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Social capital levels, gossip and employee performance in aviation and shipping companies in Israel	[ "Performance", "Employee productivity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Social capital (SC) is a concept that stems from both sociology and economics (Coleman, 1988), and refers to the benefits derived from interactions between people. This study focuses on SC in organizations and distinguishes between two SC levels - personal SC and intra-organizational SC. Personal SC can be defined as the individual's private and public connections as well as positioning in social networks (Yu and Junshu, 2013). Intra-organizational SC refers to the social connections between and within formal and informal groups in the organization (Ben-Hador, 2016a, b). The latter is composed of features such as trust, common goals, mutual assistance, reciprocity and sharing information and knowledge (Ben-Hador, 2017). These two SC levels have many interfaces, although they produce different effects and can lead to different outcomes. SC has received considerable scholarly attention, but demarcating the distinction between its levels is still in its infancy. This study attempts to address this theoretical gap by refining the distinction between SC levels in organizations (Ben-Hador and Eckhaus, 2018) as well as evaluating their impact on two organizational variables - gossip and performance.\n2. Theoretical framework and literature review: 2.1 Organizational SC levels\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and procedure\n4. Results: Table I presents the means, standard deviations and simple correlations between the research variables. Correlation coefficients were lower than 0.60, therefore indicating low concern for multicollinearity between research variables.\n5. Discussion: This research aimed to distinguish between intra-organizational SC and personal SC in organizations by focusing on the impact of each SC level on performance, and to investigate the organizational gossip variable to detect its impact on each SC level and employee performance. The hypotheses asserted that intra-organizational SC will have a direct positive effect on performance, while personal SC will be linked to performance via intra-organizational SC (by mediation). Moreover, it was claimed that gossip will have a positive effect on personal SC and a negative effect on performance. All hypotheses were confirmed except for the last one: gossip in the organization was not found to affect employee performance. It can, therefore, be concluded that differentiation between the two SC levels in organizations has been supported, as only intra-organizational SC leads directly to performance (Ben-Hador and Eckhaus, 2018). The finding that intra-organizational SC mediates the connection between personal SC and performance strengthens Ibarra et al. (2005), who claim that personal SC will be beneficial to the organization only if it will lead to intra-organizational SC (network congruence). If network congruence exists, then personal SC will lead to better employee performance. Therefore, the positive impact of gossip on personal SC that can be perceived as harmful is not necessarily negative, as it is contingent on the organizational context.\n6. Conclusion: This work was informed by three research goals: first, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of employee performance antecedents; second, to distinguish between SC levels in organizations; and third, to evaluate the gossip variable and its impact on SC and employee performance. Addressing and providing answers to these issues support the view that investing in employees' SC is far from a waste of time and resources. In fact, it is a classic win-win situation for both employees, who gain a better social atmosphere and management, who receive higher levels of performance. Distinguishing between the SC levels enables more insight into the mechanisms and operations of SC in organizations. Focusing on the importance of gossip in organizations promotes a more realistic and productive approach to gossip. Managers who oppose close social ties in organizations tend to see gossip as a negative expression of social relations. However, this study attests that not only is gossip not necessarily negative, it supports SC in organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand better the organizational social capital (SC) levels and their impact on organizations by focusing on personal SC and intra-organizational SC as well as their different connections to organizational gossip and employee performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Participants in a field study included 617 employees from five Israeli organizations in the field of aviation and shipping. Levels of personal SC, intra-organizational SC, gossip and self-evaluated performance were measured, and connections between them detected.\nFindings: The results indicate that intra-organizational SC is positively connected to employee performance, while personal SC is positively linked to gossip. Personal SC also leads to performance with the mediation of intra-organizational SC, although gossip was not found to be connected to performance.\nOriginality/value: The contributions of this study are both conceptual and practical. The distinction between organizational SC levels is refined, improving organizational research accuracy and facilitating a better grasp of the connections between SC and other variables. The scant research on organizational gossip has been expanded. From a practical perspective, clarification of the link between organizational SC and performance can be beneficial to employees and organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Networking capability and international entrepreneurship: How networks function in Australian born global firms	[ "Entrepreneurialism", "International business", "Networking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: International entrepreneurship (IE) is a new field of multi-disciplinary enquiry that is attracting the interest of scholars from disciplines of marketing, management, international business and entrepreneurship. Within international marketing the concept has attracted the attention of researchers examining the factors driving small- and medium-size firm (SME) internationalisation. It has been argued (Dimitratos and Jones, 2005) that the emergence of the rapidly internationalising firm, the born global or international new venture, has dominated the early development of the IE field. This may be due, at least in part, to frustration noted by a number of authors (Bell, 1995; Madsen and Servais, 1997) with the adequacy of accepted theories of the internationalisation (Johanson and Vahlne, 1990, 1992) to explain the phenomenon of small firms that from inception derive a significant part of their income from multiple country markets (Knight and Cavusgil, 1996; Oviatt and McDougall, 1994). Recently, there have been suggestions to expand the domain of IE research beyond the born global international new venture to include, in particular, the entrepreneurial activities of large firms and firms in established industry sectors (Coviello and Jones, 2004; Dimitratos and Jones, 2005; Styles and Seymour, 2006). This paper acknowledges the appropriate broadening of the boundaries of IE research but is located within the small firm IE domain. We retain focus on born globals in order to deepen our understanding of IE and to develop richer insights directed towards establishing more robust theoretical frameworks.The paper proceeds with a more detailed consideration of the literature which provides the rationale for this study. Small firm internationalisation literature is reviewed, leading to consideration of the entrepreneurial born global firm. We then address the role of networking in internationalisation and the entrepreneurial actions, which drive born globals in competitive strategy that crosses national borders. We establish that the literature lacks a coherent theoretical framework, suggesting the need to address networking as a dynamic capability and reflecting the need to undertake empirical investigation grounded in born global firms. The research design and qualitative method adopted in the empirical study are then explained. The remainder of the paper develops the key findings from the analysis, presents a conceptual model and discusses implications, future research directions and limitations of the study.\nLiterature review: Internationalisation theory revisited\nMethod: The need to examine generative mechanisms and processes of networking capability justifies the use of case study method adopted for this research (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 1994). Rialp et al. (2005, p. 163), in an extensive review of a decade of research in the field of IE-born globals, called for the \"rigorous and insightful application of the case study approach\" to advance the field. Multiple case research design, a more robust design than a single case study (Yin, 1994), is adopted. Eisenhardt (1989) and Yin (1994) emphasise the importance of having case study research process grounded in the theoretical literature. Collection of data was guided by the research questions outlined above. A case study protocol was used in the data collection process in order to enhance the reliability of the research (Yin, 1994).The approach to sampling issues is informed by the recent research of Coviello and Jones (2004) on methodological issues in IE research. The sampling strategy follows literal replication technique and theoretical replication logic as suggested by Yin (1989). The key principle underlying the selection of cases was relevance rather than representativeness (Stake, 1994; Perry, 2001). Consistent with the four to ten cases suggested by Eisenhardt (1989), six exemplar born global firms were selected for study. The operational definition of born global was the firm had:* started exporting within the first three years of operation, and* at least 25 per cent of sales income derived from exporting (Knight and Cavusgil, 1996).Sampling proceeded until theoretical saturation was achieved. Theoretical saturation occurs at the point where \"incremental learning is minimal\" (Eisenhardt, 1989, p. 545).The characteristics of the organisations taking part in the study are shown in Table II. The sample was chosen to fulfil theoretical sampling criteria as discussed above. The organisations which took part are Australian and primarily located in one state in Australia (The exception was the hi-tech vision system firm located in the national capital territory.). The Australian sampling frame is justified on the basis of the need for intensive study of firms in order to develop theoretically rich understanding of the phenomenon. The Australian sampling frame allows the Australian-based researchers to have repeated access to the firms. The sampling frame also allows the effect of external factors such as government incentives, taxes and infrastructure advantages to be minimised. The firms are drawn from hi-tech and low-tech industry sectors: firms from traditional industries such as dairy, fencing, refrigeration and waste water treatment are included; one firm using information technology to increase fuel efficiency and another using advanced technology to develop vision systems are also included. This sample thus enables the phenomena of interest to be investigated across industry sectors, which was recently identified as a desirable approach (Styles and Gray, 2005).In-depth interviews were conducted with key decision-makers in each organisation. Founders, CEOs and senior managers were chosen as they possess the most comprehensive knowledge of the characteristics of the organisation, its strategy and performance (Snow and Hrebiniak, 1980; Miller and Toulouse, 1986). Our approach to sampling is consistent with that recommended by Coviello and Jones (2004) who support the use of judgment sampling provided the sample criteria are well specified, as we have done here, and appropriate approaches are undertaken to ensure validity and reliability, as we detail below.The focus questions in the research instrument were open-ended. Prompts were used to expand discussion and to further elicit the views and opinions of the participants (Creswell, 2003). Probes were developed to explore in depth key issues which emerged in the interview context. Relevant documents and archival data about the organisation were collected at the time of interview. These data were collected to provide triangulation of reference material for thematic analysis and for post-research inquiry (Creswell, 2003). In-depth interviews were conducted and documentary evidence collected jointly by two researchers supporting triangulation (Jick, 1979). The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and subjected to coding and further analyses as discussed below.Consistent with the guidelines recommended by Strauss and Corbin (1990) and widely adopted (Beyer and Hannah, 2002; Majchrzak et al., 2004), we made systematic, detailed comparisons across all cases, employing matrices to identify the theoretical saturation point which was reached after six cases (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The analysis used processes adapted from Glaser and Strauss (1967), Creswell (2003) and Yin (1994). In analysing data, several techniques were adopted to remain focused on the research problem. Matrices were employed as an analytical tool to organise and analyse data. The matrix technique promotes pattern matching and the effective categorization of data (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The research also adopted a general analytic approach that prioritises information through the development of categories of data and the examination of similarities. Following Eisenhardt (1989), we then tie emergent findings to the extant literature, thereby enhancing internal validity, generalizability and theoretical level.\nFindings: RQ1. What is the specific role of born global firm owner/managers in the development of networking capability in the born global firm? How does networking capability develop over time?\nDiscussion, implications, future research directions and limitations: The overall research problem which guided this study was: \"What is the role of networking capability in the internationalisation processes of the exemplar small international entrepreneurial firm - the born global?\" The qualitative method adopted, which allowed the investigation of generative mechanisms and processes, and the findings of the study support the view that dynamic networking capability characterises IE in the born global firm and plays a central role in rapid internationalisation, in developing knowledge-intensive products and in international market performance.The findings highlight the critical role played by internationally entrepreneurial founder/owner/managers in the networking capability building activity and, in turn, in the rapid internationalisation of the born global firm. These firms display innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking in their strategic decisions, reflecting the behavioural characteristics of IE (McDougall and Oviatt, 2000; Knight, 2000). Interestingly, the study findings suggest that the dynamic networking capabilities enable born globals to minimise the risks associated with global market entry decisions. Contrary to the general view, we find that networking activity may not be the panacea for all the \"ills\" of small firms. Instead, the networking activity must take the form of a competitive capability complemented by entrepreneurial opportunity-seeking behaviour. The firms studied here were drawn from both hi-tech industry sectors, traditionally studied in the born global literature, and low-tech industries. Networking capability was found not only to be central to the growth of firms in the hi-tech sector but also to play a similarly important role for firms in the low-tech sector. Specifically, the findings suggest that the evolution of networking capability is path dependent and conforms to the capability view of competitive strategy.The findings also suggest that networking capability is built and nurtured by entrepreneurial owner/managers through fundamental and secondary networks. We find that networking capabilities change over the evolution of the firm's internationalisation process. Owner/managers begin with a useful set of networks and work to actively reconfigure these, extending them and developing new networks. The manner in which the capabilities in the sampled cases are built and reconfigured provide empirical support for the dynamic capability building processes of born globals (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Teece et al., 1997). Interestingly, in contrast to previous research the findings also identify a negative aspect of networks, that of network rigidity. Involvement in networks may limit strategic options as opportunities must then be pursued within the network boundaries. We have termed this phenomenon \"network rigidity\". The network rigidity suggests the need to further reconfigure dynamic capabilities for emerging opportunities in growth markets.The effect of network rigidity on market performance should be a focus of future enquiry, as the extant literature on networking tends to emphasise only positive effects. Practical options for avoiding or overcoming networking rigidity might be a possible outcome of this focus in future research, as well as the opportunity to strengthen theoretical understanding. Future research should also focus on the linkages between fundamental and secondary networks, and the processes by which IE is facilitated and deepened in the domain of born globals through the elaboration of networks. It would particularly be of interest to investigate the development of networks and IE as the number of people employed in a born global grows. Whether these entrepreneurial small firms choose to grow by internalising the networking capability potential of