following its success in the UK, the training program is scheduled to be rolled out across Europe.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to underline the importance of the training and communications process in implementing business integration solutions, securing employee commitment and building a customer-centric culture. Also, to demonstrate how the benefits of a systematic based approach can help organizations by improving customer service skills and building effective teams.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - These points are illustrated through the use of a supporting case study example that describes the process. Initial research and consultation with management and staff was used to understand issues and anxieties and identify skills gap. Results are used to inform the strategy development and to agree how the required information needs to be presented to achieve maximum buy-in. In the case of Trend, the training and communications process commenced with an introductory letter from the managing director to introduce the aims of the program. The program was delivered in two streams which were cascaded down through the organizations: managers attended a two day workshop to build coaching skills and reinforce service skills. The rest of the company attended a two day interactive workshop focusing on the service excellence and looking at customer/employee integration.\nFindings: - Tangible and measurable results from training initiatives can sometimes take a long time, but at Trend there was an immediate impact in staff morale, motivation and departmental communications with a plethora of glowing internally referenced e-mails supporting the increase in service standards. More importantly, the difference has been recognized by Trend's customers and acknowledged in a series of congratulatory testimonials.\nOriginality/value: - This paper demonstrates the value of a strategic approach to learning and managing change - increasing motivation, improving departmental communications and raising service standards.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of customized information on online purchase intentions	[ "Cross-cultural study", "Customized information", "Online purchase intentions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Research has shown that two key factors influencing online purchase intentions are customer satisfaction with the web site (Bai et al., 2004, 2008; Ha et al., 2010; Lu and Stepchenkova, 2012; Nusair and Kandampully, 2008) and the level of trust established with the service provider (Kim et al., 2011; Sparks and Browning, 2011; Wen, 2009). Several research studies in the e-service context have modeled relationships among satisfaction, trust, and purchase intentions (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003; Fiore et al., 2005; Ha et al., 2010; Hausman and Siekep, 2009; Hwang et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2011; Pizam et al., 2000; Wen, 2009; Yoh et al., 2003; Yoon, 2002). Similarly, studies have also looked at antecedent and mediating variables such as commitment (Eastlick et al., 2006), preference (Hwang et al., 2006), and a variety of consumer characteristics (Lubbe, 2007). They have argued that these constructs are keys to understanding online purchase behavior. In this context, even though it has been noted that a critical advantage of the information economy is the power to customize information for consumers (see Sawhney and Kotler, 2001; Simonson, 2005), prior research has not adequately addressed the role of customized information.\n2. Concepts and proposed relationships: 2.1 Customized information\n3. Four competing models predicting online purchase intentions: We evaluate a series of relationships between customized information, satisfaction, trust, attitude, and purchase intention in the competing models illustrated in Figure 1. These competing models have been utilized in better understanding relationships among the constructs evaluated in this research (Ferrer and McArdle, 2003). In doing so, this study aims to develop an appropriate theoretical model to predict online purchase intentions among competing models. By looking at different alternatives, we are able to evaluate the most appropriate model and enhance efficacy of the findings. As shown in Figure 1, the competing models demonstrate that while there is similarity in how some of the relationships are specified, there is also considerable dissimilarity with respect to other relationships (Brady et al., 2005; Ha and John, 2010).\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Potential cultural differences of Korea and UK\n5. Results: 5.1 Comparison of competing models\n6. Findings and conclusions: The major contribution of this study is to propose and empirically evaluate several competing models representing potential relationships between customized information and purchase intentions in an online travel purchase setting. Even though several prior research studies have looked at some of the relationships tested here, the unique contribution of this study is to bring together the body of literature pertaining to customized information, satisfaction, trust, attitude, and purchase intentions in an online setting and to evaluate a series of plausible models. An empirical evaluation of the four alternative models culminates with the selection of the best fitting model and the set of relationships that comprise this model. A deeper look at these relationships helps understand the role played by customized information in affecting online consumers' purchase intentions for travel related services. Overall, the findings focus on the following five major relationships:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to employ a cross-cultural perspective to propose and empirically evaluate four models focusing on the role of satisfaction and trust in the formation of online travel purchase intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A proposed model is compared with three alternative models of the relationships among, and impact of, independent variables on purchase intentions. Data from South Korea and UK are used to examine the proposed relationship and select the best model among four alternative models.\nFindings: Results suggest that there are significant differences as well as similarities across consumers in South Korea and the UK. Customized information has a direct affect on both satisfaction and trust. The effect of satisfaction on purchase intentions is mediated by attitude toward web site only in the UK sample, while it has direct and indirect effects on purchase intentions in the South Korean sample. However, the relationship between trust and purchase intentions is not supported in both data sets.\nOriginality/value: This study proposes four alternative models that include customized information as a key variable influencing purchase intentions. Hierarchical structural model analysis is utilized to evaluate these models and select the best fitting model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Global corporate priorities and demand-led learning strategies	[ "Demand", "Learning", "Innovation", "Corporate universities", "Learning methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This article presents a broad brush perspective on the performance challenges for optimising the strategic management of demand-led learning in the context of organisation and business development going forward into the future. It also points to models and frameworks that can help with the formulation of constructive strategic management responses.It opens the door for further articles on the ideas and innovations in learning management. It identifies the radical relationship changes and strategic alliances taking place in the shape, structure and strategic direction of organisational learning precipitated by global developments.It also provides a point of reference for new thinking and new perspectives on the essential changes in the management of demand-led learning and knowledge innovation, as top management and institutions search to satisfy the optimum conditions of equilibrium and alignment between the learning provision supply side and the corporate learning demand side priorities in this highly dynamic equation.\n2. The nature of the challenge: The environment for global demand-led learning and consequences for learning management\n3. Specific priorities: Specific observations by CEOs on future development issues emphasise the dependency on managing organic development effectively in real time environments and having strategic people solutions that have global reach. Shortages of the right people with the right skills and talented people with transferable global skill-sets are seen as a real limiting factor to future growth, especially in some of the targeted emerging markets. Top priorities include releasing talent - and also keeping it - with the landscape of recruitment activities now opening-up onto a much more multi-national market place.Regulatory factors once seen as a constraint are now seen as a driving force for innovation and opportunity generation. Aided by the internet going mobile, there are possibilities for global sharing and comparing of compliance responses and solutions in a new company reality where the need to adapt and differentiate products and services to sustain competitive edge remains local.Lack of available local talent in emerging markets is high in the barriers to growth issues table ranking. Consequently good design and quality delivery of training and development programmes, to fill immediate business needs and top-up the lifelong intellectual supply chain from within, is increasingly being emphasised. Remuneration packages are becoming more-so linked to performance measures. Dedicated company management universities and centres of excellence covering every level of skill and management from operations through to logistics and supply chain management are typical of these investments, where high quality accelerated learning is central to achieving the desired outcomes.Closing the gap between subject-based institutional programmes and corporate need continues to be seen as a major area for co-creative programme innovation, with technology playing an important bridging role in process management, delivery and feedback. Integrated curriculum programme designs that include leadership training, teaming in project management, best practice process skills, and a holistic regime of personal development skills, alongside business and international management knowledge subjects, are to be used more widely to ensure that talent at all levels develop a high level of awareness for demand-led learning opportunities that can add value to their personal capital and the company's intellectual equity.Developing management teams with an international perspective is the new world global company dimension that aims to build multi-cultural and inter-disciplinary competency and skills regimes; evidently much development is still to be made in satisfying this agenda. However, being an integral and well informed part of a global management culture and network has attractions for many ambitious managers.Very few CEOs saw themselves as having a strong functional role in human resources (HR), rating it overall in eleventh position on a hierarchy prioritisation list of fifteen functional roles. Conversely knowledge management and knowledge research, R&D, IT software and applications development, recruitment and the nurturing of talent, were all at the top of the table for new incremental investment. These results have implications for the way in which the HR function is perceived to contribute to global developmentCEOs thought, in terms of cost benefit, that the most important initiatives would take place in business process innovation, corporate university concept process and practice, global scale activities, greater automation of functions through IT and a greater use of strategic alliances and partnerships. Reliance on outside partners as a source of inspiration and innovation and more autonomous devolved structures also featured in their developmental thinking.In terms of the specific actions to ensure the delivery of strategic objectives by employees, top management prioritised and ranked by importance the following eight main strands of people development activity: quality integrated internal training and development programmes, more performance-based compensation, more rotation of employees through different departments and functions, outsourcing of activities and importing talent from offshore locations, and more flexible working arrangements.All these corporate prioritisations define the organisational and business environment factors that contribute directly or indirectly to the dynamic state of the demand-led learning environment and provide learning management with indicators and clues to the potential for changing relationships between the supply side of both internal and institutional training programmes and the demand side education and learning provision imperative for new learning and knowledge innovation in the company.\n4. The dilemma of demand-led learning: Demand-led learning has a generic meaning in that it implies that the learning will be of some useful purpose. The outstanding questions are \"who identifies and prioritises the learning demands?\" and \"who gets added value benefits from the learning?\" It depends upon who you are, where you are, and how you do it!In recent years the individual human dimension and governance issues have gained more and more importance in extending organisational capability and the good management of company resources. In this context it has been very important that employers and employees comprehensively understand the processes of organisational learning that leads to decision making and resource allocation.Action learning, enterprise learning and demand-led learning all connect with these dynamics of organisational learning. The individual is the participatory agent in these processes and the learning stimulation is primarily based upon their workplace and its business environment. The learning role and behaviour, which involves a two-way flow of knowledge, has certain duality about it. The learner's behaviour is represented in the learning process and he or she contributes to the choice or the design of the model for its management, the problem analysis, its diagnostics and decision making. This is a form of participatory management that is invaluable in learning about and understanding how the organisation works and where it is going to, where there are areas of specific interest for the individual and how to develop a progressive pathway of learning based upon work preferences.Table I illustrates the different levels of specific and randomly occurring demand-led learning that the individual can become involved in.Table I is a simplification of the relationship between demand and learning in the corporate environment, but it does provide a framework for strategically managing the various levels of demand-led learning with a view to optimising investments and priorities. Having good situational awareness skills for strategic objectives, tactical goals and the related issues is fundamental to achieving quality and satisfying learning that leads to decision making and action.A starting point for this understanding is to consider that the strengths and weaknesses of situations - internal issues - are more likely to be the focus of demand-led learning at the lower organisation levels and threats and opportunities - external issues - are more likely to represent the greater proportion of learning focus in the higher levels of management. This is a convenient starting point. However, it is no more than a guideline, as the internal or external focus relationship varies with each functional department (see Figure 1).Optimising these relationships involves the management and integration of many variables, using different forms of enterprise architecture. The corporate university blueprint open architecture, for both diagnostics and planning, is typical of a valuable toolkit in managing the complex process of demand-led learning through inter-disciplinary management.\n5. Envisaging areas of changing relationships in a bridging model of supply and demand: A simplified focus for envisaging how these priorities could change supply-demand relationships is illustrated in the Venn diagram (Figure 2). The different entities represent the crucial players in the training, learning and education supply-demand relationship and have strategic consequences for resource allocations in both sides of the equation.The transition from (A) to (B) in Figure 2 indicates an accelerating trend to the co-creation of strategic alliances and programme and learning content. We have attempted to factor into the model the movements (arrows) that are underway in satisfying the changes that will be driven by global development imperatives and priorities.The reality is that the demand-led learning environment features a wide range of companies, each with very different learning management portfolios comprising both specific and randomly occurring learning needs based upon competitive turbulence and the priorities identified by CEOs as they seek to shape the destiny of the whole. All of which may require variations to sustain competitive edge outcomes in the learning and knowledge acquisition processes.Actual scenarios frequently define situations where the supply-demand balance in terms of some degree of equilibrium is far from being at the optimum. There is an increasing asymmetric condition or dislocation in these relationships due to gaps in their integration, the emergent global situation and the accelerating pace of new learning demands that are persistently changing the paradigm and content of these services. In addition these inputs are only part of the larger internal flexing and change dimensions due to the firm's on-going responses to the threats and opportunities on its business landscape.In the style of a true market economy, the demand-to-learning interpretation is becoming more prolific and customer oriented in character. This transition is being enabled by existing external programme providers and the growth in specialist providers with their innovations in supply-side provision all of whom emerge and expand the range of choice for demand satisfaction. This is where the new competitive edge in supply-side provision is taking place and, as the global provision market grows rapidly in the lifelong learning arena, co-creative programmes will flourish and innovations in technology and people infrastructure support services will multiply.\n6. The demand-led learning company: We have looked at a simple adaptive demand-led learning model to identify the nature of the important learning management innovations that global growth and development priorities imply. The model involves continuous adjustment and partial changes on both sides of the supply-demand relationship if optimisation of learning investments and knowledge resource access and usage is to be achieved for the benefit of learners and competitive edge.The model provides an opportunity to start the process of thinking strategically about intellectual supply chain management, about how to critically assess your organisation or institution's opportunities for demand-focused innovative programme provision and where and how to form reliable strategic alliances and the building of complementary collaborative relationships. For many professionals it involves crossing the Rubicon into un-chartered territory and in the short term putting at risk the highly preserved off-balance sheet market control and learning market influencing factors. But the green shoots of change are already coming up through the boardroom floorboards, spurred on by demand-led innovations in the national and global race for economic growth and development.The melding of organisation and administrative functions, for example, IT, finance, marketing, logistics and HR into everyday integrated demand-led learning and its utilisation and re-use, places new demands on the role and leadership of the CEO. It all adds some new thinking about the theory of the firm and how the organisations centre of influence and value is being repositioned.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to start the process of exploring how to optimise connections between the strategic needs of an organisation as directed by top management and its learning management structures and strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The article takes a broad brush approach to a complex and large subject area that is influenced by many internal and external variables. It highlights two of the main strands to be managed in the dynamic process of seeking to optimise performance and return on investment in organisational based demand-led learning; learning that leads directly to decision making and resource allocation.\nFindings: - There are many treatises on the subject of organisation theory and practice and related platforms for change management. The condition of autopoesis, emphasising the dynamic of self production in shaping organisation states, has featured prominently in these concepts and ideas of management. Indications are, however, that the demands and perturbations of the external environment are playing an increasing role in shaping organisations and the medium of learning is the catalyst by which means this trend is accelerating.\nResearch limitations/implications: - More empirical research (available at: www.ecuanet.info) into the effect of learning process innovations and behaviours on business performance and organisational capability development is required to put real foundation into what are being revealed about the benefits of learning in the workplace.\nOriginality/value: - Globalisation and global competition is placing greater emphasis on: releasing talent at all levels, the need for innovations in the creation and fulfilment of learning opportunities and the effective and efficient management of the firm's intellectual supply chain. The reactions at the learning supply-demand interface are changing and this article outlines perspectives that map the areas where relationships are changing as a basis for demand-led learning strategy formulation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using phishing experiments and scenario-based surveys to understand security behaviours in practice	[ "Experiment", "Phishing", "Social engineering", "Security behaviour", "Survey method" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The increased effectiveness and robustness of technical security components has made it more difficult to successfully attack computer systems using purely technical means. Many attackers have therefore started to include social means in their malicious efforts and target the humans accessing and using the computers (Applegate, 2009). These types of attacks are commonly known as social engineering attacks. Social engineering is a form of deception in which an attacker attempts to deceive a victim into performing an action that benefits the attacker, e.g. click on a malicious link and install malware on their computers or reveal personal computer passwords (D Mitnick and L Simon, 2002).\n2. Social engineering: Social engineering consists of techniques used to manipulating people into divulge confidential information or performing actions that benefit an attacker (D Mitnick & L Simon, 2002). Some attackers attempt to persuade individuals with appeals to strong human emotions such as scarcity or excitement, and others focus on adding target information to increase the effectiveness of their attacks. In this study, we examine reasons why people succumb to social engineering with an explicit focus on personal psychological and personal demographic factors and the influence of including target information in an attack.\n3. Methodology: As there are characteristic differences between self-perceptions of behaviour and actual behaviour, it is preferable to observe behaviour when possible. However, as all possible behaviours related to social engineering cannot be observed, observation alone is also incomplete (Workman, 2008). To increase the understanding of complex human behaviour related to social engineering, this study collect data of both respondents' perceived behaviour using a scenario-based survey and actual behaviour through unannounced phishing experiments. Hence, the study is able to assess how well these two methods go together and if any correlations between the results obtained from these two methods exist.\n4. Results: 4.1 Survey results\n5. Discussion and conclusions: Social engineering is a major security threat to organisations. One explanation for the threat is the increased effectiveness and robustness of technical security components which has made it more difficult to successfully attack computer systems using purely technical means. A way of compromising information security is then to manipulate computer users into installing malware on their computer or revealing their passwords. To understand how to manage social engineering threats, this study has tried to understand security behaviours in practice by investigating factors that may cause an individual to fall victim to social engineering. In doing so, this study makes important contributions to the body of knowledge on social engineering in general and reason why organisational employees fall victim to those types of attacks in particular. First, this, to the best of our knowledge, is the first study that has combined a \"smoke-screen\" survey approach with phishing attacks that are representative to the attack type in general (the attacks are automated to some degree) when collecting data on security behaviours. Second, the results revealed that the degree of target information in an attack increases the likelihood that an organisational employee fall victim to an attack. These results are in line with the results obtained by Jakobsson and Ratkiewicz (2006) and Jagatic et al. (2007). Therefore, we argue that organisations should consider the potential benefits from making enterprise-specific information such as employees' email addresses and titles of organisational members publically available, against the risk that this target information can be collected by an attacker to both spoof e-mail addresses and to instil trust in organisational members. In the end, it's up to the organisation to balance the need to enable the business against the need to secure information assets.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the study was threefold: to understand security behaviours in practice by investigating factors that may cause an individual to comply with a request posed by a perpetrator; to investigate if adding information about the victim to an attack increases the probability of the attack being successful; and, finally, to investigate if there is a correlation between self-reported and observed behaviour.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Factors for investigation were identified based on a review of existing literature. Data were collected through a scenario-based survey, phishing experiments, journals and follow-up interviews in three organisations.\nFindings: The results from the experiment revealed that the degree of target information in an attack increased the likelihood that an organisational employee falls victim to an actual attack. Further, an individual's trust and risk behaviour significantly affected the actual behaviour during the phishing experiment. Computer experience at work, helpfulness and gender (females tend to be less susceptible to a generic attack than men), had a significant correlation with behaviour reported by respondents in the scenario-based survey. No correlation between the results from the scenario-based survey and the experiments was found.\nResearch limitations/implications: One limitation is that the scenario-based survey may have been interpreted differently by the participants. Another is that controlling how the participants reacted when receiving the phishing mail, and what actually triggered each and every participant to click on the attached link, was not possible. Data were however collected to capture these aspects during and after the experiments. In conclusion, the results do not imply that one or the other method should be ruled out, as they have both advantages and disadvantages which should be considered in the context of collecting data in the critical domain of information security.\nOriginality/value: Two different methods to collect data to understand security behaviours have rarely been used in previous research. Studies that add target information to understand if such information could increase the probability of attack success is sparse. This paper includes both approaches.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Whose fault is it? An empirical study on the impact of responsibility attribution for customer misbehavior	[ "Responsibility", "Anger", "Severity", "Customer misbehavior", "Employee effort" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Customers who violate generally accepted norms and negatively disrupt service encounters (Fullerton and Punj, 1993; Harris and Reynolds, 2003) are prevalent in today's service context and demand intensified attention from practitioners and researchers (Greer, 2015; Fullerton and Punj, 2004; Poddar and Madupalli, 2012). Customer misbehavior affects not only organizations and employees but also service experiences of other, non-misbehaving customers. While the disadvantages for the former have been widely discussed (Grandey et al., 2004; Harris, 2013; Harris and Reynolds, 2003), research on the consequences for other customers is scarce. Although the importance of other customers has been acknowledged in the literature (Casidy and Shin, 2015; Langeard et al., 1981), the perspective of other customers has been largely overlooked in service research (Wan et al., 2011). The limited number of studies that have investigated the influence of customer misbehavior on other customers suggest that the latter not only feel disturbed by the misbehavior but also feel that their service consumption is ruined as a consequence and experience a negative change in behavior (Berry and Seiders, 2008; Fullerton and Punj, 1997; Harris and Reynolds, 2003). However, it remains empirically unclear as to how the actual misbehavior is perceived and processed by other customers. This gap shall be addressed by the present research.\n2. Theoretical framework: 2.1 Customer misbehavior\n3. Study 1: 3.1 Methodology\n4. Study 2: 4.1 Responsibility for customer misbehavior and employee efforts\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n6. Limitations and future research: This study provides significant insights in the field of customer misbehavior research. Nonetheless, results need to be interpreted critically. The demonstrated effects are limited to the samples used in the studies. Further replications with participants that have more diverse social and cultural backgrounds are required to generalize the findings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This research paper aims to provide an understanding of how customers evaluate other customers' misbehavior, considering the attribution of responsibility and how service employees should react in the respective situation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two sequential studies using written scenarios are conducted, including manipulations for responsibility (deviant customer vs employee) and employee effort (high vs medium).\nFindings: The results show that observing customers perceive misbehavior caused by the deviant customer as more severe and feel more intense negative emotions than when an employee is attributed as being responsible. Employee responsibility, however, elicits higher recovery expectations, which in turn decide the level of employee effort required to ensure observing customers' satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to the exploratory research objective and the use of a restricted sample and written scenarios, the studies may be subject to restrictions. Further studies will ensure generalizability.\nPractical implications: Because different customer expectations arise from the respective responsibility for customer misbehavior, service employees should be encouraged to differentiate their efforts when approaching misbehavior. In case of their own responsibility, employees need to exert higher efforts to restore a functional service encounter, whereas in cases of customer responsibility, medium efforts are sufficient to stop the misbehaving customer.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to understanding of cognitive and emotional responses to customer misbehavior considering the attribution of responsibility and indicates how service employees may handle these situations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evidence based learning design - the opportunities afforded by learning analytics	[ "Engagement and learning", "Learning", "Organizational learning", "Online learning", "Learning analytics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The recently released Australian paper Opportunity Through Online Learning: Improving Student Access, Participation and Success in Higher Education (Stone, 2016) offers educators, learning designers, and L&D professionals a set of standards for the design, management, and teaching of online learners.\nStudent engagement and learning analytics: Astin (1985, cited in Atherton et al., 2017, p. 122) defines student engagement \"as the amount of physical and psychological energy that the student devotes to the academic experience\". In an online learning environment, student access does assist in providing some insight into student engagement, as does the frequency of student interactions with teaching staff and peers via discussion boards, group assessment tasks, and synchronous learning forums. Atherton et al. (2017, p. 120) claim a strong correlation between student participation in accessing online content and the grade they achieve. The argument is that those students who frequently access the online learning material, discussion forums, or other interactive learning components provide a 'footprint' and a means by which to gauge student engagement.\nSummary: This paper has provided some detail associated with the benefits of learning analytics as means of improving learner retention and success in online learning environments. The collecting, reporting, predicting, and acting on learning analytics are the \"best practice\" approach that suits higher education, vocational education, and corporate online learning at many educational levels. Learning analytics presents educators with some clarity of learners' behavior when there has been little or none. Learning analytics offers insight into the student journey and details a clear view of the student 'footprint', thus allowing educators to intervene, redirect, assist, support, and provide feedback to learners at critical and opportune times. For learning designers, learning analytics informs pedagogical decisions and allows a targeted adjustment to learning material, including interactive aspects, videos, text, discussion board activities, collaborative group work, assessment tasks, quizzes, branching scenarios, and teacher-facilitated learning interventions. For the astute educator, the verification provided by learning analytics, when used carefully and strategically, can be the difference between learner success or failure.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As a means of better understanding learner success, higher education institutions, training providers, and corporate learning and development teams are contemplating the opportunities learning analytics affords. Simply put, learning analytics is the collection, analysis, and reporting of learner data, for the principle means of enhancing learning. It is argued that learning analytics - when available in a consistent and digestible format - not only provides educators with a clear view of the learners \"footprint\" but also allows for the means of navigating the broad spectrum of possible learning interventions. This brief paper outlines a clear definition of learning analytics and provides some suggestions on how learning analytics can assist in informing the decision-making relating to learning interventions for learning designers and educators via an evidence-based approach, one in which learner success is at the forefront.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Viewpoint paper\nFindings: This paper has found that the collecting, reporting, predicting, and acting on learning analytics are more effective means of targeting adjustment to learning material, including interactive aspects, videos, text, discussion board activities, collaborative group work, assessment tasks, quizzes, branching scenarios, and teacher facilitated learning interventions.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is not a research paper, and as such so no limitations/implications are presented.\nPractical implications: This paper explores how this is undertaken using an evidence-based approach, one in which learner success is at the forefront.\nSocial implications: This paper provides some practical strategies for trainers, educators, and learning designers.\nOriginality/value: Viewpoint paper\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the use of 25 leading business practices in transitioning market supply chains	[ "Management", "Management tools", "Organizational factors", "Supply chain management tools" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In the competitive global environment, organizations can only achieve long-term survival through continual improvement (Jennings, 2005; Hartley, 2007; Daft, 2009; Martin, 2009). Therefore, organizations are constantly innovating in their use of management tools. Management tools may include a variety of techniques firms utilize in managing their organization. Tools such as strategic planning, benchmarking, and total quality management are among the most commonly used in many firms around the world (Rigby and Bilodeau, 2007) and represent some of the leading business practices in firm supply chains. However, the utilization of modern management tools comes from a long history in the content-related development of management as a scientific discipline with many distinct phases, i.e. classical, humanistic, systems, contingency, post-modernistic, and the scientific values (Galbraith, 2002; Hatch, 2006; Linstead et al., 2009; Lafley and Johnson, 2010; Mullins, 2010). In each phase, researchers developed numerous explanations in reference to the meaning of an abstract or generic management idea (Lock, 1992; Cole, 2004; Armstrong, 2006; Daft, 2007; Certo and Certo, 2009).\n2 Literature review of supply chain management tools and theory: 2.1 Supply chain management tool consideration\n3 Methodology: 3.1 Methods and instruments\n4 Research of management tools: 4.1 Analysis and results of selected single management tools\n5 Conclusions: This study was designed to provide insight into the impact of several independent organizational factors on the usage of supply chain management tools in Eastern European organizations. Among the considered factors, employee education has the strongest impact on the usage of supply chain management tools in Slovenia. Alternatively, in Croatia, employee position within the organization and the size of the organization are the most valuable factors to consider when assessing supply chain management tool usage.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In the global economy, managers of organizations are constantly innovating with their use of available supply chain management tools. Some tools, like strategic planning and customer segmentation, have gained strong global acceptance while others are less universal. The paper aims to focus the contribution on the organizational factors that predict firm usage of supply chain management tools in two Eastern Europe countries, Slovenia and Croatia, while also comparing them to the global use of similar management tools.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research provides an empirical analysis of supply chain management tool usage from a survey of 155 firms in Slovenia and 185 firms in Croatia while also comparing these findings to results from a global Bain & Company survey.\nFindings: The 25 most commonly used supply chain management tools in the Eastern European survey were found to be relatively similar to those used across Europe and North America. However, further analysis of five selected tools reveals important differences. Evidence is found to support that particular organizational factors have a significant influence on supply chain management tool usage, of specific importance is the education level of the organization manager.\nOriginality/value: The findings are useful for business practice in understanding the influences of organizational factors on supply chain management tool usage. Also, the research is original as previous management literature has not provided a similar approach to researching management tools and their usage.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using control systems to improve construction project outcomes	[ "Quality control", "Control systems", "Cost control", "Performance monitoring", "Time-based management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The widely accepted measures of construction project outcomes are: completing within budget, on time and to an acceptable level of quality (Konchar and Sanvido, 1998). Project outcomes may be improved via several ways like good project management practices (Ling et al., 2004) and proper selection of contractors and consultants (Ling, 2004). Other factors that contribute to project success include: project-related factors; project procedures; human-related factors; and external environment (Chan et al., 2004a). Construction firms may also need to adopt adequate control systems to help improve project outcomes (Gong, 2001). This is because construction projects frequently face uncertainty and unplanned events, and hence, control systems may help to improve project outcomes (Bourne and Walker, 2005).\nControl systems: A control system is an element to reduce the difference between the actual and desired performance levels (Meredith and Mantel, 2006). According to Moselhi et al. (2004), a project control system consists of control objects that enable the comparison between planned and actual performance in cost and schedule. A control system is important in ensuring that the status of a project is reported accurately to the management so that problems can be identified before any detrimental impact becomes evident (Bower, 2002).\nGap in knowledge: Although some research had been done in the field of control systems (Yates, 1993; Hastak et al., 1996; Moselhi et al., 2004), it is not known whether control systems have a significant impact on the performance of construction projects. The literature review identified 20 mechanisms that could be adopted in a construction project (see Table II). It is not known which of these control mechanisms can bring about better project outcomes. The fieldwork was therefore undertaken to identify the control mechanisms that could help to boost project performance.\nResearch method: As project performance is multi-faceted, the research considered it from the view of the project meeting time, cost and quality objectives (following Konchar and Sanvido, 1998; Ling and Liu, 2004; Chan et al., 2004a). These are operationalized in Table I. From the review of past works, 20 control measures that may affect project performance were identified (see Table II). The research method had the aim of identifying the important control measures (listed in Table II) that affect project performance (defined in Table I). To achieve this, a questionnaire (data collection instrument) was designed. A pilot study was first carried out, to identify possible inadequacies in the data collection instrument. The finalized form provided the basis for the implementation of a questionnaire survey.\nData sample characteristics: Of the 500 contractors who were contacted, 51 completed questionnaires were received, giving a response rate of 10.2 percent. Their characteristics are shown in Table III. The majority of respondents are middle management, and have worked in the construction industry for an average of 14.3 years. Most of their firms are more than ten years old (average 18 years) and have fewer than 100 employees. Table III also shows that about half of the reported projects are residential and the majority are privately owned. The majority of the projects are below S$5 million and up to 10,000 m2. About half of the contractors' services were procured through open competitive tendering, and based on traditional design-bid-build contractual arrangement. The majority of the projects were completed after 2007.\nCorrelation results and discussion: Table II shows the correlation results. Cost (Y\nModels to predict project outcomes: To achieve the second objective, MLR analysis was undertaken. The 51 sets of data were randomly divided into two groups: the first group comprising 40 samples was used for model development, and the second group of 11 samples for model validation. Stepwise regression was performed on the first group to develop regression models to predict the performance levels of a project (Y\nLimitations of the study: The response rate of the survey is low. However, this is not expected to nullify the results because of the respectable sample size (n=51) to conduct statistical analysis. The respondents may be biased when they were asked to rate the performance outcomes of their projects. The raw data were inspected and it is found that respondents had given a wide range of ratings (minimum=1; maximum=5) indicating that the bias, if it exists, is not serious. The limitations suggest that this research is more of an exploratory nature, and a larger study would have to be performed to validate the findings in future. From a large study, and possibly in several countries, future implications in the construction industry and construction practices could be ascertained.\nSummary and conclusion: Construction projects may suffer from poor performance because of poor control systems. Hitherto, it is not known what the more effective control systems that can bring about better performance of construction projects are. From the literature review, three project performance metrics (Y\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify control systems that give rise to better construction project performance; and develop and test project performance predictive models based on control systems adopted in the project.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Research design was questionnaire survey. Data were collected via Electronic mails. The sampling frame was Singapore-based construction firms.\nFindings: In all, 16 control mechanisms are significantly correlated with project outcomes. The more important control mechanisms are: adequacy of project information to develop the project schedule; adequacy of float in the schedule; and quality of techniques used to support risk identification. Two relatively robust predictive models were constructed and validated to predict schedule and quality outcomes of construction projects. Schedule performance may be predicted by adequacy of float and stringency of criteria to select suppliers. Quality outcome is most significantly affected by competency of quality manager, rather than the hard systems adopted in the project.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitations include low response rate, and subjective nature of the five-point Likert scale used to rate project outcomes and extent to which control mechanisms were adopted in the project.\nPractical implications: The implication of the findings is that merely having good project management practices and adequate resources are not sufficient to achieve good project outcomes. Instead, construction projects need to have control systems in place, as they play an important role in project outcomes.\nOriginality/value: The paper has shown empirically that control systems affect project outcomes. They are needed not just to control the project, but also help the project to achieve good outcomes. The research designed and tested two relatively robust models to predict schedule and quality outcomes of a project. These models may be used to make an initial assessment of the project's likely outcome, based on the control systems that contractors are going to adopt.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mapping information security standard ISO 27002 to an ontological structure	[ "Standards", "Risk management", "Security" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Nowadays, information is one of the most important and valuable goods for organizations (e.g. usage of customer data in advertisements, tactical and strategical decision-making). In 2012, a study by Symantec provides evidence for the phenomenon of information-based value. According to Symantec information is estimated to make 49 per cent of an organization's total value (Symantec Corporation, State of Information Global Results, 2012). On the other hand, businesses currently face a rising number of information security threats and vulnerabilities as a result of increased networking, interconnection and electronic processing. Considering the possible multifaceted attack scenarios, it requires a significant effort to find and implement appropriate countermeasures and mitigation strategies to protect the valuable assets of a company.\n2. Related work: Souag et al. (2015) conducted a systematic mapping study regarding reusable knowledge in security requirements engineering. The authors developed a comparison framework for methods, techniques, modeling frameworks and tools for reuse in security requirements engineering and identified different forms of knowledge representation and reuse in the security domain. Five main types of security knowledge representation were identified: security patterns, taxonomies and ontologies, templates and profiles, catalogs and generic models and mixed forms. With regard to security ontologies, we identified the following approaches:\n3. Fundamentals of the security knowledge base: In this section, we provide a comprehensive overview of our complete approach, the fundamental concepts such as the security ontology, and the methodology used to map the ISO 27002 controls into the extended security ontology.\n4. Mapping the ISO 27002 into ontological structure: The ISO/IEC 27002 Standard was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 27, IT Security techniques. This international standard establishes guidelines and general principles for initiating, implementing, maintaining and improving information security management in an organization. The objectives outlined in this international standard provide general guidance on the commonly accepted goals for information security management.\n5. Application and evaluation: After mapping the ISO 27002 Standard to the security ontology, the ontology can be used to support automated ISO 27002 compliance checking. For evaluation purposes, we modeled a small software development company together with its assets to the security ontology. Subsequently, we highlight the compliance check with three representative ISO 27002 controls that are based on different implementation types:\n6. Conclusion: Handling information security and implementing appropriate controls became more and more important especially, as the interconnectivity between organizations is increasing. Organizations need an easy way for identifying vulnerabilities, related threats and appropriate controls.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to increase the degree of automation within information security compliance projects by introducing a formal representation of the ISO 27002 standard. As information is becoming more valuable and the current businesses face frequent attacks on their infrastructure, enterprises need support at protecting their information-based assets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Information security standards and guidelines provide baseline knowledge for protecting corporate assets. However, the efforts to check whether the implemented measures of an organization adhere to the proposed standards and guidelines are still significantly high.\nFindings: This paper shows how the process of compliance checking can be supported by using machine-readable ISO 27002 control descriptions in combination with a formal representation of the organization's assets.\nOriginality/value: The authors created a formal representation of the ISO 27002 standard and showed how a security ontology can be used to increase the efficiency of the compliance checking process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-concept, product involvement and consumption occasions: Exploring fine wine consumer behaviour	[ "Self-concept", "Self-congruence", "Consumption occasion", "Product involvement", "Situational product choice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consumer purchasing behaviour has long preoccupied marketers as they strive to best position their product by anticipating consumer wants and needs. The consumer decision-making process on the other hand, is frequently complicated and involves a number of theoretical constructs. Within the food category, wine presents a good example of these phenomena. When faced with a plethora of wine products in the retail store, how then does a consumer make a decision on what to purchase? There is however, no single perspective offering the definitive approach or theory of wine consumer decision-making that incorporates the elements of utilisation, individual consumer characteristics (i.e. self-concept), product involvement, and situational context.\n2. Literature framework: 2.1 Self-concept and self-congruence\n3. Research parameters and methodology: The aim of this study was to discern the influence that anticipated consumption situations of fine wine products has on level of product involvement as well as their respective interplay. Also, to develop a fine wine involvement measurement scale to operationalise this research. The sample comprised customers of a well-known wine and spirits retail store specialising in fine wines, situated in an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia. Similar to the Australian study of Johnson and Bastian (2015) retail prices of $20 and higher per bottle was considered as representative of the fine wine category. It should be noted that fine wine/quality wine (Johnson and Bastian, 2015) is not necessarily a luxury wine product (Wolf et al., 2016); in fact, luxury wine (brands) are arguably a category on its own and described by a number of typologies (Berthon et al., 2009), with price as a single factor therein. Prospective respondents were initially given time to browse in the store before being intercepted just before check-out and asked to participate in the research. To be included in the survey, they had to have purchased fine wine(s) at the $20 and higher per bottle price levels.\n4. Results: 4.1 Socio-demographics and wine consumption characteristics\n5. Discussion: This study contributes in that it is the first to examine the extent to which consumer self-concept and product involvement influences the fine wine purchase decision at the retail level given the anticipated consumption occasion. More specifically, first the results confirmed that older consumers (45 years and older) are more involved in the wine product. Second, the findings support the notion that low involvement consumers are more inclined to purchase a fine wine product when reflecting a higher sense of self-concept, such as perceived need to feel unique for a given context or the desire for affiliation with a group. A low involvement consumer may sense a lack of expertise in or knowledge of wine as a product and be concerned with the probability of purchasing the wrong product for a given occasion, such as for an important gift or celebratory occasion. Third, where a consumption occasion is perceived to be important, a low involvement consumer may regard a poor choice as having the potential to reflect negatively on them. Fourth, the more intense the sense of self-concept in a consumer the more predictive becomes the purchase of a product that can reduce that risk. The research also confirmed that low involvement consumers who purchase fine wine products also experienced self-concept of greater intensity. Where low involvement consumers do not purchase fine wine products their sense of self-concept was of negligible influence in such situations.\n6. Limitations, implications and future research: The conclusions drawn from the results of this research need to be considered in light of constraints and limitations imposed on the study. The exploratory nature of the research is a constraint in itself. The sample size was relatively small and may have skewed the results. Given that the survey was conducted in a retail environment it could not take into account purchasing habits consumers may demonstrate in bars, pubs and restaurants, particularly by Millennials who purchase more wine on-premise than older consumers (Bruwer and Huang, 2012). The specialist fine wine store where the research was conducted, was perhaps not the ideal location for seeking responses from low involvement wine consumers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which consumer self-concept (self-esteem) and product involvement influences the wine purchase decision at the retail level given the anticipated consumption occasion. The predictive effects of self-concept on this interaction were also explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data collection was in the independent specialist fine wine store environment in Sydney, Australia. Central to the study was the development of a 33-item multi-dimensional fine wine involvement scale (Cronbach's a =0.846 for 26 final items) for measuring consumers' involvement.\nFindings: Wine product involvement deepens with age but low involvement consumers perceiving risk in making the wrong product choice may well purchase fine wines for situations where self-concept is a moderating factor. In the case of low involvement wine consumers a positive association exists between situational wine choice and self-concept but no significant differences exist for self-concept across any of the consumption occasions. Age and self-concept were both confirmed as linked to levels of consumption. The findings support the notion that wine consumers aged 45 years and older are significantly more disposed to purchase fine wine products.\nPractical implications: For self-concept to be relevant to purchase it follows that the wine consumption occasion must be conspicuous.