new personnel could be a fruitful approach. This research has identified the value of a dynamic capability based approach in capturing networking capability. Future research could adopt the dynamic capability approach as a unifying framework in studying the complete system of relationships leading to rapid and early internationalisation in born globals.Overall, the findings of the study contribute to the development of IE research by identifying the centrality and scope of the impact of networking capabilities in small born global firms. In effect, we are now developing a much clearer conceptualisation of how networking capability overcomes the problem of \"resource poverty\" in the SME. The findings particularly indicate that in born globals the influence of networking capability is not restricted to impact on capital requirements and management skills but, coupled with a high degree of IE, is instrumental in developing innovative products, in locating markets across national borders and in international market performance. It would be of interest for future research to expand the understanding of the role of IE and networking capabilities in larger firms which face their own particular international marketing challenges.Capability-based theory is premised on the view that organisational distinctive capabilities do not merely \"accrue\" to the firm (from a good \"fit\" with industry or environmental requirements) but may be developed consciously and systematically by the intentional choices and actions of the firm's strategic leaders (Lado et al., 1992). The key factor which differentiates the capability-based model from the resource-based model is management's ability to develop organisational routines (Grant, 1991). Our findings provide empirical support for this view identifying that dynamic networking capabilities are strategically built by the internationally entrepreneurial owner/manager. The development of dynamic networking capabilities is central to the enactment of their strategic vision for successfully internationalising and taking their products to global markets. We suggest that the dynamic capability approach provides a promising theoretical foundation to capture the rapid and early internationalisation of the born global firm. Further work is suggested to advance the application of the dynamic capability framework in this field to capture capabilities other than networking capabilities.The study has some limitations. Results of studies using case study method should be followed by wider empirical tests using probability sampling frames. In addition, as the sample is drawn using an Australian sampling frame caution should be exercised in generalising from these findings to other country contexts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - International entrepreneurship (IE) is a new field of multi-disciplinary enquiry that has its origins in the research on born globals. Within international marketing the concept has attracted the attention of researchers examining the factors driving small- and medium-size firm internationalisation. These small, rapidly internationalising, entrepreneurial new ventures have recently both challenged and fascinated scholars and practitioners. While IE researchers are beginning to call for a broadening of the field of IE enquiry, this research continues the focus on the special breed of small firms, the born globals. We do this to deepen our understanding of IE, and focus on networking in born globals to attempt to develop richer insights directed towards establishing more in-depth understanding and more robust theoretical frameworks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Relationships and networking have been important in internationalisation studies for some time, and for small firms in particular are of interest for their role in helping overcome \"resource poverty\". Case study method is adopted to examine the generative mechanisms and processes of networking capabilities. Drawing on six exemplar case studies from low-tech and hi-tech industry sectors, this research identifies the role and characteristics of the entrepreneurial owner/manager and the development of networking capability over time.\nFindings: - Fundamental and secondary networking capabilities are identified. How networking capability enables identification and exploitation of market opportunities, facilitates the development of knowledge-intensive products and firm international market performance in the born global firm is discussed. The issue of network rigidity is also highlighted. A conceptual model is presented, implications discussed and future research directions, in particular the extension of networking capability research to large firms exhibiting IE, are promulgated.\nOriginality/value: - Overall the findings of the study contribute to the development of IE research by identifying the centrality and scope of the impact of networking capabilities in small born global firms arguing that dynamic networking capability characterises IE in this context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Doing textiles experiments in game-based virtual reality: A design of the Stereoscopic Chemical Laboratory (SCL) for textiles education	[ "Virtual reality", "Game-based learning", "Learning experiences", "Stereoscopic 3D technology", "Textile experiment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In textile and fashion technology studies, most of the subjects require university students' involvement in doing laboratory work in compulsory subjects. For example, in our department of textile and clothing studies, there are at least three compulsory subjects that require laboratory activities. In our department, most of the students are required to learn the foundation of textile chemistry in laboratory. The focus of this practice is helping our university students to understand the use of chemicals and machinery operations. However, one of our key problems of delivering these compulsory science subjects effectively is that many of our students do not have much training on conducting experiment in laboratory before joining the university. This problem affects the design of pedagogy and our students' learning outcomes.\n2. Inadequacies of hands-on laboratory learning: Laboratory experiment is a core area of chemistry learning which allows students to build up their own practical knowledge with concrete materials. This core skill plays a significant crucial role in chemistry education. Textile and fashion students can explore or justify scientific theories and facts through the applications in the laboratory environment. Laboratory practice is also a kind of learning method to improve students' implication, critical thinking, scientific view, and problem solving skills (Tatli and Ayas, 2010). Therefore, laboratory, a place where students can learn and figure out their own scientific knowledge, is an important part in chemistry learning. However, some constraints of traditional laboratory learning practice, which are safety problems, insufficient self-confidence, inadequate tools and equipment, and time limitation, hinder the learning of students and teachers' teaching.\n3. The purposes of virtual laboratory: Virtual laboratory, an alternative learning environment, is introduced as a tool of preparative, supplementary learning, or substitute to real laboratory in order to help students familiar with the laboratory educational application (Hawkins and Phelps, 2013). Woodfield (2005) stated virtual laboratories as the simulation of a real laboratory environment and processes, and are suggested as learning environments in which students apply the theories in a practical way by doing experiments. They provide students with meaningful virtual learning experiences and demonstrate concepts, principles, and processes of the experiments in an interactive way (Tatli and Ayas, 2013). There are two main common functions for the use of virtual laboratory in chemistry education in textile and fashion studies. The first one is the visualization of chemistry concepts and processes that could facilitate students' learning in laboratory. Some abstract concepts or complicated processes of chemistry are displayed through multimedia means such as animations, videos or pictures so that students can understand the conceptual knowledge in a simple and easier way. Using of virtual laboratory to prepare students with sufficient knowledge before their practical lab class is the second main function. Lots of simulated laboratories have been launched in the past to provide an accurate and realistic representation of the actual laboratory environment for students to be practiced in. Some of them have emphasized on the development of experiment procedural sequence whereas some of them have focused on the stereoscopic 3D simulation of the real environment (Dalgarno et al., 2009).\n4. The benefits of establishing a virtual laboratory: Virtual laboratory brings a number of potential advantages in chemistry learning in textile and fashion studies. First, virtual lab increases flexibility and accessibility of laboratory application. Since a simulated lab is a kind of computer software or program in which students can perform their own experiments anytime at anyplace, they prefer it with a computer. Thus, it enables users to freely access a simulated lab without the limitations of time or physical destination in traditional lab. Problems of insufficient laboratories and overcrowded lab classes no longer exist (Yang and Heh, 2007).\n5. The effectiveness of establishing a virtual laboratory: The effectiveness of applications of virtual laboratory on students varies according to previous studies. Some studies indicated that virtual laboratory brings positive influences to students' learning (Woodfield, 2005; Dalgarno et al., 2009; Yang and Heh, 2007; Stieff and Wilensky, 2003; Liu, 2006; Woodfield et al., 2004; Bakar and Zaman, 2007; Limniou et al., 2007). Students who practiced with virtual laboratory showed that they gave a better performance in the aspects of experimental process and results reporting than the control group of real lab application participants. Virtual lab users follow the experimental process more closely when doing experiment and enjoy themselves in the process (Tatli and Ayas, 2010). In terms of interactivity, student in virtual laboratory practices is an active user rather than a passive observer in the physical lab (Trindade et al., 2002). Virtual laboratory could visualize the particulate nature of chemistry which assists students to learn the abstract concepts of chemistry and improve their cognitive skills by providing of laboratory activities (Dalgarno et al., 2009). Martinez-Jimenez et al. (2003) stated that a plenty of past studies showed that virtual laboratory is an effective and helpful preparatory tool for students' laboratory learning. Some literature also suggested that a simulated lab is as effective as a traditional hands-on lab (Hawkins and Phelps, 2013). Tatli and Ayas (2013) predicted that virtual chemistry laboratory would be applied as supportive educational materials in future to enhance learning experience while reducing school expenditures and the time loss on the conventional laboratory activities.\n6. The design methodology of the SCL: There are three main goals to create the SCL. The first one is to enhance students' learning experience by operating the virtual laboratory practices associated with coloration and finishing technologies so that a better teaching effect can be achieved. The second purpose is to explore novel approaches of using stereoscopic and multisensory technologies in teaching coloration and finishing subjects and thus provide an alternative way for disseminating knowledge to the students and increase their interest for laboratory practices. Last but not the least, to develop pilot sample and model for adopting virtual simulation in teaching and learning for similar subjects which would involve the use of virtual laboratory environment.\n7. The architecture of SCL: In viewing of the creation of the SCL, the building process can be divided into two parts: building of virtual objects (Tatli and Ayas, 2010) and designing of interactivity (Tatli and Ayas, 2013). The virtual objects of the SCL are built with the Autodesk software Maya which specializes in 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and visual effects. The created virtual objects and rendered animations are then exported to Unity, a game engine system. Unity is a development platform that enables to create interactive features to virtual objects and its production process is said to develop from prototyping to robust large-scale and deliver lifelike experience.\n8. The design of interactivity: The exported fbx file was imported to the game engine, which is the Unity. This software is occupied for the design of the interactivity of the SCL. The main page of the SCL is divided into two levels, which are the main page and the experiment recipe selection. In the main page, user could choose \"Quit\" for leaving the program or \"Start experiment\" for recipe selection to enter one of the experiment recipes for practicing the experiment, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. When the mouse cursor is hovered over the button, the color of the button will change. It turns to blue to give an indication to the student for starting the test while the \"Quit\" button will change to red if user wants to leave. To start the test, choosing one of the recipes of the experiment would bring the student to the next step of the experiment.\n9. Outcomes: In this project, three learning outcomes had been achieved which included establishment of the SCL, a set of teaching and learning materials, and two revised subjects. The SCL was built with stereoscopic and multisensory technologies, offered students with unprecedented learning tools for improving learning experiences, and provided teachers with new teaching techniques. A package of teaching and learning materials including demonstration materials and a laboratory manual equipped the students with the knowledge of operating laboratory practices in an immersive virtual environment. Two revised subjects: Textiles Studies II and Introduction to Coloration and Finishing were adopted in this new teaching and learning approach for enhancing students' competency in laboratory practices.\n10. Conclusion: The use of virtual laboratory is preparing students with opportunities for real-world investigations in science study (Eva, 2016). In this project, the stereoscopic and multisensory SCL aims to help students familiar with the laboratory environment before performing actual laboratory experiments in textile laboratory education in order to increase teaching and learning quality during the experiment lessons. To implement this novel teaching and learning approaches with the SCL, two pilot compulsory subjects in our department have been reviewed and revised for enhancing students' foundation laboratory operation. A package of teaching and learning materials including demonstration materials, a laboratory manual and a laboratory practices project were developed. The architecture of SCL was constructed by the Autodesk software Maya and Unity to build the virtual objects and design interactivity. The SCL and a set of online teaching and learning materials were located on the university's web server for teachers and students to freely access and conduct the online self-learning laboratory exercises with 3D glasses and some simple computer interfaces.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of stereoscopic virtual technology in textile and fashion studies in particular to the area of chemical experiment. The development of a designed virtual platform, called Stereoscopic Chemical Laboratory (SCL), is introduced.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To implement the suggested educational approaches of SCL, a set of teaching and learning materials with emphasis on the application methods was revised from the existing subjects. The architecture of SCL includes building of virtual objects with the Autodesk software Maya and designing of interactivity by using Unity, a game engine system. Prototype version of the SCL has been passed to selected academic colleagues and students for further evaluation and application feedback.\nFindings: Textile students can conduct laboratory experiments associated with coloration and finishing of textile technologies in a stereoscopic 3D and multisensory laboratory, and hence enhance their learning experience. With the use of SCL, students can learn relevant experiment tools, experimental processes, procedures, and safety and health precautions.\nOriginality/value: There is very limited educational or training approach in applying stereoscopic virtual reality in teaching activities. In the area of textile experiment, the authors could say it is virtual and does not exist in current research domains.