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to examine the extent to which consumer self-concept and product involvement influences the wine purchase decision at the retail level given the anticipated consumption occasion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Antecedents of company secretaries' behaviour and their relationship and effect on intended whistleblowing	[ "Company secretary", "Corporate governance", "Whistleblowing", "Theory of planned behaviour", "Neutralisation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The issue of ethical breaches has attracted wide attention globally over the past several decades (Ghani et al., 2011; Zandstra, 2002; Vinten, 2002). In particular, widely quoted ethical breaches were evident in some US-based companies in the early years of the 21st century, including Enron, WorldCom and Tyco which collapsed because of the discovery of accounting scandals (Mesmer-Magnus and Viswesvaran, 2005) with more recent corporate crises involving some large US investment companies such as Wells Fargo and Equifax (Tayan, 2019). Issues came to light because employees of these companies had taken action and believed that any misconduct committed by the company should be communicated to the relevant authorities to take corrective action (Mesmer-Magnus and Viswesvaran, 2005; Nawawi and Salin, 2018). This action is best known as \"whistleblowing\" (Dozier and Miceli, 1985; Mustapha and Siaw, 2012). The collapse of several big companies, because of unethical practices as well as the resulting effect of huge investment, financial and job losses, triggered governments to strengthen the focus of its regulatory reforms, an example being the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 2002[1], which was enacted in the USA with an aim to prevent the recurrence of such behaviours (Eaton and Akers, 2007; Sorensen and Miller, 2017). Likewise, a similar situation also appeared in many Asian countries, including Malaysia (Ghani et al., 2011; Okpara, 2011).\n2. Theoretical underpinnings and hypotheses development: 2.1 Attitude towards whistleblowing intention\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Research design\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Testing of multicollinearity analysis\n5. Theoretical and practical implications: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n6. Conclusion, limitations and future research: This paper has tested three models, amongst them are TPB as proposed by Ajzen (1991), the modified TPB as proposed by Shaw et al. (2000, 2015) and the integration of the neutralisation into the modified TPB as proposed by Chatzidakis et al. (2007) and Fukukawa et al. (2013). Among the five determinants of the theory taken into account, SI, EO and PBC appear to be the most important factors to be considered if seeking to encourage the company secretaries to report any improper conduct in their organisations. It is pertinent that the company secretaries:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the antecedents of company secretaries' behaviour and their relationship and effect on intended whistleblowing with the role of neutralisation as a moderating factor on an individual's ethical decision-making in whistleblowing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a modified version of the theory of planned behaviour as a framework and a quantitative research approach, a Likert-type scaled, self-administered questionnaire was conducted on a non-probability sample, totalling 208 company secretaries, currently working for various consultancy, audit and secretarial firms in Malaysia. The data obtained were analysed through structural equation modelling.\nFindings: Findings indicated that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, ethical obligation as well as self-identity were found to be predictors in a company secretary's intended behaviour to whistle-blow. However, neutralisation was proved not to be a contributing factor in whistleblowing between intention and behaviour.\nResearch limitations/implications: The quantitative measures of intention and behaviour are incompatible based on their levels of specificity or generality. Also, there may be an existence of social desirability bias among the respondents, indicating the need for a wider sample.\nPractical implications: The study offers valuable knowledge by providing organisations and regulators with several insights into improving the company secretaries' whistleblowing behaviour, including the need to strengthen whistleblowers' support and alleged malpractice investigation and analysis systems. It also enables company directors and regulators to implement whistleblowing policies as an internal control mechanism, thus realising an individual's intention to highly engage in whistleblowing.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study represents the first research that has empirically tested the relationship and effect of antecedents of company secretaries' whistleblowing intention and behaviour using a modified version of the theory of planned behaviour, thus adding to the stock of literature on this topic and showing that \"neutralisation\" had an insignificant effect on the possibility of fraudulent reporting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Coaching your way to the top	[ "Coaching", "Morale", "Self development", "Motivation (psychology)", "Productivity rate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Coaching can provide the added edge to an individual's performance and be the difference between a career stepping up a gear or continuing in cruise control. Here, Tony Sweeney of Oakridge Training and Consulting looks at how coaching has become more accessible and functional with direct benefits for the individual and the organization.\nSo what is coaching?: Coaching focuses on the individual. It can be responsible for enhancing morale, motivating and increasing productivity and reducing staff turnover as individuals feel valued and connected with their organization.It can achieve a balance between fulfilling organizational goals and objectives and the personal development needs of the individual. It is a two-way relationship with significant benefits for both.A coach won't necessarily have direct experience of a client's occupational role unless the coaching is specific and skills focused. Coaching doesn't seek to resolve deeper underlying issues like poor motivation, low self-esteem and poor job performance. It is more concerned with the practical issues of setting goals and achieving results within specific timescales.A good coach should also be able to relate to the individual - stimulate and inspire them. They could have faced similar challenges as the individual and will understand the complexities of the commercial environment. They can sometimes help bring out the creativeness and problem solving skills that often get lost in the day-to-day delivery of work.\nLocation, location, location: Coaching invariably takes place at an individual's place of work and, unlike attending a course, can be tailored to suit individual and company needs.Oakridge recently developed a series of coaching clinics for one major blue chip organization in which recipients were able to enjoy the benefits of support for short bites, within their working day, without the need to spend long periods of time out of the workplace.Coaching can be very effective where people have the right skills or qualities, but are not getting the results they really want. Through a short series of coaching sessions, enormous changes can be achieved. Along with some valuable thinking time, coaching can help people understand and improve working relationships and achieve focus and clarity in their work.\nFast track to a new role: Coaching can shorten the learning curve of those with new roles and help them adapt more quickly to a changing environment. By focusing on individuals, and helping them to achieve their potential, coaching can demonstrate a company's commitment to achieving business growth through people.Take for instance Dagmar Bentley, category management coach with Astra Zeneca. Coaching had originally been designed to help embed changes quickly and effectively within the company's global purchasing division while at the same time deliver some real investment in its people.Before coaching could begin, assessors carried out group training exercises to see where individuals were at and to develop a greater understanding of training needs. A leadership workshop then looked at some theoretical areas and tools - team dynamics and drivers for instance. From here a tailored coaching program, aligned to current work issues, was developed for each individual - for Dagmar the emphasis was on leadership skills.Working with Oakridge, Dagmar was encouraged to talk through her needs and timescales for change. Oakridge provided the theory and tools to help develop Dagmar's own leadership style while coaching her on how she could deliver what was required.Dagmar said:From the start the emphasis is very much upon driving the individual to deliver change for themselves. That's why it is important to be open and honest about your needs. There is a huge difference between being aware there is a problem and having the willingness to deal with it.I had a great rapport with my coach and it was clear that Oakridge had my best interests at heart. It wasn't about identifying deficiencies but about opening up the communication channels to talk about how I could meet my goals.I was able to hone my skills and work through my personal challenges. My coaching experience was much more than just a training experience - it was about awareness, understanding and application all rolled into one. It's great working for a company that is committed to people development - I have acquired new skills and grown in my job.\nExpectations: One of the golden rules of coaching is to agree expectations from the start. Through discussion, there needs to be clarity of the outcomes expected from the forthcoming coaching sessions. Here, the coach and coachee need to agree some key benchmarks that can be used as measures of success.If the coaching is team-based, then the organization's Mission and Objectives can be used to help set benchmarks.\nPerformance: Coaching enhances skills and ability and can raise a person's game. It gives individuals the opportunity to review themselves, their performance and identify where enhancements can be made.All coaching should lead to improved performance. Requirements in terms of the extent and urgency of that improvement, as well as time availability of those to be coached, will all help to determine the most effective means of delivering coaching.For it to work well, the individual and organization need to be engaged and, to this end, setting objectives and committing to them is important.For individuals at any level, a series of approximately six coaching sessions, up to a maximum of half a day at each session, can be of enormous benefit.This kind of coaching can be intense. After all, it is encouraging people to confront issues and challenge themselves, so there is a need to ensure that this is balanced with appropriate levels of support and encouragement.Dearg Brown, Chemistry Director, Astra Zeneca, reached a crucial point in his career when his role expanded from a Project and Line Manager of 15 people to an acting role looking after a department of chemists.One-to-one coaching was arranged on the basis of one half day session per month. Dearg said:I was aware that I needed to develop my inter-personal and communication skills. We have an open culture at Astra Zeneca, which is great, and this allowed me to be openly critical of myself.Through coaching I feel I am now far more effective. The coaching centred on finding areas which needed developing and then, using similar scenarios, role-playing the situation to understand the issues.Specific areas of development focused on how to communicate better with clear messages, learning through body language and how to prepare for difficult situations.Inter-personal skills around working with colleagues at all levels were also explored, including when and when not to get involved in specific issues and how to handle conflict.Dearg added:I had some gaps in my skills and this has helped me look at myself and develop. It also gained me greater responsibility and ultimately promotion within the organisation.\nClear goals: For the individual, identifying and agreeing key outcomes from sessions is crucial and as these are explored it's possible to identify needs more specifically.Joanne Bream, legal director, United Utilities receives full executive coaching from Oakridge. She said:Coaching creates time to consider what you are doing with someone who has no political interest in your business. There are no underlying assumptions, and so by rehearsing the arguments in a safe environment things can become much clearer.I tend to underplay my own value and my coach has helped me prepare for important presentations and meetings so that I can position myself more clearly to the audience and influence them appropriately.Having a coach means I can go through issues, ensure I have covered all the angles and rehearse so that I will be understood and present my views with confidence.Joanne's one-to-one coaching has been ongoing for two years, about half a day every five months with the option to approach her coach for more when appropriate. Joanne sees coaching as a stable ongoing resource for the future.\nAssessment: Oakridge will usually hold a review with the individual to assess the \"journey.\" The recipient of the coaching considers the story so far. What were the issues, the barriers, the objectives, the learning and the successes to date?It is also useful for recipients to gather some hard data on the learning. For example, it may be that they have learned how to actively listen to colleagues by paraphrasing in difficult situations.They should record, in writing, how they have been using what they have learned and the results. Doing this will reinforce new behaviors and help them in the future. This can then be incorporated into Performance Development Plans and further developed over time.Indeed, the learning from coaching will be most effective if it is introduced and applied with confidence as part of every-day working, with subsequent reviews and discussions over the longer term.\nKey learning points: * recipient and coach clarify and agree objectives;* engage and gain commitment to the coaching plan;* assess activity to track learning and measure results;* integrate the learning into the workplace; and* encourage recognition of successes and celebrate them.\nBackground: Oakridge Training and Consulting specializes in methods of training which challenge traditional boundaries with innovation and imagination. Based at Pott Shrigley, Macclesfield, Cheshire, the consultancy offers open training courses and workshops, coaching, in-house training, psychometric and occupational testing and advisory services.With experience across a diverse range of sectors in the private and public sector including the pharmaceutical industries, utilities, local government, county councils and the financial sector, Oakridge develops bespoke training at all levels of an organization.For more information about Oakridge Training and Consulting and its range of products and services visit: www.oakridgecentre.co.uk\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The article looks at how coaching has become more accessible and functional with direct benefits for the individual and the organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The coaching program in each example sited was developed and delivered over a period of several months. In most instances, coaching was included as assessment of needs, group based training (a workshop) followed by tailored coaching. Key outcomes and goals were agreed between the coach and the individual.\nFindings: - Results were measured by holding a review to assess the issues, barriers, objectives, learning and successes.\nOriginality/value: - The following key learning points are outlined: recipient and coach clarify and agree objectives; engage and gain commitment to the coaching plan; assess activity to track learning and measure results; integrate the learning into the workplace; and encourage recognition of successes and celebrate them.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of consumer-generated media stimuli on emotions and consumer brand engagement	[ "Text mining", "Website quality", "Emotion", "Consumer brand engagement", "Pleasure-arousal-dominance", "S-O-R framework" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The world is becoming progressively complex and disruptive by the day, which consorts to organisations new daily challenges for both brand managers and chief marketing officers. Today's consumers are more demanding, more aware of their needs and want, and increasingly difficult to satisfy. Nevertheless, they are also willing to build meaningful relations and to better relate to brands and their products (Boyle, 2007; Cova et al., 2011; Sprott et al., 2009). In the present study, we seek to address this impetus from consumers to relate and interact with brands.\nTheoretical background: Consumer brand engagement\nStudy 1: Study 1 intends to investigate the relationships between website quality, emotion and engagement. Particularly, this study also examines the relationships of each dimension of the three constructs.\nStudy 2: Study 2 intends to explore consumers' sentiments (i.e. emotions and engagement) towards brands (i.e. hotels) from consumers' online reviews using a text-mining approach. The text-mining analysis is a type of technique that analyses and processes a large amount of unstructured text to extract relevant information that can be translated into actionable knowledge (Fan et al., 2006). It generally includes text categorisation, text clustering and sentiment analysis, among others (Srivastava and Sahami, 2009). Recent research has used text-mining analysis to perform their studies (Bilro et al., 2019; Cunningham-Nelson et al., 2018; Martinez et al., 2016; Segura-Bedmar et al., 2015).\nGeneral discussion: Theoretical contribution\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationships between website quality - through consumer-generated media stimuli-, emotions and consumer-brand engagement in online environments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two independent studies are conducted to examine these relationships. Study 1, based on a sample of 366 respondents, uses a structural equation modelling approach to test the research hypotheses. Study 2, based on 1,454 online consumer reviews, uses text-mining technique to examine further the relationship between emotions and consumer-brand engagement.\nFindings: The findings show that all the consumer-generated media stimuli are positively related to the dimensions of emotions. However, only pleasure and arousal are positively related to the three variables of consumer-brand engagement. The findings also show cognitive processing as the strongest dimension of consumer-brand engagement providing positive sentiments towards brands.\nPractical implications: The findings provide marketers with an understanding of how valid, useful and relevant content (i.e. information/content) creates a greater emotional connection and drive consumer-brand engagement. Marketers should be aware that consumer-generated media stimuli influence consumers' emotions and their reaction.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of the firsts to adapt and apply the S-O-R framework in explaining online consumer-brand engagement. This study also adds to the brand engagement literature as the first study that combines PLS-SEM approach with text-mining analysis to provide a better understanding of these relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What determines the performance of small business units? Insights from a jewellery cluster	[ "Small business", "Competitiveness", "Jewellery cluster" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The growth of small businesses units, which is the economic mainstay of millions of poor people in developing nations, has generally been viewed as a quintessential measure to mitigate the condition of poverty, widening income inequality and rising unemployment (You, 1995; Gibb, 1996; Liedholm and Mead, 1999; Carree and Thurik, 2010, p. 557). In India, the small business units that account for a significant share of self-employed are divided into two broad categories of economic activities: agricultural and non-agricultural. Interestingly, within the non-agriculture set of business units, retail constitutes about 36 per cent and manufacturing accounts for 23 per cent (GoI, 2016). Apart from making use of own family members, who are seldom paid for their services rendered, the majority of the small business units hire relatively a small number of workers, plausibly less than five.\nReview of literature: Business clustering has been an age-old phenomenon prevalent in almost all industrial activities - in both high-intensive technology segments, for example, Silicon Valley to footwear and Japan's cutlery industries (Enright, 2003a, 2003b). On the one hand, scholars support clustering, owing to its competitive advantages (Lundequist and Power, 2002) to some firms providing skills owned by one organisation are shared with others fostering efficient production (Power and Lundmark, 2004); on the other hand, recent studies have questioned the relevance of clustering (Meyer-Stamer, 2002) for segments like jewellery (Chen, 2011; De Propris and Wei, 2007). Drawing from City Fringe areas of London, Bagwell (2008) argues that knowledge transmission between young designers and traditional manufacturers within a cluster is a rare phenomenon, popularly termed as latent clusters by Enright (2000, 2003a, 2003b; OECD, 2005, p. 35).\nMethodology: Area of study\nFindings: Socio-economic challenges\nDiscussion and conclusion: In this paper, our aim was to study the features and challenges of small business units in a jewellery cluster located in Mangalore district of Karnataka. Being grounded in close to thousand years of history, the study region has been playing an active and pivotal role in shaping the small business businesses in Karnataka. Unlike the business units in a typical economic system, the units in the cluster are bound up with the socio-cultural milieu, social institutions, in particular conventions, family and caste. During the 1970s and 1980s, the cluster expanded considerably, witnessing a sharp upturn in the number of units and business performance, albeit slowly in the late 1980s. For the last two decades, the units in the cluster have recorded a steady contraction of size and a downturn in business. In fact, the decline has seemingly been accentuated by the entry of new enterprises to Mangalore city where the cluster is located.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the factors that determine the performance of small business units using a field survey conducted in a small jewellery cluster in Mangalore district of Karnataka state (India).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The estimates of the median-based quantile regression model are used to analyse how a change in small firm output is determined by seven key factors such as year of establishment, the source of finance, the source of design, lack of demand, design done by the staff, the number of skilled workers, and constraints.\nFindings: The study finds that the factors such as sources of finance, design, customer relation and skilled manpower are the major determinants of the growth of jewellery business. Based on the findings, the study suggests that the invigoration of business performance by high degree of competitiveness, coupled with technological advancement and hiring of skilled labour, is essential for the sustainability of jewellery units.\nOriginality/value: The study pinpoints the problems and prospects of traditional business units located in an industrial cluster. Further, it suggests the different ways of strengthening the performance of small business units in India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Patients' views on quality of care and attitudes towards re-visiting providers	[ "Patients", "Customer satisfaction", "Quality control", "Sweden" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Patients' opinions are an important service quality issue and an endpoint in quality evaluation (Sitzia and Wood, 1997; Jenkinson et al., 2002; Johansson et al., 2002). Thus, care appraisal is an important outcome variable in its own right. However, it has also been suggested that service experiences may affect illness behaviour, treatment adherence, continuation with the same health provider and ultimately health status and medical outcomes (Calnan et al., 1994; Da Costa et al., 1999; Westaway et al., 2003; Sofaer and Firminger, 2005; Wilde-Larsson and Bergstrom, 2005).Caring, patients' appraisal thereof and health outcomes are complex phenomena and earlier studies on their interdependence can be criticised theoretically. In particular, we believe that causal relationship between patients' care experiences and their overall health status claims should be made with caution. One reason is that general health status is often influenced by a range of variables that include genetic disposition, normal aging and environmental agents. We should not expect patients' experiences, therefore, to explain major variance (Folkman, 1985). Another reason is the apparent lack of theoretically plausible and empirically observable potential mechanisms underlying the relationships. Thus, as an alternative to focusing on care experience impact on general health status, which could be regarded as a distal phenomenon in this context, we argue that attention should be paid to aspects that are more proximal to the care situation. Such aspects include patients' tendency to follow advice that they receive from healthcare professionals and potential hesitation about visiting the same care provider again. These kinds of patient attitudes and behaviours may in turn act as a link to overall health status.Detailed knowledge about the relationship between patients' experience and these kinds of care-proximal patient post-care-episode attitudes and behaviours can provide important clues about how these linking processes may work. Research on this subject matter appears to be scarce. However, results from studies on patient attitudes toward conventional vs. alternative treatments indicate that patients' opinions and trust in providers may influence clinical outcome independently of treatment (Coulehan, 1985; Kalauokalani et al., 2001; Sharma et al., 2003).Exploring the relationship between patients' opinions and proximal aspects such as hesitation about visiting the same care provider again requires assessment tools that are patient-perspective based. The patient questionnaire market appears to have flourished in recent years. A major criticism against most instruments is their lack of theoretical foundation. In the present study, service care assessment was based on a Wilde et al.'s (1993) patient-centred theoretical model (Figure 1).Differences in patients' care opinions can also, of course, be ascribed to a number of patient characteristics. Comparing patients with different kinds of health problems may be misleading. Differences may also be attributed to age, sex, socio-economic factors and service availability (Hall and Dornan, 1990; Wilde-Larsson, 1999; Wilde-Larsson et al., 1999; Jackson et al., 2001; Sofaer and Firminger, 2005). Another validity-related individual characteristic is whether patients' responses to questionnaires on service quality reflect their opinion on this matter or whether these responses instead reflect their subjective physical health status and psychological wellbeing. The literature presents a consistent pattern here: favourable health and well-being ratings tend to co-vary with favourable patient opinion scores and vice-versa (Wilde et al., 1995; Westaway et al., 2003). It has been shown that the relationship is particularly strong on abstract and emotionally loaded questions (Wilde-Larsson and Larsson, 1999). The instrument we used attempts to take this into consideration by posing more concrete and emotionally neutral questions.Data analysis level is another potentially fruitful point of departure. Health problems are individual phenomena and care is given to individuals. However, care is planned and conducted in organisational settings. Aggregated measures generally express something slightly different to their individual equivalents (Robinson, 1950; Firebaug, 1978). Providers with high proportions of patients hesitating to come back, may give us, for example, some information about the surrounding environment itself.The aim of our study, therefore, was to explore the relationship between patients' experiences and their attitudes towards re-visiting the same healthcare provider. Our ambition was to control the following confounders: age; sex; education level; kind of health problem; self-rated health condition and care availability (e.g. waiting time). Finally, we wanted to explore the relationship using both individual and aggregate level data.\nMethods: Participants and procedure\nResults: The patient group consisted of 8,779 men and 12,541 women (58.8 per cent). A total of 850 participants did not respond to the gender question. Mean age was 53.7 years (sd=18.0). Regarding education, 36.3 per cent had completed compulsory schooling, 40.2 per cent had completed high/upper-secondary school and 23.5 per cent had a university education. Additional patient group statistics are shown in Table II.The five most prevalent self-reported illnesses/health problems are listed in Table II. Approximately 50 per cent received care within one day. About 10 per cent reported some kind of hesitation about re-visiting the same primary health centre. The mean scores on the quality of care scales indicate a favourable evaluation.The mean non-response rate on ten QPP items was 5.1 per cent (see Table I). However, owing to list wise deleting participants without complete responses in the generalised linear mixed effects model (see below), only 8,800 observations were retained. Following this, the mixed model analysis was performed in two ways. First, with the raw scores only and second with missing values on the QPP items replaced with the mean score of the item in question (n=19,856). As similar overall patterns and identical results in terms of statistical significance were obtained, the results from the analysis with imputations will be presented.Individual- and organisation-level analyses\nDiscussion: We aimed to explore the relationship between patients' care experiences and their attitudes towards visiting the same healthcare provider again. Approximately 10 per cent of a large Swedish public primary healthcare sample reported various degrees of hesitation about continuing to visit the same provider. In the absence of reference data, we can ask the question whether this is good or bad. Taking a positive stance, it means that 90 per cent did not show any hesitation. On the other hand, in many quality evaluation instances such as postal delivery or new computer performance, some kind of problem in 10 per cent of the cases would be unacceptable. Favourable service quality evaluations made a statistically significant contribution to the odds of reporting no hesitation about visiting the same primary healthcare centre again. At individual level, this applied to all three quality dimensions (medical-technical competence; healthcare providers' identity-oriented approach, and healthcare setting's socio-cultural atmosphere). Using aggregate organisational level data, the same was only true of medical-technical competence and the socio-cultural atmosphere.Common potentially confounding variables such as education level, self-reported health condition and care availability (waiting time) were entered in the same analyses and \"behaved\" more or less as expected according to earlier studies, although no effects were found for sex and age (Pascoe, 1983; Hall and Dornan, 1990; Sofaer and Firminger, 2005). Given this, significant ratings contribution for perceived reality of care is interesting. In the introduction we argued that in addition to looking at patients' opinions on the care received as a quality endpoint in its own right, these experiences might also have an effect on post-care-episode attitudes and behaviours. We also suggested that care-proximal aspects such as hesitation about re-visiting the same provider could prove to be a more fruitful outcome indicator than more distal phenomena such as general health status. The similarity between results using individual- and organisational-level data strengthens result trustworthiness.Comparing patients with different illnesses/health problems showed that those suffering from cardiovascular diseases or diabetes reported less hesitation re-visiting the same provider than did those who reported stomach, mental health or back problems. One possible explanation is that cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are more clear-cut conditions with well-established treatment options, which need to be administered by qualified medical personnel. Stomach, mental health and back problems are more ambiguous where there exists a bigger arena of alternative treatments.Patients' service quality experiences co-varied with their self-reported hesitation, or lack of hesitation, about continuing to visit the same care provider. An obvious study weakness is that no data are available on actual hesitation and avoidance later in time when a new need for care arises. Similarly, there were no data on the availability of alternative care providers, which, particularly in rural areas, may be limited or non-existent. This also means that the suggested causal link from favourable-unfavourable care experiences via favourable-unfavourable care-proximal, post-care-episode attitudes and behaviours, to favourable-unfavourable general health status, cannot be studied with the present data set. However, given the promising results regarding hesitation, we suggest that further research needs to identify more care-proximal aspects (adherence to self-care programmes would be another example; see Meichenbaum and Turk's, 1987) classical work. A suggested clinical implication from the present results on patient hesitancy alone is that healthcare professionals need an increased awareness and knowledge of patients' quality appraisals and how to measure them.The lack of an exact response rate is an obvious study weakness. The estimated rate (75 per cent) is comparable to the average noted in a meta-analysis covering 210 studies by Sitzia and Wood (1998). Thus, it seems less likely that the results should be caused by a systematic dropout bias. For Swedish patients, we have numerous comparison samples. The mean QPP item scores correspond fairly well to, or are slightly more favourable than those obtained previously (Wilde-Larsson, 1999; Wilde-Larsson and Larsson, 1999; Wilde-Larsson et al., 1999). Probably owing to the reduction of items in the modified QPP, a modest reliability coefficient (Cronbach alpha) was obtained on the scale designed to measure socio-cultural atmosphere. However, given these limitations, the large sample size and the high number of primary healthcare centres involved suggests that results can be generalised to a broader patient population. Furthermore, a wider spectrum of psychological characteristics such as personality and mood state would be desirable compared to the single item we used to assess self-rated health. At the organisational level, an inclusion of private providers would also have been interesting.\nConclusion: The main theoretical conclusion is that patients' service experiences appear to effect outcome variables like hesitation about continuing to visit the same care provider. This kind of care-proximal aspect may serve as a link to more distal outcomes such as general health status and deserve further research attention. A practical recommendation is to increase healthcare professionals' knowledge of patients' quality appraisals and to use theory-based instruments when monitoring patients' opinions on care and follow-up of the results on later visits.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between patients' service quality perceptions and their attitudes towards visiting the same healthcare provider again.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - All patients visiting one of 121 (public) primary healthcare centres in a Swedish region between January and March 2005, who were 16 years or older and capable of communicating, were invited to participate. Responses were obtained from 22,170 patients (75 per cent response rate). Patients evaluated service quality using the \"Quality from the Patient's Perspective\" (QPP; modified short version) questionnaire. Potentially confounding variables such as age, sex, educational level, illness and self-reported health condition were also assessed. Data were analysed through generalised linear mixed effects model analysis and multiple regression analysis respectively, using both individual- and organisational-level (primary healthcare centre) data.\nFindings: - Approximately 10 per cent hesitated about continuing to visit the same care provider. Favourable service quality evaluations made a statistically significant contribution to the odds of reporting no hesitation about re-visiting the same primary healthcare centre.\nOriginality/value: - Patients' care experiences appear to have an effect on post-care-episode attitudes (and possibly behaviours). It is suggested that effects on care-proximal aspects, such as hesitation about visiting the same provider again, could be an important link to more distal phenomena such as general health status.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Importance of acquiring knowledge through feedback in an emerging industry	[ "Feedback", "Knowledge", "Knowledge-based theory of the firm", "Craft brewery operators", "SECI process" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Contemporary research highlights the importance of knowledge, namely, as a factor influencing information search (Awasthy et al., 2012), purchasing intentions (Huy Tuu and Ottar Olsen, 2012), or as a mediator between repurchase loyalty, consumer satisfaction, and perceived risk (Huy Tuu and Ottar Olsen, 2009). The academic literature also emphasises on the significance of knowledge acquired through feedback (Amigo et al., 2008; Pantelidis, 2010). Indeed, in the hospitality industry, Zhang et al. (2010) showed a positive relationship between a restaurant's popularity, and customers' ratings concerning the service, quality of the food and volume of feedback. Similarly, research on restaurant patron comments (Pantelidis, 2010) identified important considerations given to food, service, price, ambience, or menu. Pantelidis (2010), therefore, concluded that depending on managers' responses, such feedback can significantly affect a restaurant's longevity. Other authors (Amigo et al., 2008) highlighted the impact of graphic and verbal feedback on restaurant staff, reducing busing time at a pizza restaurant. An element of knowledge generation is inferred in these last three studies, either for those consumers reading postings from others regarding a particular hospitality business, or for management, in finding ways to improve or maintain consistency of food/service delivery.\nLiterature review: The term \"knowledge\" has been defined in various ways; for example, Nonaka and Von Krogh (2009) conceptualise knowledge as \"the capacity to act based on explicit and tacit elements\" (p. 638). Explicit knowledge is shared through data, in the form of manuals or specifications, and can be readily communicated between individuals systematically and formally (Nonaka and Konno, 1998), namely, through numbers and words. In contrast, tacit knowledge is difficult to formalise, share, or communicate; it is personal, deeply rooted in individuals' experience, actions, values, emotions, or the ideals they embrace, and includes subjective intuitions or insights (Nonaka and Konno, 1998). Overall, knowledge is intangible, dynamic, boundaryless, and has no value if it is not used \"at a specific time in a specific place\" (Nonaka and Konno, 1998, p. 41). Drawing from the work of Dretske (1981), Nonaka (1994) posits that knowledge can be organised and created \"by the very flow of information [defined as 'flow of messages'], anchored on the commitment and beliefs of its holder\" (p. 15).\nMethods: The present exploratory research investigates the significance of feedback in generating/developing knowledge, examining the case of the emerging craft brewing industry through the lens of the KBTB and the SECI process.\nResults: Type of feedback participants seek\nDiscussion: Various alignments between the adopted theoretical frameworks and the findings were identified; these are discussed in the following sections and conceptualised in the proposed refinement (Figure 1). Concerning the KBTF, a variety of comments highlighted the importance of translating explicit into tacit knowledge. First, P1 referred to interpreting feedback and ensuring efficiency and consistency in quality control, while P2 was committed to taking feedback to the next level. P6 relied on various key information sources, and, as P7 and P8, had ongoing opportunities to receive feedback and increase knowledge and understanding of production processes, quality issues, or consumer responses.\nConclusions: As industry reports and, increasingly, the academic literature, indicate, the craft brewing industry has experienced major development in numerous countries. However, as various authors suggest (e.g. Danson et al., 2015; Maye, 2012), there are knowledge gaps in craft brewing entrepreneurship and management research. Similarly, the important aspect of interactions between consumer feedback and ways in which management respond has been studied to a limited extent (Xie et al., 2014). By investigating the importance of feedback in generating knowledge within the craft brewing industry, the present study contributed to the extant craft brewing, entrepreneurship, hospitality, and marketing literature. At the same time, the study addressed various identified knowledge gaps. Furthermore, the study's focus on knowledge acquisition justified the adoption of the KBTF and the SECI process, which represented an additional contribution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of feedback in developing and operationalising knowledge from the perspective of craft brewing operators. The study contributes to various literature streams, including marketing and craft brewing entrepreneurship. An additional contribution is made through the adoption of the knowledge-based theory of the firm, and the SECI process to facilitate understanding of the significance of knowledge in the craft brewing industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire was designed to gather data from mainly micro and small craft brewery operators. Of the 110 craft breweries identified across Australia, 57 (51.8 per cent) participated. The predominantly qualitative data were analysed using content analysis and word association.\nFindings: The importance of knowledge acquisition for craft brewery firms was revealed in various ways. For example, respondents most favoured new knowledge to learn about quality issues and perceptions of quality among buyers/consumers. Further, acquired knowledge through feedback was a determinant factor in participants' decision to produce particular styles of beers. Several alignments with the adopted theoretical frameworks were revealed, including the role of socialisation (SECI process) illustrated through the transformation of explicit into tacit knowledge.\nOriginality/value: The study examines the dimension of knowledge in the craft brewing industry, which, although considerably developing, continues to be underresearched. Furthermore, the study's findings underline various important implications for the craft brewing industry, suppliers, and for end consumers. The study also proposes a refinement of both the RBTF and the SECI process based on the findings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The university environment: a comprehensive assessment of health-related advertisements	[ "United States of America", "Universities", "Advertisements", "Diet", "Nutrition", "Exercise", "Personal health", "Health‐related", "Behavior", "University campus", "Environment", "Policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Healthy People 2020 identified overweight and obesity, tobacco use, and substance abuse as major health concerns in the USA (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). University students are considered an extremely vulnerable population for health concerns, in particular substance abuse, tobacco use, and poor eating habits which are all prevalent on university campuses (Anderson et al., 2003; Cousineau et al., 2004; Holm-Denoma et al., 2008).University students may engage in unhealthy behaviors because of influences in their environment (Palmer et al., 2006). One specific factor in the environment believed to play a significant role is health-related advertising. Health-related advertising is the activity of promoting a product, service, or behavior via print, broadcast, or electronic media that is focussed on behaviors that influence health and well-being, such as diet, nutrition, and smoking. The goal of advertising is to influence the behaviors of the targeted population (Kwate and Meyer, 2009). Although health-related advertising could in theory promote healthy behaviors, in practice it tends to promote negative behaviors, such as advertisements for alcohol and tobacco (Scott et al., 2008). For instance, many cigarette manufacturers strategically market to young adults to increase the prevalence of smoking in this population (Belstock et al., 2008). Youth exposed to more alcohol advertising consume more alcohol than those exposed to less alcohol advertising (Snyder et al., 2006). Other research has shown an association between exposure to advertising in the school environment and alcohol intake in young adults (Smith and Foxcroft, 2009). Young adults are particularly vulnerable to advertising when they believe their peers are engaging in advertised unhealthy behaviors (Russell et al., 2005).Health behavior theories help explain how advertisements may influence actual changes in health behaviors. The social cognitive theory posits that an individual's environment, behavior, and personal factors simultaneously affect one another (so called reciprocal determinism) (Baranowski, 1989; McAlister et al., 2008). For instance, advertising on a university campus may directly affect students' behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs. Likewise, student preferences and behaviors can affect the type and extent of advertising in the environment. The social norms theory proposes that perceptions of what people believe to be normal affects their behaviors (Heaney and Israel, 2008). Thus, student behaviors may be influenced by health-related advertisements if students believe the advertisements reflect the actions of the majority of the university population. In addition, Gerbner's cultivation theory states that the media influences people's views, attitudes, and beliefs, and creates a desire to emulate those in the media they admire (Gerbner et al., 2002). Thus, advertising in the form of media may significantly influence students' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.Advertising occurs on and around university campuses (Kotler et al., 2002), yet little is known about the products and services advertised. Given the power of advertising and its potential effect on health behaviors, this study aimed to assess the types, locations, and prevalence of health-related advertisements and messages, for example about nutrition, alcohol, and tobacco, on geographically and ethnically diverse US university campuses and policies related to healthy advertising and messaging.\nMethods: Ten universities participated in this study, which was conducted during the spring of 2011. The campus characteristics are described in the results and outlined in Table I.Health-related advertisements\nResults: The campus characteristics of the ten universities are outlined in Table I.As Table I shows, none of the universities had policies related to healthy food options at campus functions, and only 20 percent of universities had policies for having foods labeled at point of purchase and only 60 percent had healthy foods available by campus food services. The dearth of university policies related to diet/nutrition may be why only 73 percent of these types of advertisements were positive. For example, a campus organization was recruiting members to come to their meeting by posting flyers with enticing messages such as \"pig out\" and \"free food.\" All on-campus exercise/fitness health-related advertisements were positive even though only one university had a written policy promoting physical activity.Overall health-related advertisements observed on-campus had a positive polarity but it was not 100 percent. Those related to diet/nutrition were 73 percent positive, alcohol were 43 percent positive, tobacco were 95 percent positive, and drugs were 70 percent positive, indicating that campus policies for these types of health-related behaviors were not fully enforced. As seen in Table I, all universities had policies on their campuses for non-smoking areas, limits on alcohol intake, and bans on illicit drugs use. However, some negative health advertisements for these types of health-related behaviors were observed on-campuses. For example, a campus newspaper had an advertisement from a local restaurant promoting Friday night drink specials, and academic buildings had flyers from a tobacco company promoting their cigarettes, along with posters advocating legalization of marijuana.All participating universities achieved an inter-rater reliability of at least 85 percent prior to data collection. An average of 142+64SD health-related advertisements were assessed at each university, for a combined total of 1,425 advertisements (Table II). Student enrollment and geographic location of campus partners was not an influential factor in the number of health-related advertisements found at each institution, as some of the largest institutions (student enrollment >20,000) actually had a lower percent of health-related advertisements observed compared with smaller institutions (student enrollment <20,000).The size and format of health-related advertisements observed were similar across campuses. Advertisements tended to be the size of posters (94 square inches, 35 percent), flyers (21-35 square inches, 18 percent), or banners (>200 square inches, 15 percent). Most of the advertisements were posted on a wall or similar surface (61 percent) or were available in multiple copies distributed as handouts (20 percent). In all, 2 percent or less were in the form of restaurant signs, vending machines, billboards, e-mail, campus newspaper placements, product samples, sidewalk postings (e.g. chalk messages), or other forms. These findings were consistent across all universities except Southern University 1 where the second most common health-related advertisement was in the form of a neon sign (22 percent). At this same institution, most advertisements were 200 square inches or larger (33 percent).As shown in Table II, the locations where health-related advertisements were located varied by campus, which was likely to be due to differences in the facilities present (such as off-campus businesses, campus newspaper, bus stops). However, most health advertisements were found in academic buildings (28 percent), residence halls (17 percent), and campus recreation centers (14 percent). About one-fifth of the advertisements were in dining halls on three campuses (which were Northeastern Universities 2 and 3 and Southern University 2).Table III indicates that the most common health-related behavior in the surveyed advertisements was related to diet/nutrition (30 percent). Exercise/fitness (20 percent) and alcohol (11 percent) health-related behaviors tended to be the second and third most frequently observed health-related advertisements on university campuses. Advertisements related to other types of health-related behaviors (such as tobacco, drugs, eating disorders) were infrequently observed.The polarity of four out of five advertisements was positive. Few differences among universities were noted with regard to health message polarity, although Southern University 1 tended to have significantly more negative health messages than other universities. Differences found at this institution may be because almost half of their advertisements were observed off-campus. At Southern University 1, 53 percent of advertisements that were on-campus were positive and only 23 percent of off-campus advertisements were positive.Table IV indicates that significantly more unbranded advertisements had a positive polarity than did branded advertisements. That is, unbranded advertisements tended to promote positive behaviors (such as healthy tips for take-out, finding a personal trainer, washing hands). Branded advertisements that were positive tended to be sponsored by a non-profit organization, for example, a positive branded advertisement promoted autism awareness. A comparison using t-tests by type of health-related behavior indicated that unbranded diet/nutrition, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco advertisements were significantly more likely to have a positive polarity than branded messages.\nDiscussion: This study characterized the health-related advertisements on ten US university campuses. Across the surveyed campuses, health-related advertisements varied little in terms of size, format, and location. The largest proportion of advertisements on all campuses targeted diet/nutrition, exercise/fitness, and alcohol. Surprisingly, few advertisements were related to tobacco products. The majority of health-related advertisements promoted positive health behaviors recommended by health professionals. Unbranded advertisements were more likely to have a positive polarity than branded advertisements. Diet/nutrition, tobacco, and drug advertisements were more likely to be positive in polarity, whereas alcohol-related advertisements tended have a negative polarity (e.g. promoting \"happy hour\" alcoholic beverages). The presence of negative polarity alcohol advertisements on-campus is especially alarming given the fact that underage alcohol use is a national public health problem (Wechsler et al., 2002) and alcohol advertising can promote underage drinking (Chung et al., 2010; Snyder et al., 2006). The university policies focussing on alcohol could be strengthened by prohibiting branded advertisements and messages promoting intake of alcohol. Campus tobacco and drug policies could be strengthened in a similar manner.The limited number of diet/nutrition policies on the surveyed campuses was unexpected given the obesity epidemic and unintended weight gain experienced by many university students (Hoffman et al., 2006; Holm-Denoma et al., 2008; Kasperek et al., 2007; Levitsky et al., 2004, 2006). Although most diet/nutrition advertisements were positive (e.g. promoting ways to eat healthy on-campus, vegetarian eating, healthy options for take-out and dining out, managing lactose intolerance, and celiac disease), a quarter were negative. People of all ages are susceptible to the effects of media and the health behaviors it promotes, however, young adults are considered an extremely vulnerable population (Cousineau et al., 2004). In addition, marketing of unhealthy foods can contribute to obesity (Sharma et al., 2010). For these reasons, it is imperative that positive messages are marketed to young adults and university students.Just two campuses had policies related to provide calorie and nutrition information for foods sold on-campus at point of purchase. Without menu labeling, it is nearly impossible for students to assess the nutrient and energy density of meals. Legislation requiring school wellness policies (US Congress, 2004) and nutrition labeling of menus at restaurants, fast food chains, and vending machines (Center for Science in the Public Interest, 2010) do not extend to post-secondary education institutions. Thus, campus-based policies are needed to help young adults make food choices that will safeguard their health and reduce their risk for overweight and obesity.Strengths and limitations of the study\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Little is known about health-related advertising on university environments. Given the power of advertising and its potential effect on health behaviors, the purpose of this paper is to assess the health-related advertisement environment and policies on university campuses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In total, ten geographically and ethnically diverse US university campuses that were trained in using the health-related advertisement survey tool participated in the study. Inter-rater reliability with data collectors at each university was established before data commencement began in Spring 2011. The survey tool assessed the types, locations, and prevalence of health-related advertisements and messages (e.g. nutrition, alcohol, tobacco) on campus, and included both advertisements and messages related to any aspect of health by any sponsor. Current campus health-related policies from each institution were collected as well.\nFindings: - The largest proportion of advertisements on all campuses were for diet/nutrition, exercise/fitness, and alcohol. The majority of advertisements promoted positive health behaviors recommended by health professionals. Unbranded advertisements were more likely to promote positive health behaviors than branded advertisements. Diet/nutrition, tobacco, and drug advertisements were more likely to be positive, whereas alcohol-related advertisements tended to be negative.