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Environmental measures for hotels' environmental management systems: ISO 14001	[ "Environmental management", "Hotels", "Energy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Environmental Management System (EMS) as across the world has recently been more recognized in the hotel industry. An environment management system is a way for management to deal with aspects that impact on the environment. It allows an organization to control the impact of its activities, products or services on the natural environment. Steger (2000) defined an EMS as a \"transparent and systematic process\", known corporate-wide, with the purpose of prescribing and implementing environmental goals, policies and responsibilities, as well as a regular auditing of its elements. Almost all hotels have implemented their in-house EMS or used efforts on protecting the environment in hotels with varying degrees of intensity in the past few decades (Stipanuk, 1996). Kirk's survey found that the major benefit of environmental management was the improvement in public image and better relationship with the local community (Kirk, 1995). However, many hoteliers with written environmental policy saw the major benefit in financial management performance.The ISO 14000, which is a series of international standards on environmental management, provides guidelines for the development of an EMS and the supporting audit programme, as shown in Table I. It was introduced in 1996 as a result of the Rio Summit on the Environment held in 1992, and later a new version was published in 2004 (ISO, 2007). Within the entire series, the most well known ISO 14001 standard specifies the actual requirement for an EMS. An organization can be certified by an external certification authority against the ISO 14001 standard. The purpose of an EMS is clearly to bring a firm into alignment with its environmental policy and to demonstrate this to others (ISO, 1996). ISO 14001 certified EMS could be characterized in terms of its policy, goals, objectives, organizational structure, assigned responsibilities, procedures and operations, management review, and various methodologies. The EMS formed under the ISO14001 certification possesses a systematic structure as laid down in the ISO requirement. And the whole system is relatively open and familiar to environment-related practitioners since there have been immense promotional coverage, workshops, seminars and literature. Up to the end of 2005, there were over 110,000 ISO 14001 certified organizations worldwide, including around 600 hospitality organizations (ISO, 2006).Recently some deluxe hotels such as the Shangri-la Hotel, Hotel Nikko, and Grand Stanford Inter-Continental Hong Kong have achieved ISO 14001 accreditation. The same trend is happening in China. For instance, the Mission Hills Resort in Shenzhen and the World Trade Center Hotel in Hangzhou have also received the certification. Chan and Wong (2005) find that corporate governance and legislation play an important role in affecting hotel's intention to ISO14001 EMS certification. Their findings are more or less close to the proponents who advocate setting up environmental standard in general business. They have proposed a number of reasons for why firms should seek certification, such as improved regulatory compliance; increased market share and a potential for premium pricing within certain market segments; response to customer pressures and access to markets; cost reductions from improved efficiencies; and an enhanced reputation (Harrington and Knight, 1999; Tibor and Feldman, 1996, pp. 27-42; Woodside, 2000).However, there is a paucity of information about the actual environmental measures implemented in ISO14001 certified hotels. And these environmental measures may serve as useful reference for other hotel operators to drive their environmental works. In light of this situation, this study aims to identify the environmental measures undertaken by studied hotels, generalize environmental measures by hotels with ISO14001, and evaluate the performance and the assessment methods of these bundles of environmental measures.This paper has four sections. The first section discusses the case study design and methodology including both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative research refers to the development of preliminary checklist of environmental measures, its subsequent validation and the ways to analyze collected data to explore any phenomenon. Then the paper proceeds to illustrate the quantitative study on the energy performance of the studied hotels by using four sorts of estimation technique.The next section introduces some background information about the three studied hotels - Nikki, Shangri-la and the Grand Stanford. In the third section, the paper discusses the identified environmental measures and assesses the energy saving potential resulting from the adoption of these measures. The concluding section highlights the use of the findings to practitioners and offers ideas on ways that managers can make regression analysis more easy-to-use in the hotel.\nMethodology: Case study design\nThree cases background: Hotel Nikko Hongkong (Nikko) is a member of Nikko Hotels International, with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. The hotel continues the tradition of Japanese hospitality, which is renowned throughout the world. Opened in April 1988, Hotel Nikko Hongkong is a five-star deluxe hotel in Hong Kong, with 462 rooms and seven outlets. The hotel is also located at Tsim Sha Tsui East and next to the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Nikko is the leader of implementing EMS in the Hong Kong hotel industry. In the early 1990s, the hotel started pushing for environmental improvements by implementing energy and water conservation practices. As soon as the green practices on water and energy were on track, Nikko hotel started looking for ways to minimize waste production (Hotel Nikko Hongkong, 1999a). Nikko's EMS based on the ISO 14001 standard was eventually set up in April 1999 (Hotel Nikko Hongkong, 1999b).Grand Stanford is a water front five-star hotel located in Tsimshatsui East. It has 579 rooms and four food and beverage outlets. The hotel was managed by Holiday Inn in the 1980s and by the owner's management company in the 1990s. More recently, Intercontinental have taken over the management. In the mid 1990s, Grand Stanford initiated the environmental program and obtained the certification of ISO 14001 in 2000.The Kowloon Shangri-la hotel is a five-star hotel built up in the 1980s located in Tsimshatsui area commercial area and has about 700 rooms plus seven catering outlets. In September 1996, it started the process of developing an EMS and soon became the first hotel in Asia to obtain ISO 14001 certification. Its prompt development of EMS up to international standard is based on its existing \"best practice\" in each department. The EMS brings significant benefits - reputation and competitive edge - to hotel and these benefits have always outweighed the cost (Tsai et al., 2003).\nAnalysis: A total of 113 measures were identified. Five groups were delineated from the data including energy, water, air, paper and chemical. It was found that 55 measures had been related to energy, chiefly electricity, reducing practices. The dominance of electricity cutting measures is mainly due to the fact that electricity consumption occupies about 70 per cent of total annual energy consumption in sub-tropical city hotels (Deng and Burnett, 2000).Electricity-saving measures\nConclusions and implications: The study has unveiled many environmental measures being applied in deluxe hotels with ISO14001 EMS certification. These identified measures provide hoteliers a thorough picture and deeper understanding about the actual environmental works involved in this internationally recognized EMS beyond generally perceived documentary works of EMS. Hotel operators and owners can thus use these measures as a reference to either apply EMS certification or developing their own EMS. Based on this published experience, they may have more accurate estimate of the resource and time required for the development of the EMS. Especially, the core measures can be treated as indispensable parts in hotel's environmental management systems ISO14001. As a result, any hotel that plans to start setting up EMS ISO14001 must concentrate on these core measures. Also in contrast to most other technical standards developed over the years by ISO, the current ISO14001 is interpreted as a \"process\" standard since it specifies the characteristics of the components of a management system rather than particular measure/product specifications or performance requirements (Fryxell and Szeto, 2002). Nevertheless, this study synthesizes and differentiates 113 measures in these three hotels and establishes a reference database for converting the current \"process\" standard to some specified standards or measures essential in the hotel ISO 14001 EMS.On the other hand, while monitoring is considered as an important part in the EMS 14001, the study found that there was still a deficiency - that is the inappropriate use of energy consumption on per occupied room basis to assess energy consumption - in the monitoring part. In light of this situation, the study recommends and demonstrates the use of regression analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of energy saving measures, particularly electricity. To make the assessment by regression analysis more easy-to-use in the hotel sector, the study suggests that trade association should load and update a cooling degree day database online so that member hotel may retrieve this relevant parameter to predict the energy saving potential. The trade association may even collaborate with hotel school to construct and maintain this web. On the other hand, hotelier may also partner with hotel schools to predict the energy savings attributable to these measures by using their statistical software of multiple regressions. This computer based statistical technique is very sophisticated in its earlier versions in two decades ago whereas the technique is becoming more and more user-friendly and easy-to-use in its present version. However, it should be noted there were still some difficulties in tracing the reduction of energy usage that can be attributed to ISO14001 as many hotels could implement energy saving measures before they plan to achieve this certification.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Implementation of environmental management systems (EMS) in hotels is gaining popularity world-wide. ISO 14001, which is the only certifying document in the ISO 14000 series, provides guidelines to set up an EMS. However, there is a paucity of information about the actual environmental measures implemented in ISO 14001 certified hotels. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify and generalize the environmental measures undertaken by studied hotels and to evaluate the performance of these environmental measures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Three case studies were carried out to identify the green measures undertaken in ISO 14001-certified hotels. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed. Then, regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between monthly utilities input (electricity, gas, fuel oil and water) and activity parameters.\nFindings: - A total of 113 measures were identified, nearly half of which concern energy conservation. Results of multiple regression showed that R2 for different utilities varied. The explanatory power of equation was strong for electricity consumption, moderate for fuel gas consumption, and weak for both gas and water consumption.\nPractical implications: - The identified measures provide hoteliers with a thorough picture about the actual environmental works involved in this internationally recognized EMS. Hotel operators and owners can use these measures as a reference either for applying EMS certification or for developing their own EMS.\nOriginality/value: - The paper, which was based on operational experiences from existing hotels, was a collaborative work between hospitality industry practitioners and educators. The paper is also the first of its kind to unveil the comprehensive environmental measures undertaken in city hotels with ISO 14001 certification.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Balanced or unbalanced routines: the case of two routines dynamics in a French hospital	[ "Hospital", "Case studies", "Organizational routines dynamics", "Ostensive and performative aspects" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The dialectic of stability and change in organizations has recently known new conceptualizations oriented toward the analysis of the micro-dynamics of change. Various scholars support the idea that practice-based approaches have a strong heuristic potential for better understanding how organizational change processes emerge and how they are structured (Feldman, 2000; Feldman and Orlikowski, 2011; Orlikowski, 1996; Pentland et al., 2012; Tsoukas and Chia, 2002; Whittington and Melin, 2003). Given this perspective, the performative approach to routine (D'Adderio, 2008, 2011; Feldman, 2000; Feldman and Pentland, 2003; Howard-Grenville, 2005; Labatut et al., 2012; Pentland and Feldman, 2005, 2008; Turner and Rindova, 2012; Zbaracki and Bergen, 2010) offers an important and promising contribution to the explanation of patterns of both persistence and change in organizational routines by studying its internal dynamics. Defined as \"generative systems that produce repetitive, recognizable patterns of interdependent action carried out by multiple participants\" (Feldman and Pentland, 2003, p. 103), routines combine representations (the ostensive aspect or the \"routine in principle\") and actions (the performative aspect or the \"routine in practice\"). In this approach, routine can be viewed as much by its normative dimension, framing the action, as by its pragmatic dimension, facilitating its implementation in the face of the incompleteness of the rules (Feldman, 2000; Reynaud, 2005). The mutual adaptation of these two dimensions, ostensive and performative, present occasions to transform the routine (Feldman and Pentland, 2003). The ontology of routine, developed by these authors, is based on the theory of structuration (Giddens, 1979, 1984), and considers the duality of structure, the recursive relation between actions and structure. In this transformation and evolution of routines, sociomaterial ensembles of actants, that includes humans and non-human actants (Latour, 2005; Orlikowski, 2007; Pentland et al., 2012), play an essential role. Yet, in the execution of routines, actors (human agency) may introduce variations which are, in themselves, a source of flexibility and change (Howard-Grenville, 2005; Feldman and Pentland, 2003).\n2. Routines as a source of change: After defining the concept of routine, we will see that routines themselves can be a source of change. We will then look at how routines evolve.\n3. Research design: two case studies in a hospital: To understand under which conditions the routine dynamics happens or not, we carried out qualitative research based on two longitudinal case studies in a French hospital group, the SLP hospital. More specifically, our case studies analyzed the evolution of organizational routines in absence management in two departments of the hospital: an ED and a Nursing Home. Studying the same routine in a similar context of change allows us to compare different trajectories of evolution and to isolate elements of stability or change in the routine.\n4. Contrasting change in the absence management organizational routine: In this section we contrast change dynamics in an absence management organizational routine, in two departments. The evolution of routines proved different in the two cases studied: one seemed to be blocked; the other, in contrast, evolved.\n5. Discussion: Our contrasting results first demonstrate the influence of the balance or imbalance of the internal mechanisms of routines on their evolution, and second, highlight the role of middle management in the change dynamics of routines.\n6. Conclusion: The question of routine dynamics is an important one for organizations, in particular, for hospitals and similar organizations whose working practices are being extensively brought into question. Organizational routines could be a source of change if there is interaction between the ostensive and performative aspects (Feldman, 2000; Pentland and Feldman, 2008). In our study, we analyzed the evolution of absence management routines in two hospital departments, a Nursing Home and an ED. While in both cases, the actors reflected on the changes in their practice, only one routine evolved. Analysis of these two cases shows the situations of balance or imbalance between the two aspects of a routine (ostensive and performative aspects - Feldman, 2000) favoring, or impeding, its evolution dynamics.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The performative approach views organizational routines as generative systems with internal aspects - ostensive and performative - and dynamics (Feldman and Pentland, 2003). The purpose of this paper is to better understand under which conditions the routine dynamics happens or not.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To deal with this issue, for 13 months, the authors conducted a comparative and longitudinal case studies based on the evolution of the organizational routines in absence management in two departments of a French hospital.\nFindings: The results show contrasting dynamics in the studied organizational routines: one evolved, the other in contrast, seemed blocked. The authors suggest that the routine dynamics depends on the relative weight of its ostensive and performative aspects: a balance situation makes mutual adaptions possible and an imbalance situation leads to the conservation of defective routine. The research underlines also that, in the hospital context, the capacity of management and teams to discuss and to negotiate the implementation of external rules plays an important role in the balance of the internal dimensions of routine.\nOriginality/value: While the literature on performative approach focusses on the \"how and why\" the routine act as a source of continuous change, this research investigates more in depth the working of the routines dynamics itself. The issue of balance or imbalance introduces a new element in the framework of routine dynamics and can constitute an interesting focus for managers looking to transform their organizational routines.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service impact analysis using business continuity planning processes	[ "Business continuity", "Communication technologies", "Hong Kong" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: It is an unarguable fact that most of the businesses need continuous improvement in IT operations to satisfy the rising expectation from customers. With the establishment of international standard for IT service management (ISO, 2005) and the drive in the IT community, the certificate accreditation programme and adoption of this standard is rising rapidly in Hong Kong over the past thee years.Nowadays, most of business operations in an organisation are supported by IT services. In the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) service delivery (ITIL, 2001), IT service continuity management forms one of the management modules in daily IT service management. IT service continuity management is concerned with managing an organisation's ability to continue providing a pre-determined and agreed level of IT services to support the minimum business requirements following an interruption to the business. In a broader sense, the business continuity management process incorporates both a technology element - IT service continuity management, and a business element - business continuity planning (BCP). Achieving effective management of IT service continuity requires a balance of risk reduction measures in tally with the BCP.The aim of this paper is to investigate how the BCP processes adoption helps an organisation to improve the area of service impact analysis in IT service management (ITSM). We propose a framework to improve the identification of resources being responsible for a service quality problem that utilises the steps in BCP. The structure of this paper is as follows. The literature review on service incident management, BCP and service impact analysis in ITSM frameworks will come first. The proposed framework design and implementation will be followed afterwards. Finally, the conclusion presents the effectiveness of the proposed framework.\n2. Literature review: The international standard ISO/IEC 20000 Information Technology - Service Management series (formerly known as BS15000) is the world's first standard for IT service management. It enables service providers to understand how to enhance the quality of service delivered to their customers, both internal and external. The standard specifies a set of inter-related management processes, and is based heavily upon the ITIL framework. It gives a common basis for services improvements and also provides a framework for use by suppliers of service management tools. As a process based standard, organisations developing service management tools, products and systems may use both specification and the code of practice in part 1 and part 2 respectively to help them develop tools, products and systems that support best practice service management.In Praeg and Schnabel (2006), the authors carried out a survey on the use of existing IT service management concepts. Contrary to the use of the ITIL framework, other approaches are not often used. In terms of publicity (i.e. knowing the existence), COBIT framework is 67 per cent and the Microsoft Operation Framework is 66 per cent. Other approaches like Application Service Library, IBM Infrastructure Resource Management are not relevant for the daily business of the IT service providers.The 11 September tragedy in the US has brought up the attention in IT industry the importance of adequate disaster recovery (DR) and BCP in businesses. In broader sense, the business continuity management process incorporates both a technology element - IT service continuity management and a business element - business continuity planning. Achieving effective management of IT service continuity requires a balance of risk reduction measures in tally with the BCP.There are several BCP methodologies and models available (Elliott et al., 2002; Savage, 2002; Pitt and Goyal, 2004; OGC, 1998). Except for the project initiation stage in BCP development, these models are not exactly the same in the other stages but they can be summarised into five main phases: analysis, solution design, implementation, testing and organisation acceptance, and maintenance. The important part result from BCP is the process of creating the plan. Savage (2002) outlined the activities involves in the process as follows:* business risk and impact analysis;* documenting activities necessary to prepare the organisation for possible emergencies (including strategic recovery measures);* identifying and authorising detailed activities for any disaster recovery phase;* identifying and authorising detailed activities fro managing the business recovery process;* testing and auditing the business recovery process;* training staff in the business recovery process; and* implementing a process for keeping the plan up to day.During the course of BCP, it should provide clear information for which key business processes and functional activities in the organisation are dependent on each of the system in the entire IT infrastructure. The main customer-facing services and processes should be detailed together with an indication of their priority. In the ITIL Service Delivery (ITIL, 2001), IT service continuity management (ITSCM) forms one of the management modules in daily ITSM. ITSCM is concerned with managing an organisation's ability to continue providing a pre-determined and agreed level of IT services to support the minimum business requirements following an interruption to the business. It is considered as a subset of the business continuity management processes while business continuity is the main driver.ITSCM focuses the IT services required to support the critical business processes. Compare with the BCP, which determines the minimum critical requirements to address the impact of a loss of a business process, ITSCM supports the specific IT technical and service requirements. The processes of ITSCM plans development also cover the same stages as in BCP. The ITSCM need to be developed to enable not only the restoration of systems and facilities, but also the understanding of dependencies between them in the organisation's IT infrastructure, testing, and validation of data integrity and consistency. Besides, the criticality and priority of services and systems needs to be included in the ITSCM plans. The relevant processes in BCP and ITSCM can be used specifically to realise the dependencies between business services and IT resources. In turn, a mechanism to derive meaningful service impact due to resource event could be designed.\n3. Research methodology - deficiency of existing framework and management tools: Fault management is regarded as a distinction made between incident and problem management. There is no explicit process in ITIL (2000) for service impact analysis in fault management. It requires the assessment of dependencies of a service on specific resources, resource interdependencies as well as the mapping of resources on the services provided. On the other hand, although the IT service continuity management process in ITIL is part of the service delivery set, the process primarily considers continuity development plans and those IT assets and configurations that support the key business processes, rather than the activities in service-oriented fault correlation and business service impact analysis. As mentioned previously, today's business services are supported by IT services and sub-services which in turn depend on the underlying IT resources.The existing processes in ITSM, e.g. the common method in ITIL, rely heavily on the experience of experts in handling the event for realising the relationships between service and resource. The dependency on expert knowledge may therefore lead to a slowdown in the user report processing as no automation has been developed so far to store the configuration and status of services. In addition, especially under service outsourcing scenario, the turnover of staff members (without an appropriate substitution) may lead to a loss of problem solving expertise and risk exposure for service management.This paper proposes to adopt BCP processes to structure the correlation matrices for service impact analysis in ITSM to provide agile response to service events that is derived from resource events. By making use of a structured process in BCP development, the IT operation management can realise the service-dependency and resource-dependency amongst business services, IT services, IT sub-services and IT resources. This knowledge framework acts as the supplementary process for fault management in the existing ITIL processes.\n4. Service impact analysis: The effects on service interruption can include goodwill, liability and contractual obligation. In order to achieve the strategic alignment between business and IT, prompt response in the management system to discover and prioritise incident from its business objective and user importance for service continuity is essential. As suggested in Wan and Chan (2007a, b), it is desirable to minimise the disturbance to users on the service offerings by proactively responding to fault/incident alerts using a detective measure.In Wan and Chan (2007a), the organisation achieves significant service target improvement after the adoption of ITIL processes. The adoption of ITSM processes in operations helps to improve the incident handling service performance in which SLA could be achieved and within a service target of 95 per cent. However, while meeting SLA is the primary target, the early notification and prioritisation of alerts with respect to business objectives and user importance could improve further the customer satisfaction that is the prerequisite for achieving the goal for customer happiness. Specific attention for service fault correlation to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible is thereby the core element for improving service-oriented IT management.As mentioned previously in section 3, the existing processes in ITSM rely heavily on the experience of experts in handling the event for realising the relationships between service and resource. To fill this gap, a framework for service impact analysis for event management is proposed. As a proof-of-concept this framework has been applied to a real-world IT operations environment - Hong Kong Science Park (HKSP). The service-oriented event management allows for automation in service impact analysis and consequently save time and costs for the fault handling. Besides, with the automated correlation between resources and services, an aggregated processing of user reports addressing similar faults at an early stage can avoid some duplication of work for related user reports on service symptom. Apart from being more efficient, the automated mapping saves time in realising service impact and therefore helps to minimise the overall service event resolution time. This is very important in service industry.Figure 1 illustrates the architecture for service impact analysis in which the authors adopted the business continuity planning processes to realise the service-dependency and resource-dependency amongst business services, IT services, IT sub-services, and IT resources. The service impact analysis provides service impact notification to the operation team in reaction to network/system alerts.The first step in assuring the continued delivery of mission-critical services in the event of an ICT infrastructure interruption is to identify what are the delivered services, to whom these services are delivered, and to rank each service in terms of its priority/severity. After identifying the mission-critical services, consider what types of ICT infrastructure interruptions are likely to affect these services, and which are unlikely to affect them. The information created will be stored in a knowledge-base, called a service management information base, which will be used and reviewed from time to time before retirement. The business criticality level is the first dimension in mapping the service impact while the user importance level is the second dimension to map out the service impact notification.4.1 Event correlation processes\n5. A practical case in the Hong Kong Science Park: The authors applied the framework in a real live IT operations environment. HKSP built as a hub for technology companies emphasises the role of IT in enabling and delivering better service to tenants for innovation and technology development in the focused clusters and the upgrading of manufacturing and service industry capabilities. The campus is located in Hong Kong and built as a hub providing not only rentable floor space for research and development (R&D) offices and laboratories, but also a variety of supporting facilities/services for tenants to foster their R&D works in innovation and technology clusters. It is a non-labour-intensive campus for research and development industries that comprises three development phases. Phase 1 and phase 2 were completed in 2002 and 2007 respectively; 20 buildings were built with occupancy of 240 companies and over 6,000 employees.5.1 Operation flow and system configuration\n6. Conclusions and further work: BCP, it has been argued, forms part of a wider planning structure and process in business operations. In current business-aligned IT operations, the continuity plan needs to be integrated with ITSM if an organisation is going to be able to manage fault realisation and return to normal business operations. The materials presented in this paper aim to help organisations to better understand the inter-relationships of their underlying infrastructure and business service offerings. Traditional BCP and service continuity process provide preventive and recovery solutions to reduce risks in business operations. The paper views such processes having synergy in service impact analysis in fault management to facilitate the achievement of service-oriented IT management goals. The interaction with BCP development for prioritising business importance demonstrates the concept of business aligned service management. The proposed framework in ITSM enables IT service support more dynamically with appreciation from the business service with the establishment of a service information management base.The implementation work, which involved the customisation of those existing management modules in ITSM, was completed in end of the first quarter of 2008. Optimisation and on-going maintenance work is carried out currently. More data will be available with the fine-tuning in system and sufficient working data for building the repository in near future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims at improving the service-oriented IT management by adopting relevant business continuity planning processes for service impact analysis in handling resource event. The paper also proposes a framework for implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A framework was developed from the study of literatures in IT service management and business continuity management. It was implemented to a real IT operations environment to evaluate its effects and benefits.\nFindings: - Many organisations in the IT service industry drive the service-oriented IT management rapidly in the region. For fault management and service continuity management, one relies heavily on the experience of experts in handling the event for realising the relationships between service and resource. Knowledge retention and information base for service management are the new challenges in the area of service management.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Further optimisation and ongoing maintenance works are required to refine the correlation processes.\nPractical implications: - The framework was implemented using existing IT service management portal and network system monitoring tools with minimal modification effort.\nOriginality/value: - This paper highlighted the value of adopting business continuity planning processes in service management. It also presented a way to implement a service management information base in practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transitional care to adult ADHD services in a North West England district	[ "Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity", "Childhood", "Adolescent health services", "Clinical audit", "Clinical governance", "Transition to adult care", "Attention deficiency disorder", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: ADHD is the commonest neurodevelopmental disorder of children and adolescents. ADHD comprises inattentive and impulsive-hyperactive subtypes. It is an heterogenous disorder with the variable presence of co-morbid conditions including affective, anxiety, learning difficulties, autistic spectrum and substance use disorders. Outcomes for individuals with ADHD are variable as well (Surman, 2011). Prevalence varies from country to country. Estimated prevalence in the US is up to 12 per cent and is increasing. The prevalence rate in the UK is usually estimated at 3-5 per cent in school-aged children (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), 2008) although recent systematic reviews report ADHD prevalence estimates as wide as 2-18 per cent (Rowland et al., 2002).