\nOriginality/value: - The paper's findings indicate significant gaps in campus health-related policies with regard to healthy eating and physical activity and lack of policies covering health-related advertisement content. Benchmark data like those reported here can help campus stakeholders set priorities and work with campus decision makers to advocate for the development and implementation of healthy campus policies that support healthy environments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical examination of the pricing policies and their antecedents in the services sector	[ "Services", "Pricing policy", "Greece" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to Marsh (1988, p. 87), \"pricing is a very important element in the marketing mix for it is the only one which produces revenue. All the other parts of the marketing mix are cost driven\". Moreover, Kurtz and Clow (1998, p. 240) have suggested that \"consumers often use price as one of the inputs into forming expectations when making purchase decisions\", while Urbany (2001) has argued that pricing decisions determine the value for the customer and play a role in building an image for the company. Furthermore, Shipley and Jobber (2001) have pointed out that pricing is the most flexible element of the marketing mix in that pricing decisions can be implemented relatively quickly and at a low cost.The above arguments reveal a general consensus in the literature regarding the importance of pricing for every firm's profitability and relationships with its customers. This significance notwithstanding, \"pricing is often a perplexing issue for practitioners and researchers alike ... today, price remains on of the least researched and mastered areas of marketing ... Marketers have only recently began to focus on effective pricing ... Although the need for effective pricing is frequently voiced at conference sessions ... an overview of specific topics of potential interest has yet to be developed\" (Hoffman et al., 2002, p. 1015).The lack of academic interest in the field of pricing is also depicted on the limited empirical studies that have been conducted on this issue, which is even more evident in the case of services. According to Berry and Yadav (1996, p. 42) \"little research exists on the pricing of services and few people understand the special challenges involved\". Similarly, Docters et al. (2004, p. 23) have suggested, \"pricing of services has long been given less attention than product pricing. However, as services become an increasingly important part of the economy - and a bigger source of profit for many companies - the need to understand service pricing has grown\". \"Generally, pricing of services requires a separate and different treatise as opposed to the issue of product pricing because of the atypical nature of services\" (Mitra and Capella, 1997, p. 329). Bearing this in mind, this paper endeavors to contribute to this neglected field by investigating the pricing behavior of service firms. In particular, the pricing policies adopted along with the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that influence these policies will be examined.Moreover, an effort will be made to investigate the extent to which these policies and characteristics are varied across different service industries, given the unique structural characteristics of different service sectors (Lovelock, 1996). For instance, pricing policies such as yield management are expected to be adopted by sectors such as airlines or hotels, whereas policies such as price bundling or list pricing are used by the majority of service companies. Similarly, industries characterized by intensive competition are bound to place their emphasis on competition-oriented characteristics, while cost is expected to impact pricing decisions irrespective of the sector of operation. Within the same context, the impact of the service, organizational and environmental characteristics on the pricing policies adopted might be different across different service contexts.Based on the above arguments, the objectives of the current research are the following:* to examine the pricing policies that service organizations adopt in order to set their prices;* to investigate the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that influence these policies; and* to examine the extent to which the pricing policies as well as their antecedents are differentiated across different service industries.The paper is organized as follows: first, a comprehensive review of the existing literature on the pricing policies and the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that affect pricing decisions is presented. Second, the research methodology used is provided. Third, the data analysis and the discussion of results are analyzed, while, finally, the conclusions along with the basic implications of the main findings of the study, its limitations and the directions for future research are presented.\nLiterature review: Pricing policies\nResearch methodology: Sample and data collection\nData analysis and research results: Pricing policies\nConclusions: The objectives of the current research were to examine the pricing policies adopted by service companies along with the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that affect these policies. Moreover, the extent to which the aforementioned policies and characteristics are varied across different service industries was also examined. Analyzing data from 170 firms operating in six different sectors, the study concluded that the only policy that is adopted by the majority of the sample companies, especially those operating in the medical and airline sectors, is the \"list pricing\" one, perhaps, due to the easiness associated with its practical implementation. Moreover, their pricing decisions were found to be influenced by a number of service, organizational and environmental characteristics with \"service cost\" and \"competitors' prices\" being the most important ones, while less emphasis was found to be given to marketing and customer related issues.Also, different types of characteristics were found to lead to different pricing policies. More specifically, the \"service cost\" was found to lead to the policy of \"efficiency pricing\", while the \"corporate and marketing objectives and strategy\" to the two forms of price bundling (i.e. pure and mixed). Also, the \"corporate philosophy\" facilitates the adoption of \"negotiated pricing\", \"pure bundling\" and \"efficiency pricing\", whereas the examination of conditions surrounding the \"macroeconomic environment\" is necessitated in the case of \"cash discounts\" and \"mixed leader pricing\". The \"customers' characteristics\" were also found to lead to \"mixed leader pricing\", while the \"competitive prices\" were taking into account when forming policies such as \"trade discounts\" and \"efficiency pricing\". The \"political and social environment\" favors the adoption of \"pure bundling\", while \"competitive threats\" the adoption of \"trade discounts\". Finally, the \"bargaining power of suppliers and buyers\" was found to be associated positively with the policies of \"negotiated pricing\" and \"cash discounts\", whereas the \"service uniqueness\" was found to be associated negatively with \"efficiency pricing\".Regarding the pricing behavior of companies operating in different service industries, insurance companies are mainly endeavoring to offer unique services in their market. Moreover, they are bound to place an emphasis on their broader social and political environment due to their social character and the high regulation, characterizing the Greek insurance industry till recently.Banks are paying attention to their macroeconomic environment, since indices such as GDP, unemployment rates or growth rates are of paramount importance when designing their pricing formulas. They are also endeavoring to incorporate their pricing strategy into their overall marketing strategy and, thus, formulate a cohesive marketing strategy. This might be attributed to the fact that most banks operating in Greece have established well-organized marketing departments. It is also interesting that, while they use some standard list prices, they are also negotiating their prices individually with some key customers, perhaps, in the fields of corporate or private banking.Transportation-shipping companies place their emphasis on both their suppliers and buyers given the high bargaining power that they may exert. Thus, while they use standard list prices, they are also bound to negotiate their prices with some important customers.Information-technology companies aim at customer relationship marketing strategies through the prices that they levy. More specifically, they give a close eye to their customers' characteristics (e.g. price elasticity, perceived value) due to their customers' specialized needs, while they are also endeavoring to build long-term relationships with them and levy prices on a negotiation basis, which will satisfy the above needs.Airlines seem to be interested in satisfying their intermediaries when setting prices through offering price incentives to them. This might be explained by the nature of airline services, which are rendered in the market through such intermediaries such as travel agencies or tour operators. On the other hand, medical service companies have not established a clear pricing strategy and prefer relying on predetermined list prices.\nImplications: The above findings indicate clearly the complexity and multidimensionality that characterizes pricing decisions given that different pricing behavior patterns emerged across different service industries. This fact has been also supported from a normative perspective within the existing literature on service pricing in that different categories of services necessitate formulating different pricing strategies (e.g. Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996). This complexity is also reflected on the fact that different service, organizational and environmental characteristics were found to lead to different pricing policies especially in different service contexts. Within this context, there does not seem to be a \"one and only\" recipe for pricing decisions, which can be applied to all circumstances and service contexts. Formulating the pricing strategy seems to be a \"situation specific\" business activity requiring managers to place their emphasis on the unique characteristics of the services that they render in the market along with their companies' overall strategy and goals and their market structure.These findings reflect also the predominance of the \"list pricing\" policy when setting prices in all service industries with the exception of information-technology companies. On the other hand, a number of alternative policies such as \"yield management\", \"pure bundling\" and \"mixed bundling\" were not found to be used extensively by the companies in our sample. Certainly, in a sense, this finding reflects some kind of lack of pricing sophistication among the firms in our sample, if we take into consideration that such policies have been underlined in the services literature as being unique in the case of pricing of services. However, it may be partially attributed to their inability to understand and implement practically these policies and needs to be treated with caution. For instance, prices in the tourism industry (e.g. airlines, hotels) are based almost exclusively on the \"yield management\" policy, while a common practice in the telecommunications and information technology industries is to offer bundles of services in order to entice customers. Thus, it would be rather risky to suggest that these policies should not be used by service firms. Service managers are advised to investigate thoroughly whether the conditions surrounding their companies' internal and external environment facilitate their adoption.Furthermore, some kind of lack of pricing sophistication is also depicted on the limited customer orientation among the companies in our sample when levying prices with the exception of information-technology companies. This limited customer orientation is reflected on both the lack of differentiating prices across different customers and the moderate influence of customer related characteristics. The limited role of marketing within the companies in our sample (with the exception of banks) certainly contributes to this direction. Previous studies that have been conducted in Greece have also found a lack of a marketing orientation especially in business-to-business sectors (Gounaris and Avlonitis, 2001). However, a number of different authors (e.g. Shipley and Jobber, 2001) have stressed the significance of incorporating customers' needs and characteristics into the pricing process if effective pricing decisions are to be made. After all, as Narver and Slater (1990) have suggested better performance can be achieved only if every business activity is implemented by having the customer in mind. Thus, an implication for managers responsible for pricing decisions within their firms is to always have their customers in mind and design their pricing strategies from a customer perspective. This is not always an easy task given the fact that many companies still insist on adopting simplified cost-based formulas (e.g. cost-plus) when setting prices. Trying to perceive pricing from a customer and even a wider market perspective might necessitate a re-examination of the current pricing practices and a re-orientation of the current philosophies. However, the benefits and the long-term payoffs of such an approach make the whole effort worthwhile.\nLimitations and future research: Although the current study represents a first attempt to empirically examine the pricing policies adopted by service organizations along with the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that influence these policies, its findings should be treated with some caution by the reader. First of all, the context of the study (Greece) is a caveat, since it limits the ability to generalize the results in other countries. Certainly, future research that replicates the present study in other national contexts could lead to a better understanding of the concepts presented here. However, the universality of the pricing phenomenon (Lovelock, 1996) suggests that the concepts underlined in the present study may prove to be useful for other companies regardless of their national setting.Furthermore, despite the importance of the sectors investigated in the particular study, further research, which will examine the extent to which these findings can be applied to other service industries or even focus on individual sectors, might prove not be fruitless.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the pricing policies that service companies adopt in order to set their prices along with the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that influence these policies. Moreover, the extent to which these policies and characteristics are varied across different service industries is also examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In order to achieve the research objectives, data were collected from 170 companies operating in six different service sectors in Greece through personal interviews. Moreover, a qualitative research through 38 in-depth interviews was also conducted.\nFindings: - The study found that the pricing policies tend to be influenced by a number of different service, organizational and environmental characteristics, while different patterns of pricing behavior were clearly identified across different service industries.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The practical implications of the findings refer to the fact that there does not seem to be a \"one and only\" recipe for pricing decisions, which can be applied to all circumstances and service contexts. Formulating the pricing strategy seems to be a \"situation specific\" business activity. The significance of these findings notwithstanding, the context of the study (Greece) is the most important caveat, since it limits the ability to generalize the results to other countries.\nOriginality/value: - The contribution of the paper lies in the fact that it presents the first attempt to empirically examine the potential impact of the aforementioned characteristics on the pricing policies used especially across different service contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competition and efficiency in the non-life insurance market in South Africa	[ "South Africa", "Insurance", "Efficiency", "Stochastic frontier analysis", "Competition", "H-statistics", "Quiet-life", "D4", "D24", "G22", "L11" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This study examines the empirical relationship between competition and efficiency in the non-life insurance market in South Africa. The reference literature that examines the competition-efficiency nexus is the \"quiet-life\" hypothesis of Hicks (1935) which posits that managers of firms with market power enjoy a \"quiet-life\" free from competition. The lack of competition results in reduced managerial effort leading to inefficiency. Liebenstein (1966) further argues in his \"liquidation hypothesis\" that intense competition increases the pressure on management to reduce slack and improve efficiency. On the other hand, competition has the potential to exacerbate the information asymmetry[1] in insurance markets and can result in market failures (Arrow, 1963; Akerlof, 1970; Rothschild and Stiglitz, 1976) and reduced efficiency (De Feo and Hindriks, 2014). For instance, competition in financial services industry has the tendency to shorten long-term relationships (Petersen and Rajan, 1995) between insurers and policy holders. This widens the information gap, increasing the cost of acquiring new information and results in declining efficiency. In addition, the profits enjoyed by firms in less competitive market power serves as incentives for prudent selection of less risky insurance portfolios leading to reduced screening and monitoring costs. These suggest an inconclusive effect of competition on efficiency in insurance markets.\n2. Overview of the non-life insurance market: The non-life insurance market in South Africa is regulated by the Short-Term Insurance Act 53 (1998) under the Insurance Department of the Financial Services Board (FSB). As part of broader reforms to the insurance market, insurers in the non-life market are currently preparing towards the adoption and compliance with the requirements of the Solvency and Assessment Management regulatory framework that seeks to enhance the soundness of the insurance market and protect policy holders. Table I shows that, at the end of 2012, there were 100 primary insurers underwriting various business lines in the non-life market. The number of reinsurers however remained unchanged between 2007 and 2012. Firms are registered to underwrite policies in at least one out of the eight business lines. From Table I, more insurers underwrite policies in at least two business lines to reflect a high incidence of premium diversification across multiple business lines. The industry concentration ratios (CR3, CR5, CR8 and CR10) from 2007 to 2012 are also presented in Table I. In 2007, the top 3, 5, 8 and 10 insurers accounted for approximately 51, 62, 73 and 78 per cent of the market's gross premiums, respectively. However, a reduction in concentration levels was observed for the top 3, 5, 8 and 10 insurers to 36, 49, 61 and 66 per cent, respectively, in 2012. This reflects a declining concentration levels and incidence of increasing competitive conditions.\n3. Literature review: Traditionally, the estimation of efficiency has mainly been undertaken with both parametric and non-parametric techniques. The class of parametric techniques specify an efficient frontier in the translog function but differ in the distributional assumptions of the inefficiency and random components (Eling and Luhnen, 2010a). The most widely applied techniques under the parametric approach include the SFA, distribution-free approach (DFA) and thick frontier approach. On the other hand, the non-parametric approaches are mainly based on mathematical programming techniques with no assumptions on the error terms. The DEA and free-disposal hull are the most common non-parametric techniques for estimating efficiency. This section provides a brief overview of empirical studies on efficiency in insurance markets.\n4. Methodology: The empirical investigations are carried out in three stages. The first stage involves the estimation of cost and profit efficiency scores using the SFA. In the second stage, the P-R model for estimating competitive behaviour is discussed. The final stage involves the description of the empirical model and theoretical justifications of the model variables.\n5. Empirical results: This section presents the results of analysis undertaken in stages 1 and 2. The parameters of the translog cost and profit functions in Equation 6 estimated using STATA 12 are reported in the Table AI. The value of variance parameter[27] g (0.997 and 0.998 for cost and profit functions, respectively) indicates that the one-sided inefficiency term dominates the error structure of our models. Hence, the SFA technique better captures the inefficiency of the sample compared with deterministic models. The log likelihood ratio test also supports the use of the translog function over the Cobb-Douglas function.\n6. Conclusions and policy recommendations: Empirical studies on the efficiency of financial institutions in Africa have mainly been limited to banking markets. In this paper, we extend the existing literature by empirically examining the effect of competition on cost and profit efficiency in the non-life insurance market in South Africa. The SFA is employed to estimate cost and profit efficiency of 75 non-life insurers from 2007 to 2012. Insurance market competition is analysed by cross-sectional estimations of the Panzar-Rosse (1987) revenue model. The findings indicate high levels of efficiency in cost and low levels in profit. On the average, costs are about 20 per cent over the estimated cost frontier while insurers earn 45.71 per cent of their optimum profits. The results of ordinary least squares estimations of the P-R models indicate a monopolistic competitive non-life insurance industry.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the empirical effect of competition on cost and profit efficiency in the South African non-life insurance market in a three-stage analysis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using annual firm level data on 80 non-life insurance companies from 2007 to 2012, the authors first employ the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to estimate cost and profit efficiency scores. In the second stage, the authors measure insurance market competition using the Panzar-Rosse (P-R) H-statistics. In the final stage, the authors estimate a fixed-effects panel regression model which controls for heteroskedasticity to examine the effect of competition on the estimated efficiency scores. Firm size, diversification, age, risk, reinsurance and leverage are employed as control variables.\nFindings: From the SFA, the authors find average cost and profit efficiency of 80.08 and 45.71 per cent, respectively. This suggests that non-life insurers have high levels of efficiency in cost and low efficiency in profit. The annual estimates of the P-R H-statistics also suggest that firms in the market earn revenues under conditions of monopolistic competition. The authors find a positive effect of competition on cost and profit efficiency to validate the \"quiet-life\" hypothesis which posits that competition improves efficiency.\nPractical implications: Regulatory policies should be directed towards enhancing competition to improve on the low profit earning potential of firms in the non-life market.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study presents the first application of a non-structural measure of competition to examine the empirical relationship between competition and efficiency in insurance markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The Visitor Journey: the new road to success	[ "Tourism", "Customer satisfaction", "Tourism development", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper reports on an innovative and ambitious new approach to developing tourism strategies called the Visitor Journey(c). It was first trialled in 2003 when the Regional Development Agency (RDA) One NorthEast contracted LiveTourism to develop a new regional tourism framework to complement its Regional Economic Strategy (RES). Since then, it has been adopted by a number of key tourism organizations, including the London Development Agency.There are two key principles that underpin it1. Visitors are the very life blood of tourism and need to be at the heart of any strategy. To succeed, the whole visitor experience must match and exceed expectations. This means right from the point when a visitor starts to think about where to go, through to returning home and beyond.2. The choice of process that is used to develop a tourism strategy is as important as the strategy itself. On their journey, a visitor can easily encounter the services of a whole range of different organizations. Whilst these organizations may be entirely separate entities, collectively they deliver the experience for the visitor. This will be greatly enhanced if they can all be engaged meaningfully in developing and delivering a strategy together.The Visitor Journey(c) framework can be used by any size or type of organization in the tourism industry. It can be used by individual organization to improve their own performance. It is particularly powerful when used as a tool to help organization work more effectively together.\nBackground: Conventional tourism strategies are often structured around key functional areas such as research, training, information, marketing and product development, but in doing so, they can become stand alone, and ultimately dysfunctional. To be effective these areas must be driven seamlessly by visitor needs and priorities.Richin (1997) demonstrated the role that our emotions play in driving our needs. Building on this work, Bennett et al. (2004) showed that consumers will pursue a service-encounter gone wrong for days or months, feeling intense emotions that create physical or psychological consequences even when only small amounts of money are involved. The tourism industry needs to understand the range of emotions a visitor may go through on a journey in order to be able to meet their needs. For example - Fear -\"I need to feel safe,\" Anticipation - \"I need to trust what you say is what you deliver\".Clawson and Knetsch as far back as 1966 were pursuing the ideal of putting the visitor first (Clawson and Knetsch, 1966). More recently, Pine and Gilmour (1998) coined the phrase the \"experience economy\" to encapsulate how consumers are no longer seeking products and services, but instead a whole experience.These findings present a particular challenge for the tourism industry where the experience is actually delivered by a whole range of organization from B&B owners, restaurateurs, transport providers, local authorities and attractions to shopping centre managers, to name but a few examples. No single organization is responsible for the whole journey, yet the overall experience for visitor is only as good as the weakest link in the chain. Furthermore, the industry is dominated by micro-businesses, often \"lifestyle driven\" and the logistical challenge of engaging so many stakeholders is significant.LiveTourism has developed a framework that addresses these issues called the Visitor Journey(c). The framework follows the visitor through a sequence of events and emotions from the initial planning stages, to leaving the home environment, through the return journey and beyond as a continuous visitor journey.Whilst putting the customer first may not be new to many industries, until now tourism has been slow to put the visitor centre stage.The Visitor Journey methodology\nThe London Development Agency experience: The approach that the London Development Agency used is in collaboration with LiveTourism is described in more detail below.Desk research\nFindings: Collective action delivers the total visitor experience\nConclusions: The Visitor Journey(c) model is a management tool with almost unlimited applications. Providing the needs of the visitor or customer are considered first, it can be applied to virtually any project, specific market segments such as women, families, walkers, or those with disabilities.But like any strategy or framework it does not implement itself. An extensive action plan, identifying clear funding and delivery ownership is a key part of the process.In 2003 this approach was perceived to be very radical in the tourism industry. Since then, the understanding of how powerful it can be has gathered pace. Since it was used by the LDA in 2004 it has also been adopted by VisitBritain, the national tourism organization to produce a Customer Contact Strategy. VisitBritain's 2006-2009 Marketing Strategy refers to the consumer journey in which they \"look - book - travel - stay - tell - keep in touch\" the six stages of the Visitor Journey(c) demonstrating that the visitor is firmly at the heart of their business.As we have shown in this case study the real benefits will come when the framework is cascaded through all levels of the industry and only then can we be truly competitive in the global tourism market place\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this case study to explain how the Visitor Journey framework was used by the London Development Agency to improve the accessibility of London as a tourist destination for disabled and non-disabled visitors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The Visitor Journey is a new approach to developing tourism strategies that is centred entirely around the visitor. It follows the visitor through a sequence of events and emotions from the initial planning stages, to leaving the home environment, through the return journey and beyond as a continuous visitor journey. The framework consists of six key interrelated stages.\nFindings: - This study highlights how the visitor encounters the services of a vast range of organizations and businesses during a trip. It shows how the framework becomes particularly powerful when it is used by a whole range of organizations within a destination or region. By using it the London Development Agency identified a range of actions that they needed to take with their partners to improve the quality of the overall experience for the visitor.\nPractical implications: - Providing the needs of the visitor or customer are considered first, the Visitor Journey framework can be applied to virtually any project, or specific market segments such as families, walkers, and those with disabilities. It can be used by individual organization to improve their own individual performance but has most impact when used collaboratively with partners.\nOriginality/value: - This paper outlines a new approach to developing tourism strategies and is of value to any organization with a stake in the tourism industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modelling socioeconomic trajectories: an optimal matching approach	[ "Lifeplanning", "Health and safety", "Socioeconomic regions", "Economic models" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Socioeconomic position and health\nMethods: Dataset\nResults: Cluster analysis\nDiscussion: This paper has demonstrated the potential of optimal matching as a tool for modelling life-course socioeconomic position, integrating the sociological concepts of trajectories and transitions within the empirical tradition that is typical in epidemiological research. The analysis identified distinct clusters of socioeconomic sequences that were characterised by particular patterns of transition between different states of economic activity.These results were not unexpected, showing that men tended to be employed full-time consistently throughout their working lives, while employment patterns among women were more heterogeneous. In particular, men's working lives appeared to be characterised by just two primary transitions - entry to and exit from the labour market. In women, the results indicated that other transitions such as marriage and family formation may also be important in terms of employment patterns.The fact that the patterns that emerged were broadly what would have been expected suggests that the optimal matching approach adopted in the present study is producing a valid representation of patterns of economic activity and could potentially identify equally valid patterns for other socioeconomic trajectories such as occupational class. Nevertheless, the analysis also identified findings that might not have emerged using more conventional methods unable to compare whole sequences of data from the entire life course. The \"career breakers\" cluster is a good example of this; if those that fell into this cluster were only assessed before and after their \"break\", this pattern would not have become apparent.The analysis also highlighted the transition to retirement as an important driving-force behind the way in which the sequences clustered together. Again, the significance of this transition was not entirely unexpected but the strength with which it emerged as a defining characteristic of the life-course economic activity patterns in this population was interesting. Specifically, men were mainly divided between two clusters, one showing a direct transition between full-time work and retirement, and the other showing a period of part-time work, stopping work due to illness and/or being made redundant between full-time work and retirement. The latter group of men were much more likely to have been in manual occupations than the former (51 vs 20 per cent). One could therefore speculate that, as the group showing a direct transition between work and retirement appeared to be more advantaged in terms of occupational class, they may have had made more provision for retirement with, for example, private pensions, and would therefore have defined themselves as retired as soon as they stopped work, regardless of why they stopped working. Those in the group showing a less clear-cut transition between work and retirement may have been more likely to rely on the state pension and would therefore have not defined themselves as retired until they reached the age of 65 years.Confirming such speculation would require further study but nonetheless, the findings emphasise the capacity of sequence analysis to identify significant transitions within the life-course and their relative import. Sequence analysis may therefore prove to be a useful tool for identifying the complexities of socioeconomic trajectories that characterise particular populations, while at the same time allowing these complexities to be distilled into a form amenable to analysis.Limitations\nConclusions: Using a unique dataset, this paper describes an optimal matching approach to describing people's life-course economic activity status. We consider that this method represents an improvement on more conventionally used techniques such as event history analysis, as sequence analysis allows the researcher to treat the life course as an interlinked process rather than as a dislocated series of events. In theoretical terms, this in turn allows a focus on the interdependence of transitions and trajectories. More specifically to epidemiological research, the integration of these theoretical concepts within empirical work may be an important step towards improving understanding of the relationship between life-course socioeconomic position and health.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to describe the use of sequence analysis to model trajectories of life-course economic activity status, within a broader research agenda aimed at improving understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic position and health.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The analysis used data on 288 participants of the Boyd Orr Stratified Sub-Sample, comprising a combination of prospective and retrospective information on economic activity status, as well as health in early old age. Economic activity was coded as a time-based sequence of states for each participant based on six-month periods throughout their lives. Economic activity was classified as: pre-labour market; full-time employment; part-time employment; housewife; made redundant; stopped work due to illness; retired; other unemployed; or not applicable. Optimal matching analysis was carried out to produce a matrix of distances between each sequence, which was then used as the basis for cluster analysis.\nFindings: - The optimal matching analysis resulted in the classification of individuals into five economic activity status trajectories: full-time workers (transitional exit), part-time housewives, career breakers, full-time workers (late entry, early exit), and full-time housewives.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents the case for using sequence analysis as a methodological tool to facilitate a more interdisciplinary approach to the measurement of the life-course socioeconomic position, in particular attempting to integrate the empirical emphasis of epidemiological research with the more theoretical contributions of sociology. This may in turn help generate a framework within which to examine the relationships between life-course socioeconomic position and outcomes such as health in later life.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning inclusion through makerspace: a curriculum approach in Italy to share powerful ideas in a meaningful context	[ "Makerspace", "Inclusion", "Design and development", "Italy", "Early childhood education", "Positive technological development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The radical changes in population that modern societies are facing have seen a flourishing of investigations in several spheres: sociology (Herring and Henderson, 2012) economy (Hugo, 2005), law (Knotter et al., 2011), politics (Williamson and Khiabany, 2010). Schools deal with ambivalent poles coming from such a high rate of \"diversity\": the challenges and the opportunities. For instance, in Europe, a portion of the population fears that the increased number of children from minority groups is negatively affecting the quality of education (Thalhammer et al., 2001). Whaley (2009) has linked the reduced negative impact of discrimination on academic achievement through protective factors inspired by studies of ethnic identity and ethnic/racial socialization. The same considerations are to be assumed for other diversity traits, such as giftedness and/or disability (Mayes and Moore III, 2016). As suggested by Syed and colleagues (2011), interdisciplinary research that is policy-oriented in its conceptualization, design, analysis, and dissemination is needed most, and its implementation can be achieved through cultural research partnerships, collaborations among researchers, educators, policymakers, students, and others agent bodies who have interest in student success. This research-based teaching style can hardly be observed in standard or traditional teaching strategies. In this regard, it is worth citing the ground-breaking study of Hattie on Visible Learning (2012). He compiled an exhaustive metanalysis comparing the effectiveness of teaching strategies, and among the others, he suggested that expert teachers have \"involvement and respect for the students, willingness to be receptive to what the students need, [...] demonstrate a sense of responsibility in the learning process, and are passionate about ensuring that their students are learning\" (p. 27). Thus, it is extremely urgent to find alternative ways to build inclusion and develop new tools for the citizens of tomorrow. It is important to explore whether the application of innovative approaches can foster egalitarian relationships and bridge the gaps between uneven stages of development. In this paper, the aim is to offer some key considerations derived from a cutting-edge project of makerspace in an Italian public school. The first section is dedicated to the current state of \"Learning by making\" foundations and some shared principles of inclusive education that can be widely applied. Both these two elements are also analyzed, highlighting some peculiar aspects of the local school context. On the ground of these theoretical and contingent factors, the second section will describe the process, hurdles, and final outcomes of a real experience of inclusion through makerspace. In the final section, further pedagogical and methodological advancements are discussed.\nTheoretical foundations: A cut with traditional pedagogy: the learning-by-making approach\nDesign and implementation of an inclusive makerspace curriculum: Presentation\nConclusions: The curricular approach discussed above has shown the importance of inclusion of all students within mainstream schools. Pupils with atypical development interact with other children, and in this way, they can have first-hand experience of how social dynamics in a real environment unfold. Moreover, they can act in a challenging context where, more often than not, they are pushed to achieve goals exceeding their supposed cognitive abilities. The other pupils are also gaining from these interactions: they can understand different points of view, thus developing empathy, and they can appreciate original ways to approach a task, with cognitive and emotional benefits. In addition, the constant relationship helps them to control their reactions to behavioral problems that sometimes classmates with special needs display and so they deepen their knowledge of and tolerance for others' diversities.In this tentatively inclusive environment, the meaningful context of the makerspace sets in motion energies and intentions in a fashion that no other strategy has offered so far. The importance of task-based techniques lay on the complexity that they offer, allowing considerable freedom in reaching a goal through several alternative strategies available. Although all of them are adequate for reaching personal or educational aims, their effectiveness is not equivalent. By attempting to solve real-world problems that are made relevant in the process of learning, an intimate knowledge of the contexts of the classrooms, students, and the technologies available, can enrich the experiences for both the students and the teachers, in a continuous feedback loop. The makerspace context fostered the encounter between children throughout the making and by solving problems. More specifically, both the children with special needs have been welcomed and accepted in their full identity, and what they were able to produce acted as a mediator in this process of mutual recognition. The making allowed the pupils to focus on the objects while, almost undetectably, they were meeting each other in a social dimension. The technological support permitted to anchor the cognitive engagement by (partially) closing the gap. Nevertheless, regardless of the permanence of such an inter-individual difference, the pupils shared a common status and common goals that were openly embraced by the context.Finally, the time has been fundamental in this experience: the reiteration of the format led the children to internalize the creative process and also permitted them to deeply understand their classmates. Every child took advantage of the relaxed working time (quite unusual in school contexts), and they looked forward to the next lessons. A whole year project gave the students the mental space to interiorize the experience, somehow feeling that they owned it.A few limitations (such as the small group size and the reiterated daily interactions with differences embodied in students with special needs, immigration background, low SES, gifted) are suggesting a cautious approach to over-optimistic conclusions in order to avoid improper generalizations. However, it does seem worthy to offer this experience as an example of good practices because it shows that the combination of inclusion and makerspaces is feasible, and it might offer a head start to those who feel dubious but still want to pick up the gauntlet.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Learning by making is being recognized as an efficient technique for students to develop knowledge and skills simultaneously. However, one of the most urgent challenges that schools are facing nowadays is to reach every student in their individual profile and potential. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to offer an integrated approach for re-thinking the role of Makerspace in a context of inclusion: the characteristics of this learning strategy, in contrast to the traditional currents, can offer promising paths to successfully build shared ideas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper critically analyses a Makerspace workshop implemented during a whole academic year in an Italian state primary school. This exploratory and instrumental qualitative approach (Baxter and Jack, 2008) included two channels that have been developed simultaneously, namely, technological skills and social competences.\nFindings: Stemming from a long tradition of inclusion of children with various educational needs in the mainstream school system, the authors aim to share a success story of academic and social achievements: all the participants were able to develop at their own pace, sharing tools, reaching a balance between the demands of the task and their planning and negotiation skills.\nResearch limitations/implications: Small group size and the reiterated daily interactions with differences embodied in students with special needs, immigration background, low SES, gifted.\nPractical implications: Through ad-hoc training, relatively marginalized pedagogical components (such as the ability to work in low-control situations, flexibility, student-centered learning environments) should be given a more prominent role and can be introduced in the desirable professional development. In addition, national and school policies are prompted to consider its inclusion as a slow-process that cannot be fully achieved in the presence of time and space constraints.\nSocial implications: The curricular approach discussed above has shown the importance of inclusion of all students within mainstream schools. Pupils with atypical development can interact with other children, and in this way, they can have first-hand experience of how social dynamics unfold in a real environment. Moreover, they can act in a challenging context where, more often than not, they are pushed to achieve goals exceeding their supposed cognitive abilities. The other pupils are also gaining from these interactions: they can understand different points of view, thus developing empathy, and they can appreciate original ways to approach a task, with cognitive and emotional benefits. In addition, the constant relationship helps them to control their reactions to behavioral problems that sometimes classmates with special needs display and so they deepen their knowledge of and tolerance for others' peculiarities.\nOriginality/value: Based on the foundational principles of Papert's powerful ideas and meaningful context, this paper describes the design principles of a successful makerspace, its integration in the school curriculum, and the achieved inclusion of children with Special Education Needs in a group of peers where adults became observers. Recommendations are discussed on how school practitioners can promote young children's learning through making.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Role models: expatriate gender diversity pipeline or pipe-dream?	[ "Gender", "Women", "Human resource management", "Careers", "Gender diversity", "Social networks", "Expatriates", "International assignments", "Role models", "Women expatriates", "Women's careers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The literature highlights that mentors, role models, and networks provide sources of organizational support for career progression. Yet, in the expatriate arena, there are insufficient women to act in a mentor or role model capacity and women are excluded from expatriate networks that are predominantly male in composition. These covert barriers are detrimental to women's career development (Linehan and Walsh, 2001). Currently, there is relatively little literature that attempts to disentangle these different forms of organizational support to look at their effects on women's international careers (e.g. Shortland, 2011). This paper focuses on female expatriate role models in the oil and gas industry to provide an original empirical and theoretical contribution to the field.\nLiterature review and theoretical background: The extant literature suggests that working internationally provides career development and is a precursor to senior level corporate appointments (Caligiuri and Colakoglu, 2007; Dickmann and Baruch, 2011). Indeed, job, career, and development considerations are identified as important factors that influence individuals' decisions to undertake expatriate assignments (Dickmann et al., 2008). Women have always been in the minority with respect to expatriation (Altman and Shortland, 2008). Unconscious bias by men renders women's deployment in international roles as risky (Byrne, 2011). Women are thus potentially disadvantaged if they are unaware of career-enhancing expatriate assignments in other countries, see them as being unavailable or unobtainable, are denied access to them or gain little benefit from them when they do undertake them. Given women's widely reported success in undertaking corporate expatriation (Shortland and Altman, 2011; Tung, 2004) their minority status as expatriates suggests that organizations are not achieving optimal business outcomes in an increasingly globalized commercial environment.\nMethod: In total, 18 oil and gas exploration and production organizations with UK bases of operation were invited to participate in a study which set out to investigate the effects of a range of organizational policies and implementation practices that were envisaged to affect women's decisions to take up international assignments. Two medium-sized firms, broadly comparable in size and scale of operations, agreed to take part in this detailed project. They employed a total of 93 female expatriates (representing approximately 10 percent of their expatriate populations).\nFindings: The applicability and importance of female expatriate role models\nDiscussion: Implications for theory\nLimitations and directions for future research: This research was a limited exploratory study set within two case study oil and gas firms in a sector where there were very few female expatriate role models. Further research is needed to understand the influence of role models on women's assignment participation in different sectors and organizations with greater female role model representation. A broader research study to examine support interventions such as mentoring, sponsorship, and networks and their interrelationship with role models as facilitators of women's expatriation would also be valuable.\nConclusions: While the extant literature exhorts the ideological benefits of role models for women's careers, this study revealed important contradictions. Although HR stereotypically appeared to buy into role models' inspirational value, the women expatriates had a different view. They did not, in the main, perceive female expatriate role models as important to their assignment participation. This was explained by: their relative paucity; women expatriates did not see themselves as such; and they were not supported by their organizations to assist others to consider expatriate careers. Women expatriates thus appeared to \"deselect themselves\" from conforming to the organizational stereotype of gaining role model status through simply being on an international assignment. Instead, they focused on the quality of their work and work ethic, acting as non-gendered behavioral models. Nonetheless, this does not mean that role models are unimportant to female expatriates and as a potential gender diversity intervention.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which - and how - female expatriate role models support women to take up expatriate assignments in the male-dominated oil and gas industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research uses data from a census survey of female expatriates supported by semi-structured interviews with a stratified sample of the survey respondents, triangulated with interviews with human resource (HR) professionals and analysis of organizational policy relevant to expatriation.\nFindings: Potential assignees value the information that women role models can provide on living in challenging, masculine locations. Role models are particularly important to women undertaking unaccompanied assignments and also when assignment periods exceed traditional lengths. Current female expatriates do not view themselves as role models, despite HR professionals recognizing their value in inspiring women's expatriation.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research was set in a sector with very few female expatriate role models. Further research is needed to understand the influence of role models on women's expatriation in different sectors and organizations with greater female role model representation.\nPractical implications: Training for current assignees, time to be set aside within work duties and communications links to enable current and returned female expatriates to connect with potential assignees are needed to widen expatriate gender diversity.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to theory by linking the importance of role models to women's career stages. It proposes a new theoretical contribution by linking role model importance to the types of assignments women undertake. Practical suggestions for organizations are given to widen expatriate gender diversity via support for role models.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leading through problems: recognizing the potential of getting their hands dirty	[ "Problem based learning", "Learning organizations", "Leadership development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Building today's leaders requires a forecast of tomorrow's challenges, an engagement in current problems and a boldness to live forward in a world of unpredictability. In avoiding potential ambiguity, some leaders are detached from current tensions as they attempt to understand backward phenomena that they never truly understood. In light of this scenario, a productive way of developing leadership competencies is to create opportunities for them to be engaged in \"real\" problems and provide the support to move them forward in strategic decision making and action taking problem-based learning (PBL) offers an alternative pathway to leadership training.\nSystematizing PBL: 1. PBL involves people working in small groups with someone, usually the trainer, to facilitate their learning and stimulate their thinking through interactive discussions.2. Learners are given an exciting and challenging problem at the start of the session to brainstorm relevant issues and discuss practical solutions.3. They are also given the responsibility of taking charge of their own learning, using the chosen \"problem\" as a guide to decide on the scope of what needs to be critically learnt.4. This prepares learners to be effective and self-directed, enabling them to handle new problems in their daily life.5. Armed with the \"problem\", learners are usually challenged to explore the relevant resources through a variety of investigative means to increase the knowledge base.6. By doing this, they are able to acquire an integrative body of knowledge as well as a host of such skills as problem solving, self-directed learning and group dynamics, necessary for personal, and professional growth and development.Implications on individual and team learning\nLooping the PBL way: 1. The \"changing image\" is the cognitive outcome of a series of \"learning loops\" interacting with one another. For instance, single-loop learning is concerned with error detection within a given system through a one-way feedback loop, characterized by self-directed learning in PBL.2. This involves the achievement of existing PBL objectives and goals within specified norms. In this \"loop\", learning is regarded as minimal, as individuals tend to be inward looking in search of new meanings to the PBL problem through adaptive strategies.3. On the other hand, double-loop learning is concerned with error detection, which involves a two-way feedback loop, leading to a change not only in strategies and assumptions for better performance, but also in the very norms that determine effective performance of the team.4. Such PBL characteristics as diagnostic discussion, reflection and feedback can be said to promote double-loop learning as the constant intellectual inquiry experienced by individuals increases the complexity of and capacity for learning.5. Generative approaches are also often employed as a means of making strategic decisions and generating appropriate plans in the PBL process. The interplay of these learning loops not only enhances one's intellectual capacities, it harnesses a variety of competencies necessary for the development of tomorrow's leaders.\nIn response to learning: change: One of the key aspects of PBL is the use of a practical problem to motivate a series of learning experiences. This process promotes learning from a concrete experience where participants critically reflect on existing issues to unravel the various facets of the problem under investigation. Revans (1982) characterizes this aspect of learning as action learning wherein behaviors are adjusted and modified in response to an experience. For instance, if no behavioral change is recorded, then no learning can be said to have taken place.Individuals are vital to the process of PBL due to their reasoning processes enabling them to design, invent, produce and evaluate their actions which in turn produce learning. As such, thinking and acting, being essential characteristics of PBL, are based on causal reasoning. A key requirement for facilitating the transition from thought to action is the promotion of rigorous causal reasoning to engage actors in everyday activities. Consequently, the iterative process of reasoning allows actors to experience dynamic exchanges between single- and double-loop learning where pressing issues are constantly challenged.\nOne approach, endless cycles: The intrinsic value of reflection is not simply to seek an immediate solution to a problem; it is the creation of new insights into broader and deeper issues that reflection seeks to bring about continued questioning. This implies that there is no end to a reflective cycle in PBL. Here, learning is regarded as a continuous questioning of routine and take-for-granted practices, similar to double-loop learning.Reflection, a key component of PBL, seeks to promote a continual experimentation with possibility, an ongoing challenge of existing answers and a constant creation of assumptions that guide actors in their complex problem-solving process. The effectiveness of PBL also hinges on the influence of power distance, which can bind or break human interaction. PBL seeks to promote a reciprocal influence of power in interpersonal relationship, which translates learning into knowledge and single- to double-loop processes.What limits actors to single-loop learning is not an unawareness of the necessary skills involved in double-loop learning; it is the entrenchment of old thinking and acting habits coupled with self-protection that eventually prevents double-loop learning. Consequently, the success of PBL requires a new mindset and a strong buy-in from every participant involved.\nDeveloping the \"leader\" through PBL: PBL is an essential process in the development of personal and professional skills including leadership proficiency. The potential for developing understanding through PBL is enhanced by a focus not only on developing cognitive awareness (meta-cognition) - apparent in such characteristics as \"problem definition\", \"open communication\" and \"resource utilization\" - but also in engaging individuals in learning for the whole person, evident in \"knowledge sharing\", \"investigation\" and \"guided action\", as illustrated in Figure 1.\n1. Problem definition: In an environment where leaders are required to juggle with multiple responsibilities, the PBL process needs to be strategically planned to meet their needs rather than to bog them down with more ambiguity. The problem proposed by the CEO has to be carefully crafted such that it is relevant and of interest to members of the management team. For this, the CEO needs to feel the pulse of the ground by finding out from their respective leaders some of the underlying concerns. The following are several tips on identifying a suitable \"problem\":* It has to have a direct impact on the organization at large with long-term benefits.* It has to be one that offers sufficient familiarity but with no immediate convergence of interpretation.* It has to have an effect on different levels of people and a variety of contexts.* It has to be in line with the organization's quest for excellence and globalization.Implication on leadership\n2. Open communication: The communication space given to leaders to listen, share, inquire and reflect on prevalent issues associated with the PBL problem has an impact on their analytical and decision-making process. Of importance to the PBL process is the opportunity for dialogue where personal worldviews are challenged and negotiated. The role of dialogue is crucial in leadership development as it enhances team learning, allowing dynamic exchanges in meanings and words initiated by the problem PBL problem. Further, the strength of PBL lies in the maximization of individual contribution and expansion of team effort in leadership development.Implication on leadership\n3. Utilization of resources: In order for PBL to succeed, resources must be made available to staff. As the process requires members to do their own research, design concepts and formulate strategies, it is essential that appropriate infrastructure be made available to support the process. With the relevant resources, leaders will be better equipped to share pertinent information and peer-teach each other to enlarge their knowledge base. If specific skills such as self-directed learning and process management are required to solve a given problem, strategic coaching and training from qualified personnel should be provided.Implication on leadership\nDifferent processes, one ultimate purpose: 1. In the first phase, \"problem definition\", \"open communication\" and \"utilization of resources\" act as enablers to initiate PBL.2. In the second phase, \"guided action\" serves as a process controller in the second phase to further execute a task or an action through the help of a facilitator. The person appointed as a facilitator should best be an experienced and qualified PBL trainer, whose role is to set fundamental guidelines, facilitate dialogue, challenge assumptions and consolidate perspectives.3. In the subsequent stage of process control, the PBL trainer may appoint a key participant such as the CEO to facilitate the continued process of problem solving. From this point, the trainer will serve as an advisor to the CEO from time to time to help him/her complete the entire PBL process.4. In the third phase, \"investigation\", \"reflection\" and \"knowledge sharing\" act as outcome evaluators to generate a strategic action plan in response to the PBL problem.\nSustaining the \"leader\" through PBL: The commitment to whole-person learning is an essential aspect in molding the intrinsic characteristics of a leader, as wholeness is an integral dimension of the learning process. In PBL, the process of learning is largely influenced by the contextual boundaries of structures and routines. The causes and effects of these boundary changes are likely to influence the way leaders behave and act. Leaders are inclined to repeat a certain set of behavioral patterns that was tried and tested, and avoid any that is ambiguous and uncertain. It is assumed that leaders do not merely learn from their own background and experience; they do so by emulating other role models as well. In this regard, PBL provides diverse opportunities for role-modeling based on three key values: stimulating the affective, strengthening the cognitive and enhancing the social.Implications on leadership\nA structured approach, many possibilities: Table I presents a matrix of the possible applications that are essential for PBL facilitators to manage the cycle of PBL by integrating the enabling and evaluation phases - Phase 1 and 3 respectively - through the mediating agent of guided action in Phase 2.Securing an appropriate problem by defining a realistic situation\nOne single problem, many pathways: PBL is an all-round development leadership program that seeks to restore an appropriate balance to the different dimensions of life. It enfolds personal integration and an informal heart in addition to the training of the eye and heart. The main challenge in PBL lies in the interpretation of meanings, which provides another dimension to the notion of human understanding indicative of how meta-cognition can be further developed.As PBL develops and gets incorporated into leaders' routine, they will ultimately become better and more proficient managers, advisors and administrators capable of handling a wide range of challenges. More so, they will help make their organization a better workplace for their employees and take the organization to a much higher level strategically.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper seeks to examine problem-based learning (PBL) as an emerging learning paradigm and proposes that it is a viable approach in leadership development. It aims to identify several key factors, strategies and possible outcomes associated with this new approach to training.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on a review of the literature on PBL, organizational learning and leadership training as well as practical experience, the paper discusses the salient features of PBL and their impact on leadership development through multiple levels of simultaneous learning.\nFindings: - Three important factors have been identified as contributing to the meaningfulness of leaders' learning process: problem definition, open communication and utilization of resources. Expert guidance after the formal PBL training phase provides the sensemaking pathway in shaping the learning-oriented behavior of leaders.\nPractical implications: - A matrix eliciting a guided approach to PBL in leadership development is presented to make explicit the subtle complexity of the learning process. Through both a structured training to an unstructured operational phase, PBL has led leaders to the discovery of new roles, attitudes and knowledge required to meet current changing times.\nOriginality/value: - The structured yet diverse learning framework of PBL provides a unique dimension to human resource development. When applied to a dynamic organizational context, PBL provides an integrative mix of learning opportunities and harmonizes potential learning disturbances to develop the real leader. This is an area that has not been extensively researched.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Morphometry of landslides in Garhwal Himalaya, India	[ "India", "Landslides", "Profile", "Thalweg", "Gradient", "Debris volume", "Casualties" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The study area is a small stretch of Garhwal Himalaya, which is very sensitive towards the mass movement related activities and falls under the Central Himalayan Zone, consisting of low- to medium-grade crystallines with intrusive of acidic and basic rocks. The rock types of this area are garnetiferous mica schist, granite gneiss, porphyritic gneiss, talc-sericite schist, schistose quartzite, marble and amphibolite (Naithani et al., 2002).The drainage system of the area is very much influenced by the structural and physical features, which is the major factor in the causation of mass movement. The behaviour of mass movement is directly linked with the drainage and monsoon season, so that there would be an immense need of repair and clearance of drainage lines before the start of monsoon season. Because, the chocking of drainage line will increase the landslide events and chances of flash flood occurrences.\nDiscussion of results: This analysis is based upon the mathematical calculations of three past incidences, which are as follows.1. Bheti-Paundar landslide\nConclusion: In today's world the traditional knowledge of the people is very negligible due to the modernization and lavishing lifestyle. But this is the need of time that we have to live in harmony with the nature like tradition knowledge as an old wine in new bottle. There must be an awareness and capacity building programmes for the local community by the local government/administration or disaster management authorities to disseminate the knowledge on the landslide triggering factors and creation of early warning signals before the occurrence of any mishap.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to introduce a simple and convenient method for the landslides study.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study is based upon the individual case study of three past landslides which may probably prove fatal in the near future. It is useful for the measurement of the horizontal length, longitudinal length, altitude at different points and area of the landslide. These measurements are very helpful in calculating the valley side gradient, longitudinal gradient of the landslide scarp and the volume of the debris generated due to mass movement.\nFindings: - Reactivation of slope instability problems were found along these landslides spots, which will create havoc for the people and a problem for the administration in the near future.\nOriginality/value: - The implication in the paper is that structural and non-structural mitigation and management strategies are needed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Entrepreneurial social capital research: resolving the structure and agency dualism	[ "Social capital", "Entrepreneurialism", "Ontology", "Epistemology", "Critical realism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the pioneering work of Jacobs (1965) in urban studies there has been wide recognition of the importance of social capital in creating dynamic communities. Coleman (1988) confirmed that social capital contributed to the development of relationships that encompassed shared values via processes of co-operation that helped create \"civic trust\". While Putnam (2000) claimed that the lack of social capital had contributed to the decline of community spirit in the USA. His work was so influential that he was invited to act as an advisor to US President Bill Clinton. With regards to entrepreneurship, social capital is based on the way in which those starting or managing small businesses must develop and maintain relationships with a wide range of social actors. Reciprocal relationships based on mutual trust, obligations and expectations are central to the creation of social capital.\nDualisms in entrepreneurship research: Similar to other disciplines within the broad field of management and organizational studies the study of entrepreneurship is plagued by dualisms. Perhaps the most obvious and longstanding is the distinction between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs (Ramoglou, 2013). Attempts to identify the distinguishing features have sustained an extensive research tradition in entrepreneurship. Examples range from McClelland's (1961) ideas about psychological attributes such as the need for achievement to more recent work engaged in the (fruitless) search for an entrepreneurial gene (Nicolaou et al., 2008; Shane, 2003; Shane et al., 2010). Other recent dualisms include the differences between commercial (for profit) entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs (Doherty et al., 2014). Of particular concern to policy makers and politicians interested in stimulating economic growth are differences between necessity-based and opportunity-based entrepreneurship (Block and Sandner, 2009); or subsistence and transformative entrepreneurship (He and Chi, 2013). The former group are generally associated with less developed economies while the latter group are more usually based in developed economies such as the USA (Valliere and Peterson, 2009). A related concept is the difference between entrepreneurs operating in the formal and informal sectors (Williams and Nadin, 2011, 2013). Similarly, the search for higher levels of economic performance has prompted considerable interest in the distinction between growth-oriented businesses, known as \"gazelles\" (Stangler, 2010), and the majority of entrepreneurs who do not intend to grow their businesses to any significant scale (Jennings and Beaver, 1997; Mason, 2010; Mason et al., 2011). Much of this interest was originally stimulated by Birch (1979, 1987) who suggested that 3 per cent of small firms were responsible for creating 70 per cent of net new jobs in the USA.\nEntrepreneurial social capital and the dualist divide: Above, we noted that Burrell and Morgan (1979) map four paradigms in organization studies according to two overarching approaches: objectivist (functionalist, structuralist paradigms); and subjectivist (interpretivist, radical humanist paradigms). Similarly, McKelvey (1997, p. 354) suggests that there are \"just two\" competing sides and associated paradigms: objectivists adopting positivist and scientific realist testability criterion; and subjectivists adopting interpretation, narrative description and social construction (also see Morgan and Smircich, 1980). We proceed to review the ontology, epistemology, strengths and weaknesses of objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) and subjectivist (social constructionist) entrepreneurial social capital research.\nDiscussion: As McKelvey (1997, p. 352) points out: \"even a hermit in bleakest Antarctica must be aware of the organization science paradigm war by now\". Despite the burgeoning entrepreneurial social capital literature (Stam et al., 2014), the philosophical and methodological foundations have not been examined in detail. We demonstrate that positivist-realist and structuralist entrepreneurial social capital research is predominant based on: \"rational choice models of individual behaviour\" (Kilduff and Brass, 2010, p. 336). There are predictable, measurable and fixed laws influencing the actions and, hence, what network actors can achieve (McKelvey, 1997). Positivist-realist and structuralist studies are able to generalize tractable relationships \"but they are unable to tap the specifics of structural context\", and varied everyday order and conduct (Berry et al., 2004, p. 548). The emerging and competing social constructionist approach (Gergen, 1999; Guba, 1990) reflects findings based on the discursive reporting of entrepreneurs network experiences, it suggests that knowledge and network practices are socially constructed. There are even \"strong\" social constructionist (Sayer, 2000) entrepreneurial social capital studies that are extra-discursive and based entirely on narrative storytelling with no quotations or field notes (Oyhus, 2003; Reimer et al., 2008). This leaves little room for measuring and observing in precise ways the boundaries of network structures and resource flows. Social constructionist and humanistic studies: \"often mine these contextual complexities, but they are less able to substantiate the extended effects of structural relations among multiple actors\" (Berry et al., 2004, p. 548).\nConclusions: We began the paper by discussing a number of dualisms that are associated with the study of entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurial research community have been accused of a focus which can be summarized as \"all Romeo and no balcony\" (Venkataraman and Sarasvathy, 2005). In other words, the entrepreneur has been viewed as an independent actor who operates outside the broader constraints of social structures such as class, education, gender and the legal system. Interestingly, positivist-realist social capital research tends to focus on the individual entrepreneur's \"direct\" ties (Carter et al., 2003; Davidsson and Honig, 2003; Manolova et al., 2007), and structuralist social capital research tends to focus on the enduring patterns of clustering and \"indirect\" ties in a network (Ferriani et al., 2009; McEvily and Zaheer, 1999; Stam and Elfring, 2008; Stam, 2010). This confirms the agency-structure dichotomy in much of the research undertaken within the business and management communities. Equally, while we certainly acknowledge that there have been some important qualitative studies of the links between entrepreneurship and social capital (Ram et al., 2008; Jonsson and Lindbergh, 2011) - such studies are in a minority. As we argue above, there is very limited research in entrepreneurship in general or, more specifically, on the topic of entrepreneurial social capital, which spans the agency-structure dichotomy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While there is a large volume of entrepreneurial social capital research, the philosophical assumptions have received limited attention. The purpose of this paper is to review and classify entrepreneurial social capital studies according to the following approaches - objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) and subjectivist (social constructionist). There is a neglect of structure and agency, and the authors encourage a critical realist approach that permits an understanding of observable network structure, constraint-order and human agency as a dynamic system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The ontological and epistemological assumptions, and associated strengths and weaknesses of objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) and subjectivist (social constructionist) entrepreneurial social capital studies are discussed. The case for a more progressive critical realist approach is developed.\nFindings: The authors demonstrate that objectivist (positivist-realist, structuralist) research with findings bereft of situated meaning and agency dominates. The emergence of subjectivist research - narratively examining different network situations from the perspective of those embedded in networks - is an emerging and competing approach. This dualism is unlikely to comprehensively understand the complex system-level properties of social capital. Future research should adopt critical realism and fuse: objective data to demonstrate the material aspects of network structures and what structural social capital exists in particular settings; and subjective data that enhances an understanding of situated meaning, agency and intention in a network.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes a review of entrepreneurial social capital research and philosophical foundations. The development of a critical realist approach to understanding social capital gestation permits a system-level analysis of network structure influencing conduct, and agency.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Study of reasons for enterprise systems adoption among Indian organizations	[ "Content analysis", "Enterprise systems", "ERP", "Manufacturing organizations", "Adoption reasons or motivations", "Small and medium", "Large organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: World has gone through various transformation in the recent past. The rate of change is increasing day by day. Civilization has ushered from industrial revolution to the information age in a century period. Though, throughout the ages the importance of the information cannot be denied. Information used to be at the disposal of rich and ruling class. Due to advancement in the information and communication technology (ICT), it has become commodity.\nLiterature review: The scope of enterprise systems research is very wide. There are different aspects ranging from defining the life cycle, software artifact, business benefits, organizational change, implementation hurdles, etc., to mention some. Al-Mashari (2002) has given the taxonomy of ERP research. The adoption phase includes the \"definition of system requirements, its goals and benefits, and an analysis of impact of adoption at a business and organisational level\" (Esteves and Bohorquez, 2007). During this phase detailed cost benefit analysis or return on investment calculation should also be done. Some of the parameters of ES adoption study are role of external influences in ES selection, resource and adaptability constraints on ES adoption, efficiency improvement vs more strategic business development objectives of ES adoption, and scope of integration pursued through ES adoption (Laukkanen et al., 2007). Identifying the reasons of adoption has also been extensively researched in the academic literature.\nResearch methodology: The confirmatory research design has been used for studying the adoption of enterprise systems in Indian context. The literature review has shown that there are a number of studies that focus on the adoption phenomenon of the enterprise systems packaged software (Markus and Tanis, 2000; Kumar et al., 2002; Olhager and Selldin, 2003; Mabert et al., 2003; Spathis and Constantinides, 2004; Light and Papazafeiropoulou, 2004). However, there is a dearth of research in Indian context. The primary question in the area of adoption would be the objectives of ES adoption. Whether Indian companies are adopting ES for similar reasons such as efficiency improvement, strategic business development or building integration capabilities. Therefore this research has addressed the following questions:\nData collection and estimation: Totally, 300 Indian cases were downloaded from the vendors' sites and different IT magazines. Out of these 12 cases did not fit the enterprise systems implementation category. Total of 288 cases were then analyzed to see the presence of 12 adoption reasons identified in literature review. Two demographic variable industry and size of the organization were also estimated. Industry classification was done with the help of National Industrial Classification 2008 (NIC-2008) data issued by Central Statistical Organization, India. NIC-2008 employs hierarchical five-layered architecture to classify all economic activities into sections, divisions, groups, classes and sub-classes. It contains 21 sections, 88 divisions, 238 groups, 403 classes and 1,304 sub-classes. NIC-2008 is comparable to ISIC Rev.4 (International Standard Industrial Classification) till classes in totality. For this research work only top-level classification, sections, is utilized and other layers are used to resolve appropriate sections. Further they are grouped into manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries.\nCase analysis: There are a total of 12 adoption reasons that have been studied very thoroughly. The definitions of adoption reasons have been given in the literature review section and summarized adoption reason framework has been given in the research methodology section. Keeping these descriptions in mind the customer success stories have been classified for the presence or absence of these parameters. The textual excerpts from one sample customer success story for Aditya Birla Group from Wipro, a consulting partner for SAP has been provided in Table VII. The keywords in the excerpts have been highlighted as well. This case has witnessed eight out of 12 variables.\nReliability of coding: For the assessment of the reliability of the coding Cohen's k index has been used. Randomly 30 cases were selected from the 288 cases for the evaluation of the homogeneity in coding. Second, coder was chosen based on the experience with the information systems. Adoption reasons and the methodology to analyze the cases were explained to the coder. The scores of both coders for all the 12 variables were entered in SPSS 15.0. Following Table VIII gives the results of the test along with the interpretation. The k values <0, 0.0-0.20, 0.21-0.40, 0.41-0.60, 0.61-0.80 and 0.81-1.00 are interpreted as poor agreement, slight agreement, fair agreement, moderate agreement, substantial agreement and almost perfect agreement, respectively, (Landis and Koch, 1977). Inter-rater reliability for eight variables are in almost perfect agreement and for four variables in substantial agreement.\nRanking of adoption reasons: All the cases have been analyzed to see the presence of 12 adoption motivation factor in Indian context. The results are shown in Table IX and are sorted as per their percent occurrence in the 288 cases. All reasons of adoption are present in Indian companies. Legacy system replacement or IT architectural improvements and integration of systems or processes have appeared in almost 90 percent of the cases. Data or information issues and operational improvements have been also a strong reason to go for these systems. Regulatory and compliance issues, globalization support, and organizational change have been sited only by 16, 15 and 13 percent of the companies, respectively. External forces factor has not provided much impetus for the adoption of ES in the Indian companies and is found only in 5 percent of the total companies analyzed. Remaining factors have the presence between 75 and 25 percent.\nkh2 test to study the adoption reasons: The analysis of the cases yielded dichotomous data. Therefore Pearson's kh2 test of statistical significance has been used to see the association of reason of adoption with the size of the organization Table X. For the hypotheses A1s-A5s and A7s-A12s, p>0.05 therefore these hypotheses are rejected. All but one reason has been found to be indifferent to the size of the organizations. In other words the motivations to adopt ES system are uniform across all sizes of the organization except the organizational change. Organizational change is found to be significantly related to the size: Pearson's kh2=4.041 (DF=1, p=0.044, n=288). Out of 288 merely 12.5 percent organization quoted organizational change to be reason to adopt enterprise systems. Among them 8.3 percent are SMEs and 16.1 percent are large enterprises.\nFoundation and results of earlier research: This research has first studied the motives for adoption present in different countries through literature review. The literature review section using content analysis has listed all the 12 motivational factors and defined them. Operational improvement and legacy system replacement have had equal occurrences of 22 and ranked at position one and two. Similarly business growth or extension and data or information issues have had equal occurrences of 17 and placed in third and fourth position. Regulatory and compliance issues and organizational change have happened to appear 13 times ranked accordingly. Integration of systems or processes, standardization and best practices and globalization support have been quoted 12, 11 and nine times, respectively. Competition and customer and supplier intimacy was seen eight times and finally the external forces factor has been spotted six times Table II.\nSummary of findings and discussion: Four factors legacy system replacement or IT architectural improvements, integration of systems or processes, data or information issues, and operational improvements have been cited by more than 75 percent of the total companies in India. Almost two thirds of the companies have expressed standardization and best practices to be one of the adoption reasons. Business growth or extensions has also been cited by more than 50 percent of the organizations. Customer and supplier intimacy, competition, regulatory and compliance issues, globalization support and organizational change has seemed to be less important motivators. External factors such as government support, push from parent organization and endorsement from partners has not influenced much in the adoption decision.\nManagerial implications: Adoption motivations are a good starting point to see the need for the ES. Occurrences of adoption motivations advocate the change in the application infrastructure. Following 12 motivations for the adoption of ES have been identified in the literature review:\nLimitations and future research: The scope of study is limited to the Indian organizations that have implemented one of the ES packaged software. The sampling frame includes organizations whose information has been disclosed by the ES vendors, consultants or e-magazines, therefore limiting the sample to the said companies only. All the manifest variables have been marked with only two possible values 0 for absence and 1 for presence while omitting the information on relative strength.\nConclusion: The content analysis and inductive coding of 12 research articles have yielded 12 adoption motivations for ES. The analysis of the 288 Indian cases written as success stories has resulted into the binary data showing the presence and absence of these variables. The inter-rater reliability assessment index Cohen's k shows that eight variables are in almost perfect agreement and four variables are in substantial agreement. And hence establishes the reliability of the coding. More than half of the 12 variables have shown consistency with the global results. The inconsistent ones are integration of systems or processes, and customer and supplier intimacy, higher on ranking, and business growth or extensions, and globalization support, lower on ranking in comparison to their global counterparts. The variations of these factors vis-a-vis size and industry has not been significant except for organizational change and that is consistent with previous studies. Only organizational change has been more concern area for large organizations than the SMBs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify reasons for the enterprise systems adoption, their relevance to the Indian organizations and their relationship with industry and size among the Indian organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through the content analysis of 12 research papers reasons of enterprise systems adoption have been identified. With the resultant framework of variables, 288 Indian cases have been scanned to identify and contrast adoption reasons in India with other countries. Also through kh2 test their associations have been studied with respect to industry and size among Indian organizations.\nFindings: All the adoption reasons are present in Indian organizations. All the adoption reasons are indifferent to the industry of organization. Similarly it is found that all the adoption reasons but one is indifferent to the size of organization. Only organizational change is found to be significantly related with the size.\nResearch limitations/implications: The scope of study is limited to the Indian organizations that have implemented enterprise systems software. All the manifest variables have been marked with only two values 0 for absence and 1 for presence while omitting the information on relative strength. There is potential possibility of bias toward ES implementation benefits and relative comfort in implementing the target vendor's product. This research has utilized secondary data that might not have been created to address the current problem therefore may be limited in relevancy and accuracy.\nPractical implications: Adoption motivations are a good starting point to see the need for the ES. Occurrences of adoption motivations advocate the change in the application infrastructure. Following 12 motivations for the adoption of ES have been identified in the literature review. Moreover they have not varied much with respect to the size and industry of the organizations. However, some factors are showing stronger presence in Indian context than the global counterparts and some are showing weaker presence.\nOriginality/value: Content analysis of the literature review has resulted in 12 reasons for the enterprise systems adoption after three iterations. These variables have been explained with the help of literature. Second, component of this research studies the relationship of these variables with industry and size among Indian organizations. It is established that enterprise systems are being adopted globally for the identical reasons. These reasons are also almost uniform with respect to industry and size of the Indian organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A proposed multi-dimensional approach to evaluating service recovery	[ "Customer satisfaction", "Customer service management", "Service failures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers can be found at the end of this article.\nIntroduction: Organizations experience an increased risk of losing customers when services fail (Zemke and Bell, 1990). It is acknowledged that occasional mistakes are inevitable in the service delivery process; however, negative post-failure consumer perceptions and behaviour may be minimized and possibly even prevented if organizations undertake effective recovery actions (Tax et al., 1998; Andreassen, 2001; Hart et al., 1990; Bailey, 1994). Such actions can often turn dissatisfied consumers into satisfied customers (Boshoff and Leong, 1998), although in some cases attempts at service recovery may reinforce consumers' negative views (Hart et al., 1990). This suggests that there may be significant discrepancies in customer expectations of service recovery and the attempted recovery actions undertaken by the service provider.While there is extensive discussion of service recovery in the extant literature, it has generally not been considered as a \"service encounter\" in its own right. In this respect, studying the expectations of consumers who experience failed service encounters may be equally as important as studying consumer expectations of normal service encounters (i.e. non-failed encounters). In both cases, consumers will have a set of expectations regarding how they believe they should be treated within the encounter. Their reactions to the activities experienced will result in a complex and interdependent set of outcomes. All of these issues require consideration, from both the organizational and consumer perspective, when organizations evaluate the overall performance of service activities in relation to normal or recovery experiences.In the examination of service recovery processes, existing studies mainly focus on restoring consumer satisfaction. In other words, consumer satisfaction is generally the only key element considered by the service provider when evaluating recovery processes (Wirtz and Mattila, 2004). This assumes that a customer is satisfied when the recovery attempt has brought consumer perceptions back to a level equivalent to the non-failure state. However, other outcomes also deserve consideration in evaluating recovery activities, as it is unclear whether \"satisfactory recovery\" is sufficient for consumers to repurchase the service in the future. Conversely, other consumer outcomes, such as re-patronage, should also not be considered as the sole determinant of successful recovery experience. For example, a consumer may be satisfied and thus decides to repurchase, but may still spread negative sentiment by word of mouth, which would not have occurred if failure and associated successful recovery had not taken place. That is, irrespective of outcome, the recovery process will influence future service expectations (Maxham and Netemeyer, 2002) and impact on how consumers believe they will be treated in any future failure situations (Gilbert and Wong, 2003; Walchi and Landman, 2003).To measure consumer perceptions of recovery actions, researchers have followed various tracks. One approach has been based on equity theory, namely examining how customer satisfaction is influenced (Tax et al., 1998; Austin, 1977; Lapidus and Pinkerton, 1995; Blodgett et al., 1995). However, this approach has some limitations. Recent research in this area demonstrates that compensation, apology, and employee response each impact on different types of justice outcomes (distributive, interactional, and procedural justice, respectively) (Wirtz and Mattila, 2004). Consequently, customers may be satisfied based on one dimension of justice but remain dissatisfied based on another. Another research perspective focuses on consumer responses to service experience and recovery actions as outcome measures (Zeithaml et al., 1996; Weun et al., 2004), where various different outcomes have been used to define successful encounters. The set of outcomes has most recently been expanded to include consumers' emotions as a mechanism to evaluate levels of \"satisfaction\" (Phillips and Baumgartner, 2002).\nConceptual framework of service and service failure evaluation: Our study proposes a conceptual framework for examining service recovery activities (see Figure 1). In the following sections, we develop the various components of the framework and identify research propositions for future conceptual and empirical consideration. Briefly, the framework assumes a series of customer-provider interactions during the service encounter and recovery process. Service encounters are intended to operate without failure (represented by the dashed line in Figure 1). When normal exchanges occur, the organization undertakes managerial actions to ensure the encounter operates satisfactorily. These will translate to consumers evaluating the overall service encounter based on the degree to which the encounter meets consumers' expectations. As mentioned earlier, the literature has tended to focus on one outcome, grounded in expectancy-disconfirmation theory.The outcomes experienced by consumers are real, but will vary based on the specific encounter and the individual consumer. The overall evaluation of the service, whether successful or failed with recovery, results in various customer outcomes. As previously mentioned, we propose that consumers engage in a multitude of outcomes, which vary in regard to the individual consumer and the specific encounter experienced (discussed later in this paper). We suggest that overall set of consumer outcomes, rather than any one single outcome, determines a consumer's response to the encounter.Service failure occurs when outcomes of service delivery (reliability) are inadequate, or if processes associated with service delivery do not meet expectations (tangible, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) (Parasuraman et al., 1991; Spreng et al., 1995). The impact of failure on the evaluation of the encounter will vary based on the specific service situation, individual consumer perceptions, and the type of failure involved (outcome and process). In addition, all of these factors will impact on consumers' evaluation of the service recovery (Smith et al., 1999; Weun et al., 2004). When failure occurs, consumers form a new set of expectations, which are based on consumer experience with past satisfactory encounters and past failed experiences (Smith et al., 1999; Spreng et al., 1995; Colgate, 2001; Andreassen, 1999; Singh, 1990). In situations where consumers do not have failed experiences to draw on, they will develop these expectations in a similar way to any \"novice\" encounter (McGill and Iacobucci, 1992). Other factors that affect consumer expectations may include cultural factors (Kanousi, 2005) or gender (Magnini and Ford, 2004). Variations in expectation may also be based on the specific industry context, for example airlines (Bejou and Palmer, 1998), hospitality (Schroefer and Ennew, 2002), or financial services (Lewis and Spyrakopoulos, 2001).Organizational actions undertaken to deal with service failure are referred to as service recovery (Gronroos, 1988; Smith et al., 1999). Organizations generally undertake recovery actions when they become aware that failure has occurred and then seek to design recovery processes to minimize the impact of the negative encounter. The objective of organizational action in a recovery situation is to ensure that a consumer's expectations of the encounter are met or exceeded, such as occurs in relation to expectations of \"normal\" service encounters (La and Kandampully, 2004). As can be seen in Figure 1, the degree to which recovery activities meet expectations will then determine the degree to which consumers have evaluated the recovery process as successful. We believe that this reflects a departure from traditional thinking in which recovery is considered \"satisfactory\" when customers' recovery expectations are managed in regard to \"normal\" non-failed encounters. Instead, our framework is based on a combined set of consumer outcomes - repurchase intent, enhanced loyalty, complaint intentions, overall fairness, varying switching decision, expectation updates, emotional state, and referrals by word of mouth - in regard to expectations about recovery encounter.In accordance with the framework adopted here, we propose that:* overall evaluation of service experience is based on cumulative assessment of service performance and, if service fails, on the recovery performance; and* recovery performance is evaluated in a (\"tolerance\") zone ranging from dissatisfaction with the recovery process to satisfaction in relation to expectations arising from failure, not non-failure, experiences.However, as discussed in later sections of the paper, it may not always be possible to achieve \"satisfaction\" in recovery of all failed service encounters. For example, a zone of satisfaction may not exist for recovery processes in situations of catastrophic failure, such as a negligent medical procedure.In the following sections, we discuss various components of the conceptual framework as well as outlining some proposed directions for further research.Customer expectations\nConclusions: The purpose of this paper has been to provide a framework that adequately addresses customer expectations of service recovery. By adopting this perspective, it more clearly emerges that organizations need to consider recovery activities as service encounters in their own right. The implication of such a shift involves more than simply a minor conceptual tweaking of recovery thinking. We have argued that consumers form a set of expectations as to how they should or will be treated when service failure occurs. These expectations may be based on past experience, or extrapolated from recovery experiences in radically different service settings. Even novices will have some expectations for the recovery of \"failed\" encounters, just as novice consumers have expectations of \"normal\" encounters. The implication of this conceptual shift in addressing the problem of service recovery is that the effectiveness of recovery encounters will be based on how encounters operate relative to customer expectations and experiences in regards to the recovery activity, not in regard to customer expectations and experiences in regard to \"non-failed\" encounters. This means that experiences with non-failed encounters will influence how expectations of failure form, and vice versa. Thinking of recovery as a \"unique\" encounter requires systematic planning and management of recovery actions (La and Kandampully, 2004).If an organization is to consider recovery activity as a form of service encounter, then this requires that the organization has some predetermined set of actions and management activities for undertaking service recovery if it is to be successful by meeting consumer expectations. However, organizational planning of recovery actions is likely to be more complicated than it is for \"normal\" service encounters. The added complexity results from the fact that failure can occur at a multitude of stages of the service encounter as well as being process- or outcome-related. As more variables need to be considered it is more likely that developing a systematic approach to recovery management will pose some difficulties. It may be more effective, therefore, for organizations to design a set of scenarios regarding possible failures and recovery approaches. This could take the form of a service blueprint related to the operation of each possible recovery encounter. However, the question remains whether a well-defined recovery experience can be defined for all situations. Such a systematized approach might not be adequate to accommodate context-specific issues or consumer-related factors that impact on expected encounter performance, both in the recovery process as well as the traditional encounter.This research suggests that the evaluation of a recovery encounter needs to be measured on a wider set of consumer outcome measures. Whereas the research literature has generally considered one or more outcomes in evaluating service encounters and recovery activities, a broad based multi-dimensional evaluation of consumer outcomes has been lacking, which may account for some of the equivocal findings in the literature. That is, focusing on only one or two outcome measures does not capture the full domain of customer responses. Instead, it is the full set of responses that will more adequately determine the most effective range of future actions. This means that more research needs to be undertaken to examine how varying organizational and employee recovery actions impacts on a cross-set of consumer outcomes. For example, changing one aspect such as compensation may reduce the likelihood of consumer switching but might not reduce negative word of mouth. Therefore, organizations focusing on single recovery activities and single outcome measures will risk overlooking other critical outcomes. In other words, a recovery strategy that is considered to be successful using one outcome measure may be less successful or fail completely in terms of another outcome measure. Future research will need to consider how organizations can aggregate these multi-dimensional outcome states to allow a comprehensive understanding of the potential for overall success of the recovery process (as well as normal service encounters).While not explicitly discussed in the current study, we suggest that dealing with failure will also vary in accordance with a range of other factors. For example, when failure is anticipated within the service process, this will influence the recovery actions taken and consumer evaluations of the recovery process. The threat of \"service failure\" caused by impending delays to an airline flight could, for example, be addressed by informing passengers of connecting departure gates in advance to expedite movement between planes on arrival, rather than simply suggesting that consumers contact ground staff or check monitors for updated information. Such recovery actions would require ongoing monitoring of the service encounter, but which may allow for service recovery prior to the failure becoming evident to consumers. Such innovative actions would require an ongoing and interactive management of service processes and recovery actions. In this way, it can be argued that recovery is not a separate service encounter but is built into the original service process. Of course, as proposed in this study, there would need to be an evaluation of all customer outcomes to identify the effectiveness of such strategies. This involves the recognition that, while some organizations may be susceptible to regular failures for which systemic recovery strategies might be developed, this may not be viable for all organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to extend thinking on service recovery processes and satisfaction with service recovery, using multi-dimensional consumer outcomes. The objective of the work was to propose that satisfaction with service recovery should be based on customers' expectations of the recovery encounter, which would be shaped by their expectations of \"non-failed\" encounters.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper adopts a theoretical approach. Using the existing service recovery literature as well as the traditional services literature, the conceptual framework and associated research propositions are developed.\nFindings: - The proposed framework suggests that service recovery is a service encounter it its own right. The effectiveness of recovery encounters will be based on how encounters operate relative to customer expectations and experiences with regard to the recovery activity.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research propositions and proposed framework need further empirical investigation.\nPractical implications: - The proposed framework suggests that managing service recovery should be undertaken in a similar fashion to managing any service, and thus managers need to understand customers' recovery expectations. Organisations also need to consider how a recovery action impacts on a range of customer outcomes, as focusing on one aspect will not capture consumers' full set of behaviours.\nOriginality/value: - The proposed model identifies that service recovery should be evaluated with regard to consumers' recovery expectations and satisfaction is not based on expectations with regard to non-failed encounters.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modeling the influence of multiple expiration dates on revenue generation in the supply chain	[ "Supply chain management", "Inventory control", "Inventory costs", "Stock control" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There are many instances where an organization's inventory might include several batches of the same product with each batch having a different expiration date. This might occur with such items as food products, pharmaceuticals, blood banks, etc. This paper investigates the impact of the organization's inventory policy for these items on their revenue stream. Inventory models for this type of item have historically employed the FIFO (first-in-first-out) approach. A few models have been developed based on other approaches such as LIFO (last-in-first-out), but this is not the typical case and will not be addressed in the paper. By utilizing technologies such as EDI, internet and ERP systems, firms have been able to reduce its inventory at all stages of the supply chain. The proposed inventory allocation is defined through a new model based on the remaining shelf-life of the in-stock inventory and the expected time to sale. In this model, different expiration dates of the same item are treated as different stock keeping units meant to meet demands with different turnover ratios. The problem is defined and treated as a single period, constrained, multi-item inventory problem.In section 2, the topic of inventory systems for items with expiration dates is discussed and a brief review of the relevant existing literature is presented. Section 3 discusses expiration dates and its effect on revenue generation. In section 4 we describe a heuristic approach to improve revenue generation when managing inventory with expiration dates. Section 5 compares the revenue generated when using: the heuristic solution; FIFO; and a random allocation. The results indicate that, at a 95 percent level of significance, the heuristic performs better than FIFO and the random allocation approaches when the remaining shelf life is 40 percent or greater. For anything less than a 40 percent remaining shelf life, FIFO performs significantly better. Section 6 summarizes the results and discusses the conclusions.\n2. Background and literature review: 2.1 Inventory control systems for items with an expiration date (perishable items)\n3. The problem: 3.1 Taxonomy of the problem under investigation\n4. Methodology and model: 4.1 The problem treatment/methodology\n5. Model analysis: Simulation is used to evaluate the proposed heuristic against both FIFO and the random allocation (RA) approach. Details of the simulation are omitted here for the sake of brevity. The problem is to determine whether a simulation model is an accurate representation of the real world system being studied. Because the developed model in this paper is hypothetical, the problem is one of verification and not validation. The model was verified against a static sample problem and shown to be operating as intended. The simulation output data were collected subsequent to the system reaching steady state. According to Law and Kelton (1991), for non-terminating systems, the rule of thumb to use for obtaining data after reaching steady state is to throw away the initial observations that show steady increase or decrease. Running the simulation repeatedly with varying run lengths can help determine the point at which the data ceases to fluctuate up or down. The steady state conditions were reached after the simulation ran for 31 simulated days. The same random number streams were used for the various parameter combinations presented in the procedure section. This was done to guarantee that the variations in performance were due to changes in the parameter values rather than the experimental conditions.5.1 Assumptions\n6. Conclusion: The objective of this paper was to develop a model applicable to inventory which includes several batches of the same product with each batch having a different expiration date. The proposed model minimizes the negative contribution of expiration dates to the revenue generation of the firm and possesses the ability to utilize a variety of information for providing a better solution than FIFO and random allocation procedures in cases of remaining shelf life of 40 percent or better. The flexibility of using different values for acquisition costs, selling prices, salvage value and penalty functions is a particular strength of the model. Moreover, its potential application to inventory control problems for a wide range of perishable products is substantial.The simplified model simulation demonstrates the utility of using the heuristic model and helps in defining the specific domains under which it should be preferable to the FIFO allocation approach and alternative approaches.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Inventory control models for perishable products have primarily used a FIFO issuing policy with the objective of minimizing the number of outdated units. This paper aims to develop a model to evaluate an issuing policy for a single product with a fixed shelf life in single echelon inventory system. The issuing policy considers the remaining shelf life of the in-stock inventory and the expected time that the product will spend in inventory as the decision driver.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The model developed has an objective of maximizing expected revenue over time with a budget constraint. A heuristic algorithm is proposed to iteratively arrive at the best solution to the formulation. The heuristic is tested by employing a simulation model of the system.\nFindings: - The proposed heuristic is tested against both the FIFO and the random allocation approaches and found to be superior for all the in-stock with remaining shelf life distribution means of above 40 percent. No significant performance differences were found for the three approaches for remaining shelf life distribution.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research is focused on a single product with multiple expiration dates and further research is necessary to determine the best policies for the multi-product multi-expiration date environment where the items are substitutable..\nPractical implications: - Retailers stock items with multiple expiration dates. The customer, for obvious reasons, is more likely to choose the item with the longer remaining shelf life. Therefore, the supply to the retailer's shelves and issuing policies for making available the particular items to the customers affect product outdating and related costs. Revenues will be affected by the extent to which more can be charged for items with a longer remaining shelf life or by the impact of the remaining shelf life on demand. This paper provides for a practical approach to that end.\nOriginality/value: - The proposed issuing policy has not been tested before and thus makes a contribution to the body of knowledge. The flexibility of using different values for acquisition costs, selling prices, salvage value and penalty functions is a particular strength of the proposed model. Moreover, its potential application to inventory control problems for a wide range of perishable products is substantial.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Spirals of silence?	[ "Equality", "Diversity", "Inclusion", "Business policy", "Sexual orientation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: This special issue of Equality Diversity and Inclusion - An International Journal includes papers presented at the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Conference held in Istanbul, July 2009. That year we organised and co-chaired the stream entitled: \"Spirals of silence? Tackling the 'invisibility' of the sexual orientation strand and sexuality in academic research and in organisation equality and diversity policy and practice.\" As the title suggests, the stream was prompted in part by a reading of Bowen and Blackmon's (2003) paper \"Spirals of silence: the dynamic effects of diversity on organizational voice\", which led us as academics, to reflect on the processes of voice and silence as these pertain to the discussion of sexuality and sexual orientation issues in academic organisations and at academic and practitioner conferences.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This editorial introduces the papers within the special issue and outlines their contribution to the emerging and evolving study of sexuality and sexual orientation in organisation and management studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A review of some key themes within the literature on sexuality and sexual orientation is provided prior to drawing out key points within the submitted papers and considering how they contribute to this literature.\nFindings: - These six papers make an important contribution to the fast-changing and evolving study of sexuality and sexual orientation in organisations and the development and implementation of equality and diversity policy and practice.