\nAdolescent outcomes of ADHD in childhood: ADHD is no longer conceptualised as a predominantly childhood disorder but is a chronic disorder that persists into adolescence and adulthood (Willoughby, 2003). Increasing numbers of young people with ADHD are diagnosed in childhood and continue to require care in adulthood.Adolescence is a time of transition to more independent function and autonomy in a search for meaning, self-esteem, and identity. It is a time of increased risk for major mental health challenges as the risk for the onset of co-morbid disorders increases. It is a period of mounting struggles for many teens with ADHD, with worsening attention deficits and cognitive dysfunction (e.g. disorganisation), faltering inhibitions, poor judgment, and impulsivity, which may be associated with increasing school, home, and social difficulties (Hammerness, 2011). Although overt hyperactivity may lessen with time, teens with ADHD can still struggle with restlessness, poorly controlled impulses, and impairments in developing judgment (Biederman et al., 2000). Excessively aggressive and antisocial behaviour may develop, adding further problems (Harpin, 2005). A small prospective study from Belgium echoes findings from larger samples that demonstrate an age-dependent decline in ADHD symptoms in adolescents diagnosed in childhood (Oord et al., 2012). However studies of adults show that clinically significant impairment occurs even in individuals who do not meet the full criteria for ADHD (Faraone et al., 2006).Research has indicated that adolescents and adults with ADHD are more prone to delinquency, crime, substance abuse, teen pregnancy and traffic accidents, as well as a decrease in workplace effectiveness (Matza et al., 2005). Adults with ADHD also suffer from distress from the symptoms, impaired ability to function in work and academic settings, and problems sustaining stable relationships (Asherson, 2005). Preliminary studies also suggest that persons with ADHD are almost a three-fold increased risk of suicide.Raising an adolescent with ADHD is challenging to parents and other family members, especially when the adolescent with ADHD has additional problems related to substance abuse, delinquency or learning difficulties or when there is other stress or adversity in the family. A study by Edwards et al. (2001), examined teenagers with ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), defined by the presence of markedly defiant, disobedient, provocative behaviour and by the absence of more severe dissocial or aggressive acts that violate the law or the rights of others. These teenagers (and their parents independently) rated themselves as having more parent-teen conflict than did community controls.Young people with ADHD are at increased risk of academic failure, dropping out of school or college, teenage pregnancy, and criminal behaviour. Driving poses an additional risk in individuals with ADHD because they are easily distracted from concentrating on driving when going slowly, while driving fast may also be dangerous. It has been shown that, compared with age matched controls, drivers with ADHD are at increased risk of traffic violations, especially speeding, and are considered to be at fault in more traffic accidents, including fatal ones (Barkley et al., 1996).Adolescents with ADHD present a significant challenge for the doctors and counsellors that treat them. As the demands of school, social life and responsibilities in general increase in adolescence and the number of co-morbid diagnoses increase (conduct disorder, anxiety, depression, learning problems) healthcare professionals are faced with a mountain of problems that may be difficult for the teen, the doctor or the parent to manage. Teenagers are often unwilling to accept responsibility for their behaviour and they may be reluctant to accept medical treatments (myADHD, 2009).\nMulti-disciplinary and inter-agency approach of transitional care: Transition is \"a multi-faceted, active process that attends to the medical, psychosocial and educational/vocational needs of adolescents as they move from child to adult centred care.\" It is a key element of adolescent health care and represents a challenging period for carers, patients and professionals (Blum et al., 1993). Certain characteristics are desirable for effective transitional care (McDonagh, 2006). These include:* Starting early;* Young person centred;* Inclusive of parents/care-givers;* Multi-disciplinary /Inter-agency;* Comprehensive, flexible, responsive;* Holistic - medical, psychosocial and educational/vocational aspects; and* Age and developmentally appropriate.Due to the holistic nature of transitional care, a multidisciplinary and multiagency approach is required. Leadership and successful collaboration and cross-boundary working are among the key factors thought to enhance transitional care between services, with all the agencies involved working together to share expertise, carry out joint assessments and, where appropriate, pool resources together, as well as involving the young people's families (Royal College of Nursing (RCN), 2004). Government policy paper enshrined in the National Service Framework (NSF) for long-term conditions emphasises that transitional care is not solely a matter for healthcare professionals, since long-term conditions also have important educational, social and financial implications (Department of Health (DoH), UK, 2005). Successful transition planning process needs to be young person centred and involve an integrated multidisciplinary team of people (including the General Physician) who have the appropriate training, expertise and skills and who are able to cross-refer to provide coordinated care (Department of Health (DoH), UK, 2008).Evidence has shown that effective multi-disciplinary coordination and planning of transitional care leads to reductions in medication errors, decreased Emergency Department and hospital admissions, decreased readmissions, increased outpatient follow-up and medication compliance in adolescents with complex medical care needs (McGaw et al., 2007). On the other hand, a poor transition out of children's services with lack of continuity and follow-up may potentially lead to disengagement with health services and may have serious outcomes for young people, as well as incurring additional health service costs (Watson, 2000).\nTransitional care for ADHD children: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines (UK) highlighted recommendations on planning and organising effective transitional care for adolescents and adults with ADHD (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), 2008). Neither simple transfer to adult doctors nor allowing adolescents to \"drop out\" of medical care is now acceptable quality care for young people with chronic illness (Viner, 1999).Several studies have shown that adolescents with ADHD require a higher rate of services than those with other mental health disorders, and there are suggestions that substantial rate of under-treatment of ADHD still occurs in adolescents (Merikangas et al., 2011). It would be ideal for clinicians to be able to identify early indicators of poor outcomes so that appropriate resources can be allocated for support. The rate of mental health service (MHS) utilisation by adolescents and adults with ADHD is related to the degree of ADHD symptoms, disruptive behaviour disorders, anxiety and/or depression, functioning, treatment receptivity, and ADHD stigma (Bussing et al., 2010). Other factors that increase the risk of use of Adult MHS include first diagnosed with hyperkinetic disorder in late childhood and adolescence, female gender and co-morbidity with affective disorders, schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders, as well as family history of ADHD and psychosocial adversity (Biederman, 2005; Blasco-Fontecilla et al., 2012). In a follow-up study of the landmark Multisite Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA), early symptom trajectory, especially the presence of combined-type ADHD, was found to predict adolescent outcomes independent of type or intensity of treatment, leading to significant impairment in the adolescents, regardless of sustained symptomatic improvements with initial treatment during childhood (Molina et al., 2009).\nProblem of compliance and attrition from treatment in adolescents with ADHD: Because ADHD can affect the ability of patients to follow through with treatment regimens, effective management in childhood could influence the rate of compliance to treatment in adolescence (Surman, 2011). ADHD patients often face challenges of managing self-regulatory impulses, which may affect their compliance with treatment. In a study of ADHD co-morbidity among patients with chronic medical illness, there was a high rate of treatment non-adherence in patients having ADHD (Georgiopoulos and Hua, 2011). A recent survey in the UK found that treatment for ADHD was prematurely stopped in some adolescents and young adults, out of step with the numbers who still require treatment as young adults. The fall in the rate of prescribing ADHD medications was most noticeable between the ages of 16 and 17 years (Wong et al., 2009).Patients and methods\nResults: From a total of 30803 school children (four to 16 years) in the district, the estimated prevalence of ADHD was 1.64 per cent. Age at diagnosis varied between three years and 12 years with a median of seven years.From a total of 504 patients on the specialist ADHD database, with a M:F ratio of 4:1, 104 adolescents were eligible for transitional to adult services over the study period. Of them 19 (18 per cent) were referred to CAMHS (five of them were already discharged by CAMHS). Only 16 of them (15 per cent) were referred to the adult ADHD services (three of them were already discharged by the adult services). Only one adolescent still remained under the paediatric services (see Figure 2). In total, 68 adolescents (65 per cent) were discharged from the paediatric services before their sixteenth birthdate, often due to voluntary discontinuation of medications and self-discharge due to non-attendance at follow-up clinics (two of them moved out of the area).\nDiscussion: This study demonstrated that only 12.5 per cent of our adolescent population who were eligible for transition to adult ADHD services were currently receiving follow-up services. Among those that were successfully transferred to the adult services, 19 per cent of them were already discharged within two years. A further 13 per cent were under the CAMHS. There was a high rate of self-discharge by the adolescents before the age of transition (65 per cent).A review of the literature suggests that the most optimistic proportion of children who will become free of significant symptoms of ADHD by adolescence is only 30 per cent. More than 70 per cent of those diagnosed with ADHD as children continue to fulfil diagnostic criteria in adolescence, and up to 65 per cent of adolescents with ADHD still present with the disorder as adults (Jadad et al., 1999). This suggests that a large number of adolescents are prematurely self-discharging before transition to adult services. These patients are likely to continue to have significant poor social functioning, oppositional symptoms and high parental stress, substance abuse or conduct disorder, legal involvement with crimes related to property, and violent arrests (Bussing et al., 2010).This study agrees with the observation of the remarkably poor rate of adherence to ADHD treatment over time (Marcus and Durkin, 2011; Georgiopoulos and Hua, 2011). Other studies and clinical experience also suggest that most adolescent patients stop or are taken off medications prematurely (Nutt et al., 2007; Wong et al., 2009).Establishing a formal transitional process early from the age of 13 years among patients with childhood ADHD may help minimise high rate of attrition. Multi-disciplinary team approach providing holistic care for patients may improve the rate of follow-up and successful transition. There must be some flexibility in the referral pathway to the adult ADHD services. This would allow adolescents that were previously lost to follow-up to be re-referred by other primary or secondary care healthcare professionals if the need arises in the future.Young people with chronic health conditions, including ADHD, benefit from a planned period of specialist transition care to facilitate the move from paediatric to adult services. This should encompass the medical, psychosocial and educational/vocational needs of adolescents and young adults (Viner, 2008). Well planned transition can improve outcomes for young people and reduce the risk of non-adherence and loss to follow-up (Department of Health (DoH), UK, 2001).One limitation of this study is its retrospective design. It however reports the clinical outcome of a large number of patients in a single primary care community paediatric centre. The results of this study needs to be compared with similar and larger studies in children and adolescents with ADHD. Further studies are needed to identify early indicators of both poor and favourable outcomes in children with ADHD so that appropriate resources can be allocated for their support. It is also important to identify those patients who are at increased risk of self-discharge or non-compliance with management despite ongoing clinically significant impairment in adulthood, so that necessary precautions or interventions including mental health sectioning can be provided to them, to avoid risk of further harm to themselves and to the society at large.\nConclusion: There is a high rate of discontinuation of medications, loss to follow-up and a remarkably low rate of successful transition to locally commissioned adult ADHD services among adolescents diagnosed with ADHD in childhood, which is in excess of the expected clinical progression of ADHD. A total of 73 per cent of eligible patients were either discharged or lost to follow-up.Adult ADHD services should be carefully planned to be able to accept referral from a wide range of healthcare professionals, including young people diagnosed with ADHD in childhood but lost to follow-up, and young people not diagnosed in childhood but have recognisable symptoms and impairment as an adult.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - ADHD is the commonest neurodevelopmental disorder of children and adolescents. ADHD is no longer conceptualized as a predominantly childhood disorder but is a chronic disorder that persists into adolescence and adulthood. The paper aims to analyse the transitional care of adolescents diagnosed with ADHD in childhood into adult specialist ADHD services in a local district. The paper also seeks to review current practice and to design a multi-disciplinary transitional care pathway to adult services for adolescents with complex health needs based on best practice and available clinical guidelines.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Adolescents diagnosed with ADHD from childhood who were eligible for transition to adult ADHD services and who reached the age of 16 years over a period of two years consecutively (July 2009 to June 2011) were studied by a retrospective analysis of their clinical records. The current transitional care pathway was reviewed and revised.\nFindings: - Out of 504 patients on the specialist ADHD database, 104 adolescents were eligible for transition to adult services. A total of 19 patients (18 per cent) were referred to CAMHS. A total of 68 adolescents (65 per cent) were discharged from the paediatric services following voluntary discontinuation of medications and non-attendance at follow-up clinics. Only 16 patients (15 per cent) were successfully referred to the specialist adult ADHD services (three of them already discharged). A multi-disciplinary transitional care pathway to adult services for young people with complex health needs and learning difficulties and information for the carers and young people have been designed and adopted in the local city borough, agreed by all the stakeholders.\nPractical implications: - A total of 73 per cent of eligible patients were either discharged or lost to follow-up. There must be some flexibility in the referral pathway to the adult ADHD services to allow some of the adolescents who were previously lost to follow-up to be re-referred by other primary or secondary care healthcare professionals if the need arises in the future.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that there is a high rate of discontinuation of medications, loss to follow-up and a remarkably low rate of successful transition to locally commissioned adult ADHD services among adolescents diagnosed with ADHD in childhood.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The acceptance of blogs: using a customer experiential value perspective	[ "Customers", "Internet", "Communication" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The rapid growth of the internet as a medium for communication, possesses simultaneity and is highly interactive, users can receive and broadcast information, and enjoy more autonomy and control than those associated with traditional media, which render the internet as a real world environment (Coffey and Woolworth, 2004; Joel et al., 2005).Blogs are a relatively recent development. Via interconnection, blogs provide an opportunity for two-way online communication, and are a popular tool for generating interpersonal communication models and creating new models of social interaction on the internet (Du and Wagner, 2006). As information sources have markedly increased, the question arises as to how users are attracted to read blogs or search for information using the blog platform. Linking to other blogs is a voluntary behaviour; on the other hand, the focus of blogs is communication and exchange of information to strengthen feelings and emotions of readers, thereby establishing trends for interpersonal communication (Thielst, 2007). The interactivity of blog platform allows users to express their opinions and create dialogues, and to interact with others by contacting, making friends, communicating and information exchange (Schau and Gilly, 2003). Therefore, we will propose the interactivity of blogs is as the main antecedent of our model. Woodruff and Gardial (1996) argued that blogs deliver distinctive customer values to target audiences, moreover, Hirschman and Holbrook (1982) pointed out attention has been focused on analysing customer values from a rational viewpoint by observing the decision-making process of them. What has long been ignored is inner pleasure, such as aesthetic experiences and emotional reactions gained by customers as they consume. In addition to the exchange of information, readers also deepen emotional reliance on each other, just as in the real world. Due to similar backgrounds, viewpoints, values, personalities and emotional reactions, readers and bloggers tend to express their concerns by sharing feelings regarding similar topics. Hence, perceived similarity is the other main antecedent of our model.This study was based on the interactivity and perceived similarity between blog readers and the others, and incorporates the concepts from customer experiential value, such as emotional reactions, feelings, fun, senses, and aesthetic experiences. Our study analysed the emotional experiences that internet users gain while reading blogs, that is, assesses the attitude of blog readers through their subjective experiences within the communication process.