\nOriginality/value: - The editorial refers to papers presented at the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Conference held in Istanbul, July 2009, which included a stream entitled: \"Spirals of silence? Tackling the 'invisibility' of the sexual orientation strand and sexuality in academic research and in organisation equality and diversity policy and practice\" which can lead to reflections on the processes of voice and silence as these pertain to the discussion of sexuality and sexual orientation issues in academic organisations and at academic and practitioner conferences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge management processes and organizational performance: the mediating role of organizational learning	[ "Performance", "SMEs", "Spain", "Knowledge management", "Organizational learning", "Knowledge management processes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Knowledge and learning are essential to organizational success (Pandey and Dutta, 2013; Del Giudice and Maggioni, 2014; Oliva, 2014; Chadwick and Raver, 2015; Aranda et al., 2017) and economic growth (Chen and Dahlman, 2006). For this reason, enterprises seek to convert individual knowledge, which is the combination of information, personal experience and personal understanding, into organizational knowledge. However, this transformation is not easy nor simple (Rechberg and Syed, 2013). Companies, therefore, use a set of knowledge management processes (KMPs), defined as the dynamic activities and practises developed by an organization to process and manipulate its knowledge resources with the aim to produce valuable knowledge (Pinho et al., 2012). Research exploring the impact of different KMPs on the organizational performance of privately-owned companies is very limited (Ali et al., 2010; Daud and Yusoff, 2011; Mills and Smith, 2011; Jayasingam et al., 2013; Ahmed et al., 2015; Tubigi and Alshawi, 2015; Migdadi et al., 2017; Durmus-Ozdemir and Abdukhoshimov, 2018; Dzenopoljac et al., 2018) and has produced inconsistent results. Most of these works have focussed on countries that are initiating or at the midpoint of the process of becoming a knowledge economy according to the knowledge economy index developed by the World Bank (Chen and Dahlman, 2006). However, KMPs are socially embedded phenomena that are affected by institutional and cultural contexts (Hussinki et al., 2017) and the different phases in the transition to the knowledge economy determine the competitive environment, hence, it seems necessary to research new contexts. The impact of KMPs on firm performance in privately-owned organizations in countries with well-developed knowledge economies such as European countries, the USA and the East Asian Newly Industrializing Economies, which have different general competitive conditions (Chen and Dahlman, 2006), constitutes, hence, a first research gap.\n2. Theoretical framework: With the increasing importance of knowledge as a strategic resource for enterprises and economic growth (Chen and Dahlman, 2006), KM has become a popular research topic (Durst and Edvardsson, 2012; Jimenez-Jimenez and Sanz-Valle, 2013; Inkinen, 2016; Massaro et al., 2016; Luengo-Valderrey and Moso-Diez, 2019; Meher and Mishra, 2019). However, KM is a complex and multidimensional construct and there are ambiguities in the literature over terminology, definition and taxonomies of KMPs (Pinho et al., 2012). Despite a lack of consensus over the different KMPs that a company can use to transform its knowledge resources into valuable knowledge, for the purposes of this research the authors adopt three KMPs commonly used in the literature on KM among SMEs (Durst and Edvardsson, 2012; Massaro et al., 2016) as follows:\n3. Research model: 3.1 Knowledge generation and organizational performance\n4. Research design: 4.1 Sample\n5. Results and discussion: The means, standard deviations and zero-order correlations are shown in Table 2. All, correlation coefficients were smaller than 0.655. The variance inflation factors were below 2.54 and the condition indexes were below 23.660, suggesting that multicollinearity is not a concern (Belsley et al., 1980; Hair et al., 1998).\n6. Conclusion: The present paper addresses two research gaps identified in the literature review by analyzing the complex relationships between different KMPs and the organizational performance of privately owned firms in the non-researched context of well-developed knowledge economies; and the mediating effects of OL in these relationships. The mediation of OL had been previously identified (Ngah et al., 2016; Rehman et al., 2015), but only in studies that considered KMP as a single construct, despite the empirical evidence confirming that not all types of KMPs are essential to superior organizational performance (Ali et al., 2010; Migdadi et al., 2017; Durmus-Ozdemir and Abdukhoshimov, 2018). To address these research gaps, an empirical study of the relationships between KMPs, OL and performance was performed with data obtained from a sample of 400 Spanish SMEs. The empirical study yielded some important results, the implications of which for scholars and managers are explained below.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to analyze the individual influence of different knowledge management practises (KMP) on firm performance. Second, it aims to analyze the mediating role of organizational learning (OL) between each KMP and performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A telephone-survey was applied in 2018 to the managers of 400 Spanish firms. The data retrieved was analyzed by using multiple regression analysis.\nFindings: Knowledge generation (KG) and knowledge flow (KF) promote firm performance, while there is not a direct association between knowledge storage and performance. OL mediates the relationship between KG and performance, as well as between KF and performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, this research confirms that not all the KMP have a direct effect on firm performance, thus, future research would need to differentiate between different KMP. Second, this paper is pioneering in providing empirical evidence that OL mediates the KMP - performance relationship. Third, the empirical study was performed in a context non-researched yet by the literature considering KMP individually: Spain.\nPractical implications: First, besides the results managers should focus their efforts in practises related to KG and application. Second, OL mediating suggests that managers should invest in managerial commitment to promote a shared culture, shared vision, open-mind to new ideas and a lot of dialogue.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that investigates how KMP contribute to firm performance by incorporating the mediating impact of OL. The results will help organizations to identify the KMP improving the performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Job satisfaction of the modern information-system-using nurse in Lebanon	[ "Job satisfaction", "Gender", "Nurse", "Information system users", "China", "Lebanon" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI. Introduction: Today, the prevalence of modern automated healthcare information systems (HIS) in Lebanon is considered new. The pervasiveness of modern technologies, be it at the communication level, operational or decision-making levels, is pushing for more lower-level involvement in the hands-on experience. Some healthcare systems are still considered weak due the lack of timely information and shortage of transparent data disseminated on time (Regional Health Systems Observatory, 2007). However, those institutional settings that have ventured into investing heavily in information systems, have somehow overcome these problems (Edmondson et al., 2001). The result has undoubtedly affected how their operational teams do their jobs. From mere receivers of reports, to actual participants in data-entry and report construction, the roles of different nursing staff have changed to become more sensitive, and requiring a different skill-set and role-perspective. The resulting effect of the totality of the sector allowed the ministry of public health to advertise the Lebanese healthcare sector as the option and direction of choice for the surrounding MENA countries.\nII. Literature review: Maximizing service and productivity has been the target of every organization seeking success (Tomey, 2000). The healthcare sector is a major sector affecting our society in many aspects. These healthcare organizations rely mainly on their nursing staff to be successfully operational through incorporating positive human and work elements in order to meet the organizational goals, and to demonstrate success in daily tasks and activities among the staff (Can et al., 2001).\nIII. Methodology: As the scope of the investigation and the research question are framed as a result of the literature review, the researchers decided to conduct an empirical quantitative investigative study to answer to the research question at hand. The question is formulated as follows: to what extent does the frequency of use of a healthcare information system affect job satisfaction of nurses? And whether both training and user participation in the decision to install this system, moderate this relationship of use to job satisfaction?\nIV. Research results and hypotheses testing: After collecting the data and controlling for the data entry process, the researchers conducted a set of statistical tests to study the suggested model and its postulated hypotheses. The data was analyzed for correlations, and regressions, then, the role of moderation relationships was tested.\nV. Discussion of results: The results of the data analysis reflect a number of correlations between the different factors under study. The main highlight of the results remains the high correlation between:\nVI. Limitations and future research: In this field study, the researchers attempted to control for the impact of bias and error, however, there is no study clear from limitations. The main limiting factor toward the generalization of the study's results is the sampling tool and technique. The selection of the few healthcare facilities per geographical area does provide for a balanced coverage, however, it does not necessarily result in a homogeneous sample. The opinions polled through the self-assessment questionnaire may vary between nurses from different areas due to the differences in sub-cultures or to education, to name a few. Moreover, the process of selecting the healthcare facilities in which to conduct the study relied on the personal contacts with these organizations' directors, thus may be inclusive of bias indicators. Furthermore, the sampling technique did not segregate between nurse roles, where those working in health-sensitive centers and relying more on HIS for patient-care-management may have substantially different opinions that those working in less risk-involving areas such as obstetric or pediatric wards. Finally, some of the respondents were familiar with the human resources officers of their respective facilities and for lack of trust in the process may have put answers that rather reflect positivity or face-saving.\nVII. Conclusion: This study on the impact of frequency of use of HIS has highlighted a number of facts that are now clear to both scholars and managers alike. The role of user participation in the preparation and pre-implementation phases of the HIS, does moderate the relationship between frequency of use and job satisfaction for nursing staff, both males and females. Moreover, training also plays a moderating role on this relationship, implying a higher job satisfaction when concerned employees are trained. Therefore, implementation managers and business process owners alike need to include nursing staff in their HIS development plans and procedures in the Lebanese environment. The challenge remains to test whether the Chinese environment is facing the same challenge being in a similar developmental phase and having similar ambitions. The fact that the world is fast gearing toward globalization, and the fact that internet is prevailing pervasively leading to the fast spreading of news, are undoubtedly pushing organizations that are seeking a broader international role, to match if not exceed the standards of service quality, efficiency, and productivity, through employees' job satisfaction and motivation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impact of healthcare information system usage on the job satisfaction of nurses in Lebanon. It incorporates the role of training and user participation as factors leading to higher satisfaction and to present a model that is successful in Lebanon, to be examined in the Chinese setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An confirmatory survey is conducted and results presented.\nFindings: The study suggests that the job satisfaction of nurses is affected by the level of information system use at work. It highlights the roles of training and user participation in the decision-making process to implement the system as moderating factors. The study examines the current situation in Lebanon and raises the question about the potential imitation of the Lebanese model by China.\nPractical implications: The outcome of the study could have significant implications on managerial decision-making in the process of implementing novel technologies in healthcare facilities.\nOriginality/value: The paper is based on a large sample collection from the services sector, nurses in healthcare facilities in Lebanon. The quantitative survey results highlight a number of correlations and test a suggested model. It puts forth a linear relationship between the different variables under consideration and suggests recommendations for practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Multi-class Twitter sentiment classification with emojis	[ "Twitter", "Sentiment analysis", "Emojis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Twitter has become a prevalent communication tool amongst internet users, where millions of status updates that voice opinions on a variety of topics or share personal feelings, statements and events, are \"tweeted\" every single day (Kouloumpis et al., 2011). The wealth of information generated on Twitter makes it a \"big data\" source of citizen voice (Pak and Paroubek, 2010). It also has become an important platform for national discussions where allows the public, scholars and politicians to get a new and timely update of the public opinions towards an event like terror attack or natural disaster.\n2. Related work: SA is an area of research which applies Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Text Analysis methods for studying attitudes of the masses, as well as emotions and opinions towards an entity, which could be a product, a target individual, an event or some important topics (Medhat et al., 2014). With the rapid expansion of social networks, SA's role has been growing greatly (Kolchyna et al., 2015). It has been studied extensively in several research fields, such as web mining, text mining, as well as NLP (Liu, 2012). However, previous research (Medhat et al., 2015; Liu and Zhang, 2012) in SA has fallen short of utilising blogs, and microblogs, like Twitter. Twitter is a novel and challenging domain for SA. TSA tackles the problems of classifying the sentiments of messages posted on Twitter, which is a non-trivial task and differs considerably from classifying the sentiments of conventional texts such as product reviews (Kouloumpis et al., 2011).\n3. Data set: In this work, we considered tweets with respect to 2016 Orlando shooting. Using Twitter's streaming API, we retrieved a corpus of tweets containing specified keywords. The keywords include the full name of the shooter \"Omar Mateen\", and hashtags like \"pulseshooting\", \"pulsenightclub\", \"orlandoshooting\", etc. We started crawling the tweets one day after the attack, and our initial data set covers a period of 2 weeks spanning from 13rd to 26th June 2016. In total, using our Big Data Architecture (Ch'ng, 2014), we parsed approximately 9.13m tweets released by more than 9,000 different users over the two weeks. Amongst those tweets, we obtained 0.56m tweets containing emojis.\n4. Twitter sentiment model: This section presents the details of our Twitter Sentiment Model, including the corpus construction for training data, data pre-processing, feature generation and selection, and the classifier.\n5. Experiments and results: Our goal is to evaluate whether the model constructed with the automatically annotated training sets and selected features is effective in TSA. We used a hand-annotated data set from the 2016 Orlando shooting data as test data. The tweets were labelled by three annotators separately. As we have a five-point scale, the expected agreement is low, we thus applied a two-step procedure to resolve the disagreement. For each text message, if two out of the three annotators achieved the agreement on a label, we accepted the label. Otherwise, we first mapped each categorical label to its corresponding integer value as shown in Table III, then calculated the average, and finally mapped the average to the closest integer value. In total, we obtained 3,360 tweets, for 985, all three annotators gave the same label. For another 1,925 tweets, there was a majority value. For the remaining 450 cases, we performed the averaging procedure. The test data's distribution is illustrated in Table IV.\n6. Geo-mapping: Geo-tagged contents are one of the important features of Twitter. Data with location-based information can provide useful information for identifying the source of contents. Knowing the \"where\" is as important as the \"what\" and the \"when\". However, looking at raw Twitter data can be difficult, particularly when we consider the huge volume of data generated every day. Visualising citizen sentiments on maps seems essential as it allows us to take complex information from easily digestible, enjoyable, visually focussed presentations and thus helps better digest and understand citizens' opinions about important events. In this work, we visualised our data set on geo-tagged Twitter maps to better understand citizens' sentiments about the Orlando shooting terrorism and their attitudes towards the country's gun policies, as well as the geographical distribution of different sentiments.\n7. Conclusion, implications and future work: Twitter has become an important site for national discussions where the public, scholars, and politicians can get a new and timely update of the public opinion towards an event like terror attack. TSA can be a useful vehicle to automatically mine and understand the sentiment and opinions people are communicating. Recently, various TSA techniques have been developed, but little has paid attention to the microblogging feature - emojis, and few works have been conducted on the multi-class SA. This work considered the popularity of emojis on Twitter and investigated the feasibility of an emoji training heuristic for multi-class sentiment classification of tweets. Some prior works in TSA were first reviewed and our model was developed on the basis of those works, and also included some novelties, such as dealing with internet slang words, adopting a spelling corrector, employing a sentiment-aware tokeniser, and generating emoji-related features, etc. We approached the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and retrieved tweets with respect to the terror attack/hate crime as our data. We improved upon our previous framework by advancing the pre-processing techniques, enhancing feature engineering (feature extraction and feature selection) and optimising the classification models. Our sentiment model achieved a macro-averaged F-measure of 0.635, a macro-averaged accuracy of 0.689, and the MAEM of 0.530. Compared to those experimental results in related works, our results are satisfactory, indicating the model is effective and the proposed emoji training heuristic is useful and feasible in multi-class TSA. With Mapbox, we visualised the sentiments on maps, which provide a much easier-to-understand visual representation of our data, and make it more efficient to monitor citizen sentiments and distributions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Recently, various Twitter Sentiment Analysis (TSA) techniques have been developed, but little has paid attention to the microblogging feature - emojis, and few works have been conducted on the multi-class sentiment analysis of tweets. The purpose of this paper is to consider the popularity of emojis on Twitter and investigate the feasibility of an emoji training heuristic for multi-class sentiment classification of tweets. Tweets from the \"2016 Orlando nightclub shooting\" were used as a source of study. Besides, this study also aims to demonstrate how mapping can contribute to interpreting sentiments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors presented a methodological framework to collect, pre-process, analyse and map public Twitter postings related to the shooting. The authors designed and implemented an emoji training heuristic, which automatically prepares the training data set, a feature needed in Big Data research. The authors improved upon the previous framework by advancing the pre-processing techniques, enhancing feature engineering and optimising the classification models. The authors constructed the sentiment model with a logistic regression classifier and selected features. Finally, the authors presented how to visualise citizen sentiments on maps dynamically using Mapbox.\nFindings: The sentiment model constructed with the automatically annotated training sets using an emoji approach and selected features performs well in classifying tweets into five different sentiment classes, with a macro-averaged F-measure of 0.635, a macro-averaged accuracy of 0.689 and the MAEM of 0.530. Compared to those experimental results in related works, the results are satisfactory, indicating the model is effective and the proposed emoji training heuristic is useful and feasible in multi-class TSA. The maps authors created, provide a much easier-to-understand visual representation of the data, and make it more efficient to monitor citizen sentiments and distributions.\nOriginality/value: This work appears to be the first to conduct multi-class sentiment classification on Twitter with automatic annotation of training sets using emojis. Little attention has been paid to applying TSA to monitor the public's attitudes towards terror attacks and country's gun policies, the authors consider this work to be a pioneering work. Besides, the authors have introduced a new data set of 2016 Orlando Shooting tweets, which will be made available for other researchers to mine the public's political opinions about gun policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teaching students with dyslexia in higher education	[ "Dyslexia", "Teaching", "Higher education", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In previous years few students with dyslexia had attended UK universities. Currently, growing numbers of such students are now attending university in the UK. However, as Madriga (2007) points out, students with disabilities are still under-represented in UK higher education. In this paper we examine the adjustments that may need to be made by UK higher education providers in order to cater for students with dyslexia.Dyslexia can be defined as a processing difference, often characterised by difficulties in literacy that can affect other cognitive areas such as memory, speed of processing, time management, co-ordination and directional aspects. There may be visual and phonological difficulties and there is usually some discrepancy in performances in different areas of learning (Reid, 2003, pp. 4-5).The UK Special Education Needs and Disability Act (2001) states that students with disabilities should not be discriminated against or substantially disadvantaged by higher education institutions (Perkin and Croft, 2007; Reid, 2004, pp. 118-120). Therefore there is a need to provide advice and support for higher education staff regarding the teaching of students with disabilities in general, and students with dyslexia in particular, since the condition can be difficult to understand. The difficulties of dyslexic students that affect their study skills need to be recognised by higher education institutions so that appropriate support programmes can be put in place (Hatcher et al., 2002). In this paper, a four-year case study in a UK university department will be used as a basis for informing teaching practice for students with dyslexia in the UK higher education sector.\n2. Literature review: It is estimated that around six million individuals in the UK have dyslexia (BDA, 2008). The possible difficulties encountered by dyslexic individuals may include (BDA, 2008):* Reading hesitantly.* Misreading, making understanding difficult.* Difficulty organising thoughts clearly.* Poor organisation or time management.* Erratic spelling.However, as Reid (2004, p. 118) points out, the degree of severity of dyslexia can vary considerably between individuals. Dyslexia was officially recognised as a disability in the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995. However, more widespread awareness of hidden disabilities such as dyslexia has often been and remains problematic (Dale and Taylor, 2001). The UK Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA, 2008) statistics show that in the academic year 2005/2006 there were 19,740 first year UK domiciled undergraduate students in the UK with a stated disability of dyslexia.Pringle-Morgan, a general practitioner, reported the first case of developmental dyslexia in 1896 (Pringle-Morgan, 1896). Pringle-Morgan and Hinshelwood, an ophthalmologist, speculated that such difficulties with reading and writing were due to \"congenital word blindness\" (Hinshelwood, 1917). The view that dyslexia was caused by visual processing difficulties was dominant for many years after their work.There is evidence to suggest that individuals with dyslexia may have a visual processing difficulty or may have both visual and phonological difficulties (Valdois et al., 2004; Frith, 1999; Reid, 2004, p. 11). In addition, it appears that working memory difficulties in dyslexia can affect performance in both the phonological and visuospatial modalities (Smith-Spark and Fisk, 2007; Jeffries and Everatt, 2004). Stein and Talcott (1999) identified visual search difficulty caused by reduced ability to correctly control ocular movements in individuals with dyslexia. Individuals with dyslexia may be less sensitive than normal readers to some variables such as contrast sensitivity and visual stimulus persistence (Lovegrove, 1993). However, some researchers consider dyslexia to be a linguistic disorder and more specifically the consequences of a disorder in phonological processing (Vicari et al., 2005). Individuals with dyslexia typically have difficulty analysing and processing phonological characteristics of spoken words (Snowling, 1987; Snow et al., 1998). Dyslexic individuals have been shown to have difficulties in segmenting and manipulating phones in words, limitations in performance of phonics-based memory, and problems with rapid retrieval of phonological information from long-term memory (Tijms, 2004).Dyslexic individuals can differ in the extent to which they can use phonological reading and spelling strategies. Some research has indicated that variations in the severity of a dyslexic individual's phonological deficit may determine their reading profile (Snowling, 2001). Simmons and Singleton (2000) commented that dyslexic students in higher education appear to have reading comprehension difficulties that cannot be accounted for by an inability to decode individual words in a passage of text, but rather have difficulty in constructing inferences when processing a passage of text. Bacon et al. (2007) suggested that individuals with dyslexia appear to be inclined to conceptualise information in a visuospatial rather than a verbal manner.Overall, there appears to have been only limited research into the experiences of students with dyslexia in higher education (Carrol and Iles, 2006; Ingram et al., 2007; Madriga, 2007; Mortimer and Crozier, 2006) and in particular with regard to the adjustments that may be required for such students. The originality of this research is the analysis of the adjustments that may be necessary for students with dyslexia in a UK higher education environment.\n3. Methodology: The research method used for the research reported in this paper was the case study research method. The research was based upon longitudinal case studies in a UK university computing department. Reid (2004, p. 114) commented that computing work is usually a very popular choice for dyslexic adults. Powell et al. (2004) found that the visualization skills possessed by many individuals with dyslexia are suited to the problem definition and synthesis elements of computer program development. The longitudinal case study was conducted over a four-year period. The actual research techniques used for the research project were interviews, discussions, and observation of staff and students involved in special educational needs provision within the university department studied, and the examination of relevant academic, administrative and technical documentation relating to special educational needs provision. Those interviewed and observed during the research exercise included administrative staff, technical staff, welfare staff (in particular welfare advisors for disabled students), and academic staff (in particular programme leaders, year tutors and personal tutors) as well as students with dyslexia within the university department studied. The research reported in this paper was undertaken with due regard to the confidentiality and anonymity of those involved.The research project focussed on 22 students with dyslexia out of a running total of approximately 80 students (at any given point in time) with stated disabilities within the university department over the four-year period studied. Six of the students studied had completed the final year of their course and the research exercise tracked them through the three academic and one placement year of their studies. Five students had completed their placement year, and seven had completed the second year of their course, with data regarding these 12 students being available for the two academic years and one placement year of their studies. Three students had completed the first year, and one had withdrawn during the first year of his course, for these students only one year's data was available.A longitudinal case study approach was adopted in order to examine the progress of students with dyslexia through three academic years and one placement year of their computing courses. However, since there were only six such students in the department within the four year timeframe studied, students with dyslexia who had completed the second and first, and just first year of their course were also included in order to attempt to identify patterns of necessary adjustments across a more statistically significant number of students (22).The data collected regarding the 22 students mainly concerned: how the students coped with teaching and assessments and what types of adjustments were made for the students. The data collected was analysed by tabulating the data obtained from the different sources for the 22 students with regard to teaching, assessment, pastoral care, and the transition form school/college/work to higher education. This enabled comparisons of the difficulties faced by these students and the adjustments required for them.The research questions covered by the research exercise included:1. How should the transition from school/college/work to higher education be managed for students with dyslexia?2. What provision is appropriate in higher education for students with dyslexia?3. How should students with dyslexia be taught in a higher education institution?4. How should students with dyslexia be assessed in a higher education setting?5. How should students with dyslexia be supported in a higher education setting?These research questions are important because under UK law, higher education institutions should not substantially disadvantage students with disabilities (SENDA, 2001, section 28) and should not discriminate against disabled and prospective students (SENDA, 2001, section 26).\n4. Provision for students with dyslexia in UK higher education: The UK Special Education Needs and Disability Act (2001) (SENDA, 2001) sections 26,27 and 28 attempt to ensure that UK higher education providers make reasonable adjustments to their delivery so as to cater for students with disabilities (McAulay, 2005). The aim of the research reported in this paper was to examine and evaluate what is reasonable and appropriate in terms of adjustments to cater for students with dyslexia in a HE context.4.1 Managing the transition from school/college/work to university\n5. Evaluation of adjustments for students with dyslexia in an HE setting: In terms of course completion, only six of the 22 students in the case study group had actually yet completed their four-year sandwich course, and hence had three academic year's and one year's placement data available. Five students had completed their placement year; seven had completed their second year, and hence had two year's academic and one year's placement data available. Three had completed their first year, and thus had only one year's academic data available. Only one of the 22 students studied had withdrawn from their course over the four-year period concerned. This student had withdrawn for personal reasons within the first year of their course.In terms of the academic performance of the students in the case study group, the average first year mark for the 22 students studied was just under 57 per cent with a standard deviation of 9.8. The average first year marks ranged from 38.1 per cent to 75.1 per cent. The average second year mark was 56 per cent with a standard deviation of 11.4. The average second year marks ranged from 25.7 per cent to 76.4 per cent. The average final year mark was 55 per cent with a standard deviation of 10.5. The average final year marks ranged from 34.6 per cent to 64.7 per cent. Overall, the marks for the students studied compared well to the averages for their respective student cohorts. Overall, this appeared to indicate that the provisions made for the group of dyslexic students studied allowed them to perform at a roughly equivalent level to their non-dyslexic peers.An interesting pattern emerged when the average marks for those students with dyslexia that requested extra time in examinations was compared with those students that did not request extra time. The average marks for the first, second and final academic years were consistently higher for those that requested extra time in examinations. The standard extra time allowed in examinations for students with dyslexia in operation in the university studied was 25 per cent. Thus a two-hour examination would be extended to two and a half hours. The first year averages of those students with dyslexia that requested extra time in examinations was 57.3 per cent compared to 49.4 per cent for those students that did not. The second year averages were 61.8 per cent (for those that requested extra time in examinations) compared to 52.0 per cent. The final year averages were 61.8 per cent (for those that requested extra time) compared to 48.7 per cent. This would appear to indicate that extra time in examinations was beneficial for the students with dyslexia studied, given that there were no overall discernable differences in the academic attainment level at entry of the two groups (those that requested extra time in examinations, and those that did not). However, given the small sample sizes, it would be inappropriate to attempt to generalise this finding in any way.\n6. Conclusion: This paper has attempted to outline a number of areas that need to be addressed in higher education with regard to meeting the needs of students with dyslexia. UK higher education institutions are required to make reasonable adjustments for students with a disability in an anticipatory manner. It is hoped that the topics covered in this paper may be useful to staff in other UK higher education institutions to make them aware of the potential adjustments that may be required for students with dyslexia.In particular, it is important that the transition from school/college/work to higher education is professionally managed and that students with dyslexia are assessed in a timely manner. This is required so that applications for the disabled student's allowance (if appropriate) can be processed so that any equipment or software required is available before the start of the academic year.In addition, it is important that it is agreed with each individual student what adjustments are appropriate to him or her. Since there can be a large variety in the severity of dyslexia between individuals, it would appear inappropriate to make the same adjustments for every student with dyslexia. Furthermore, ultimately, it is what the student feels that he or she requires to support his or her studies that should be used as the basis for agreeing the adjustments to be applied. Given appropriate adjustments, the research exercise appeared to indicate that dyslexic students can achieve results similar to their non-dyslexic peers in higher education.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the type of adjustments to delivery appropriate for students with dyslexia in a UK higher education setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A case study in a UK university department was conducted over a four-year period.\nFindings: - It was found that a variety of adjustments may be required for students with dyslexia in a UK higher education environment including adjustments to teaching delivery, assessment and pastoral care. In addition it is necessary to provide a managed transition from school/college/work to higher education.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although the case study reported here focusesd on only 22 students with dyslexia, the number of students entering UK higher education with dyslexia is likely to increase and institutions need to be aware of the adjustments that may potentially be required.\nOriginality/value: - Previously few students with dyslexia had attended university in the UK. However, growing numbers of such students are now attending university, but thus far little, if any, research has been conducted regarding the adjustments that may need to be made for such students.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Money meanings among French and American adolescents	[ "Adolescents", "Consumer socialization", "Materialism", "American teens", "French teens", "Money attitudes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Adolescence is a critical stage of development, marked by an egocentric focus on the self and a preoccupation with the evaluation of others (Beutler et al., 2008; Elkind, 1967). Modern consumer societies exacerbate this self-focus by transforming adolescence into a period of self-definition through consumption (Beutler et al., 2008). Media messages, in reality television, music videos and social media, highlight the purchase and use of expensive items by the affluent and link happiness and prestige to wealth and conspicuous consumption (Beutler et al., 2008). The increased ubiquity of these images and the prominence of social media have increased the importance of examining money meanings among adolescents. Research on adolescent money attitudes, however, is scant, has been conducted in the USA (Beutler et al., 2008) and has focused on a limited set of variables (e.g. entitlement and conscientiousness, Beutler and Gudmunson, 2012).\nTheoretical background: Adolescence marks a period of increased independence, rapid development and consumption autonomy (Gil et al., 2012). Teens are preoccupied with the perceptions of others (Elkind, 1967), frequently embrace materialistic values (Chaplin and John, 2007) and use material possessions, such as clothing, to define themselves (Gentina et al., 2013, 2014). Thus, previous research highlights the importance of material objects to adolescents, but, with few notable exceptions (Gentina et al., 2013; Schaefer et al., 2004), has provided less insight into cross-national similarities and differences in teenage consumption and almost no information regarding adolescent money attitudes.\nMethod overview: The research questions examined in this study address:\nStudy 1: Qualitative research: sample and procedure\nStudy 2: Quantitative research: sample and procedure\nDiscussion: This study examines adolescents' attitudes toward money. Previous research has focused on adults and found that money attitudes are an important motivator of consumer behavior (Burgess, 2005; Rose and Orr, 2007; Tang, 1992; Yamauchi and Templer, 1982). Adolescence is a key developmental period where teens individuate from their parents (Erickson, 1968), formulate consumption preferences (Cosima Otto, 2009; McNeal, 1999 Mangleburg and Brown, 1995) and establish attitudes towards saving and spending (Beutler and Gudmunson 2012). Studies have demonstrated the crucial developmental importance of adolescence in both general (Erickson, 1968) and economic socialization (Cosima Otto, 2009), but have largely ignored the symbolic meanings that adolescents associate with money. Beutler and his colleagues demonstrated that extrinsically oriented American adolescents place a high value on material possessions (Beutler et al., 2008) and developed scales for measuring adolescent' conscientiousness and entitlement related to money from their parents (Beutler and Gudmunson, 2012). These studies, however, neither examine nor develop scales for comprehensively assessing the symbolic money meanings of adolescents.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper examines adolescent' money attitudes in the USA and France. It introduces and validates an 18-item scale for assessing adolescent money attitudes, explores the symbolic values that American and French teens attach to money, identifies the major segments of teens based on their attitudes toward money and assesses the importance that these groups place on price, novelty and brand name.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Twenty-eight in-depth interviews were initially conducted to explore adolescent' money attitudes, assist in the development of measures and provide a context for interpreting subsequent results. Exploratory factor analysis (among 90 French and 70 American adolescents), followed by confirmatory factor analysis (among 332 French and 273 American adolescents) indicated that six dimensions captured money meanings. These dimensions were used in a subsequent cluster analysis to group teens into segments.\nFindings: Six dimensions (worry, achievement, status, security, budget and evil) captured teenage money attitudes among French and American adolescents. A cluster analysis based on these dimensions yielded three groups: no worries, success and security. These three groups varied in their attitudes toward money and the importance that they placed on price, brand and novelty in purchasing.\nPractical implications: This study provides measures for assessing adolescent money meanings and presents a preliminary segmentation of USA and French adolescents based on their attitudes toward money.\nOriginality/value: The results explore the impact of money attitudes on adolescent consumption preferences, demonstrate the utility of measuring adolescent' money attitudes and segmenting adolescents based on these attitudes and emphasize the importance of both cultural and individual differences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Towards an understanding of the behavioral intention to use online news services: An exploratory study	[ "Information media", "Consumer behaviour", "Internet", "Taiwan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Online news services (ONSs) have become one of the major channels for people in the developed and developing countries to shape their views of the world (Davis, 2006; Auchard, 2006). ONSs have not only reduced the market of newspapers (Flavian and Gurrea, 2006; Williams and Nicholas, 1999; Cowen, 2001), they also are becoming threat to the TV industry (BBC/Reuters, 2006; Berniker, 1995; Crispell, 1997; Stempel et al., 2000). However, the issue of how to create a successful, widely adopted ONS has remained ambiguous (Sullivan, 2006; Nerone and Barnhurst, 2001; Eveland et al., 2004; Sunder et al., 2003). Practitioners often have no choice but to adopt a \"trial and error\" approach in developing online news services (Alves, 2001) which can result in negative experiences and disappointments among users (Alves, 2001; Rust and Lemon, 2001),Researchers have difficulty in applying findings from the previous information system (IS) research to study ONSs. Internet technologies are very different from other information communication technologies (ICT) (Barua et al., 2000; Feeny, 2001; Nath et al., 1998; Porter, 2000; Timmers, 2000) as they can serve as a multifaceted communication medium (Alves, 2001). Also, most previous IS theories are for analyzing offline systems, research suggests that people are in a different frame of mind when they are online, and may behave differently compared to offline (Burke, 2002). The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), for example, is one of the most popular theoretical frameworks for analyzing IS systems adoption, but its original and extended models in various Internet-related research typically explained less than 40 per cent of the variance in behavioral intention of system adoption or actual system usage (Legris et al., 2003). The limitations of applying originally offline-based theories to the online context apply to other important adoption/acceptance paradigms such as Diffusion of Innovation (Rogers, 2003), Theory of Reasoned Actions (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), and Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985).Research into ONSs is still in its infancy (van Riel et al., 2001; Peng et al., 2004). Bobbitt and Dabholkar (2001) and Santos (2003) suggested that there is no comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding or predicting consumers' online adoption behavior. The aim of the study is thus to propose a conceptual framework to help better understand the process of the adoption of ONSs.\nModeling online adoption of innovation: Diffusion of Innovation (DOI)\nIn-depth interview with industry experts: To gain comments on the findings of the literature review and progress the theoretical construct development, a series of in-depth interviews were conducted. Some key decision makers in the top three online news providers and Internet technology developers in Taiwan were interviewed. Several recent marketing surveys and reports on Taiwan's market (e.g. Yahoo!, 2004; Insight Explorer, 2005; Zou-Ting, 2005) were used to assist their selection. Eight industry experts from seven different organizations were interviewed for this study. Table III summarizes the backgrounds of the interviewees, their significance and their organizations.Each in-depth interview was divided into four parts (see Figure 3: the interview guide). In the first part, interviewees were asked to share their thoughts about the potential key factors contributing to the adoption of ONSs. Most interviewees proposed a list of factors and shared their related experiences to justify the importance of those factors in the real business context. Interviewees were then invited in Part II to evaluate the nine possible factors drawn from the literature in terms of their level of importance to the adoption of online news services by the number from 1 to 5, where 1 indicated \"unimportant\" and 5 meant \"very important\". Part III was mainly a discussion session, the researcher put forth the notes taken in the first part of the interviews which listed the possible factors suggested by the interviewees. They were then invited to review these factors against the nine factors drawn from the literature to determine if some of them were in fact meaning the same thing. The new factors, those suggested by the interviewees and not able to be integrated with the nine factors from the literature, were then identified in this process.Peer debriefing (Morse et al., 2002) was utilized as the method of data analysis for transcripts of the in-depth interviews. Several insights drawn from the interview transcripts are reported as follows, and backed up by the appropriate references.Content is still King\nThe research model: The TAM paradigm is more established in the online context (Kim and Galliers, 2004) than other adoption-related one such as Diffusion of Innovation (DOI). Studies have also demonstrated a high level of similarity between the two beliefs in TAM, PU and PEOU, and the five innovation characteristics in DOI, Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Complexity, Observability and Trialability. This was also strongly supported by the industry experts. They suggested that Relative Advantage (RA) could be integrated into Perceived Usefulness (PU) since these two concepts are very similar from the users' perspective in terms of their influence on the adoption of ONSs In fact, research has repeatedly suggested that Relative Advantage (RA) in DOI and Perceived Usefulness (PU) in TAM have been defined and operationalized in a very similarly way (Plouffe et al., 2001, Moore and Benbasat, 1991; Davis et al., 1989; Taylor and Todd, 1995; Baron et al., 2006). Moreover, instead of standing out as an individual factor, Observability in DOI can be seen as one of the features of PU in TAM (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000; Akinci et al., 2004). Other innovation characteristics such as Compatibility and Complexity can also be combined with PEOU as suggested by prior studies into the requirements of ICT interface design (Lee et al., 2006; Taylor and Todd, 1995). The current study focused on non-subscription based ONSs, which means users can try and evaluate these ONSs whenever they want without worrying about being charged, so Triability was not explicitly included in this study.Six factors were thus identified as potential key drivers in the adoption of ONSs based on the findings from the literature review and the in-depth interviews with the industry experts. They are: Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Core Service Quality (PCSQ), Perceived Supplementary Service Quality (PSSQ), Trust, Networking, Interface and Subjective Norm. These are further elaborated in the following.Perceived Usefulness (PU)\nDiscussion and conclusions: While shifting from offline to online is widely believed to be the theme of current service industry evolution around the world, research into online news service is still in its infancy. The Internet's unique nature of facilitating multifaceted interactive communication and virtual interpersonal/inter-organizational relationship is mostly uninvestigated in prior IS acceptance research.The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of the adoption of online news services, and hopefully also add to the general understanding of the adoption of online services as a whole. For achieving this goal, a conceptual framework is proposed. This framework is based on the combination of findings from a series in-depth interview with industry experts and different studies on technology acceptance, e-service quality, e-loyalty, web usability, online trust, social influence process, and the Uses and Gratifications research into the Internet as a medium. Perceived Core Service Quality, Perceived Supplementary Service Quality, Perceived Usefulness, Interface, Networking, Trust, Subject Norm are proposed as key factors contributing to the adoption of online news services.The current study sees the Internet not only as an IS, but took the Internet's multifaceted features, such as serving as an increasingly important mass media platform and a powerful communication medium, into account. The Uses and Gratifications Theory was introduced to address this issue. Networking, or \"the degree to which user perceives the effectiveness of B2C and C2C interaction facilitated by online service providers\", is theorized as an important driver to adoption of online news services. Moreover, the Uses and Gratifications Theory also provides empirical supports for Subjective Norm from the perspective of online quasi-social relationship.For researchers, this paper provides a framework to understand the potential key factors that contribute to the adoption of online news services, and hopefully also add to the general understanding of the online innovation adoption as a whole. For practitioners, this framework lists the features that specifically attract online news users. Understanding users' preferences is of major importance in e-businesses for making adequate strategic, technological, and marketing decisions to increase user satisfaction, as well as improving the business performance and return.As for every conceptual framework, there can always be factors relevant to online news service adoption which are not included in the literature to date, or is addressed in literature somewhere. However, an overview of the most relevant factors in this context is believed having been given in this study. Further research is also desirable to determine which of the factors in the framework have the most significant effect on behavioral intention and filter out the relatively less significant factors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Research into the use/adoption of online news services (ONSs) is still in its infancy, Scholars have indicated that there is no comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding or predicting consumers' online adoption behavior. The purpose of the paper is to propose a theoretical framework as a foundation for better understanding and further analyzing the adoption of ONSs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A literature review was conducted together with a series of in-depth interviews with selected key industry experts. Three paradigms (i.e. the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, the Technology Acceptance Model, the Uses and Gratifications Theory) were examined and included findings from research into some aspects of online behaviour and these are discussed in relation to the objectives of this paper.\nFindings: - Six factors are identified as potential key drivers in the adoption of ONSs These are based on the findings from the literature review and the in-depth interviews with the industry experts. The six factors are: Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Core Service Quality (PCSQ), Perceived Supplementary Service Quality (PSSQ), Trust, Networking, Interface and Subjective Norm. A theoretical framework for better understanding and analyzing the adoption of ONSs is built that shows the relationship among these factors and adoption of ONSs.\nOriginality/value: - For researchers, this paper provides a framework to identify and understand the way the potential key factors contribute to the adoption of online news services. For practitioners, this framework lists the features that specifically attract online news users. Understanding users' preferences is of major importance in e-businesses for making strategic decisions to increase user satisfaction, as well as improving the performance of the business.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Promoting multi-paradigmatic cultural research in international business literature: An integrative complexity-based argument	[ "Culture", "Critical theory", "Subjectivism", "Integrative complexity", "Multi-paradigmatic research", "Objectivism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Conducting multi-paradigmatic research entails the deliberate use of divergent paradigmatic lenses to contrast their varied representations and explore plurality and the paradoxes characterizing social realities (Lewis and Kelemen, 2002). In contrast, mono-paradigmatic studies adopt a single paradigmatic lens to consistently guide every step of the research exercise. Notwithstanding inherent challenges, conducting multi-paradigmatic research is believed to offer many significant advantages. For instance, such research allows the combination of different theoretical assumptions inherent in each paradigm and thereby leads to comprehensive coverage of the topic (Toyne, 1997). It allows scholars to explore questions that may appear logical by themselves but are contradictory when juxtaposed with one another (Sullivan and Daniels, 2008). Multi-paradigmatic studies expose divergent viewpoints from different organizational actors, as opposed to simply offering prescriptions from few dominant elites (Hassard, 1991; Lewis and Grimes, 1999). In addition to offering the right balance between dogmatism and relativism (Scherer, 1998), multi-paradigmatic research presents frame breaking experiences to scholars (Lewis and Grimes, 1999), enabling them to explore questions they have long neglected for want of suitable paradigms (Martin, 1992). Finally, multi-paradigmatic research fosters a more comprehensive portrait of organizational reality (Lewis and Kelemen, 2002), and sheds more light on the tensions of organizational life (Hassard, 1991).\nDefining paradigms: Paradigms have been variously defined in extant literature. For instance, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn (1962) defined a paradigm as an all-encompassing world-view, a scientific cosmology, with its attendant (often unconscious meta-physical) assumptions about reality, knowledge, and truth. Similarly, Burrell and Morgan (1979) adopted a restrictive conceptualization of paradigms, and defined them as the tightly coupled ideologies, ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies[2] guiding the work of scholarly communities (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). According to this school of thought, paradigmatic traditions differ considerably from one another, and therefore scholars should refrain from attempting to combine them. Conversely, in his later work, Kuhn (1970) accepted Popper's (1970) understanding that paradigms are like languages and therefore, inter-translatable. Following this shift, Kuhn (1970, p. 175) re-defined paradigms as an \"entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques and so on shared by members of a given community\", and subsequently as a disciplinary matrix composed of meta-physical parts, symbolic generalizations, exemplars, and values (Kuhn, 1996, p. 182). According to this conceptualization there are both similarities and differences between different paradigmatic traditions, and paradigms can be combined to gain better insights into the topic of research.