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Interactivity\n3. Research method: 3.1 Conceptual model\n4. Data analysis: Data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) to understand the cause and effect of the entire model and to determine the goodness of fit of the conceptual model.4.1 Sampling\n5. Discussions and implications: Although blogs are highly successful and has a significant influence on society, they have not received extensive attention from academic research. This study reviewed relevant studies and conduct further research on this field. Previous research on customer experiential value primarily focused on analysing consumer shopping behaviours and mostly on the utilitarian value of products (Kim, 2002). The emotions and feelings of consumers were largely neglected. By analysing the interaction and communication via blogs, this study investigated how readers' emotions and feelings affect how they perceive blogs. Analytical results show that users obtained experiential value while reading blogs, which in turn positively impacted their sustained perception and attitudes.5.1 Interactivity and customer experiential value\n6. Limitations and future research: This study was conducted based on the concept of customer experiential value developed by Mathwick et al. (2001), which used EVS to examine, in the contexts of mail-order and on-line shopping, not blogs, the impact of perceived values on customer satisfaction, preferences, and purchase intentions. The analytical results offer a rigorous evaluation of the reliability and construct validity for the EVS construct in the research context. Due to usage attitudes towards blogs have seldom been addressed, this study investigated the behaviours of blog readers in general, demonstrating that no matter on-line shopping, virtual community, or blogs, users were aware of services available. These users decided whether to visit a certain blog or website owing to their own decisions and free will; that is, the decision was a voluntary decision. Therefore, adopting the model proposed by Mathwick for other contexts should have yielded similar perceptions in the context of blogs.Due to the massive number and vague definition of the target group, this study was unable to conduct a survey using random sampling. To avoid systematic bias, this study surveyed very diverse sampling sources and a large number of respondents. This study surveyed two sources. One group comprised students attending a national college of business, and the other group accessed www.youthwant.com.tw. By targeting internet users, this study could therefore reach additional subjects and thereby increase sample representativeness and reduce sampling error. According to the study by Monsuwe et al. (2004), individual speciality or personality plays a crucial role in perception and satisfaction. For example, expertise with and knowledge of the internet determine how comfortable users are when using the internet (Ratchford et al., 2001). Another factor is self-efficacy, or user belief in performing a certain action on the internet. The need for interaction and the importance of virtual interaction for users (Dabholkar and Bagozzi, 2002) are also important factors; these factors can be incorporated into future research to examine their impact on blog readers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study is based on the interactivity and perceived similarity between blog readers and the others, and incorporates the concepts from customer experiential value. This paper aims to examine emotional experiences that internet users gain while reading blogs, that is, assesses the attitude of blog readers through their subjective experiences within the communication process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An empirical survey is used to test the hypotheses. The sample is 349 users who browse blogs frequently. Data are analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) to understand the cause and effect of the entire model and to determine the goodness of fit of the conceptual model.\nFindings: - Empirical results demonstrate that: interpersonal interaction enhances browsers, aesthetic experiences as well as playfulness; machine interaction generates high aesthetics value which comprises visual and entertainment effects, service excellence, and CROI; perceived similarity by readers positively influences the four components of customer experiential value; and a positive correlation exists between user attitudes toward reading blogs and their experiential value in aesthetics, playfulness, and service excellence.\nPractical implications: - The findings will help bloggers understand the factors key to success and allocate the appropriate resources to operate a blog and achieve success.\nOriginality/value: - The value of this study is to establish the importance of customer experiential value theory. Previous research on customer experiential value primarily focuses on analysing consumer shopping behaviours and mostly on the utilitarian value of products. This research focuses on inner pleasure gained through reading blogs, such as aesthetic experiences and emotional reactions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cross-generational knowledge flows in edge organizations	[ "Tacit knowledge", "Knowledge transfer", "Knowledge management", "Organizational culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Edge organizations: criteria for success: Edge organizations allow individuals \"at the edge\" to be empowered. As such, edge organizations can take many forms. Certainly, terrorist cells are a type of edge organization where cells operate fairly autonomously, yet have an encompassing vision in mind. Other edge-like organizations may include jazz ensembles, soccer teams, open source development teams, small businesses, and university research teams. For our research, we are our Spring 2007 semester MS-ITS (Master of Science-Information and Telecommunications Systems for Business) capstone teams at Johns Hopkins University to form our edge-like organizations for testing our cross-generational knowledge flow model. Most of these 4-5 member teams are multi-generational, and they have a defined mission to complete for the capstone clients (AARP, GAO, USDA, St Joseph Medical Center, HHS-Office on Disability, CBH Health, and Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Region). Some of these teams are working together on a collaborative project. Each team has a project leader. The teams are granted tremendous autonomy in getting the work done, and must employ a variety of business and IT specialties during the course of each project.Nine of the key factors that comprise edge organizations include: robustness, interoperability, competence, agility, shared awareness, decentralized knowledge and command, situational leadership, pull and smart, and network-centric focus. In forming our cross-generational knowledge flow model on edge organizations, we will use nine key factors for edge organizations, tacit knowledge transfer, and cross-generational biases as the upper bound based on Miller's 7+-2 model. Table I highlights some of the key research on edge organizations. Nine primary factors for an edge organization are highlighted below:1. Interoperability. This is the ability to work together. Interoperability is synonymous to edge-type organizations which gives way to quality information sharing, collaboration, and self-synchronization. All this in turn dramatically increases mission effectiveness. The degree to which forces are interoperable directly affects their ability to conduct network-centric operations.2. Agility. Edge organizations are agile. Agility allows available information to be combined in new ways, whereby a variety of perspectives are brought to bear, and the assets can be employed differently to meet the needs of a variety of situations. For this same reason, one of the factors of generation biases (i.e. the ability to deal with ambiguity and change) can be accommodated well by edge organizations. Edge organizations are particularly well suited to deal with uncertainty and unfamiliarity because they make more of the relevant knowledge, experience, and expertise available.3. Shared awareness. Shared awareness includes shared understanding of command intent. Power to edge is inherently a joint and coalition concept. Again the cross-generational biases-trust, reciprocity, motivation, values, and societal, organizational culture - will have a great impact on the success of the edge organization. Furthermore, the size of each group in an edge organization will significantly influence the sharing of knowledge among them too. Google (Vise and Malseed, 2005), for example, has found the ideal project team size to be between three and five persons, dependent upon the scope of the effort.4. Decentralized knowledge and command. An edge organization encourages appropriate interactions between and among any and all members. An edge organization is characterized by peer-to-peer relationships eliminating the middle management, and barriers to information sharing and collaboration are eliminated as well. Its approach to command and control (C2) breaks the traditional C2 mold by uncoupling C2. Control is not a function of command but an emergent property that is a function of the initial conditions, the environment, and the adversaries.5. Situational leadership. In edge organizations, leadership always emerges by sheer competence and not by position. In edge organizations, no single person will be in charge all the time. The person with greatest access to information will emerge as a leader in the edge organization. Once the mission is accomplished for which the said leader emerged, this position will disintegrate soon after and the individual will act as any other member of the team. An edge organization facilitates the act of synchronizing the intelligence, behavior, and capacity of all agents towards a common goal rather than having one traditional leader for all purposes.6. Pull and smart. The move from smart push (that exists in an hierarchical form of organizations) towards \"post and smart pull\" (a characteristic of an edge organization) would solve the intractable problems by identifying important information and getting it to the right persons. If the practice of post and smart pull can be implemented in an organization successfully, both the suppliers of the information and the consumers will become smarter.7. Competence. An edge organization survives by competency rather than by any factor, be it gender, age, or years of experience. If the competency level is high, the efficiency of an organization is less affected when people hoard information. The degree of competency of the agents in an edge organization will have a direct effect on how knowledge sharing achieves its purpose.8. Robustness. Robustness is the hallmark of an edge organization. The ability of the agents to switch between tasks, especially when a particular task is completed, makes the edge organization quite robust.9. Network-centric focus. Modern military environments are far too complex to be understood by any one individual, organization, or even military service. Modern information technology permits the rapid and effective sharing of information. Network-centric warfare/operations is a cornerstone of the ongoing transformation effort at the department of defense. An edge organization provides the necessary environment to nurture this effort. Edge organizations utilize information technology via a robust network to allow increased information sharing, collaboration, and shared situational awareness, which theoretically allows greater self-synchronization, speed of command, and mission effectiveness.\n2 Tacit knowledge transfer: In most organizations, the difficult and most important type of knowledge to capture is the \"tacit\" knowledge that people have in their heads. According to Testa (2004), tacit knowledge is one of the most important drivers of innovation and change. For edge organizations to survive, the capture, transfer, and sharing of tacit knowledge, based on experiential learning, are key processes that must be embedded within the organization. Table II shows the leading studies that relate to tacit knowledge transfer. In studying this table, there is a convergence on nine factors that affect tacit knowledge transfer. These are: trust, organizational culture, societal cultural issues, early involvement, due diligence, reciprocity, values, motivation to share knowledge, and intrinsic worth of the knowledge to be conveyed. These tacit knowledge transfer characteristics will be integrated within our model.\n3 Cross-generational biases: In order to study cross-generational knowledge flows in edge organizations, we must examine the effects of cross-generational biases or inter-generational differences on tacit knowledge transfer. Table III shows the leading work in this area. In the USA, we can look at the various generations: war generation, baby boomers, Generation Xers, Generation Yers (also called Millennials or Nexters). The demographics in the USA show that many organizations, especially the government, will face human capital challenges as the baby boomers are nearing retirement age. Each generation also exhibits its share of biases. In an edge organization like a terrorist cell, the generational gaps may be compressed due to less variability in age among its members. Thus, this compounds the difficulty in analyzing cross-generational biases. However, in studying the literature, the following are the nine major factors affecting cross-generational biases: loyalty, making a contribution, work values, communications styles, gender, culture, ability to deal with ambiguity and change, autonomy and independence, and family values.\n4 Developing a model for cross-generational tacit knowledge flows in edge organizations: Taking the factors into account as explained in Sections 1-3, a model can be built for cross-generational tacit knowledge flows in edge organizations. Figure 1 shows the model to be used for our study. In the context of edge organizations, the cross-generational biases affect the tacit knowledge transfer between individuals or groups, which then affects the knowledge flow taking place. The MS-ITS capstone teams are used as our sample for testing the following hypotheses:H1. Cross-generational biases inhibit tacit knowledge transfer and decrease knowledge flows in edge organizations.H2. Strong work and family values will facilitate tacit knowledge transfer and increase knowledge flows in edge organizations.H3. Decreased communications will inhibit tacit knowledge transfer and decrease knowledge flows in edge organizations.H4. Females act in a more collaborative manner than males, thereby increasing trust and tacit knowledge transfer resulting in an increase of knowledge flows in edge organizations.H5. A lack of interpersonal trust will result in reduced tacit knowledge transfer and decreased knowledge flows in edge organizations.H6. Informal networks will result in an increase in tacit knowledge transfer and increased knowledge flows in edge organizations.H7. Organizational and societal cultural barriers will decrease tacit knowledge transfer and decrease knowledge flows in edge organizations.H8. Motivation to share knowledge through being recognized and/or rewarded will increase tacit knowledge transfer and increase knowledge flows in edge organizations.H9. Reciprocity and the worthiness of the knowledge conveyed will stimulate tacit knowledge transfer and increase knowledge flows in edge organizations.H10. Increased loyalty will increase tacit knowledge transfer and increase knowledge flows in edge organizations.To test the hypotheses, the survey in Figure 2 has been completed as a pre- and post-test by the MS-ITS capstone teams to get perceptual measures. For more objective measures, each capstone team completed a weekly status report with questions responding to their knowledge flows and knowledge-based actions that have taken place during the week (Appendices 1 and 2). If knowledge enables action, then knowledge flows could be measured via the knowledge-based actions that they enable. Weekly observations, follow-up interviews, and statistical analysis of the surveys were applied to shed light on cross-generational knowledge flows in these edge-like organizations.4.1 Knowledge flow analysis\n5 Summary: This research on cross-generational knowledge flows in edge organizations should lead to new insights as to how tacit knowledge is transferred in edge organizations across generations. This research should contribute to the C2 research program in the emerging area of edge organizations.From our research, we found that cross-generational biases affect the knowledge flow in edge-like organizations. However, the following suggestions can address the limitations of this research:* use a larger sample size;* involve more members from the war generation and baby boomers in future studies;* conduct this study in the defense environment versus civil; and* study the cross-cultural impact and \"experience\" factor (versus \"age\") in knowledge flows in edge organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to investigate how cross-generational biases affect tacit knowledge transfer and resulting knowledge flows in edge organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper applied hypothesis testing kh2s, as well as ethnographic analysis.\nFindings: - Cross-generational biases affect tacit knowledge transfer and resulting knowledge flows in edge-like organizations. Other factors, such as trust, loyalty, work ethics, and family values, also affect knowledge flows.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Sample size should be increased for future work, as well as applying the results in a defense/military environment.\nPractical implications: - The results of the paper should influence succession planning, human capital strategy, and knowledge management efforts in edge-like organizations.\nOriginality/value: - The work is quite novel as it integrates inter-generational differences, tacit knowledge transfer, and knowledge flows in edge organizations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Training transforms culture and boosts growth at B Braun Medical: Sales team moves to a more "consultative" approach	[ "Training", "Organizational culture", "Medical products" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The UK subsidiary of a leading health-care company has increased sales in one of its divisions by more than a third after launching new products and introducing a new training program for its sales force.\nSales personnel operate as partners: B Braun wanted to develop a \"consultative\" approach, where sales personnel would operate as partners to customers, adding value to their business and offering appropriate solutions. The representatives would need a solid foundation in core selling skills to work towards increased sales and profits.Sales and product managers, meanwhile, needed to be able to support and coach staff to achieve \"unconscious competence\" in applying the new selling skills. Before the program the managers were primarily involved in marketing, business forecasting and managing their own sales territory. They did support the sales staff, but in a troubleshooting role rather than a development role.\"Following their training, we needed our managers to understand how to affect positively the performance of the team through coaching,\" said Tracy Croft.\nThe training program: A training program was developed based around classroom sessions that would ensure key skills transfer. The training included input from trainers, role-playing and group presentations, as well as ongoing coaching from sales managers to help sales staff to put their learning into practice.The 14-strong sales team and their managers were trained in three separate groups, and the 11-day program was delivered over an eight-month period. Review sessions were held to reinforce learning and re-energize delegates during the program. Moreover, the training was synchronized with the division's existing performance-review process.An external organization was chosen as training partner, to provide the expertise, content and materials to ensure a professional approach to the skills-transfer process.\"During the program we realized that the generic material the external organization used to illustrate learning points did not always match the challenges faced by our representatives,\" Tracy Croft explained. \"To build more relevant material for future courses, the delegates created their own examples. We now have a library of B Braun-specific case studies and examples that are used during courses.\"Similarly, the external training organization introduced account-planning tools that had to be adjusted to meet the demands of our sector. During the review workshops managers rewrote the tools better to reflect our requirements.\"Training for the sales representatives was staged in B Braun's own training facilities. This made it easier for product managers to take part in role-plays, enabling the OPM division to build \"real-world\" scenarios for practical exercises. The management program was delivered off-site, to help managers to absorb the learning away from the daily demands of running a sales department.\nParticipants' stories: The training helped one sales representative to develop Liverpool Women's Hospital into a key account. \"Before the training I treated it as I did all accounts,\" she said. \"Afterwards I used the account-development tool and identified the hospital as a key account. I used consultative selling to identify areas of need. I looked at the whole department as a business, offered extra value in all calls and instigated a product trial. Our catheters are now the catheter of choice in the hospital and the community. Our income from this account increased by 100 percent. My success in this account is as a direct result of the change in approach following training.\"Another representative, a former nurse, increased her sales by 600 percent during a year. She commented: \"I used the skills learned to identify nurse drivers/motivators. I spent time developing relationships and, using the key-account-management approach, agreed to sacrifice some potential prescription business in return for product business. The training enabled me to develop a more creative approach. Despite the loss of potential prescriptions, the extra patients we have on product have outweighed this initial sacrifice.\"A third representative, who has since been promoted to sales manager, explained: \"Before the training I was stuck in a rut, using a scatter-gun approach, trying to see everybody and feeling guilty if I couldn't - even in low-value accounts. The training helped me to identify potential in accounts and adopt a key-account-management strategy. More importantly, it helped me to identify the potential in myself and the skills and experience I could use to help the team.\"I was promoted to senior sales person and undertook further training to coach and mentor team members. I have seen sales results increase on my territory and also dramatic sales increases across OPM. I have increased in confidence and ability and have recently been promoted to sales manager. I am definitely out of the rut now!\"A fourth representative commented: \"I identified the Freeman Hospital account as key using the scoring framework. By identifying the hospital's drivers and buying motivations, I supplied added value to the account through everything from training to patient meetings. I have increased the prescription business here by more than 100 percent.\"\nResults of the training: As a result of the training, the decline in stoma sales has been far outweighed by growth in other areas, and OPM's share of B Braun's UK business has risen by almost 20 percent.\"We have increased business by 36 percent over three years,\" said Tracy Croft. \"Representatives are now motivated and focused and the success of the OPM team has secured investment and ensured the long-term viability of the business.\"\"Individuals are motivated and focused. Nurse advisers have become powerful sales people, without feeling that they have compromised their customer relationships or their medical ethics. The organization has seen the remarkable power of targeted training and the message has spread!\"The division's performance framework has been developed as a result of an analysis of the required traits of an OPM representative. This list of competencies is now used as a benchmarking and development tool for personal growth.OPM has created new, senior roles that have a responsibility for coaching support for the sales team. The coaches ensure that the sales team follows the new sales processes and methods.Brian Grimes, OPM commercial and marketing manager, asserted: \"The training initiative compelled our sales management to get alongside the sales people in account development and work as a team on the road to achieving objectives for specific accounts. It was a shift for us all and ultimately we have had what we can measure most - increased sales and a long-term change in our culture.\"The training won a Yorkshire and the Humber award in the latest National Training Awards.\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Shows that the UK subsidiary of health-care company B Braun Medical Ltd has increased sales in one of its divisions by more than a third after launching new products and introducing a new training program for its sales force.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Describes the development of a \"consultative\" approach, where sales personnel act as partners to the customers, adding value to their business and offering appropriate solutions.\nFindings: - Reveals that the division has increased business by 36 percent over three years. Representatives are more motivated and focused and the success of the team has secured investment and ensured the long-term viability of the business.\nPractical implications: - Highlights the role of training in changing organizational culture.\nOriginality/value: - Provides a useful example of the turn-around that can be achieved by companies operating in declining markets where margins are being squeezed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Labour regulation in small firms: In search of a more comprehensive employment/industrial relations paradigm	[ "Industrial relations", "Small firms", "Trade unions", "Labour regulation", "Paradigm reconfiguration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: the traditional employment/industrial relations paradigm and its crisis: For some time now an important strand of study has been emphasizing the limitations of the traditional paradigm of IR/ER, according to which work and employment in the advanced economies are supposed to be regulated by the interactions among three groups of IR actors: labour - employees and their trade unions; capital - employers and their associations; and the state. To be effective, such regulation can rely largely upon three exchange mechanisms - individual exchange, collective bargaining, political exchange (Pizzorno, 1977) - but with the predominance of collective, trade-union-controlled logics of action based on worker representation (Frege and Kelly, 2003; Tapia et al., 2015).\nLimitations of the traditional IR/ER paradigm: Even during the Glorious 30, and under the predominance of powerful, highly inclusive and representative industrial trade unions, in the years of its greatest success, the traditional model exhibited shortcomings and limitations. They included the inability to regulate, explicitly and satisfactorily, certain groups of the labour force, or certain kinds of firms, or certain areas of the economy.\nFor a new research programme: As anticipated, these concerns are at the root of the widespread debate and analysis on trade union and collective action revitalization (Frege and Kelly, 2003) or union renewal (Yates and Fairbrother, 2003), a broad framework within which different approaches have been so far considered and compared, including the organizing vs the partnership model (Badigannavar and Kelly, 2011), social movement vs social justice unionism (Engeman, 2015; Ross, 2007; Scipes, 2014), community or coalition unionism (Tattersall, 2010), to mention just some of the most influential alternatives.\nThe problem of the regulation of work and employment in small firms: For both quantitative considerations and policy reasons, it cannot be said that the problem of regulation of work and employment in small firms is a marginal one. If, according to international statistics, we define as small a firm with up to 49 employees, in the UK nearly half of the workforce in the private sector belonged to a small firm in 2013, whereas employees in small firms accounted for two-thirds of the total in countries such as Italy or Spain. However, it has been observed (Edwards, 2012) that, in the absence of many of the mechanisms through which employment rights are generally expected to be operationalized, employment relations in small firms have always been difficult to assess. By definition, they do not fit easily within the traditional model of labour regulation as a field of interactions among collective actors (and the state) and the proactive initiative of labour organizations based on worker representation.\nFor an interpretation: On closer inspection, in light of these considerations, the topic of the regulation of work and employment in small firms can be empirically approached from two viewpoints: whether work is secure, its terms and conditions sufficiently and satisfactorily regulated; and whether labour is represented by collective organizations (trade unions).\nSome empirical evidence: Elements useful to give substance to the discourse can be drawn from some of the results of a recent establishment survey on employment relations in small firms in four Italian regions[1], four out of five of which were micro firms with fewer than 15 employees. As expected, these were predominantly family-run enterprises (two-thirds of cases). In only one-half, however, was personnel managed by the owners; the rest relied mainly on external experts and centres. This reflects the complexity of the Italian regulatory framework, which fosters associationism and the business services sector. In all, 60 per cent of the firms were associated with an employers' organization. As regards labour, in 60 per cent of cases there was no trace of a trade-union presence. In one-third, however, there were trade-union members; in 16 per cent there were in-house workers' representatives. Overall, the data confirm the scant organization of trade unions among small enterprises; but together they reveal signs of a presence that is perhaps slightly more than could reasonably be expected, and that also applies to micro enterprises.\nMore general theoretical implications: Probably the most interesting results from the point of view of our more general discussion concern the two models characterized by high levels of workplace welfare, both when the latter develops in the presence of workforce representation and when it does not. The former case is the one that most closely corresponds to a good model of traditional industrial relations. However, what differs is the opportunity and capacity of firms - of these small firms - to obtain resources to deploy in their relations with employees and their representatives also from outside, according to dynamics that somehow make it possible to expand the range of the negotiations and alter the calculation of reciprocal advantages. Three different types of resources can be distinguished: those that derive from collective bargaining external to the firm; those that derive from negotiation with and/or intervention by local governments and institutions; and those that derive from participation in mutualist initiatives.\nThemes for reflection: a provisional conclusion: The foregoing discussion of a particular aspect usually considered rather marginal in the literature on labour relations has raised a number of issues on which it is necessary to reflect in order more thoroughly to understand both current trends and future prospects. Some of these issues are now enumerated. They concern levels and forms of regulation, as well as the actors involved in them. Despite the focus on management decisions within the firm, as regard the levels of regulation it is evidently necessary to distinguish between what happens in workplaces and regulation originating from outside the firm: from the central, national levels of labour relations, but also from the institutional space, defined territorially, surrounding the firm. As regards the forms of regulation, within workplaces they may range from managerial autocracy (without negotiation) to more or less formalized collective bargaining, passing through individual negotiation, whose effective impact on labour relations tends to be underestimated (when it is not conversely emphasized for ideological reasons) in traditional employment relations accounts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight a series of critical points in the traditional theory (and practice) of ER/IR, in search of a more comprehensive paradigm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: After an introduction based on a literature review, the paper draws on the results of recent empirical research, and particularly of a survey of employment relations in Italian small firms, in order to explore the extent to which practices conform to traditional expectations on the functioning of collectively mediated IR systems.\nFindings: Through the combination of two dimensions - the representation of labour and the degree of workplace welfare - a typology of ER models in small firms is thus delineated unveiling the diffusion of \"anomalous\" configurations, in which labour organization and workplace welfare are disconnected from one another.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research results, which are here instrumentally used as an example of a much broader range of facts and behaviours that challenge the traditional wisdom, disclose a number of implications at theoretical level, that still need to be fully appreciated. They include the need to consider: the structure and composition of resources available to ER/IR actors both within and beyond workplaces; and the conditions for good labour relations also in absence of representation.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the debate on the possibilities of positive and socially acceptable ways of setting the rules of work in the globalized scenario by focussing not on new, fashionable issues, but on an old problem often neglected by classic studies on industrial relations in the golden age.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Marketing communications via celebrity endorsement: an integrative review	[ "Categorization", "Integrative literature review", "Celebrity endorsement", "VOSviewer" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The use of celebrities in advertisements is considered a highly effective strategy to attract consumer interest and loyalty to the brand (Roy, 2016). The celebrity endorsements had their origins in the mid-nineteenth century (Erdogan, 1999), but began to be heavily used with the emergence of television in the late 1960s (Kaikati, 1987), being considered an omnipresent resource of modern marketing (McCracken, 1989). With the creation of the internet and the rise of social media (Escalas and Bettman, 2015), celebrities now endorse brands in the most different online environments (Djafarova and Trofimenko, 2018) and using the most modern ways to carry out their endorsements, being more present than ever (Hackley et al., 2018). In addition, companies are increasingly aligning their operations management for production and service with communications marketing strategies, using the technique of celebrity endorsement for the launch of new products and services, among other useful situations, especially in a crisis situation (Erdogan, 1999; Simra et al., 2013).