\nThree meta-theoretical positions regarding multiple paradigms: Scholars may assume one of three meta-theoretical postures when faced with multiple paradigms: paradigm incommensurability; paradigm integration; and paradigm crossing (Schultz and Hatch, 1996). Paradigm incommensurability is the meta-theoretical position that most culture scholars have adopted in the past. This position emphasizes the distinction between different paradigms and the need to maintain this distinction (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). Proponents of paradigm incommensurability support that the differences in the ontologies, epistemologies, and methodologies of different paradigms make it impossible to overcome the barriers between them. According to these scholars, there is little possibility of effective communication between adherents of different paradigmatic traditions, and scholars should therefore refrain from attempting to cross-paradigmatic boundaries. This meta-theoretical position is also referred to as isolationist (e.g. Scherer, 1998) or protectionist (Romani et al., 2011). According to this meta-theoretical position, paradigms \"are not so much complementary as competing\" (Hassard and Kelemen, 2002, p. 344), and their function is to preserve and perpetuate their own scientific practices.\nMapping paradigmatic preferences in CIB literature: Objectivist studies of culture\nProblems ensuing from CIB scholars' excessive reliance on the objectivist tradition: Conceptual problems\nAn IC-based argument for multi-paradigmatic cultural studies: In this section, we introduce the psychology-based concept of IC to make sense of scholars' paradigmatic preferences in cultural studies. Maimone and Mormino (2012) have explained that the field of cultural studies itself is a complex system, and can be well understood by applying complexity theory (see Urry, 2005 for a detailed review). According to proponents of complexity theory, in a complex system, agents are constantly required to navigate through a complex maze of market opportunities and competitive dynamics. Also, in a complex system, one may observe both integration and differentiation (Maimone and Mormino, 2012). In other words, while some members may share common attitudes, values and behaviors, others may be part of different sub-cultures, and even counter-cultures. We argue that treating the field of culture studies as a complex system and applying complexity theory to it may also enable us to understand scholars' propensity toward single vs multiple paradigms. Further, the concept of IC may serve as a way of operationalizing different levels of complexity (high vs low levels of integration and differentiation) in this field.\nEnhanced IC and the innovativeness of research output: Before we evoke issues pertaining to the innovativeness of research output, we must understand culture scholars' expectations regarding their research outcomes. Although some culture scholars seek predictable single truths as their research outcomes, others pursue multiple truths, which are by nature near impossible to predict. While some seek in-depth understanding of specific cultural phenomena, others prefer broad generalizable results. Each of these expectations will have a different impact on scholars' paradigmatic choices, as we explain next:\nAn illustrative case of a multi-paradigmatic study: In a recent study, Ferguson et al. (2014) explored tipping behaviors in the restaurant and taxicab businesses in different countries. Past works assessing the impact of culture on tipping behavior have largely relied on Hofstede's (1980) national culture framework. Past scholars (see Lynn et al., 1993; Lynn, 2000; Lynn and Lynn, 2004) have conducted symmetric and linear studies assessing the impact of individual cultural dimensions (see Hofstede, 1980) on tipping behaviors. For instance, using the quantitative methodology, Lynn et al. (1993) report a statistically significant positive relationship with tipping for power distance and masculinity, a positive relationship for uncertainty avoidance, and a significantly negative association for individualism. Thus, these scholars have conducted linear cause-effect quantitative studies grounded in one theoretical framework and one epistemological perspective (i.e. positivism). The fact that they make little attempt to include other theoretical frameworks, epistemologies, or methodologies in the study, suggests that they have resorted to low IC (low differentiation and low integration). Since this study represents mono-paradigmatic studies grounded in objectivism, on our 2x2 matrix presented in Figure 2, we would place it (and other studies like it) in the bottom right-hand quadrant.\nDiscussion: Theoretical contributions\nConclusion: Although multi-paradigmatic studies represent a new and potentially enlightening path forward in CIB literature, such studies continue to remain scarce. Therefore, with the aim of liberating CIB literature from long-established dominance of the objectivist tradition, and encouraging a shift from mono-paradigmatic to multi-paradigmatic studies of culture, we offer an IC-based argument in favor of the latter. We argue that engaging in multi-paradigmatic studies allows scholars to employ higher IC than when they choose to engage in mono-paradigmatic studies. This allows for more innovativeness in the research project than would be possible through mono-paradigmatic studies. Although we were ourselves trained in the subjectivist tradition (nominalist ontology, interpretivist epistemology, and ethnographic methodology) of cultural studies, in the present work we have made a shift toward using a critical approach in order to assess the current state of affairs in CIB literature, and to understand why or how this state has come to be. Inspired by an emancipatory knowledge-constitutive interest, we hope to bring about a change in the way cultural studies have been conducted so far, and in the process, open up new avenues for cultural exploration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address four questions: what are the drawbacks of an over reliance on the objectivist tradition in culture in international business (CIB) scholarship? Is a shift from mono-paradigmatic to multi-paradigmatic cultural research justified? What explains scholars' hesitation in engaging in multi-paradigmatic studies? What arguments can we offer to convince them otherwise?\nDesign/methodology/approach: Informed by the critical perspective, this paper encourages a shift from mono-paradigmatic to multi-paradigmatic cultural studies. Guided by an emancipatory interest, and treating the field of culture studies as a complex system, this paper offers an integrative complexity (IC) based argument in favor of multi-paradigmatic studies. It argues that multi-paradigmatic studies allow scholars to employ higher IC than mono-paradigmatic studies, resulting in more innovative research outputs.\nFindings: While mono-paradigmatic studies can achieve either predictability of output or in-depth understanding of cultural phenomena, multi-paradigmatic studies are capable of attaining both. The authors illustrate this through the example of a recent multi-paradigmatic study.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper does not offer insights for operationalizing multi-paradigmatic research, nor does it address factors other than IC that may impede scholars from engaging in such studies.\nPractical implications: Shifting from mono-paradigmatic to multi-paradigmatic studies will enable scholars to address questions hitherto left unaddressed in CIB literature, facilitate a better understanding of new organizational forms, and redress the power disequilibrium between different paradigmatic schools. Implications are also offered for the training of cultural researchers in business schools.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first of its kind to relate IC to merits of multi-paradigmatic cultural studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The consumer anger phenomena: causes and consequences	[ "Emotions", "Service failures", "Negative service encounters", "Critical incident technique", "Anger", "Consumers", "Emotional dissonance" ]	[ { "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: Much of marketing research is preoccupied with the creation and maintenance of consumer-to-firm relationships. However, less focus has been placed on the dissolution of those relationships and the damage caused by anger. The consumer experience of anger can result in behaviors that cost firms money and damage the consumer-to-firm relationship (Huefner and Hunt, 2000). Therefore, understanding this behavior is in the best interest of firms. This research attempts to fill the gap by exploring the consumer anger phenomena. This research utilized the critical incident technique to explore the causes and consequences of consumer anger resulting from perceived negative personal service interactions. Using Lazarus's (1991) cognitive appraisal theory as the organizing framework, this research focuses on evaluations of anger-evoking incidents relevant to one's well being. The initial evaluation is key because it determines the emotions consumers will experience. Each emotion is characterized by specific evaluations of situations. These emotions then influence how consumers will respond to the situation.This research builds on existing literature in three ways. First, this research explores the role of a specific emotion - consumer anger, in service failure as well as its impact usually neglected in the literature. Researchers typically use either the valenced or the emotion specificity approach when examining the role of emotions. The valenced approach focuses on whether an emotion is positive or negative and the emotion specificity approach focuses on the specific nature of emotions of equivalent valence (Rucker and Petty, 2004). Traditional research has focused a great deal of attention on the valenced approach (Schoefer and Ennew, 2005; Mattila and Enz, 2002; Liljander and Strandvik, 1997) working under the assumption that the impact of the valence of affective states on cognition and behavior were important and research concerning specific emotions would provide little additional information. However, researchers have shown specific negative emotions can lead to different behaviors (Raghunathan and Pham, 1999). This research takes an emotion specificity approach by examining the role of one negative emotion -- anger and its impact on consumer decisions to continue or terminate their service provider relationships. Given that anger is a frequently experienced emotion (Averill, 1982; Robbins, 2000) and a strong driver of behavior (Frijda, 1986) it leads to the first research question: What are the causes of consumer anger?Second, this research explores multiple causes of consumer anger. Some researchers have suggested one broad cause of anger. For example, research conducted by Diaz et al. (2002) suggest anger is caused by violations of the moral code of conduct. Similarly, Weiner (2000) suggests anger is a result of social transgressions. Anger is also thought to be caused by an inability to attain desired goals (Nyer, 1997). While generally accepted, these assertions offer little insight into how anger evoking incidences can be controlled or prevented. As a result, this research seeks to develop a broadly applicable listing of specific situational causes of consumer anger. Thus, the second research question focuses on what specific situational elements are prevalent in consumer anger episodes. Understanding the causes of consumer anger would allow firms to control or limit consumer anger as well as better manage the recovery process.Third, this research explores the behavioral consequences of consumer anger. Much research has been conducted on consumer responses to negative service encounters like negative word-of-mouth, complaint behavior, and switching behavior. However, these behaviors do not represent the total range of options available to angry consumers. In fact, a study conducted by Kalamas et al. (2008) found as anger increased consumers were more likely to purposefully levy consequences. One of the purposes of this study was to explore a wider range of consumer responses to service failures including not only traditional behaviors but also reduced patronage levels and other behavioral changes. Therefore, the third research question concerns how consumer anger affects future firm usage.The paper begins with an overview of the relevant literatures that underlie the study. A description of the methodology is presented and followed by a discussion of the results. Finally, the paper concludes with managerial implications and contributions and future research suggestions.\nLiterature review: Research confirms establishing relationships is beneficial for firms (Gwinner et al., 1998; Gronroos, 1990; Berry, 1983) and consumers (Gwinner et al., 1998; Bendapudi and Berry, 1997). For instance, positive relationships have the power to make up for lapses in firm performance (Hess et al., 2003; Priluck, 2003; Berry, 1995). Firms build up loyalty and goodwill with consumers through long-term relationships and as a result one instance of poor firm performance will not erase all the goodwill consumers possess (Tax et al., 1998). However, negative experiences are not totally overridden by prior positive experiences and these negative experiences can have a strong effect on future patronage decisions (Tax et al., 1998). Research conducted by Crosby and Stephens (1987) asserts that while consumers do value their firm relationships, they do not act naively in evaluating services based solely on relationships and therefore these prior experiences only have a limited ability to mitigate the negative effects of service failure and the resulting dissatisfaction.Seminal research conducted by Hirschman (1970) concluded that consumers use specific behaviors like voice or exit to improve dissatisfactory firm performance. Consumer responses to dissatisfaction involve both cognitive and affective components (Westbrook, 1987; Westbrook and Oliver, 1991). Cognitive models are limited in their ability to account for satisfaction evaluations and subsequent behaviors (Bagozzi, 1999; Smith and Bolton, 2002). Therefore, emotions become important drivers of these behaviors (Bigne et al., 2008; Liljander and Strandvik, 1997; Wirtz and Bateson, 1999).A study conducted by Smith and Bolton (2002), explored the effects of emotions on consumer evaluations of service recovery. Using a scenario-based approach the authors determined that more dissatisfied consumers tended to respond with stronger and more negative emotions. These emotions can have a significant impact on consumer evaluations (Mattila and Wirtz, 2000; Westbrook, 1987; Westbrook and Oliver, 1991).Bougie et al. (2003) explored anger's role in influencing consumer behavioral responses to dissatisfaction. The authors investigated the direct effects of service encounter dissatisfaction (valence) and anger (emotion-specific) on consumers' behavioral responses to service failure in a field setting. The results of Bougie et al.'s (2003) first study supported the contention that the experience of dissatisfaction is insufficient to motivate consumers to engage in complaint behavior, negative word of mouth, switching, or third party complaining. However, the findings suggest anger was a powerful predictor of consumers' behavioral responses to failed service encounters over and above the effect of dissatisfaction. Moreover, the authors found the inclusion of anger in the model provided increased explanatory power beyond the dissatisfaction model.Consumer anger for the purposes of this research is defined as an emotional state which stems from a consumer's perceived loss of entitlement due to an unfair, threatening or harmful consumption experience. These consumption experiences involve interactions with the firm, its products or services, and or its employees. Anger has two characteristics that distinguish it from other emotions. The first is the belief we have been wronged unjustifiably (Averill, 1982; Lazarus, 1991). \"The extent to which the consumer believes the encounter to be inequitable determines the type of negative affect experienced\" (Oliver and Swan, 1989, p. 373). Then, consumers' perception of the fairness of the situation becomes a key component in their post-purchase response and in how or if the relationship is maintained (Blodgett and Anderson, 2000; Maxham III, 2001; Oliver and Swan, 1989; Swan et al., 1985).The second characteristic of anger is the element of blame. \"Attribution theory focuses upon the universal concern with explanation\" (Weiner, 2000, p. 382). In the context of service failure, consumers ask why an event was dissatisfactory, whether it will occur again, and who or what is to be blamed. Attribution theory provides important insight into the antecedents and consequences of consumer anger. Research suggests emotional responses vary depending on how consumers attribute blame (Machleit and Mantel, 2001). The assignment of responsibility following an unfavorable event affects the intensity of an individual's emotional reaction (Ortony et al., 1988). In other words, the consumer's perception of causality plays a critical role in the anger experience. This aspect of anger is particularly interesting because the theory suggests proper blame assignment provides a guide for future behavior or remedy (Swanson and Kelley, 2001; Bitner et al., 1990; Folkes et al., 1987; Weiner, 1985; Folkes, 1984). In fact, Chebat and Slusarczyk (2005) found that attributing blame to the firm or the individual lead to different emotional and behavioral results.Later, Menon and Dube (2004) explored the role provider responses can play in the relationship between consumer anger and subsequent satisfaction judgments. Their article was based on the idea that consumer satisfaction could be improved by employing appropriate provider responses to specific consumer emotions like anxiety and anger. The authors found that consumer evaluation of these responses mediated the relationship between emotion intensity and satisfaction with the encounter especially for anger. Menon and Dube (2004) found that firms seemed to have a difficult time responding appropriately to consumer anger due to its threatening and highly contagious nature. These results suggest additional information can be gained by focusing on specific emotions.The concept of emotions within consumption experiences is important because they are thought to influence consumer's satisfaction as well as behavior (Van Dolen et al., 2001). Research examining the attribution-affect-behavior sequence has found consumers who blame the firm were angrier and were more likely to complain and less likely to repurchase (Diaz et al., 2002; Folkes et al., 1987). Likewise, anger has been shown to have a detrimental effect on post-purchase behavior thereby increasing the likelihood of complaint behavior, negative word-of-mouth, and third-party action and further decreasing the likelihood of repurchase (Kalamas et al., 2008; Chebat and Slusarczyk, 2005; Bougie et al., 2003).The outcomes of anger incidents represent moments of truth for firm relationships and in some cases determine if the relationships will continue or not.\nMethod: Critical incident technique\nResults: The coding procedure used here was adapted from the techniques suggested by Strauss and Corbin (1998). First, each interview was read and reread in order to familiarize the coder with the data. Second, based on pre-tests findings, the incidents were deductively categorized into three causes of consumer anger. Coders were free to introduce new categories but none emerged. Next, through an inductive process, coders classified incidents into subgroups based on situations prevalent in consumer anger experiences. Finally, the behavioral results of consumer anger were classified. These three areas correspond to the research questions being explored.In an effort to reduce researcher bias, several steps suggested by Kolbe and Burnett (1991) were taken to improve category and inter-judge reliability. Two coders were given detailed coding instructions, thoroughly trained and performed two pre-test. The pretests were used to develop the coding instructions, refine the questionnaire, and ensure richness and depth in each incident. Each coder categorized the sample separately and independently of the other. These steps resulted in 85 percent inter-judge reliability being obtained. Inter-judge reliabilities above 80 percent are considered satisfactory (Bitner et al., 1990; Kolbe and Burnett, 1991).The incidents described by participants covered a variety of service contexts including: department and retail stores (197), restaurants (155), healthcare providers (63), airlines and hotels (55), cable TV companies (47), as well as automotive dealerships (30). Table II contains a breakdown of the type of firms reported across all three samples. Each sample was made up of retail or department stores, restaurants, healthcare institutions, and other miscellaneous service providers.Causes\nManagerial implications: Research focused on consumer anger evoking incidents has the potential to improve both the theoretical and managerial knowledge of consumer anger and service recovery. The findings of this research have a number of implications for managers.First, the results show consumer anger experiences are damaging to consumer-firm relationships. These occurrences are costly in terms of both time and money invested by both parties to build the relationship. Neither the firm nor the consumer will realize the full potential of its investments. The firm will not realize the full consumer lifetime value and the consumer will not experience the full benefits and convenience of the relationship.Second, the findings indicate consequences of consumer anger cover more than just switching behavior. Consumers respond to anger evoking situations in many ways and managers would be remiss not to consider all the options available. Consumers may reduce their patronage levels (i.e. partial defection), change purchase locations, remove the firm from their choice set for particular products or services, and possibly avoid certain employees in an effort to prevent future negative experiences.Third, the findings illustrate that retention is not necessarily indicative of successful service recovery. Consumers who remain in the relationship may still be angry, levying consequences, and or preparing to leave. Consequently, managers must be prepared to effectively prevent or respond to these incidents. The situational causes of consumer anger detailed by this research will be useful to managers because they are identifiable and therefore preventable. Managers will now be able to put procedures in place to alert them to possible anger evoking occurrences. For example, if during a service call it takes more than three calls to resolve the issue the call is automatically transferred over to a special customer care representative whose main priority is to complete the call and is empowered to do so. In addition, employees cited for rudeness are immediately sent for additional training.Finally, these findings are in line with the cognitive appraisal theory which poses that specific appraisals of situations lead to specific emotions which then result in specific consequences. Hence, consumer anger stems from broken promises, unfair treatment, and or expressed hostility and then results in very specific behaviors, like exit, reduced patronage, change of locations, etc. This research provides additional support for the emotion specificity approach. By focusing on anger we can more clearly understand how these situations manifest themselves and influence service encounters.\nLimitations and future research: This research has several limitations. First, this study looked across many firms to increase generalizability however specific industries may have unique situational causes of consumer anger. Future research could examine the antecedents of consumer anger by industry. Second, the exploratory nature of this research while appropriate precludes strong causal conclusions. Subsequent research could employ an experimental design to examine some of the relationships highlighted in this study. In addition, future research could examine the role switching barriers play in consumer anger episodes. It was apparent from this research that many consumers perceived limited options in terms of their future purchase decisions due to switching barriers like contractual obligations or monopolistic industries. It is not clear how consumers with limited options deal with their anger. Future research could examine the consequences of consumer anger given these constraints.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer anger phenomena.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research utilized the critical incident technique and three different samples to thoroughly explore the consumer anger phenomena.\nFindings: - The research identified three causes of consumer anger: broken promises, unfair treatment and expressed hostility, and detailed the effects of consumer anger beyond decisions to continue or terminate service provider relationships.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Future research could examine the role switching barriers play in consumer anger episodes.\nPractical implications: - Angering consumers comes with an array of damaging consequences that extend beyond the decision to continue or terminate the service provider relationship. As a result, managers must realize that the absence of switching behavior does not necessarily constitute success.\nOriginality/value: - This study extends previous research by using a grounded theory approach to uncover three broad causes of consumer anger. In addition, this study reveals consumer use of additional consequences (i.e. reducing patronage, changing locations, avoiding certain employees) in response to anger evoking encounters.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Good health! But whose job is it? Employers' challenge in ways of wellbeing	[ "Health promotion", "Incentives", "Wellness interventions", "Workplace wellness", "Codes of conduct", "Obese employees" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Obesity and other health-related risks are - or should be - a concern to us all, whether we are acting as individuals, employers or government agencies. However, people resent being told how to behave, and, therefore, sensible, indeed essential, information and advice are sometimes rejected as \"interfering\". Battles against smoking in workplaces and public spaces have, in some countries, been hard fought and fortunately with success and even a degree of grudging acceptance among the \"Do not tell us how to live our lives\" brigade.\nAnnual physical - or having to attend a weight loss support group: Dr Rebecca Robbins and Dr Brian Wansink of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, say: \"Consider the employee code of conduct document that typically outlines workplace policies and expectations. What if employees signed a code of conduct where they committed to meet their job description and abide by organizational policies, but also make their health a priority?\"\nObese employees see health codes as more of a penalty than motivation: As human resource professionals seek to form workplace environments that are accepting of all types of individuals, they may hold workshops on the new policy so existing employees understand the employer's goal of promoting and supporting employee health, as opposed to stigmatizing individuals who are not yet health conscious. Examining employee reactions to these codes is a critical first step before these policies may be implemented.\nImportance of disincentives for those who fail to meet the standards: Participants provided support for Health Code of Conduct components that were relatively easy for employees to implement, such as requiring employees take an annual physical, as opposed to the other options that were slightly more controversial or challenging to implement, such as maintaining a certain BMI during the term of employment. Some of the more popular features of Health Codes of Conduct included annual physical examinations, exercise routines, and simply being encouraged to stay home when ill.\nComment: This review is based on \"Employee health codes of conduct: what would they look like and who wants to accept them?\" by Robbins and Wansink (2015). The authors investigate the potential of Health Codes of Conduct for engaging and motivating employees to assume responsibility for their health.\nReference: \n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Most workplace health promotion efforts have failed to consistently and sustainably encourage employees to take responsibility for their health. The purpose of this paper is to explore a potentially high-impact solution - Health Codes of Conduct - for engaging and motivating employees to assume responsibility for their health.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This mixed methods study draws on interview and survey methodology with a sample of 149 working adults to examine the feasibility of Health Codes of Conduct. Descriptive and inferential statistics are calculated to understand reactions, characteristics of the companies likely to support the idea, and components of a Health Code of Conduct.\nFindings: Nearly all employees offered moderate to high support for Health Codes of Conduct; this included overweight but not obese employees. Additionally, all demographic groups either moderately or strongly supported the policy when they included either monetary incentives (such as prescription discounts) or often overlooked non-monetary incentives (such as employee recognition). Some of the more popular features of Health Codes of Conduct included annual physical exams, exercise routines, and simply being encouraged to stay home when ill.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first to propose the concept of Health Codes of Conduct and solicit feedback from employees on this novel idea. Furthermore, the authors identify both the monetary and non-monetary incentives and disincentives that employees believe would be most compelling.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The art of service recovery: fact or fiction?	[ "Customer satisfaction", "Service failures", "Customer service management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers can be found at the end of this article.\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: We propose that customer responses to service recovery efforts are influenced by the perceptions of the fairness of the recovery attempt. Our conceptualization of perceived fairness is based on a reactive theory of justice which focuses on people's attempts either to escape from or to avoid perceived unfair states (Van Avermaet et al., 1978). Greenberg (1996) contends that reactive justice theories can be organized along two broad dimensions, content and process. The content-process dimension was inspired by legal research (Walker et al., 1979) which distinguishes between the way verdicts are derived (process) and what those verdicts are (content). In a marketing context, Gronroos (1985) voices the same ideas by distinguishing between technical and functional qualities of buyer-seller interactions. He suggests that customers react not only to what they receive (technical quality of the service) during an interaction, but also to how the end result is achieved (functional quality of the service).A process approach to justice focuses on how various outcomes are determined. In a service failure situation, this orientation would concentrate on the fairness of the procedures used to decide how to respond toward a customer who has experienced a service failure. In contrast, content approaches would be concerned with the perceived fairness of the resulting outcome or redress received by the consumer in response to a service failure.Distributive justice\nResearch methodology: An experiment was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. In a between subjects design, respondents read a scenario that described a service encounter. Subjects were instructed to play the role of a customer in a restaurant. In the scenarios the three components of perceived fairness were manipulated. Subjects rated their satisfaction with the restaurant and their likelihood of engaging in negative WOM behavior.Subjects\nResults: Manipulation check\nGeneral discussion: An experimental study was conducted to test hypotheses concerning factors influencing service recovery outcomes. The hypotheses were developed which specified the relationship between the effects of redress fairness, employee responsiveness, and employee empathy/ courtesy on customer satisfaction and on negative WOM intentions. We predicted that high levels of perceived justice would positively influence customer satisfaction and minimize negative WOM intentions. The hypothesis of a main effect for distributive fairness was supported, confirming findings of Sparks and McColl-Kennedy (2001). However, an interaction effect was found between employee responsiveness and employee empathy/courtesy. The effect revealed that satisfaction was maximized (and negative WOM intentions minimized) only when the service recovery was swiftly handled by a courteous, caring employee.This is a significant contribution of this research. From a managerial perspective, the results indicate that to maximize customer satisfaction service providers must respond quickly and respond with empathy/courtesy. These results are consistent with the idea that responsiveness and empathy/courtesy form a multiplicative relationship. That is, neither is sufficient alone to satisfy a customer. Interestingly, the addition of a tangible redress will decrease negative WOM only when coupled with a sufficient of empathy (i.e. an interaction effect).It is interesting to find no significant difference in negative WOM between the best service recovery and no service recovery. Anecdotal evidence suggests that consumers do not share WOM when the service experience meets expectations (i.e. satisfaction), which represents our \"no failure condition\". By finding no significant difference between \"no service failure\" and \"best service recovery\" suggests that the \"best service recovery\" met respondent's expectations.The analysis of the control conditions also provided important managerial implications. First, the \"art of service recovery\" does make a difference. Consumer satisfaction may indeed be greater following a well managed service recovery than it would be if there had been no service failure in the first place. We should point out that our scenario did not describe a \"knock your socks off\" type of service recovery that we read so much about in the popular press. The evidence from our research suggests that all a service provider may need to do to \"delight customers\" is offer a prompt and courteous service recovery in response to service failures. The offer of a tangible item may simply increase overhead costs without increasing customer satisfaction.Second, a failure to respond with proper levels of redress, responsiveness, and courtesy can be just as bad as when a problem occurs but is not recognized by the service provider. Our finding supports warnings expressed by Technical Assistance Research Program (TARP) (1980) concerning customer service systems. They conclude that an ineffective customer service system can be just as bad (and possibly even do more damage) than not actively offering customer service. In addition to the implications of poor service recovery, the consequences of service failures that go unreported by the customer and are not recognized by the frontline employee are also important. If no complaint is registered, managers assume everything is fine. As stated in the title of their book, A Complaint is a Gift (Barlow and Moller, 1996). If a customer walks away angry with unexpressed complaints that do not get resolved, there is no opportunity to make that customer happy or to prevent negative WOM.Limitations\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To determine the impact of service recovery on consumer evaluations of service delivery.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An experiment investigated consumer responses to three dimensions of perceived fairness of recovery efforts: redress, responsiveness, and empathy/courtesy.\nFindings: - Results revealed that higher levels of redress independently increase positive consumer responses. It was further found that the interaction of employee responsiveness and courtesy can also have a dramatic impact on consumer evaluations. Satisfaction was highest and negative word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions were lowest only under conditions of high responsiveness and courtesy. Additionally, an interaction between courtesy and tangible rewards significantly decreased the level of negative WOM.\nPractical implications: - The research offers empirical support for the \"service recovery paradox\" suggesting effective post-recovery efforts may not only counteract bad service experiences, but may increase satisfaction beyond levels held before the service failure.\nOriginality/value: - Key elements for the proper structuring of a service recovery process are identified for management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Expanding the theory of planned behaviour to predict Chinese Muslims halal meat purchase intention	[ "China", "Consumer behaviour", "Islam", "Meat", "Trust", "Moral obligation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Islam is deeply rooted in China, with a history of over 1,400 years (Gladney, 2003); however, Muslims live as communities among many other minority groups. There are 55 officially recognised minority groups in China; ten groups are predominantly Sunni Muslims (Jackie, 2006). According to the data from the country's National Bureau of Religious Affairs, China currently has almost 23 million Muslims, or Muslims comprise 2 per cent of the total population of China (Ahmed et al., 2014). Although these statistics appears less in the context of China's total population, but their total numbers are large compared with numbers in other Muslim countries across the world. Currently, Muslims are living in every region of China, though, their population in the Northwestern provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia has exceeded 18 million, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the total (Jackie, 2006).\nLiterature review: In the past, many models have proposed to elucidate consumer behaviour towards food in general (Conner and Sparks, 1996; Thompson et al., 1996). Nonetheless, few studies have focussed particularly on investigating the determinants of halal meat consumption (Ahmed et al., 2014; Ali et al., 2017; Bonne et al., 2008), which are taken as the point of departure for the current research with a Chinese Muslim sample.\nMethodology: Sampling and data collection\nResults and discussion: Characteristics of the respondents\nMultiple regression analysis: Determinants of behavioural intention-total sample\nConclusion and managerial implications: This study is an effort to extend the knowledge base of previous three studies (see Ahmed et al., 2014; Ali et al., 2017) which were conducted to investigate halal food consumption among Muslims by using the classical TPB. Overall, the TPB determinants of intention explain little variance (more than previous research works in France and China) in intention to consume Halal meat and the regression coefficients are also low compared to previous food choice studies using the TPB. It appears that the consumption of halal meat for Muslims is quite different from regular meat or other foods for non-Muslims. Due to the religious nature of halal meat for Muslim consumers perhaps make this decision extra significant, which could lead to a different decision-making process, together with a specific set of predictors. For that reason, we added four determinants that are linked with food decisions within a religion, migration, norms and trustworthiness context (i.e. self-identity, dietary acculturation, moral obligation and trust) that could help us better understand the concept of religious meat consumption decisions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of halal meat consumption within the population of Chinese Muslims in China using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a conceptual framework. The role of self-identity as a Muslim, dietary acculturation in the host culture, moral obligation to purchase halal meat and trust on the authenticity of halal meat are explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional data were collected through a survey with 378 Chinese Muslims, currently living in Beijing and Xian cities. Data were analysed by means of correlations and stepwise multiple regressions to test the model and the moderating effects of self-identity, dietary acculturation, moral obligation and trust on behavioural intention.\nFindings: A positive personal attitude towards the consumption of halal meat, personal conviction, motivation to comply, perceived control over consuming halal meat and perceived availability of halal meat predict the intention to eat halal meat among Chinese Muslims.\nResearch limitations/implications: Limitations include the focus on only four individual characteristics related to religious food consumption, namely, self-identity, dietary acculturation, moral obligation and trust. Additional individual characteristics such as individualism-collectivism and involvement or values could improve the predictive power of the model.\nPractical implications: Practical implications extend to food marketers and food policy decision-makers who might pursue identity, acculturation, trustworthiness and moral obligation-related strategies in their distribution and communication efforts targeted at the growing halal food market segments across China and worldwide.\nOriginality/value: The current study addresses the important limitation of previous studies regarding the inclusion of additional possible individual characteristics such as moral obligation and trust in the TPB model to investigate the determinants of halal meat consumption within a food-religion context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Composition of trace and major minerals in different parts of pomegranate (Punica granatum) fruit cultivars	[ "Pomegranate", "Mineral composition", "Fruit parts", "Recommended daily amount", "Nutrition", "Fruits" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Mineral components of fruit and vegetables contribute to their nutritive value. A number of mineral elements are required in varying amounts by humans for proper growth, function and overall well-being (Obiajunwa et al., 2005; Hussain et al., 2010). In recent years, food analysts have been interested in the amounts of the various nutritive components and their changes in fruits, and the importance of dietary minerals in the prevention of several diseases such as bone demineralisation, arterial hypertension, and overall cardiovascular risk (Glew et al., 2003; Ozcan, 2004; Segura et al., 2006). Mineral nutrients are divided into two broad groups; major and trace elements. Major minerals represent 1 per cent of bodyweight and are required in amounts greater than 100 mg per day, while trace minerals make up less than 0.01 per cent of bodyweight and are essential in much smaller amounts (Ozcan, 2004). It is estimated that 70 biological elements are needed by all living things for the normal function of their metabolism, reproductive and immune system (Ozcan, 2004; Obiajunwa et al., 2005).Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important tree of the tropical and subtropical regions which is valued for its delicious edible fruit. The fruit has leathery exocarp and the interior is separated by membranous walls and white spongy tissue into compartments packed with transparent sacs filled with fleshy, juicy, red, pink or whitish pulp called the arils. The arils may be consumed directly, as fresh juice, or used for the preparation of numerous industrial food products (Al-Maiman and Ahmad, 2002; Al-Said et al., 2009; Holland et al., 2009; Mousavinejad et al., 2009). In recent times, the fruit has attracted renewed global interest for its nutritional and antioxidant characteristics (Holland et al., 2009). Due to the influence of environmental and cultivar differences on the nutritional values and elemental characteristics of the fruits, several studies on medicinal properties of pomegranate fruit have been reported (Gil et al., 2000; Mousavinejad et al., 2009; Opara et al., 2009; Fawole et al., 2011). However, information on the contents of major, minor and trace elements in pomegranate cultivars is scarce in the literature. A few studies on some major and trace element contents of pomegranate fruit cultivars have shown that different pomegranate fruit parts are rich in vital mineral elements (Al-Maiman and Ahmad, 2002; Waheed et al., 2004; Dumlu and Gurkan, 2007; Fadavi et al., 2005; Mirdehghan and Rahemi, 2007; Samadloiy et al., 2008; Orak, 2009; El Kar et al., 2011; Gozlekci et al., 2011). For instance, Al-Maiman and Ahmad (2002) reported high contents of Cu, Fe, Zn, Mg, P, Na, Ca and K in the seed and juice of \"Taifi\" cultivar cultivated in Saudi Arabia, while Mirdehghan and Rahemi (2007) emphasised the high amount of some mineral nutrients in both peel and arils, especially microelements in the arils of Iranian cultivar \"Malas Yazdi\". According to the authors, the average concentrations of Zn, Cu and B determined in arils were greater than those found in \"Navel\" oranges.Adequate knowledge of the elemental composition of pomegranate fruit parts may be useful as dietary information in the quest to enrich food composition databases and better assess their contribution to macronutrient and micronutrient requirements in human diet. The objective of this study was to evaluate the composition and distribution of mineral elements (eight macro-elements and 17 microelements) in seven pomegranate fruit cultivars cultivated in South Africa. The distribution of mineral elements in fruit fractions (rind, mesocarp and arils) was determined and estimates of the contribution of major mineral elements in arils to recommended dietary allowance (RDA) was made (Park et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2010).\nMaterials and methods: Fruit sampling and preparation\nResults and discussion: Major mineral elements composition\nConclusions: This study has provided information on the distribution of major and traces mineral elements among pomegranate cultivars and fruit fractions. Our findings showed that most of the mineral elements were considerably accumulated in the non-edible fruit fraction (rind and mesocarp). P, Fe, Zn, Ti and V were accumulated in higher concentrations in edible portion for all the investigated cultivars. Over all, the results presented in this work show that consuming pomegranate arils is a good source of mineral elements in human diet.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit is highly valued for its delicious edible arils and health benefits. In this study, a comparative study on elemental composition of seven pomegranate cultivars was determined in the fruit rind, mesocarp and arils.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The concentrations of major elements (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Cl and Na) and trace elements (Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, B, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb, Cd, Se, Al, As, Li, Sr, Ti and V) were determined using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) calibrated with different concentrations of standard solutions of the minerals.\nFindings: - The highest amounts of N, P, S and Cl were found in Bhagwa cultivar, while Arakta, Ruby and Wonderful had the highest amount of Mg, Ca, and Na, respectively. P, Fe, Zn, Ti, V were more in quantity in the edible portion, while the other mineral elements were in larger proportions or in some cases were only found (Co, Al, As) in the non-edible fractions of fruit. Among the major mineral elements investigated, P had the highest covering of the RDA, ranging from 6.78 to 8.53 per cent contribution to the RDA, followed by K (4.530-4.95 per cent RDA), S (1.25-1.54 per cent RDA), Ca (1.04-1.54 per cent RDA), Mg (4.33-5.26 per cent RDA), and Na (0.15-0.17 per cent RDA).\nPractical implications: - Knowledge of the relative contributions of mineral elements in the edible fruit part (arils) to RDA will assist in nutrition planning against mineral deficiency.\nOriginality/value: - Pomegranate fruit contains edible and non-edible portions, and this study provided the first detailed report on the distribution of a wide range of trace and major mineral elements in the three parts of the fruit. This study also showed that the edible portion (arils) of pomegranate fruit is a good dietary source of essential nutrients such as K, Ca, Mg, and Se, while the non-edible parts may provide valuable sources of minerals for other food and bioprocess industries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Nineteen years of whistleblowing legislation in the UK: is it time for a more comprehensive approach?	[ "Management", "Practice", "Employment", "Protection", "Law", "Whistleblowers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Health and safety disasters, financial scandals and the work of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, all emphasised the need to provide greater protection for whistleblowers in the UK. In July 1999, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) came into effect as Part IVA of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA). Major changes were made to Part IVA ERA by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and minor amendments made by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.\n2. Qualifying disclosures: Turning to the types of issue that may be raised, Section 43B(1) ERA 1996 defines a \"qualifying disclosure\" as \"any disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of the worker making the disclosure, is made in the public interest and tends to show one or more of the following\":\n3. Protected disclosures: Section 43A ERA 1996 defines a \"protected disclosure\" as a qualifying disclosure which is made to the worker's employer or to another responsible person[10], or in the course of obtaining legal advice[11]; to a Minister of the Crown[12]; to a person prescribed by the Secretary of State[13]; or, in limited circumstances, to any other person (for example, the media)[14]. Originally such disclosures had to be made in \"good faith\", but this requirement was removed in 2015. Instead, Sections 49(6A) and 123 (6A) ERA 1996 allows a tribunal, \"if it considers it just and equitable to do so\" to reduce awards by no more than 25 per cent if \"it appears [...] that the disclosure was not made in good faith\". Those who believe that the focus of attention should be on the message rather than the messenger will argue that where a worker has been held to have made a disclosure in the public interest, his or her motive or intention should not be open to scrutiny. In the author's opinion, malicious allegations could be deterred if employers made it a serious disciplinary offence for people to disclose information that they knew to be false. Indeed, there are legal remedies available for defamation and malicious falsehood (Lewis, 2017).\n4. The nature of the protection: Employers are prevented by Section 43J ERA 1996 from contracting out of the provisions in Part IVA. This Section deals with \"gagging clauses\" by invalidating a worker's agreement (whether contained in a contract or settlement of legal proceedings) not to make a protected disclosure. However, it would seem that a clause which prevented the disclosure of information about a type of wrongdoing which is not listed in Section 43B(1) ERA 1996 (see above) would still be enforceable. For example, an express term could restrain disclosures about mismanagement but not unlawful maladministration.\n5. Some recent developments outside the UK: First, many other European and non-European countries have introduced whistleblowing legislation since PIDA 1998 came into force. Second, in 2015, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression presented the first UN report to address in some depth the need for enhanced whistleblower protection (Kaye, 2015). The report calls on the UN and member states to implement effective whistleblowing legislation and refers to relevant international norms and good practices, including the Tshwane Principles which provide guidance on the protection of national security whistleblowers. Third, the Council of Europe has recommended to its 47 Member States that they establish:\n6. Conclusion and suggestions for reform in the UK: If the public interest in protecting whistleblowers was never clearly articulated prior to the PIDA 1998, this legislation attempted to do so, albeit in a restrictive fashion. In some respects, the case law has been reasonably helpful but worrying doubts remain about a number of key legal issues. Although Lord Nolan commended the PIDA 1998 \"for so skilfully achieving the essential but delicate balance .[. . .] between the public interest and the interests of employers\", it could be argued that in reality employers' interests have been given prominence. Indeed, some would argue that internal whistleblowing/confidential reporting procedures can work against the public interest in that they facilitate cover-ups and deprive the public of information about wrongdoing. In the author's opinion, PIDA 1998 no longer reflects international best practice and needs to be replaced as soon as possible. With this in mind, the following suggestions for reform are made.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA 1998) was the model for South Africa's Protected Disclosures Act 2000 and has been regarded as an exemplary piece of legislation in debates in other countries, for example, the Netherlands, New Zealand and some Australian states. However, in the light of international developments since PIDA 1998 came into force, in particular the principles contained in the Council of Europe Recommendation and the enactment of more sophisticated statutes elsewhere, it is contended that the UK legislation is no longer fit for purpose. The purpose of this article is to make suggestions for reform in the light of developments elsewhere.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper assesses the operation of PIDA 1998 (as amended) in the light of the case law and empirical research.\nFindings: The paper makes detailed suggestions for reform in relation to both the law and practice of whistleblowing.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper focuses on the main issues raised by the UK whistleblowing provisions. It has implications both nationally and internationally.\nPractical implications: It is hoped that the recommendations will provoke thought about legislative reforms and changes in management practices.\nSocial implications: If the reforms suggested in the paper are enacted, it is expected that workers will be more confident about raising concerns about wrongdoing. This should benefit society generally in that economic inefficiencies can be dealt with and citizens can enjoy greater freedom of speech.\nOriginality/value: This review of the UK legislation over 19 years should be of value to academics, students, legal and management practitioners both at home and abroad.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Brand personality and purchase intention	[ "Personality", "Purchase intention", "Brand", "Product categories" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A brand can be defined as:\nLiterature review: Measurement of brand personality\nMethodology: Brand selection\nFindings: Brand personality and purchase intention\nDiscussion: The main objective of this study was to analyze the effects of the brand personality dimensions on purchase intention. Studies in Mexico about brand personality and its relationship to consumers' brand purchase intentions are limited, and none of them compare different types of products and levels of involvement. Furthermore, the brand personality dimensions were compared to study the differences between users and non-users of 12 brands. With these objectives in mind, two hypotheses were made; they will be reviewed and corroborated with the results found in this study. H1 predicted that the most related dimensions to purchase intention would be Sincerity, Excitement and Competence. The results confirmed this hypothesis partially. The dimensions Success, Hipness/Vivacity (both related to Aaker's Excitement), Sophistication, Sincerity, Domesticity/Emotionality and Professionalism explained purchase intention. Among these, Hipness/Vivacity was the most significant predictor, followed by Success and Sincerity. In addition, Domesticity/Emotionality and Professionalism also explained purchase intention, but with a negative weight, which indicates that the more Domesticity/Emotionality and Professionalism a brand is perceived to have, the lower the purchase intention will be. Contrary to previous studies (Aaker, 1997; Lee and Oh, 2006), the Competence dimension (related to the Professionalism dimension in this study) had a negative weight, which indicates that if our participants perceive the brands as competent or professional, the purchase intention decreases. Perhaps, this can be explained by the participants' age in this study: young people prefer to buy brands that represent or possess a personality similar to theirs or that correspond to their lifestyle. Young people look for brands that are hip/vivacious, successful and sincere; it appears that at least at their age they do not want to see themselves reflected in brands that are domestic/emotional or professional.\nConclusions, limitations and implications: This study should prove useful to marketing practitioners to understand how Mexican customers perceive their brands and those of their competitors, therefore to understand what competitors of these brands can do to increase purchase intention. The results uncovered regarding purchase intention are important, as they can be used to identify those personality brand dimensions that appear to be more important in explaining consumer preferences. These analyses can be done for different brands, product categories and segments of consumers to define which communication strategies should be used to reach strategic targets.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of brand personality dimensions on purchase intention. Furthermore, the brand personality dimensions are compared to study the differences between users and non-users of 12 brands.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An estimated 400 undergraduate students participated. They were given a questionnaire divided into two sessions (six brands of think products in one session and six brands of feel products in another session). In the end, 313 participants completed the questionnaire on the six brands of think products, and 320 completed the questionnaire on the six brands of feel products.\nFindings: Multiple regression analysis revealed that Hipness/Vivacity, Success, Sincerity and Sophistication brand personality dimensions are significant predictors of purchase intention. In addition, Domesticity/Emotionality and Professionalism also explain purchase intention but with a negative weight. The results are also broken down into product categories. Compared with non-users of the brands, the users rate the brands higher in all the brand personality dimensions.\nPractical implications: This paper should prove useful to marketing practitioners to understand how Mexican customers perceive their brands and those of their competitors and, therefore, to understand what competitors of these brands can do to increase purchase intention.\nOriginality/value: The results found regarding purchase intention are important, as they can be used to identify those personality brand dimensions that appear to be most important in explaining consumer preferences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does Hispanic-targeted advertising work for services?	[ "Ethnic groups", "Hispanics", "Services marketing", "Advertising effectiveness", "Product identification" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Most of the existing service advertising research has focused on the differences between communication strategies used for services and those used for products. This research area has emphasized the use of concrete cues of service quality in the message in order to persuade consumers, thus discounting the use of other appeals. Consequently, relatively little is known about the role of ethnicity in services advertising. Real life service advertisements, however, appear to make heavy use of ethnicity when targeting a specific segment of the population. However, prior empirical research showing the effect of ethnicity on services advertising is lacking.\nConceptual framework: This study tested a conceptual framework that considers the impact of service advertising targeted to Hispanics on attitudes toward the advertisement of low and high involvement services. The purpose of this research was to study attitudinal differences, in the context of service advertising, between strong and weakly identified Hispanics. The ethnicity of the character on the service advertisement should impact respondents' attitudes, depending on their strength of ethnic identification. This relationship should be stronger for low involvement services, where obvious attributes such as ethnicity can easily influence response. For high involvement services, ethnicity should not play a major role since consumers consider several other attributes.Our study proposes that strong and weak Hispanic identifiers will rate Hispanic-targeted service advertising differently. The difference in rating for Hispanic character advertisements between strong and weak Hispanic identifiers will be less for high involvement services and more for low involvement services. Before presenting a description of how the model was tested and what results emerged, it seems sensible to justify two arguments: that advertising targeted to ethnic minorities logically should be disproportionately effective, and that involvement differentiates the amount and saliency of attributes consumers consider when evaluating service advertising.Distinctiveness theory\nHypotheses: In the preceding discussion, it was suggested by distinctiveness theory that, as a result of being a numeric minority, ethnicity is extremely salient for Hispanics. Also, the discussion on ethnic identification implied that strong Hispanic identifiers - because of their greater connection to their ethnicity and expression of traditional Hispanic values - may appreciate and feel more targeted by advertisements that depict Hispanics than Hispanics with weaker ethnic identities. Weak Hispanic ethnic identifiers may possess attitudes and behaviors that are not strongly tied to Hispanic culture and may even at times resemble dominant mainstream culture (Deshpande et al., 1986). This may lead them to demonstrate a weaker understanding of and appreciation for Hispanic character advertisements. The level of involvement of the service being advertised moderates the relationship between ethnic identification and advertising attitudes. Based on the overall discussion, the following hypotheses were tested:H1. Strong Hispanic identifiers will perceive themselves more similar to Hispanic characters in advertisements than will weak Hispanic identifiers.\nMethod: Design\nResults: An aggregate scale composed of responses from the two advertisements in each condition (i.e. hotel/insurance and long distance phone service/photo processing) was created for each dependent variable. For example, the mean scores for the dependent variable \"attitude toward the ad\" were computed for each of the four advertisements. The mean scores were then summed and divided by two to produce an aggregate scale for the variable \"attitude toward the ad\" for each of the two conditions (high and low involvement).While some researchers have uncovered interesting findings from consumers' responses to advertisements based on subjects' exposure to only one service advertisement, any generalizations made may be premature since consumers often provide responses that are service-specific (Tai and Chan, 2001). Unlike past research, this study exposed each subject to two service advertisements. Subjects' responses for each of the two advertisements were aggregated so that more conclusive generalizations could be made. The results of the experiment are presented and discussed according to the hypotheses presented earlier. A series of analyses of variance for all hypotheses are given below.H1. Hispanics' perceived similarity to characters in advertisements\nDiscussion: In addition to adding to the sparse research on ethnic services advertising, this study contributes to the field of consumer research by demonstrating the usefulness of an innovative technique that used the latest technology to vary only the service being advertised in each experimental advertisement. Unlike past research that has asked consumers to evaluate ethnic character advertisements that were quite different on dimensions such as body positioning, dress, celebrity, background, and product placement, this study used digital techniques to enable the researcher to control most irrelevant variables. This procedure ensured that any differences in subjects' responses to advertisements with Hispanic characters for low and high involvement services must be attributed to the ethnicity-related variables.It was expected that Hispanic respondents with high ethnic identification would respond more favorably to advertisements of high and low involvement services than would Hispanics with low ethnic identification. Our study found support for this prediction. Additionally, strong Hispanic identifiers perceived themselves more similar to Hispanic characters in advertisements of low and high involvement services than did Hispanics with low ethnic identification.These findings support identification theory that individuals prefer models based on perceived similarities between themselves and the model. For Hispanics, ethnicity is a significant similarity cue. Membership in a numeric minority group causes Hispanics to be more conscious of Hispanic models in advertisements.\nManagerial implications: The strong/weak ethnic identification scheme allows the service provider a segmentation basis that is substantial, as indicated by the fact that Hispanics are now the largest minority and are expected to grow to more than a quarter of the US population by the year 2050 (Associated Press, 2001) and actionable, as indicated by identifiable differences in service advertising preferences. These criteria indicate that the dimension of ethnic identification is both theoretically interesting and practically relevant in marketing services to the Hispanic population.The strength of ethnic identification construct has already provided sufficient evidence of its viability in the study of within group differences. Service providers cannot miss the opportunity of understanding Hispanic culture and targeting Hispanic consumers more efficiently by allocating their ethnic advertising dollars to the marketing of low involvement services more aggressively since it seems to be a better investment based on our results.For service providers, this study provides two important guidelines for the design of service advertising strategies. First, services must be designed particularly to appeal to Hispanics when targeting Strongly Hispanic identifiers: This is especially true of low involvement services. For example, a long distance phone service provider seeking to expand into the Strong Hispanic market should probably redesign its advertising campaign to include Hispanic characters. In contrast, for high involvement services, such as insurance providers, such tailoring of the advertising campaign may not be crucial.\nLimitations and future research: This study represents an initial step in developing a better understanding of ethnic service advertising. The service advertising literature will benefit from future research in this area. Future research should look at the effects of ethnic identification on other minority audiences such as African Americans and Asian-Americans and also examine several other service categories.The strength of ethnic identification construct can be useful in several service contexts. Our study used very limited cues (brand, service category and model) which may raise external validity issues. Future research should look at the effects of ethnic identification using additional cues since most advertisers have significantly more content than the ads used in our experiment. These additional cues may improve the external validity and generalizability of the results and may provide a stronger argument for the use of ethnic identification as a segmentation tool.Future research should also look at what factors may heighten minorities' ethnic identification. Feelings of being ethnic fluctuate, as evidenced by studies that show ethnic respondents who report feeling varying degrees of ethnicity depending on the situation they encounter and the people with whom they interact (Deshpande and Stayman, 1994). Market researchers and practitioners should consider the implications that situational or context factors can have in the ethnic service advertising area.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The study seeks to examine two variables of interest to marketers in the area of services advertising, ethnicity and service involvement. The goal of this study is to investigate the relative effectiveness of ethnic-targeting in services advertising, specifically, Hispanic-targeted advertising. The purpose of this research is to understand what types of services can benefit from Hispanic-targeted service advertising and develop practical implications for practitioners trying to spend advertising dollars more efficiently.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The impact of the advertising model's ethnicity on post-exposure attitude toward high and low involvement service brands was explored.\nFindings: - The results of this quasi-experimental study suggest that appealing to strong Hispanic identifiers may be highly desirable in terms of creating favorable attitudes toward service brands when advertising low involvement services, where, by definition, the consumer does not engage in intensive decision making and considers few attributes. Since few attributes are evaluated, obvious attributes such as ethnicity can easily influence choice. Finally, the findings of this study suggest that employing Hispanic-targeted advertising may not be an effective strategy in promoting high-involvement services since consumers consider more attributes and, therefore, ethnicity does not play a major role.\nOriginality/value: - Of interest to marketers in the area of services advertising, ethnicity and service involvement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Value and worth: scenario analysis	[ "Discounted cash flow", "Accounting valuations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the first article in this series, it was shown that a valuation is an estimate of price in the market. It is the expert opinion of what the valuer considers that the subject property will sell for in the open market today. The article went on to consider the investment method, implicit and explicit, as an appropriate model for the valuation of (in our example) a rack-rented office building in the UK. That valuation is repeated in Table I.In the case of a rack rented freehold, the discounted cash flow (DCF) method produces the same value as the traditional method. As a pricing model, either can be used, however the advantage of the DCF model is that it makes the assumptions underpinning the valuation explicit. This may not be important if the only reason for the analysis is to estimate price, but an investor should always be asking a supplementary question to \"what is the price?\" They should also be asking the question \"is it worth buying it at that price?\"\nCalculation of worth: This paper looks at \"testing the assumptions\". The valuation is a single figure based upon predetermined input information. In this case, the valuer has determined the appropriate all risk yield, the equated yield, the implied rental/capital growth and so on. They are \"best estimates\" but they may not truly reflect what a particular investor may think will happen in the future. A calculation of worth is a separate analysis that tests the assumptions underpinning the valuation. If the investor believes that the market is underestimating (say) the expected growth of rental in the market, then the calculation of worth analysis can change the growth input to calculate the worth of the investment based on that new assumption. This can be done using a simple form of scenario testing.There is a view that there is no distinction between price and worth; a property is worth the price it can be achieve if sold on the open market. Thus worth must be the same as price. This appears to be a reasonable argument, but it fails to recognise the underlying motivation of any investment decision. Assuming that there are no extenuating circumstances forcing an owner to sell, the decision to sell an asset will be triggered if the price in the market is equal to or (ideally) above their assessment of the worth of that asset to them. Similarly, all other things being equal, a decision to buy occurs at a point where the price in the market is considered to be lower than the investor's own assessment of property's worth.Perhaps at this juncture it will be useful to state some of the definitions:* \"price\" is the actual observable exchange point in the open market;* \"value\" is an estimation of the price of exchange in the market place; and* \"worth\" is a specific investor's assessment of the monetary net benefits of ownership of an asset based upon the investor's own perception of the stream of benefits which they expect to be produced by the asset.The important words in the definition of worth are \"investor's own perception\". As discussed, this may be different to the market expectations reflected in the valuation. Market valuations need to use market information and they will reflect market expectations of future changes to the income cash flow (possibly in the form of expected growth) and/or expected movements in the exit yield over time. However for market valuations it is important that the information being used is indicative of market sentiment and is not simply the individual view of the client or his/her adviser as might be produced by an econometric forecast. If the latter were to be used it would produce a calculation of worth to that particular investor and not the market value figure. This is the difference between an analysis of market expectations (to be used in pricing models) and (econometric) forecasts to be used in calculations of worth.\nForecasting: A forecast is a prediction of any of the inputs of the appraisal model that impact upon the possible future cash flows. The appraisal model normally adopted for assessing the worth of an investment is an explicit discounted cash flow model. As seen, the DCF method is identical to the traditional market valuation model, in as much as it simply determines the present value of the cash flow produced by the investment. The information needs for an explicit DCF are a mixture of market and client specific information.A calculation of worth model will use the client's predictions for the future data, this may include future rental value change and depreciation rates, future re-development or refurbishment costs, exit yield forecast, holding periods, rent review, purchase and sale costs.It is possible to adapt the DCF method to incorporate subjective predicted growth rates. This could be in the form of a single growth period for the duration of the investment or via a number of different growth assumptions for each review period. In addition to testing the growth assumption, it is also reasonable to vary the traditional all-risk yield used on the final reversion, as this will affect the future sale price. The ARY used on the reversion is known as the exit yield. In the valuation model, these inputs, to be tested, are shown in Table I.In the case of a rack rented freehold, the DCF method produces the same value as the traditional method. As a pricing model, either can be used, however the advantage of the DCF model is that it makes the assumptions underpinning the valuation explicit. This will allow the valuer to analyse the market and answer the supplementary question to \"what is the price?\" and that is \"is it worth that price?\"In Table I, a traditional valuation is used for the pricing of a rack rented freehold. This gives a CV of PS12,500,000 as discussed in the previous education briefing. A DCF valuation is also shown which uses the same (explicit) growth assumption of 3.2 per cent as implied in the traditional method. The DCF model also assumes a sale of the property at the second reversion and uses the same ARY at this point as in the traditional method. This effectively assumes that the property will be as attractive in 10 years time as it is now.In Table I both models give a indication of price based on these market expectations. What is not tested if whether the market expectations themselves are realistic? It may be that a particular investor might take a more pessimistic or optimistic view of the future potential of the property. By substituting the different expectations into the DCF model it is possible to carry out a calculation of worth.In Tables II and III, two analyses are undertaken. One where the investor believes that the market is underestimating the potential for this property and thus assumes a slightly higher annual growth rate over the initial 10 years together with a lower exit yield (which indicates that the reversionary sale will be more valuable than before). The second analysis assumes a pessimistic stance with a lower growth rate and a correspondingly higher exit yield.It can be seen from Tables II and III that if the market prices the property using traditional methods, a price of PS12,500,000 will result. This tells the optimistic investor that they should purchase the property at this price, as the worth to them is in fact higher at PS14,052,346. In the case of the pessimistic investor, the property is only worth PS11,062,713 and should not be purchased at the price of PS12,500,000. The model is a genuine attempt to create a forecast of what will actually happen to the property over the life of the actual or prospective ownership. The outcome of a calculation of worth analysis can be measured as a Net Present Value (NPV) for each scenario or an internal rate of return (IRR). The IRR is what we expect to achieve as an annual return IF our predictions as to growth and exit yield materialise.\nConclusion: The DCF methodology can either \"mirror\" the traditional approach by explicitly applying all the assumptions as the conventional method in a valuation/pricing model. Or, because, all the factors are now explicit it can question the validity of these assumptions and produce a calculation of worth. The worth of the property can be analysed against the purchase of the investment by testing the input assumptions. In this briefing, we have only looked at an \"at best\" and \"at worst\" scenario but it is possible to modify this approach to consider a whole range of possible outcomes. This will be looked at in the next briefing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper sets out to look at \"calculation of worth\" as it relates to valuations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A number of pricing models and valuation methods are analysed. Forecasting is also considered.\nFindings: - It is possible to adapt the discounted cash flow (DCF) method to incorporate subjective predicted growth rates. In the case of a rack-rented freehold, the DCF method produces the same value as the traditional method.\nOriginality/value: - This paper looks at \"testing the assumptions\".\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teekay Shipping Corporation case analysis	[ "Strategic planning", "Strategic management tools", "SWOT analysis", "Business model", "Competitive analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: In 1973, the late Torben Karlshoej founded what it known as Teekay Shipping Corporation (Ingpen, 2013), which is a transnational company with 6,400 employees worldwide (Teekay, 2010). Teekay, under the creative leadership of Bjorn Moller, the older brother of the founder, had emerged from 1998 to 2011 as the dynamic leader in the rapidly expanding crude oil and liquid natural gas (LNG) sector (Ingpen, 2013). Teekay is considered to be the world's largest tanker company by market capitalization (NYSE: \"TK\") with a fleet of over 40 ships and has several more on order from Korean and Chinese shipyards (Teekay Deutsche Bank Transport Conference, 2007). That enormous capacity translates into transportation of more than 10 percent of the world's seaborne oil (Teekay Shipping Canada Ltd, 2012).\nLiterature review: To date, the preponderance of academic, trade and government literature on the tanker industry has focused on the impact of political, economic, environmental and technological factors which influence the performance and its outcomes of success for the shipping industry (Lorange, 2005). The existing literature provides an overview of shipping industry issues, however, such books and articles all ensue from a traditional methodology which do not acknowledge the role of corporate strategy literature heretofore presented in this research. This paper draws heavily on the corporate strategy literature to link Teekay's practical methods of operations with contemporary strategy literature.\nInternal analysis: Value chain analysis\nDiscussion of strategy implementation: One way to monitor the impact of Teekay's strategic decisions on their operations is to apply the balanced scorecard method. The balanced scorecard has been found to be robust across a wide variety of companies and industries (Kaplan and Norton, 2006). By using the balanced scorecard method, Teekay is able to align the vision, mission and goals with front-line activities in the value chain. Teekay's strategy of achieving its goals as contained in its vision entails implementation of well-worked out procedures devised by its highly trained staff, as vetted by its human resources department and in part assisted by the SCOPE system which is their standard of competence management. The balanced scorecard method also provides a model in which Teekay can evaluate its linkages between suppliers, customers, out-sourced services, and joint ventures. The balanced scorecard also provides companies an opportunity to learn and adapt their strategies to changing knowledge and economic conditions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The competitive pressures of the past several years and the ongoing financial meltdown has driven most tanker owners and operators to rethink their business strategy. In addition, new green technologies are providing opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of the shipping industry. Given the parameters of the situation, this paper analyzes the case of Teekay Shipping, one of the market leaders. In particular, this paper addresses Teekay's specific advantages and their sustainability under rapidly changing competitive conditions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper utilizes a series of analytical methods to provide an exploratory understanding of Teekay's strategic positions. Teekay's business model will be analyzed in the context of social, technological, economic, environmental and political trends and SWOT analysis is also explored.\nFindings: The gaps in Teekay's business model in relation to growth opportunities and inconsistencies in its strategic efforts are revealed along with recommendations and conclusions. This paper contributes to a greater understanding of the complex and changing factors that shape the shipping industry, and should therefore lead to more effective nautical management.\nOriginality/value: With the use of the discussed strategic management tools in this paper, which have proven successful in other industries, it can be expected to enhance Teekay's management of its business, proving another success for the cross-fertilization of ideas.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Headteacher-teacher relationship and its effect on teacher's trust in Malaysian high performing schools	[ "Dyadic relationship", "Headteacher", "High performing school", "Leader member exchange theory", "Teacher trust" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Malaysia's formal educational system has experienced significant modifications through the introduction of Malaysian Educational Blueprints 2013-2025 with its noteworthy vision for enhancing teacher quality, and for improving headteachers' capacity in school leadership, and inclusive performance of educational institutions. Successful execution of these visions relies on the roles of headteachers in the professional development of teachers as per the standards outlined by the ministry (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2012).\nTheoretical framework: LMX theory\nThe purpose of the study: This study was designed to explore teachers' standpoints on the headteachers' dyadic leadership practices in the school context which we assume to have a significant influence on teachers' levels of trust. Thus, the research aims to understand whether teachers in selected schools can be classified into in- and out-groups; understand the dyadic leadership practices among school headteachers; determine whether teachers in high-performing schools have high trust in their headteachers; and lastly analyse whether headteachers' dyadic leadership practices have significant influence on teachers trust in selected schools.\nMethod: Sampling\nResults: Instrument's validation\nDiscussion: This study examined the LMX relationship between headteachers and teachers in selected high performing schools. Prior to that, the study offered some significant literature on the extent to which LMX contributes to strengthening relationships and helps mould teachers' level of trust. Then, before proceeding with the determination of teachers' trust and relationship analysis, teachers were segregated into \"in-group\" and \"out-group\" based on their responses on the LMX relationship questionnaires. Further, within the \"in\" and \"out\" groups, teachers' level of trust were determined based on the practice of trust by school headteachers through trust facets based on the Tschannen-Moran's (2004) model involving five facets of benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty and openness.\nImplications of the study: This study offers several theoretical and practical implications. First, teachers who have a close relationship with their headteachers gain more attention and information compared to other groups. That is, headteachers should always try to build a good relationship with teachers in order to gain teachers' high trust, which is necessary to sustaining school effectiveness. Second, the study provides direction to the existing studies which typically showed that teachers' trust resulted mostly from their level of interaction with their headteachers and how headteachers could build good relationships with teachers in order to obtain teachers' trust.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between headteachers and teachers and its effects on the role of trust in Malaysian high-performing schools through the dyadic relationship theoretical approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a survey questionnaire, a total of 199 teachers from five high-performing schools were selected as respondents for data collection. Before proceeding with inferential statistical analysis, teachers were separated into the \"in-group\" and \"out-group\".\nFindings: The findings revealed that the teachers from both the groups perceived that their facets of trust are strongly associated with the type of relationship they have with their school leaders. The results also demonstrate that the quality of dyadic relationships between headteachers and teachers moderately influences teachers' trust.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that the headteachers should always build good relationships with the teachers to gain teachers' trust for sustaining school effectiveness. The findings encourage the Ministry of Education, particularly the Teacher Recruitment Division, to require all teachers and headteachers to deepen their knowledge on leader-member exchange (LMX) role-development processes.\nOriginality/value: The results are of great importance since limited empirical studies have examined LMX role-development processes with reference to teachers and headteachers in the context of Malaysian higher performing schools.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Unethical sales behavior neutralization: the impact of salesperson role variables and moderating effects of role relationship orientation	[ "Self-efficacy", "Ethics", "Role ambiguity", "Sales", "Role conflict", "Ethical behaviour", "Neutralizations", "Role perceptions", "Role relationship orientation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Justifying unethical selling practices seems to be alarmingly prevalent among today's sales force as critics of the personal selling profession argue that it is increasingly plagued by unethical salesperson behavior (Hair et al., 2009; Hansen and Riggle, 2009; Vitell and Grove, 1987). Generally speaking, unethical behavior reflects purely selfish decisions that benefit no one but the individual making the choice (Haines et al., 2008). In the sales domain, this would include acts that favor mainly the salesperson and to the detriment of the customer. Unethical salesperson behavior is also detrimental to organizations because it can have negative consequences on sales force long-term performance by reducing the likelihood of achieving sales objectives (Schwepker and Ingram, 1996). In contrast, organizations who focus on providing and explaining clear ethical policies in a positive climate tend to reap the benefit of stronger job performance from their sales force (Agnihotri and Krush, 2015; Weeks and Nantel, 1992). At the heart of this issue is salespeople that do not follow procedures, err in ethical judgment and attempt to justify unethical behavior with (what they feel are valid) excuses (Serviere-Munoz and Mallin, 2013).\nTheory and background: Neutralization theory\nHypothesis development: In today's competitive and complex selling environment, salespeople are required to know more, do more and respond to the demands of multiple stakeholders (e.g. customers, sales managers, internal sales team members, etc.). The boundary spanning role of salespeople, coupled with the (sometimes competing) demands of those they need to satisfy could potentially cloud ethical judgment, intention, and decision-making. Drawing from role and attribution theory, four variables were chosen as antecedents and moderators for this study: role conflict, role ambiguity, role task self-efficacy and role relationship orientation.\nMethod and results: Survey, procedure and sample\nDiscussion: Our research findings provide interesting insight into the study of salesperson role variable impact on neutralizations. Unexpectedly, we did not find support for a direct role conflict-neutralization relationship. It is possible that other influences on the salesperson - for example personal (e.g. age, experience, career stage), organizational (e.g. company tenure, job function, supervisor demands) and environmental (e.g. competitive intensity, customer size) factors confounded this relationship. Instead, role-conflict was a significant contributor to salespeople using neutralizations when their relationship orientation was higher. This makes sense from the standpoint that a stronger salesperson role relationship orientation stresses the importance of establishing (customer) trust and commitment so that repeated business is the result over a long-term timeframe. Given the quality of these relationships, unethical acts toward the customer will be met with such intense guilt feelings that the emotional response to counter these feelings will be neutralization techniques. Role ambiguity's positive impact on neutralization use confirms the importance of salespeople understanding what they are accountable for in their jobs. An example here is the salesperson's mindset, \"If I don't fully understand what I am to do, then I can't be held accountable for my actions.\" When salespeople do not know what is expected of them they may be more apt to deny responsibility or the existence of a victim when they stray from ethical judgment. The notion that salesperson role task self-efficacy was positively related to salesperson use of neutralizations reinforces that the self-confidence possessed by these salespeople facilitates their thinking that they are immune from doing anyone harm (e.g. denial of injury) or victimizing a customer (e.g. denial of victim) and that any blame for unethical practice should fall on someone else (e.g. condemning the condemner). This result may stem from the notion that a belief in one's capabilities supports a greater feeling of person-job fit. Self-efficacy, considered a wellness indicator (Hecht and Allen, 2005), is a positive image which salespeople should want to preserve when faced with unethical decision making - thus, they may turn to neutralizations as a protection mechanism. Self-efficacious salespeople believe they can do their job well and as such are confident in their role. Thus, they are apparently more likely to deny any wrongdoing (denial of injury), conclude it is not their fault (denial of responsibility) or refute that anyone got hurt (denial of victim). All in all, they are willing to attribute the cause of any unethical behavior by using various neutralizations to maintain their sense of high self-efficacy. Protecting the belief that one has the capabilities to perform their job can be a powerful motivator to mute guilt or remorse from unethical actions.\nConclusion: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between salesperson role perceptions (conflict, ambiguity and self-efficacy) and their use of neutralization techniques as attributions to justify unethical selling behavior. A secondary goal was to explore the seller's role relationship orientation as a moderating influence in the salesperson role variable-neutralization technique use relationship. Our research shed new light on role, attribution, and neutralization theories in the context of the sales literature as it further explains the circumstances and conditions in which salespeople are prone to using neutralization techniques. Overall, how a salesperson perceives their role can impact how they attempt to justify unethical sales behavior. Furthermore, the degree to which they are relationship oriented makes a difference when they perceive conflict in their role. Further study on this topic could center on a deeper dive into attribution types to understanding the specific (internal/external; stable/unstable; controllable/uncontrollable) neutralizations that salespeople use when rationalizing their unethical behavior given different personal, organizational and environmental factors. Other areas of exploration include investigating the specific job functions or selling roles where salespeople are more prone to use neutralizations - and which ones. These research questions, among others, may give practicing sales managers some things to look for when recruiting and interviewing sales reps.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between salesperson role perceptions and use of neutralization techniques, given the relationship orientation of the salesperson. Direct relationships between salesperson role conflict, role ambiguity, role task self-efficacy and a salesperson's propensity to use neutralizations to attribute their unethical selling behavior are tested. The moderating effects of role-relationship orientation on the aforementioned relationships are also explored\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected from 163 (cross-industry, B2B/B2C non-retail) salespeople. Results were analyzed and seven hypotheses were tested using SmartPLS to estimate and evaluate a (partial least squares) structural model.\nFindings: The study findings conclude that role ambiguity, role task self-efficacy and role relationship orientation directly impact a salesperson's tendency to use neutralization techniques to justify unethical sales behavior. Role relationship orientation serves to moderate the relationship between role conflict and neutralization use.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research integrates attribution and role theories to isolate the conditions where salespeople are prone to use neutralization techniques to justify their unethical behavior. Salesperson role relationship orientation is explored to understand the moderating effects on the salesperson role-neutralization relationships.\nPractical implications: Sales managers are provided guidance (e.g. training and coaching) to help salespeople navigate feelings of negative role perceptions (role conflict, role ambiguity, role self-efficacy) to minimize the impact on justification of unethical sales behaviors.\nOriginality/value: This research builds on the sales and ethics literatures by incorporating role and attribution theory to better understand how salespeople approach dealing with their own unethical behavior and the implications on maintaining relationships with their customers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Informatics and data science: an overview for the information professional	[ "Informatics", "Information studies", "Data science", "Information science", "Information work", "Unstructured data" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the course of time every field evolves. Evolution of a field often occurs because of the changing needs and requirements of society as a whole. Changes in one discipline may not necessarily affect other fields directly; however, these new developments in other areas frequently have a ripple effect far beyond their original scope. Additionally, new discoveries often lead to increasing specialization within fields as a result of a much larger knowledge base. For example, original there was no specialization in medicine; everyone was a general practitioner. However, specialization within medicine developed as a consequence of the increasing amount of knowledge discovered and the resulting desire to be able to study cases in greater depth to further develop better medical knowledge (Weisz, 2003).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to describe the emerging field of data science, its significance in the larger information landscape and some issues that distinguish the problems of data science and informatics from traditional approaches in the information sciences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through a general overview of the topic, the author discusses some of the major aspects of how work in the data sciences and informatics differ from traditional library and information science.\nFindings: Data science and informatics, as emerging fields, are expanding our understanding of how the massive amount of information currently being generated can be collected, managed and used. While these may not be traditional \"library\" problems, the contributions of the library and information science communities are critical to help address aspects of these issues.\nOriginality/value: The emerging fields of data science and informatics have not been extensively explored from the perspective of the information professional. This paper is designed to help information professionals better understand some of the implications of data science in a changing information environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Increasing the effectiveness of global virtual teams: Factors that enhance performance	[ "Teamwork", "Communication", "Virtual teams", "Employee behavior" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nDiversity pros and cons: Collaboration is widely acknowledged as a vital component of organizational success. And shrewd firms also recognize that diversity within teams helps further boost performance in an operating environment where the only real certainty is frequent change.\nTrust is the key foundation: Now, few people will be shocked to find trust a critical component. Mutual trust is an integral part of any successful relationship, and it is no different within a team setting. High levels of trust appease doubt and lessen fear of exploitation or opportunistic behaviors.\nCommitment and communication: No team will ever flourish though in the absence of strong commitment from its members. It becomes even more important when the going gets tough to the point that objectives might even be abandoned. But, dedicated individuals stand up to be counted during such times and demonstrate a willingness to go beyond the call of duty.\nThe cultural factor: Development programs arguably become more critical still when culture is factored into the equation. Global teams are almost certain to include members of different nationalities. Firms therefore need to be cognizant of whether a culture is more collectivist or individualistic in nature, as this has implications for accountability. When cultural diversity is evident, it is more imperative to adopt the right approach to communication. Team members need to:\nComment: The review is based on \"A profile of high-performing global virtual teams,\" by Lippert and Dulewicz (2017), published in Team Performance Management: An International Journal. Effective performance of GVT is imperative in today's business environment. In this informative piece, the authors identify various constructs that firms should focus on in order to enhance performance of such teams.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: International teams working on a virtual basis are becoming more common. Managers can optimize the performance of project teams by focusing on communication, trust, commitment, and other aspects likely to impact team effectiveness.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The paper saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent, information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Structure-context alignment: evidence from a developing country (Sudan)	[ "Technology led strategy", "Environmental management", "Control", "Correlation analysis", "Organizational theory", "Sudan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations are inevitable features in our contemporary life. No doubt our society today might be characterized as an \"organization society\" since we live in a world surrounded by and made up of organizations. Researchers have a number of reasons to study organizations; one reason is that by studying organizations they can gain more understanding of their functions which, in turn, help them to predict their behavior and performance and in some cases control them. One valid question in our contemporary society is that why do organizations behave as they do. This question needs to be answered because organizations exert major influence on today's lives.\nThe research problem: Organizational structure as one of the elements of \"organization theory\" has been the focus of this paper, specially its relationship with the context and the environment of the organizations. It is axiomatic that the establishment of a sound \"organization theory\" requires the provision of evidences from different cultural environments. Most of the studies that were conducted on the relationship between context and structure took place in the Western milieu. Unless other evidences are provided from other countries of different cultural backgrounds and industrialization levels it will be difficult to establish a pattern of relationship that can contribute effectively to the process of establishing a sound universal \"organization theory\".\nThe research objectives: This research attempts to investigate the relationship between the individual contextual dimensions and the individual structural elements in the manufacturing sector in the Sudan, which represents a different cultural milieu. Hence, the \"universality\" of the relationship between context and structure could be tested by conducting cross-cultural comparisons.\nResearch design and methodology: Design\nEvolution, structure, and performance of the manufacturing sector in the Sudan: The emergence of the manufacturing sector in Sudan dates back to the British colonial era where the Gezira Scheme - one of the largest irrigated agricultural schemes in Africa - and other cotton related industries are established in 1925. However the origin of the modern manufacturing sector could be traced only to 1955/1956 (Abu Affan, 1985). The government of Sudan has established a number of manufacturing firms during the 1970s by the help of foreign aid. The private sector has contributed by establishing a number of manufacturing firms in different sub-sectors. However, some of the government policies had disincentive effect on the private sector and deterred it from playing a greater role in developing the industrial sector in Sudan.The industrial objectives set by the national governments failed to identify specific priorities or set measurable targets for industrial growth. Likewise, the industrial policies failed to attract local and foreign capital.The industrial sector in Sudan can be classified into seven major sub-sectors. These sub-sectors are: food industries, weaving and spinning, leather products, drugs and chemicals, metallic industries, packing industries, and building materials industries. Later, by the beginning of the third millennium, Sudan stared to engage in assembling cars, truck, and agricultural equipment. Most of the manufacturing firms in Sudan are located in Khartoum State and the central states in Sudan.The manufacturing sector in the Sudan is confronted by a number of obstacles, which negatively contributed toward its development. The inappropriate investment climate, weak infrastructure, finance problems, marketing in efficiencies, shortage of skilled labour, taxes and replacement problems, and scarcity of raw materials are the major problems facing the manufacturing sector in Sudan.The contribution of the manufacturing sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) is always marginal, agriculture and services sectors are the major contributors to the GDP. Underutilization of capacity is the main feature characterizing the manufacturing sector in the Sudan.\nOrganization structure and context: conclusions of previous studies: The researcher has reviewed several studies conducted on the relationship between structure and context in organizations. Because of the limitation of the publishing conventions it is impossible to review all those studies and the discussion will be confined to the conclusions of those studies.It seems that the debate on the relationship between context and structure in organizations will continue for years to come. In spite of the tremendous research conducted in this area, little agreement was reported about the results and the nature of that relationship.Woodward (1965) and her advocates (Harvey, 1968; Hage and Aiken, 1969; Zewerman, 1970; Comstock and Scott, 1977) believed that technology is the prime determinant of organizational structure, whereas the Aston Group and their advocates (Inkson et al., 1970; Blua and Shoenherr, 1971; Child and Mansfield, 1973; Child, 1973; Khandwala, 1974; Blua et al., 1976) believed that size is a prime determinant of structure in organizations.Although the Aston Group tried to reconcile their research findings with that of Woodward's (1965) by showing that similar conclusions have been reached when they considered in their sample only organizations that the bulk of their activities are centered around the production activities, but the Aston Group and their advocates denied the technological imperative rationale and indicated that technology has no major impact on structure. The disagreement among researchers concerning the relationship between structure and context may be attributed to the following factors:(1) Although the overwhelming majority of organization researchers have treated size as conceptually distinct from structure, yet 80 per cent of the studies reviewed by Kimberly (1976) operationalized size in terms of the number of employees in the organization. Kimberly raised the question whether this measure of size can be used for all types of organizations. In spite of the fact that other operationalizations for size have been developed, but most researchers have employed the number of employees as size indicator. The number of employees as a measure size may be misleading in the light of the rapid automation and technological advancement that is taking place in the manufacturing sectors.(2) Different operationalizations have been introduced for technology; operation technology, routineness of work, etc. These operationalizations do not necessarily result in similar measures. For example, Hage and Aiken (1969) criticized Woodward's (1965) classification of technology as not applicable to people-processing organizations. This raises the question about the applicability of all technology classification to all types of organizations.(3) All the Aston Group advocates have used the Aston Group measures for the structural variables, which is not the case for their opponents. So different measures are not expected to arrive at similar conclusions. It is difficult to compare studies employing different measurement instrument (Pennings, 1975).(4) The sampling and level of analysis could be another disagreement factor. However, the Aston Group have employed manufacturing firms in their studies similar to Woodward (1965), but still the representation of certain types of industries employing certain types of production systems was missed in the Aston Group sample. Many of the studies, which claimed that size is the major determinant of structure have employed only services organizations in their samples. For example, Blua and Shoenherr (1971) have included security agencies in their sample, and Hage and Aiken (1969) have included only health and welfare organizations in their sample. Some of the researchers who provided evidences on the technological imperative have done this at the individual and sub- unit levels.(5) The interference and interdependence among the contextual factors themselves may be another complicating factor. Certain types of technologies may be operated only within specific size, the matter that assumes interdependence between size and technology sometimes. Size and location may be related if location is operationalized in terms of the number of operating sites. In developing countries, state owned enterprises are usually larger in size compared to privately owned firms.(6) Environment though has been conceptualized distinctly from contextual variables, yet in this research it is considered as one of the contextual dimensions of organizations. The findings of Burn and Stalker (1961) and Lawrence and Lorsch (1967) - in their structure-contingency model - played an important role in investigating the relationship between structuring of activities and organizational effectiveness. However, Lawrence and Lorsch have been criticized for the limitation in operationalizing the concept of uncertainty and reliance on subjective measures. It seems that it is difficult to develop pure global measures for environmental stability, certainty, and simplicity. Osborn and Hunt (1972) and Pennings (1975) did not find support to the structure-contingency model, but still the model remains as a useful guide for designing organizations.Little attention has been paid to the relationship between structure and the other contextual dimensions of organizations (e.g. charter, location, and origin). Even for those researchers who tackled this issue, no claim have been made that those contextual variables are important or decisive in structuring organizations. The few evidences reported revealed remarkable relationship between those contextual factors and some of the structural variables.\nOrganization structure and context: empirical findings and analysis: This part is devoted to the discussion of the empirical findings drawn from the data collected via the sample survey. It investigates the relationship between the contextual dimensions and the structural elements. Comparisons with the other similar studies conducted in the Western milieu were made so as to substantiate the argument on whether organizations are \"universally constructed\" or \"culture bound\".The impact of size on structure\nResearch conclusions: The size imperative rationale is proven in this study where size is found to be the most important determent of organizational structure in manufacturing firms in the Sudan. The similarity between the results of this study and that of the Aston Group with respect to the impact of size on structure classifies this study as one of the Aston's advocates.The most striking finding is the similarity between the results of this study and that of Hickson and his associate (1974) regarding the relationship between technology and structure in the three Anglo-Saxon countries, where technology has not shown any significant impact on structure. Technology is expected to play less important role in manufacturing firms in a country like the Sudan where the level of industrialization is relatively low unlike that in the three Anglo-Saxon countries.The similarity between the results of this study and the results of some studies conducted earlier in some Western countries suggest that the impact of national cultures on the structuring of organizations is not as strong as perceived by some researchers. However the impact of the national cultures on the structure of organizations cannot be denied completely and the evidence is provided by the observed dissimilarities in the pattern of relationships between context and some of the structural variables. The transfer of technology and the training of large numbers of Sudanese decision makers in the manufacturing sector might have minimized the impact of the national culture upon management practices in the Sudan.To substantiate the debate on the \"universality\" and the \"culture bound\" of organization theory with regard to context-structure alignment we need to conduct and compare relevant studies in different cultural environment of different levels of societal industrialization. Universal measures for context and structure should be agreed upon for that purpose. The \"Aston Measures\" could be the foundation of such work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This research seeks to investigate the relationship between structure and context in the manufacturing sector in the Sudan, as one of the developing countries. Hence, the \"universality\" of the relationship between context and structure could be tested by conducting cross-cultural comparisons.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In this study cross-sectional research strategy is adopted in which 30 manufacturing firms are investigated. Hickson et al. (1969) measures were employed to operationalize the concepts of structure and context. Correlation analysis is used to test the significance of the relationship between the two variables.\nFindings: - This study could be categorized as a new advocate to the Aston Group's size imperative rationale. Also the findings suggest that the impact of the national cultures on the structuring of organizations is not as strong as perceived by some researchers.\nPractical implications: - The implication of this research is that researchers and practitioners should overemphasize the impact of national culture on organizations' structures and processes.\nOriginality/value: - The value of the research can be attributed to the scarcity of evidences from developing countries as far as the relationship between context and structure is concerned.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Disseminating Drucker: Knowledge, tropes and the North American management textbook	[ "North America", "Education", "Management gurus" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Peter Ferdinand Drucker ... is an US economist, management consultant, educator, and writer (born in Vienna), a professor of management ... He is widely known for his writings and lectures on management subjects, especially in the area of underlying philosophy of management and policy formulation. Perhaps his most widely quoted book is The Practice of Management, 1954 (Harper & Bros). His other works include: The End of Economic Man, 1939; The Future of Industrial Man, 1941; Concept of the Corporation, 1944; The New Society, 1950; America's Next 20 years, 1957; and Landmarks of Tomorrow, 1959 (Heyel, 1963a, p. 155).\nMethodology: Internal rules within something like the discourse of management education ... give legitimacy to specific management pundits such as Peter Drucker and Henry Mintzberg, and call for a rhetorical style that favors clarity and brevity over linguistic expressiveness or complexity (Prasad, 2005; p. 250-1).A total of 507 management textbooks published mostly for the North American undergraduate academic market, spanning the years 1940 to 2008, were analyzed using critical hermeneutics: here we specifically followed the work of Prasad, 2002; Prasad and Mir, 2002, and his technique for making sense of business communications. The books form part of a collection that was acquired from various sources, including unsolicited publisher copies, discarded copies from colleagues, and numerous purchases from a variety of sources. We do not claim that these are a representative sample of management textbooks in use at any given time, but the collection does include a number of \"best selling\" texts and/or those written by prominent management educators, including former presidents of the Academy of Management (see Grant and Mills, 2006). The collection consists of textbooks written for students of human resources/personnel management, organizational behaviour, organization theory, management, or business. For ease of discussion we refer to these as management textbooks. Over 87 percent (462 books) were published in the USA, and aimed primarily at students in US business schools. The remaining 13 percent (67 books) were published solely for use in Canada. The textbooks from this collection have been used in a number of studies of management history (Mills and Helms Hatfield, 1998; Dye et al., 2005; Grant and Mills, 2006; Genoe McLaren and Helms Mills, 2008; Genoe McLaren and Mills, 2008).Of the 507 textbooks a search for references to Peter F. Drucker was conducted in those that were published since 1940 (following the publication of Drucker's first book in English, \"The end of economic man\"). This search yielded 223 texts that cited Drucker's work, and confirmed our expectations that textbooks were an important source for the dissemination of Drucker's work. In the second phase we undertook content analysis of those texts that cited Drucker to see how his works were being interpreted - which of his works were cited, how and why they were cited (i.e. what point was the author attempting to show?). After analyzing 80 randomly selected textbooks from the collection we were no longer finding novel uses of Drucker's work. We analyzed eight more textbooks to ensure that we had a representative sample of Drucker citations. We did not add any new data with those last eight textbooks, so we stopped at 88. We had reached \"theoretical saturation\", i.e. the same themes were recurring and not adding anything new to the analysis.Next, using critical hermeneutics we analyzed the context of the extracted citations. Was there any difference, for example, between the ways Drucker was being cited in the 1950s from how he was being cited in the 1980s? Part of this process led us to examine the socio-political context for the period in which all the 507 textbooks in the collection were published. Here we were interested to see if the character and structure of the textbooks have changed significantly over time, especially in the period just prior to and during that when Drucker was involved in management education in the USA.Critical hermeneutic analysis\nDrucker in the management textbook: Drucker insists: \"The social centre of gravity has shifted to the knowledge worker. All developed societies are becoming ... knowledge societies\" (1990, p. 167). That such pieties might seem a revelation, as Drucker intends, is an ironical indictment of the era of modernist management that Taylor (1911) formally inaugurated with his Scientific Management (Clegg and Hardy, 1996, p. 684).Most of the 88 textbooks analysed for this paper have between two and ten Drucker references, with some having as many as 22 (e.g. McFarland, 1974). The earliest citations appear in Koontz and O'Donnell's, 1955 Principles of Management: An Analysis of Managerial Functions, and include references to Drucker's Concept of the Corporation (1946) and his Fortune article on \"The function of profits\" (Drucker, 1949).Drucker is the most cited management writer in the textbooks, exceeding that of Abraham Maslow, Max Weber, and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, both in terms of the number of textbooks and the number of references cited within each textbook. This is probably not surprising for the man who Prusak and Davenport (2003) found to be the fourth most influential management thinker, and the topmost guru among the management gurus. Drucker's The Practice of Management (1954) and Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973) are the most cited of his works in the selected textbooks, but we found reference to over 34 different books and articles. There were also a significant number of allusions to Drucker without any accompanying source for the reference; for example, Robbins and Langton (2001) state that \"Drucker used to advocate teamwork for all organizations but that he now preaches that leaders are everything\", yet no source for this attribution is given.Nonetheless, despite the high number of citations to Drucker in management textbooks the content of his work is barely discussed. The two exceptions are his work on management by objectives (MBO) and, to a much less extent, the knowledge economy. Even here, textbook discussion and representation of these concepts are different from Drucker's original ideas and appear years after Drucker introduced them. Citation of Drucker's other work, while numerous, have very little consistency or commonality. This can be compared with the breadth of issues discussed in The Essential Drucker (Drucker, 2001), which go well beyond MBO and the knowledge economy. Drucker has described the purpose of The Essential Drucker as an introduction to management, yet the bulk of its content does not appear in the undergraduate management textbooks of our study. We believe that the discourses in which the management textbooks are written play a role in the way that Drucker traverses the textbook into undergraduate management courses.Management by objectives\nContext, legitimacy and the management textbook: The behavioural sciences include any science that studies the behavior of man ... in their physical and social environment, by methods of experiment and observations in the manner of other natural sciences (Heyel, 1963a, p. 50).Scientific management was not an \"invention\". It was a discovery of the use of the application of the scientific method of attack on a new set of problems (Heyel, 1963b, p. 866).Our analysis of numerous textbooks revealed a paradox. On the one hand, Drucker was immensely popular, as revealed through the fact that he was more cited than most other management writers. On the other hand, his work and the other management theories they disseminated was rarely explored or developed by textbook authors. To make sense of this we engaged in detailed content analysis of the rhetoric used to represent Drucker's work, and a critical hermeneutic study of the context in which Drucker's work was evaluated. Content analysis revealed that Drucker's work was used not so much as scientific evidence but, rather, as legitimization of such evidence. In critical hermeneutic study we found that the socio-political context in which management and management textbooks developed served at one time to privilege management as a philosophy and at others to marginalize philosophy in favour of scientific accounts and presentation. In the early stages of Drucker's career, textbook characterization of management as a philosophy favoured the broad sweeping accounts that became Drucker's popular trademark while an increasing emphasis on \"scientific\", applied, and value free (objectivist) accounts, during the latter part of Drucker's career, were less amenable to Drucker's style of writing. We might then ask, why was it that Drucker's work was so highly cited?Drucker as a source of legitimacy\nConclusion: One of Drucker's greatest contributions to the field of management was his ability to search out, understand, and apply theories from disciplines other than management and determine how they best applied to management, and to encourage consideration of the broader role of management to society. In that regard he was ahead of his time. He is the guru of the management gurus (Prusak and Davenport, 2003). Through our research we found him to be the most cited author in the management textbook. Yet his ideas, the content of his work, do not have a significant presence in the management textbook aside from MBO and the knowledge society.Drucker only briefly fit with the academic discourse of his time, prior to stepping away from both his political science and economics roots in order to write Concept of the Corporation (1946). He was warned at the time that he would be destroying his career in academia forever by writing about a topic that had no respectability and was not based in any existing field of knowledge (Beatty, 1998). Drucker did not work in the accepted, and expected, academic style of empirical research that came to dominate the academic journals of the western hemisphere in the post-World Ware II era academic world. He did not reference his sources in his publications. Specific to the management textbook, Drucker spoke in ideas, theories, and philosophies, not tools, solutions, and specific answers to individual questions. His work did not translate into the textbook formula created during the Cold War. There is a certain irony in the fact that the main body of Drucker's work, although \"available\" to wider audiences, was generally denied a place in the education of future managers because it did not match the conventions of an increasingly dominant behavioural trope within the North American textbook.Our analysis of Drucker and his presence in the management textbook illustrates to us, as management researchers and educators, the influence of socio-political context on what we study and what we teach. It suggests that we need to examine more closely the development of tropes that serve as dominant filters for management knowledge or, more accurately, what is to count as management \"knowledge\" Use of the ideologically conservative aspect of the behavioural trope has served to obscure and neglect many theories that arose from socially conscious efforts to improve society. Much of Kurt Lewin's work and that of his colleagues involved in the development of Action Research, for example, was originally geared to challenging discrimination and building participation (Cooke, 1999, 2006) but those origins and applications all but disappeared from the North American management textbook. The objectivist aspect of the behavioural trope, at least until recently, has served to obscure a range of important studies not least of which was Abraham Maslow's work on sexuality, culture and a range of issues long overlooked (Dye et al., 2005). More than most, textbook representations of Peter F. Drucker's many ideas reveal the problem of dominant tropes that are rarely if ever questioned. Drucker was certainly no Marxist or leftist writer but much of what he had to say, including his observations on the need for socially responsible management, was left unsaid or undeveloped in the management textbook. This is not a plea for a privileging of certain types of management knowledge but rather a simultaneous celebration of alternative tropes (White, 1985) in the constitution of management knowledge and a call for the problematization of management knowledge to allow greater debate and the kind of creative thinking favoured by Drucker.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to understand how Drucker's work has been disseminated through the North American management textbook since 1940, and what this tells people about the wider issue of the social construction and dissemination of management knowledge.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is a critical hermeneutic analysis of the presence and use of Drucker in over 500 management textbooks and the socio-political context in which both Drucker's work and North American textbooks were written.\nFindings: - Paradoxically, while Drucker's work was found to be the most-referenced of any management writer in the textbooks studied, his theories - apart from discussions of \"Management by objectives\" and the \"Knowledge economy\" - were rarely discussed. It is argued that the referencing of Drucker served more to legitimize selected points made by textbook authors than to discuss and build on Drucker's work. Explanation of the paradox is explored through the socio-political contexts in which Drucker was writing, strongly suggesting that the North American textbook has developed a dominant scientivistic trope that construct business \"knowledge\" through the narrow lens of behavioural science.\nOriginality/value: - While much writing can be found on the influence of Drucker on the business world and his status as a management guru, little is found on Drucker's body of work in the management textbook, which plays a key role in management education in North American business schools. The paper builds on recent management research on the role of socio-political context in the shaping of management theory and knowledge, and makes a new contribution to one's understanding of the shaping and contours of management knowledge.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supporting work-life balance with the use of coworking spaces	[ "Coworking spaces", "Flexible workers", "Work–life balance", "Work–family conflicts", "Parentrepreneurs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Towards the end of 2017, Forbes published an online article on parents who are struggling to balance entrepreneurial activities with their family duties. These entrepreneurial individuals commonly \"stretch themselves between two types of babies: the children they are raising and the business they are growing. Both require near-constant nurturing and attention to be successful, especially in their early stages, and entrepreneurial parents must learn to carefully plan and prioritise their time to ensure that each gets the care they need and deserve\" (Forbes, 2017). The article listed the advice of various experts who emphasised the importance of adequately scheduling tasks and understanding the timing of both work and personal activities when working from the home office.\nTransformation of work and workspaces: The prosperity of flexible work arrangements\nMethodology: Formulating the research questions and selecting the approach\nDiscussion: Discussing supportiveness of coworking environments\nConclusion: Concluding the research findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the topic of parents who work on a flexible basis and use coworking facilities to find a work-life balance and overcome work-family conflicts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author uses a qualitative approach to explore the research questions. The first part of the empirical research undertakes an ethnographical approach in carrying out the unobstructed participant observation within five European coworking spaces targeted at improving comprehension of the spaces' mediation mechanisms and development of supportive interactions. The second part traverses into conducting unstructured interviews with parents who work on a flexible basis and use a coworking space as their daily workplace.\nFindings: This research paper reveals that flexible workers who found themselves juggling work tasks and family obligations tend to seek better conditions that assist them in tackling conflictual situations and, in addition, enhance their social lives to create further career opportunities. Coworking spaces are thus perceived as optimal workplaces by working parents in that they can find stability and scale their social networks within. Moreover, the continually evolving user interactions resulting from effective mediation mechanisms let these individuals find emotional support, increase productivity and exchange knowledge.\nOriginality/value: While the coworking industry is rapidly evolving and the academia is keener on investigating the field, the subcategory of work-life and family care within these collaborative environments is virtually unresearched. This paper provides valuable insight into the topic and serves as a knowledge base for the future exploration of this field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital management in Spanish universities	[ "Knowledge management", "Intellectual capital", "Universities", "Spain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the last two decades we have progressively moved into a knowledge-based, fast-changing and technological intensive economy in which investments in human resources, information technology, research and development, and advertising have become essential in order to maintain an organisation's competitive position and ensure its future viability (Canibano et al., 2000; Nakamura, 1999; Goldfinger, 1997; Bueno, 1998). Therefore, the source of economic value and wealth is the creation and management of intangible assets, frequently grouped under the generic term \"knowledge\" or \"intellectual capital\". Although some attempts to measure intellectual capital have been made so far, there is still a long way to go.Knowledge management and intellectual capital approaches have become critical for universities, mainly due to the fact that universities' main goals are the production and the diffusion of knowledge, and their more important investments are in research and human resources (Elena, 2004); so, both inputs and outputs are mainly intangibles. Therefore, it seems inconsistent that there has been a greater development of the science of valuing and managing intangibles for business than for higher education institutions such as universities (Warden, 2004). However, firm-level experience of knowledge management and intellectual capital is increasingly being used by research institutions and universities, although some specificities should be met in addressing the needs of these kinds of organisation.Presently, no common international framework for the identification, measurement and disclosure of information on the intangible determinants of corporate value are available; there are only scattered efforts around the world. Therefore, it seems appropriate to devote some effort to developing new measurements and management techniques to help universities to identify, measure and monitor their intangible sources of value to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their management.\nPresent situation of universities: Universities in Europe are faced with numerous challenges (Warden, 2003; Araujo, 2000; European Commission, 2005). These include:* extended competition with other organisations such as the creation of new public and private universities, and the education given by companies through what they call \"corporate universities\" to contribute to the lifelong learning process of their own employees;* the increasing level of internationalisation of education and research;* pressure to harmonise the different national university systems (e.g. Bologna Process);* implementations of new research modes;* the claims and aspirations of various stakeholders (including industry and society in general); and* increased demand for transparency and accountability regarding the \"results\" and \"benefits\" derived from public funds.To face these challenges and increase the role of universities in the new knowledge-based economy, it will be necessary to develop knowledge management and intellectual capital models to reach the strategic objectives of universities.Nowadays, European universities are immersed in strong transformation processes (Sorbonne Joint Declaration, 1998; Bologna Declaration, 1999; Prague Declaration, 2001; Communique of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, 2005), aimed at establishing a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by the end of the decade (year 2010) and improving the teaching quality level in universities.On the research front, since 1998 the EU has developed several Framework Programmes in order to boost research cooperation among European countries. In this context, the European Research Area (ERA) is being developed.These initiatives - EHEA and ERA - imply a new configuration of public education and research systems in the EU and require important efforts to remove barriers and to develop a common framework in the field of research and teaching (Elena, 2004).\nImportance of intellectual capital for universities: Universities are knowledge producers per se - their most important output is knowledge, incorporated in research results, publications, educated students and productive relationships with their stakeholders. Among their most valuable resources are researchers, managers and students with their organisational processes and networks of relationships (Warden, 2004). These resources are part of their intellectual capital, and despite its importance, universities seldom deal with them in a specific manner. Up to now, only a few universities have taken the challenge of trying to measure, manage and report on intangible assets.The term \"intellectual capital\" is used to cover all of the non-tangible, or non-physical, assets and resources of an organisation, including its processes, innovation capacity, patents and the tacit knowledge of its members and their network of collaborators and contacts (Bontis, 1999). So, intellectual capital (IC) has been defined as the combination of intangible resources and activities that \"allows an organisation to transform a bundle of material, financial and human resources in a system capable of creating stakeholder value\" (European Commission, 2005).Intellectual capital is often represented as consisting of three basic and strongly interrelated components:1. human capital;2. structural capital; and3. relational capital (Canibano and Sanchez, 2004; Meritum, 2002; Stewart, 1997; Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; International Federation of Accountants, 1998; Euroforum, 1998; Bontis, 2001; Centro de Investigacion sobre Sociedad del Conocimiento, 2003; Warden, 2003, etc.).In the case of universities, we can define the components in the following way:* human capital - the set of explicit and tacit knowledge of the universities' personnel acquired through formal and informal educational and actualisation processes embodied in their activities;* structural capital - the explicit knowledge related to the internal process of dissemination, communication and management of scientific and technical knowledge in the organization (can be both organizational and technological); and* relational capital - gathers the wide set of economical, political and institutional relationships developed and maintained by universities.However, intellectual capital is more than simply the sum of these three elements, \"it is about how to let the knowledge of a firm work for it and have it create value\" (Roberts, 1999). It is able to generate an increase in the value of a company, and its purpose is to allow a given company to take advantage of opportunities better than competitors and give rise to the generation of future profits.In addition, universities have continuous external demands for greater information and transparency about the use of public funds (Warden, 2003), and are increasingly provided with greater autonomy regarding their organisation, management, and budget allocation. This situation requires new management and reporting systems: intellectual capital management (ICM) and knowledge management (KM) are a set of managerial activities aimed at identifying and valuing the knowledge assets of the organisations, leveraging these assets through knowledge sharing and creating new knowledge (Easterby-Smith and Lyles, 2003; Holsapple, 2003). They also provide an efficient methodology to identify, measure, manage and diffuse knowledge, that it is to say, a proper way to improve internal management and transparency. This should be translated into greater dynamic excellence and multidisciplinarity in higher education organisations (Elena, 2004).These new management and reporting systems would allow universities to be in a better position to (Warden, 2003):* create transparency about the use of public funds;* explain the achievements of research, training, innovation and their benefits to stakeholders;* illustrate the development of intangible assets;* reveal leverage effects and externalities;* communicate (new) organisational values; and* demonstrate their competitiveness.\nIntellectual capital management studies in Spanish universities: Intellectual capital management models provide an efficient methodology to identify, measure, manage and spread knowledge (intangibles); that it is to say, a proper way to improve internal management and transparency at universities. In that sense, different Spanish universities are starting to manage their intellectual capital. Some interesting experiences are:* PCI Program - Region of Madrid;* Observatory of European Universities - Autonomous University (Madrid); and* Balanced Scorecard at Universitat Jaume I (Castellon) (see www.uji.es).PCI Project (2000-2003) (Intellectual Capital Program): Madrid region\nStrategic management system at the Jaume I University: a balanced scorecard implementation: Balanced scorecard implementation in organizations is based on their strategy. By the design of the strategic plan, the success key-factors are identified in such a way that they are controlled by the organization and they should excel in order to reach its goals. Also, some indicators (financial and non-financial) are defined to inform about the development of those key factors.The organization's goals and the indicators for the balanced scorecard act in four perspectives:1. financial;2. customer view;3. internal processes; and4. training and growth.The model is made in such a way that the designed indicators in each particular case are linked in a cause-effect relationship.After the indicators for each perspective are defined they are recorded with historic values and then compared to standards or goal indicators and also, to the resultant value from the best practices (benchmarking).The Jaume I University (JIU) established a strategic management system to facilitate coordination among areas and improvement initiatives, and to maintain its status as an attractive university for students, teaching staff and any other employees. The result of the first stage of the system's implementation was the \"Planning Base Document\" shown in an institutional balanced scorecard.The institutional balanced scorecard elements are as follows (Toledo and Montanana, 2005):1. Mission. \"The JIU is a public institution of higher education, innovatively positioned for the developing its environment social, cultural and economically, by means of critic creation and transfer of knowledge, promoting its human capital potential and with an orientation directed to its sphere of influence.2. Vision. \"To be a reference University, with its own identity, enterprising, creativity and involvement in building the advance of the society to which it serves\".3. General strategic goals. To become a reference university by:* its service to society;* its capacity for immediate answer;* its open and enterprising character;* its excellence areas;in such a way that might be attractive to:* study and to work for it;* establish collaboration agreements;* get enough funds;and* then maintain a sufficient number of students, attracting them from outside its area of influence and retaining those of its area, by different offers.1. Key factors for success. To achieve the strategic goals, it is necessary to develop acts to obtain:* enough funds;* different teaching offers;* motivation for teaching staff as well as for administrative personnel;* students' ability to get jobs;* impact on society and recognition;* innovative culture for the organization;* appropriate management; and* promotion of quality and excellence.1. Objectives, perspectives and strategic map. The general strategic goals are divided in objectives (see Figure 5) gathered by perspectives:* resources (financial perspective);* environment (customers perspective);* innovation and value creation (internal process perspective); and* persons (learning and growing perspective).1. Indicators. The indicators shown in Figure 6 were established as a consequence of the objectives.Finally, balanced scorecards for centres, for departments and for services were prepared (for further information, see Toledo and Montanana, 2005).\nConclusions: The following conclusions can be drawn from the preceding statements:* Nowadays, European universities are immersed in strong transformation processes (Sorbonne Joint Declaration, 1998; Bologna Declaration, 1999; Prague Declaration, 2001); development of a European Higher Education Area and Research Area), which are making European educational and research systems more comparable, increasing their level of quality, improving their flexibility, and, basically, making higher education and research activities more transparent and competitive.* In this new context, measurement and management of intellectual capital is a basic task to face the new challenges of Spanish universities. The importance of knowledge management and intellectual capital approaches is mainly due to the fact that the universities' main goals are the production and the diffusion of knowledge and their more important investments are in research and human resources. Thereby, both inputs and outputs are mainly intangibles.* The intellectual assets are specific to each organization, so there is no homogeneous model of intellectual capital measurement in universities. Rather, every university, according to its own specific features and environment, must define the best instruments for the measurement and management of its intangible assets.* The experience gained from the case studies has provided us with an exploratory basis of how Spanish universities are measuring and managing their intellectual capital. In this sense, a necessary starting point would be the definition and diffusion of the organisation's strategic objectives. Then, critical intangibles related to these objectives should be identified and the causal network of relationship among them should be established. Afterwards, a set of indicators is defined and developed for each intangible. Finally, a periodic review of the model to adapt to new challenges should be carried out.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to provide assistance to universities in the process of developing their ability to identify, measure, manage and value their intangible assets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper takes the form of a review of the most important intellectual capital management initiatives at Spanish public universities.\nFindings: - The experience gained from the case studies provides a basis for understanding how Spanish universities are measuring and managing their intellectual capital.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Despite its importance, intellectual capital at universities is scarcely dealt with in a specific manner. Up to now, only a few universities have taken the challenge of trying to measure, manage and report on intangible assets.\nPractical implications: - This study offers a perspective on how Spanish universities deal with their intellectual capital. In this sense, the first step would be the definition and diffusion of the organisation's strategic objectives. Then, critical intangibles related to these objectives should be identified and the causal network of relationships among them should be established. Afterwards, a set of indicators is defined and developed for each intangible.\nOriginality/value: - This paper shows the importance of intellectual capital approaches as instruments to face the new challenges in Spanish universities. It offers practical help to universities to develop means to identify, measure, manage and value their intangible assets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Outsourcing of human resource management services in Greece	[ "Outsourcing", "Human resource management", "Greece" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Human resource management (HRM) outsourcing means \"having a third- party service provider or vendor furnish, on an ongoing basis, the administration of an HRM activity that would normally be performed in-house\" (Cook, 1999, p. 4). HRM outsourcing has grown in popularity since the early 1990s, particularly in the USA, where up to 90 per cent of the companies outsource some HRM activity, and western Europe (William M. Mercer and Cranfield School of Management, 2000; Banham, 2003; Cook, 1999).A key reason for this growth is that many companies find that the use of outside service providers is more efficient and less costly than hiring staff to handle these functions in-house. Given that HRM services vendors specialise in the services they provide to their clients, they benefit from economy of scale effects and these benefits are transferred to their clients. This effect suggests that smaller companies may benefit more than larger ones from HRM outsourcing.Another reason why some companies may turn to outsourcing is the requirement for knowhow. Either they have not the necessary knowledge, or their knowhow is so outdated that they need to make significant investments. Many vendors have already made major investments in HRM tools and techniques and can spread their costs over many clients. In this sense, outsourcing provides knowledge and competencies that do not exist in-house.Prior research (Papalexandris et al., 2001; Mahoney and Brewster, 2002) has established that the human resource services that are outsourced can fall into one of the following four categories:1. recruitment and selection;2. training and development;3. pay and benefits; and4. merger- outplacement-downsizing.We are proposing the additional following categories, which may also be of interest and have also been repeatedly mentioned in the literature (Cook, 1999):* performance appraisal systems;* HR planning; and* organisational climate and culture.\nObjectives of this study: Given this background, this paper examines the following issues:1. Which HRM services are mostly used by Greek companies and why?2. How much has the external HRM services market has developed in Greece?3. Is there some particular pattern in the use of outsourced HRM services, which could be identified?4. What is the future for outsourcing of HRM services in Greece?Before answering these, some background detail on Greece is provided. The Greek economy is mainly comprised of small and medium sized companies (SMEs) (Observatory of European SMEs, 2002a, b). The dominance of SMEs (companies with less than 50 employees) and middle-sized companies (companies employing 50-250 employees) in Greece implies that outsourcing potentially may have more impact than in other countries, as it allows the small sized client to enjoy the benefits of the economies of scale achieved by the vendor.Furthermore, it is interesting to study the development of the HRM services market, under the light of a somewhat delayed development of the HRM function in many Greek companies. In the mid-1990s and in some cases even now, the HRM function in many Greek companies was performed either by the CEO, or by the financial manager (Papalexandris et al., 2001). Therefore, this study may provide insight into how the market for external HRM services has developed in a country where the HRM function is generally still under-developed in-house.\nResearch method: Two sources of quantitative data were utilised for the purposes of the current study: the CRANET Network Survey of 1999 and the ICAP Greek Financial Directory (ICAP, 2002). The CRANET Network Survey, 1996-1999, was run in 25 European countries and examined the HRM practices, both cross-nationally and over time. The second source of information, focusing on the providers of HRM services, was the ICAP Greek Financial Directory for 2002, which gathers the majority of the companies operating in Greece.The quantitative data were further supported by qualitative analysis. Five in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with prominent HRM consultants and professionals in companies that provide HRM services and another five interviews with top HR managers who are involved in the decision and management of outsourcing of their companies.\nQuantitative data: The CRANET cross-national survey, last run in Greece in 1999, provides information on the extent of use of outsourcing for the provision of HRM services. Specifically question 2b of the 1999 questionnaire identifies four broad categories of HRM services, namely:1. pay and benefits;2. recruitment and selection;3. training and development; and4. workforce outplacement and reductionThe results reveal that the most outsourced HRM function in Greece is training (60.3 per cent), followed by recruitment and selection (34.6 per cent). Surprisingly, pay and benefits also appears to be extensively outsourced in Greece (24.3 per cent), while workforce outplacement and reduction is outsourced by fewer companies (4.4 per cent)Figure 1 illustrates the ratings of Greece in comparison with other countries, in terms of the outsourcing of each of the above HRM services, according to the CRANET results. Table I summarises the number of countries with a higher ranking in outsourcing of each HR function than Greece.The results suggest that, in Greece, fewer companies outsource their HRM services. This is most evident in the case of services in \"outplacement and downsizing\", and least in the one of \"pay and benefits\". Some explanation on these results was revealed by the interviews conducted with HR managers, where \"external collaborators\" is the exact term in Greek for \"HRM providers\", in the field of pay and benefits. There, the respondents usually referred to the use of payroll bank accounts and to the provision of salary surveys. This could be the reason for the reported high outsourcing of pay and benefits in Greece, according to the CRANET results. On the other hand, the outsourcing of pay systems design, a service that HR providers can offer, is not developed in the Greek market, according to the HR managers and HRM vendors interviewed.In order to have a clear picture of the other side of the outsourcing relationship, we looked at data from HR providers. The ICAP Greek Financial Directory (ICAP, 2002), provides representative data from 22,000 Greek enterprises of all sectors of the Greek economy. Of these, 114 companies whose activity involved services in HRM were identified. Table II summarises the type of services that are offered by those companies, according to the description of their activity contained in the ICAP Directory.Of these 114 companies, 40 per cent were founded within the period between 1996 and 2000 and 22 per cent from 1990 to 1995. Furthermore, 76 per cent of all those companies experienced a profit growth of up to 700 per cent. Those findings illustrate the recent boost in the sector of HRM services and call for further, in-depth study.It should be stressed that the CRANET survey draws information from the companies using external HRM services, while the ICAP Directory provided some aspects of the HRM services vendors group. Therefore, information was drawn from both parties of the outsourcing relationship. Figure 2 presents the differences between the findings of the CRANET research and the ICAP Greek Financial Directory analysis.No particular differences between the proportion of the companies using HRM services and the proportion of the companies offering such services seem to exist, except for the case of \"pay and benefits\". The slightly higher offer of training and recruitment services, according to the ICAP Greek Financial Directory, could be attributed to the fact that the ICAP Greek Financial Directory findings refer to 2002, while the CRANET findings refer to 1999.In the case of pay and benefits, though, many companies use such services (24.3 per cent), while only 1.7 per cent of the HRM services vendors are specialised in this particular sector. This may be because these services are currently offered by other providers, such as accountants and banks. Moreover, the field of \"pay and benefits\" services also includes the salary surveys, which are conducted by one provider for the sake of several clients of the same sector. This also contributes to a higher percentage of customers as compared to vendors of \"pay and benefits\" services. Greater detail and explication is provided by the qualitative data from the interviews.\nInterviews: As mentioned above, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with five consultants in the area of HRM, and with five HR managers. Companies of all sectors and sizes were represented in the interviews. The interviews aimed at collecting information and the personal insights of the respondents on the following issues:* The HRM services commonly outsourced by Greek companies.* The reasons why Greek companies outsource HRM.* The aims sought for by the companies that outsource HRM.* The profile of Greek companies that outsource part or all their HRM services.* An insight to the development of the HRM services outsourcing market.* An evaluation of the quality, reliability, development and competition in the HRM services sector.Table III summarises the type of company, the number of employees and the services offered by each of the HR vendors that were interviewed. The interviews, though only five, covered a large range of HR vendors: a large multinational consulting firm, two small Greek entrepreneurial firms, and two consulting firms that lease or are the exclusive representative of HRM tools of foreign agencies. The spectrum of services that these companies offer varies from solely training or headhunting to total coverage of all HRM services, including strategic HRM consulting. The respondents are either partners or very senior consultants within their company.Table IV summarises the type, size and sector of the companies that were examined through in-depth interviews with the HR manager/director. HR Manager A is the HR director of a large transport and cargo company; HR Manager B is the HR director of a large, multinational car manufacturer; HR Manager C is HR manager at a very large banking group, employing 7,000 people and HR Manager D is the HR manager of a medium-sized Greek textile manufacturer. Finally, Manager E is a senior line manager of a large Greek pharmaceutical company that does not have an HR department, so the HR functions are carried out by the line.Profile of companies outsourcing HRM activities\nDiscussion: The findings of the current study, both from the quantitative and the qualitative data that were gathered lead to some overall conclusions about the characteristics of the Greek market for outsourcing in HRM services.Underdeveloped market\nConclusion: Drawing upon quantitative data, i.e. the 1999 CRANET survey on outsourcing of HRM services and the ICAP Financial Directory for the year 2002, supplemented with ten in-depth interviews with eminent HRM consultants and HRM managers, this study presents the current state in the market for HRM services in Greece.The major finding of the study is the somehow limited development of the Greek market for HRM services, which presents a sharp division in two segments. As the market grows, however, the need for higher specialisation, better quality, correct certification and recognition of the segment by the State appears necessary. The respondents expressed the conviction that the market will develop considerably in the very near future, which is also the belief of the researchers, given the rapid rate of growth of the market up to now, the overall development of the HRM function within the Greek companies and the pattern followed in countries like the USA or the UK (Banham, 2003; Cook, 1999; Mahoney and Brewster, 2002), the pattern of which is usually followed in Greece.The present study presented the function of the much-discussed practice of HRM outsourcing in a country that differs greatly from USA and the UK, where most research on HRM outsourcing has been conducted. The results suggest that, due to the small size of the market, the problems and issues raised in Greece differ from those in bigger and more developed countries. Therefore, different factors may affect the decision of companies to outsource some HRM service in Greece, and the strategy and motivation of both vendors and clients of HRM services may differ from those in more developed countries.In a country like Greece, with less developed HRM, one of the major objectives is to improve HR practices in order to increase competitiveness through people. Given the above, and in view of the small size of companies, companies may benefit from services, which they could not be able to create internally. Through appropriate use of customisation and sophistication of their service, the HR services vendors can become key players in the development of the HRM function.The description of the Greek market of HRM services undertaken in this study may be useful to vendors and users of HRM services, as well as researchers dealing with outsourcing in smaller markets.One of the main implications of the study both for HR and line managers is the necessity for good knowledge about HR in order to be in a better position to identify their own HR needs and to select the best HRM provider for those needs. Given that the decision to outsource HRM is not always in the hands of the HR manager and other managers are involved, there is a need for training and good grip in HRM issues.Moreover, the current study has indicated that the HR provider has to possess general expertise and convey a message that he can be trusted for his long years of experience in the market. Further studies on outsourcing of HRM services should focus on the way decisions to outsource HR are reached by companies, the criteria for selecting providers, the effectiveness of services offered and the overall role of HR consultants in developing the HR function in Greece.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Outsourcing is gaining considerable popularity in the field of business services and management. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the practice of outsourcing human resource management (HRM) functions, such as training, staffing, rewards and restructuring, in Greece.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The analysis draws upon both primary and secondary data. The findings of the 1999 CRANET survey and a study on the companies that offer HRM services in Greece are used to set the frame of analysis. A series of in-depth interviews with HR managers and senior HRM consultants are used to support the quantitative data.\nFindings: - The analysis suggests that the Greek market of HRM services is still at an initial stage of development, with limited credibility, while the customers lack the experience of managing outsourcing relations and are reluctant to establish a partnership- type HRM outsourcing agreement. Considerable differences are identified between the Greek market for HRM services and those of more developed markets.\nOriginality/value: - The description of the Greek market of HRM services can be useful to vendors and users of HRM services, as well as researchers dealing with outsourcing in small markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceptions unfolded: managerial implementation in perception formation	[ "Crowding out", "Managerial implementation", "Perception formation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Perceptions matter in public management. A number of existing studies link perceptions of a managerial intervention to its positive or negative motivational effects (Andersen and Pallesen, 2008; Frey and Jegen, 2001; Jacobsen et al., 2014; Weibel et al., 2010). In turn, motivation has been argued to affect employee performance (e.g. Andersen et al., 2014; Belle, 2013; Perry and Wise, 1990).\nThe importance of perceptions: state of the art: Perceptions of managerial interventions matter, because perceiving a managerial initiative as \"controlling\" rather than \"supportive\" can result in motivational crowding out (e.g. Jacobsen et al., 2014). To get to this point, the following section introduces some of the arguments regarding motivational crowding.\nMethodology: daycare as a case for preference formation: This section introduces the methodology of the study and the empirical case, a management-by-objectives (MBO)-inspired intervention.\nAnalyzing perceptions over time: The paper now turns to the analysis, starting with T1. The first two rounds of focus groups, taking place in April and August 2013, constitute T1. The two last rounds, in March and September 2014, constitute T2. The time plots are collapsed to reduce the complexity of the data material, which is extensive. However, groups carried out in November 2013 will also inform the analysis of the change over time. Tables AI and AII include an overview of all of the participating daycare workers and their respective positions at T1 and T2. A summary of the arguments given is presented below together with an attempt at drawing up the relationship between the different elements of the model. The numbers in the text refer to the individual daycare workers for whom the statement is relevant (the numbers can be found in Tables AI and AII). Similarly, numbering after quotes refers to the given daycare worker and the round of groups where the statement was made. The quantification of daycare workers' statements is carried out to illustrate the extent to which statements were general among the participating daycare workers. However, they should not be read as a full-on quantification of the data. While it is relevant to know the extent to which certain statements were made across the board, statements made by few daycare workers should also be taken into consideration when trying to grasp how perceptions are formed.\nConclusion and discussion: changes over time?: This paper set out to explore how employee perceptions of a managerial intervention are affected by managerial implementation and how this perception changes over time.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The literature so far has shown that perceptions of managerial interventions matter for motivation and performance. However, how these perceptions are formed and develop over time is less clear. The purpose of this paper is to fill part of this gap.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a panel case study to investigate how perceptions of a managerial intervention are formed and developed over time among daycare workers in a Danish municipality.\nFindings: The paper reveals the dynamic nature of preferences and the centrality of the local manager in perception formation, illustrating that it is not necessarily the implementation style (soft/hard) that is important as much as the managerial involvement in the initiative.\nPractical implications: Whereas managers are still well advised to consider the pros and cons of a hard vs a soft implementation approach, this paper also underlines the importance of constant managerial involvement not only to ensure implementation but also to continuously impact the way managerial interventions are perceived.\nOriginality/value: The paper adds to the existing knowledge about perception formation by using a panel case study, hence illustrating the dynamic character of perception formation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical analysis of core competence for high-tech firms and traditional manufacturers	[ "Competences", "Computer aided manufacturing", "Manufacturing industries", "Critical path analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The trend towards increasing globalization and highly intensive competition have in recent years forced companies to look for the necessary means by which they can further develop their core competencies to increase their competitive edge.\"Survival of Fittest\" is not only applies to the bio-environment, but also the business environment. Core competence is the ability to operate efficiently within the business environment and also the ability to respond to challenges. In order to respond to challenges surrounding their business, managers are dedicating to build their core competencies. Core competencies are the collective learning which guide business owners and workers in how to best coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technologies. Furthermore, it is the ability to communicate and be involved in and committed to working across organizational boundaries. It involves many levels of people and the entire array of business functions (Hamel and Prahalad, 1990).High-tech firms and traditional manufacturers differ from each other in terms of the business environment. In contrast to traditional manufacturers, high-tech firms often have the characteristics of high-speed innovation (Deeds et al., 2000), a short product life cycle, rapidly changing environment, and are highly dependent on advanced technologies. Further, the weights of environmental elements are different widely from each other. Thus, it is interesting to explore the core competence both in the high-tech firms and the traditional manufacturers as these two have distinct business environments.Markides and Williamson (1994) define core competencies as a pool of experience, knowledge, and systems that can act together as catalysts to create and accumulate new strategic assets. Meanwhile, Teece et al. (1997) conclude that core competencies must be derived from examining the range of a firm's (and its competitors) products and services. The value of core competencies can be enhanced by combining them with the appropriate complementary assets. Hafeez et al. (2002) define core competencies as resources of the business consisting of physical, intellectual, and cultural assets.Three characteristics of core competence can be identified in a company. First, a core competence provides potential access to a wide variety of markets. Second, a core competence should make a significant contribution to the perceived customer benefits of the end product. Finally, a core competence should be difficult for competitors to imitate (Hamel and Prahalad, 1990). Additionally, a core competence can be described as \"unique,\" \"distinctive,\" \"difficult to imitate,\" and \"superior to competition\". A core competence is very appropriately referred to as \"resource deployment\" or \"skills\".\nPurposes: This paper samples the management levels of two leading precision optical high-tech firms and three traditional pneumatic hand tool manufacturers for the purpose of empirical research. According to the above-mentioned research backgrounds and motivations, the purposes of this paper are as follows:* Exploring whether there is significant difference in the model of core competence between high-tech firms and traditional manufacturers in Taiwan.* Examining the correlations of each dimension of core competence both for high-tech firms and traditional manufacturers in Taiwan.* Examining the correlations between each dimension of core competence to the dimension of strategic planning both for high-tech firms and traditional manufacturers in Taiwan.* Investigating whether there is significant difference on the explanatory power of dimensions of core competence both for high-tech firms and traditional manufacturers in Taiwan.\nMethodology: Conceptual structure\nEmpirical study: Validity analysis\nConclusions: The major findings of the paper are summarized as follows:First, through path analysis, it is found that the model of core competence for the high-tech firms is different from that of the model for traditional manufacturers.Second, R&D capability is regarded as the most important source for core competence both by high-tech firms and traditional manufacturers. The definition of core competence is best described by attributes such as \"unique,\" \"distinctive,\" \"difficult to imitate,\" \"superior to competition on resource deployment or skills\". The present study has shown that R&D is the necessary approach to creating unique values and distinctive values for skills both in high-tech firms and traditional manufacturers. Challis and Samson (1996) also support this conclusion.Third, strategic planning in high-tech firms is also regarded as an important dimension in constructing core competence (Berry, 1998). Environmental sensitivity and speedy and appropriate reactions are relatively more important capabilities for high-tech firms looking to create core competence.Finally, the capabilities of supply chain management and logistics management for traditional manufacturers significantly affect core competence, because these businesses must focus more on services. Thus, these two management capabilities are correlated with service; supply chain management can strengthen the linkages with partners to promote service capability with the purpose of logistics management being to coordinate delivery and shorten the lead-time of delivery. In terms of creating core competence, the evidence provided by this study identifies the key issue for traditional manufacturers as one of enhancing service. Stuart and McCutcheon (2000) emphasize the same conclusion for traditional manufacturers as what was found here. Thus, R&D is as the key capability to create core competence for both high-tech firms and traditional manufacturers. Moreover, the important area as to the construction of core competences for high-tech firms is strategic planning, whereas the important areas for traditional manufacturers are supply chain management and logistics management.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The main purposes of this paper are as follows. Exploring whether there is significant difference in the model of core competence between H-T firms and T-Ms in Taiwan. Investigating whether there is significant difference in the explanatory power of dimensions of core competence both for H-T firms and T-Ms in Taiwan.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The samples used in this study are the management levels of two H-T firms and three T-Ms in Taiwan. The authors collected a company-wide opinion through questionnaires to examine the core competence, including strategic planning, production process innovation, supply chain management, logistics management, quality management and R&D.\nFindings: - The major findings are summarized as follows: through path analysis, it is found that the model of core competence for the H-T firms is different from that of the model for T-Ms. R&D capability is regarded as the most important source for core competence both by H-T firms and T-Ms. Strategic planning in H-T firms is regarded as an important dimension in constructing core competence. The capabilities of supply chain management and logistics management for T-Ms significantly affect core competence, because these businesses must focus more on services.\nOriginality/value: - High-tech firms (H-T firms) and traditional manufacturers (T-Ms) differ from each other in terms of the business environment. It is interesting to explore the core competence both in the H-T firms and the T-Ms as these two have distinct business environments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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