\nLiterature review and definitions: Over the last 20 years, three reviews of celebrity endorsement literature have been conducted, each with a different approach and that are here combined. The first one was made by Erdogan (1999) and focused on the persuasive effects of celebrity endorsements, especially on the models of credibility and attractiveness. The second, made by Amos et al. (2008), proposed a review of the qualitative studies related to the use of celebrity endorsement and their efficiency. Finally, the last analysis was carried out by the authors Bergkvist and Zhou (2016), who aimed to identify the different areas of research and analyze the possible conflicting results. Although celebrity endorsement has been a subject much addressed in recent years, most of the articles reviewed do not clearly propose a definition of what celebrity endorsement would really be. The authors who write some definition most often refer to the one proposed by McCracken (1989), who states that an endorsing celebrity is an individual who has high public recognition and who uses this recognition for the benefit of a consumer good, appearing with this in an advertisement. The author explains in details the celebrity endorsement based on MTM in three stages: celebrities receive the most diverse meanings, or characteristics that are strongly related to them throughout their lives, their career, their performances in films and television, their country of origin, or their personality and even throughout the campaigns endorsed by them (e.g. from the author: Actress Audrey transmits \"elegance\" better than the most elegant model of all, but that is less known); the celebrity, who has the attributes (meanings) that the marketers desire, transmits through advertising these meanings for the product; and when buying the product, the consumer also acquires, to a certain extent, those meanings (McCracken, 1989). However, this definition of the author still leaves some gaps, because the celebrity endorsement also happens in several other means of publicity and not only in television advertisements (Bergkvist and Zhou, 2016). In addition, according to the authors, this definition of McCracken (1989) also limits the endorsement only to consumer goods, and there is currently endorsement of several other forms, such as business-to-business products and services, consumer services, non-commercial entities (Veer et al., 2010) and also non-profit organizations (de los Salmones et al., 2013). In this way, based on the McCracken's (1989) definition and in the considerations above, Bergkvist and Zhou (2016) proposed a new definition of celebrity endorsement as an agreement between an individual who has public recognition (e.g. celebrity) and an entity (e.g. brand) to use the celebrity for the purpose of promoting the entity.\nMethodology: The research was divided into two stages: the first consisted on the systematic review of literature and the second consisted on complementary information consisting of the generation and analysis of the maps elaborated by the VOSviewer software based on the data. The VOSviewer was chosen with the aim of generating a broader and graphic view of the results (van Eck and Waltman, 2010). The VOSviewer has the skills to build connections between the most diverse bibliometric results, placing them on the maps that facilitate the visualization of the contents analyzed (Laengle et al., 2018).\nResults: The rounded average of publications on this topic in Scopus, between 1997 and 2017, was eight publications per year. The year with the most number of publications was 2015, with a total of 32 (Figure 1).\nDiscussion: The increase in the numbers of publications along the years can be explained, since celebrity endorsement was considered by both marketers and researchers to be one of the most effective marketing tools worldwide (Spry et al., 2011) reflecting the growing academic concern with the subject. Another possible explanation for this growth may be the great interest in the real financial return that this tool generates for the companies, because it mobilizes a billionaire advertising market (White et al., 2009). This attracts the attention and curiosity for the researchers for a better understanding of the effects and efficiency of this marketing tool (Escalas and Bettman, 2015).\nFinal remarks: The present research can be seen in general as a facilitator and a guide for future research works and managers who need a compilation of information about celebrity endorsement. Our main theoretical contribution is the proposal of an original taxonomy categorization of the subthemes related to celebrity endorsement of the last 20 years, based on the results generated by the analyses of the software VOSviewer software. It is possible to visualize on the software clusters of research works and the keywords that were used frequently in the last years, which made the classification theoretically based and quite current. The paper also brings summaries of the main articles published on the subject, facilitating the way for future researchers. Still for the academics of the area, basically all the results found in the maps of VOSviewer and in the tables are relevant to obtain more information on the subject, including the main journals that publish on the subject, the main authors and main articles already cited, besides the main themes already discussed. Another relevant point offered by the categorization table is referring to possible themes involving the celebrity endorsement that still have a lot of space to be discussed, due to the low amount of research conducted on them.\nLimitations and future research: One possible limitation of the research is that it was performed only in the Scopus database, and it may be suggested as future research works that other databases are included as well.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to perform an integrative analysis, mapping the main areas of the celebrity endorsement literature of the last 20 years, offering a taxonomy of subject subareas and a research agenda for the topic.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research was divided into two stages: the first was a systematic review of literature, and the second consisted on complementary information based on the generation and analysis of the maps elaborated by the VOSviewer software based on the data collected. The searches for the data occurred between the months of January and March of 2017.\nFindings: The paper provides a decentralization framework in terms of authors regarding the celebrity endorsement. The country with the largest number of research works in the area is the USA; also, the paper reveals the most cited document, also the main journals about the theme, the main keywords, the main authors and their discussions. Thereafter, the paper presents tables containing the main author's and respective theme inside celebrity endorsement.\nResearch limitations/implications: One possible limitation of the research is that it was performed only in the Scopus database, and it may be suggested as future searches that other databases are included as well.\nPractical implications: The results of this paper can serve as a facilitating guide for researchers and for managers that want to know more about the topic.\nOriginality/value: A categorization table was proposed containing the subthemes of celebrity endorsement that were discussed in the last 20 years and a list of their respective authors, including the following subjects: cultural comparison, congruence, adverse effects, efficacy and intention to purchase, marketing destinations, social media, models and reviews, multiple endorsements, social policy, values of brand/economic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Racial-ethnic diversity in Canada: competitive edge or corporate encumbrance? Part One	[ "Performance", "Diversity", "Immigration", "Multiculturalism", "Cultural diversity", "Racial-ethnic diversity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There are many factors that contribute to an organization's success. One area of interest for organizational researchers and corporate managers alike that has been gaining popularity is the effect of racial-ethnic diversity on performance. Can multiculturalism in the workplace, if managed well, provide a competitive edge and be an asset to organizations? Or, as some have feared, will it prevent cooperation and be a corporate encumbrance? This literature review will explore the nebulous relationship between multiculturalism and performance, and attempt to reconcile some of the varying points of views, in order to suggest practical implications for managers in the workplace.\nDiversity: an explanation: The first challenge encountered while completing this research was the very definition of diversity. The Encyclopedia Britannica's Merriam-Webster dictionary defines diversity as \"the condition of having or being composed of differing elements: variety; especially: the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization\"[1]. The more complex definition of diversity includes differences in age, gender, ethnic background, religious affiliation, length of work tenure, sexual orientation, and mental and physical ability. In our paper, special emphasis is put in separating cultural or ethnic diversity (also referred to as racial diversity) from other types: \"Cultural diversity is taken to mean the representation, in one social system, of people with different group affiliations of cultural significance\" (Cox, 1994). By this, Cox also refers to the physical characteristics or other observable attributes that seem to group members of the same ethnicity together. In many research papers and articles found in this review, cultural and ethnic diversity are used interchangeably. For the purpose of simplicity, this paper employs the same approach.\nPerformance: an explanation: Performance is simply the measure of the results achieved by an organization. Or, as the Business Dictionary defines it: \"the accomplishment of a given task measured against pre-set known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost and speed\"[2]. There are many different definitions of organizational performance and there have also been many methods designed to measure it.\nAssessment of cultural values: It is clear that ethnic diversity may affect performance in some way, but how it affects it is possibly related to what we perceive each culture brings to the corporate table, so to speak. Clearly, cultures have different ways of perceiving the world and situations, based on their historic associations and cultural values, which then affects their behavior within certain contexts.\nDiversity in the workplace: Workforce diversity is the mix of people in organizations in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, age, and demographic characteristics such as education and socio-economic status.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this two-part paper is to explore the relationship between multiculturalism and performance, and attempt to reconcile some of the varying points of views, in order to suggest practical implications for managers in the workplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A review of the literature regarding both diversity and performance was performed. Next, the focus was on the relationship specifically between racial-ethnic diversity and performance. To show the relevance of the paper, materials dedicated to Canadian population and immigration was included.\nFindings: It is still somewhat inconclusive whether diversity can have a definite positive or negative impact on organizational performance. The literature reviewed shows that authors have differing opinions. One element appears to be clear: diversity of itself does not necessarily bring benefit. For a diverse group to perform well, it must be well managed. Diversity remains an underused tool that managers have yet to learn to utilize.\nResearch limitations/implications: At the time of writing, there was not a significant amount of published material on the direct relationship between multiculturalism and performance. This paper attempts to gather and make sense of the various views formalized thus far and puts forth a new question of how to turn multiculturalism in the workplace into an asset for organizations.\nPractical implications: Managers still do not agree on how to take full advantage of diversity. As the Canadian workforce becomes more and more diverse, so increases the importance of addressing and answering this question in practical terms. Especially facing the increased globalization of corporations, taking advantage of the untapped potential that resides in a culturally diverse work team should be at the top of every international company's goals.\nSocial implications: The importance of studying the relationship between multiculturalism and performance is crucial because in developed countries like Canada organizations are becoming increasingly culturally diverse. Much has been written about the effect of group diversity on conflict and creativity, on the performance of heterogeneous groups vs homogeneous groups, on organizational commitment among ethnic minorities, and on self-fulfilling performance expectations.\nOriginality/value: This paper is a useful source for managers interested in understanding the real value of diversity in the workplace, as well as for researchers studying the relationship between corporate diversity and corporate performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Kaldor-Verdoorn's law and increasing returns to scale: A comparison across developed countries	[ "Increasing returns", "Kaldor-Verdoorn law", "Manufacturing sector", "Productivity growth" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The Verdoorn's law states that in the long run productivity generally grows proportionally to the square root of output. In Kaldor's (1966) view, the reasons are to be found:\n2 The Kaldor-Verdoorn's law: The Verdoorn's law describes a simple long-run relation between productivity and output growth, whose coefficients were empirically estimated in 1949 by the Dutch economist. The relation takes the following form: Equation 1 where p. is the labor productivity growth, y. the output growth (value added), n is the Verdoorn coefficient and a is the exogenous productivity growth rate. This functional form reflects the more traditional specification of the Verdoorn's law, where the variables are expressed in growth rates (dynamic version)[7]. As pointed out by McCombie and Roberts (2007), the static version, to be correctly estimated, would need the use of data belonging to the same \"Functional Economic Area\" (FEA), which is the area where economic spatial processes take place[8]. When this condition is not satisfied, the dynamic version has to be preferred. In the earlier empirical estimations by Verdoorn (1949), the average elasticity for the manufacturing sector of some countries was about 0.45, with extreme values of 0.41 (the UK) and 0.57 (the USA)[9].\n3 Econometric analysis and empirical results: In this section, we present the empirical strategy we adopt to estimate the Verdoorn law and show main results. First, to distinguish the long-term influence of the demand on the productivity growth rate from that deriving from the short-term business cycle, which instead reflects the behavior of the so-called Okun law, we estimate a dynamic equation, whose optimal lag structure is chosen by means of Akaike's information criterion (AIC) and Schwarz's Bayesian information criterion (SBIC). Such a procedure allows to calculate the long-run elasticity of the productivity growth with respect to output growth (n), keeping constant the other variables. As for all countries the selected optimal lag structure of the dynamic equation is (1, 1), we estimate the following two equations: Equation 2\n4 Concluding remarks: Several studies in literature attempted to detect the long-run determinants of labor productivity growth for the developed countries. As known, these studies can be grouped in two main schools. The first concentrates on supply factors. The second, following the KVL, claims that it exists a stable long-run relation between labor productivity growth and output growth. For the first group, the 1990s world crisis in the productivity growth rates can be explained as a consequence of the human capital scarcity, the existence of distortions in the goods and services markets, the excessive labor costs and the low level of investments. For the second group, it is mainly driven by the demand growth crisis.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the validity of the Kaldor-Verdoorn's law in explaining the long-run determinants of the labor productivity growth for the manufacturing sector of some developed economies (Western European Countries, Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors consider the period 1973-2006 using data provided by the European Commission - Economics and Financial Affairs. The method is instrumental variable. The robustness of estimates is checked by means of the Chow and the CUSUM and CUSUMQ tests. The authors consider the traditional specification of the dynamic Verdoorn law and the one which also includes investment to output ratio (I/Y), as a proxy of the capital growth rate, and the average labor cost growth, as a proxy of supply factors.\nFindings: The findings suggest that the law is valid for the manufacturing as countries show increasing returns to scale. Capital growth and labor cost growth do not appear important in explaining productivity growth. The estimated Verdoorn coefficients are found to be substantially stable throughout the period.\nOriginality/value: The authors consider the most recent years, which has been characterized by a constant decline in the average GDP growth rates; a productivity growth decline; the long-term reduction in the manufacturing share of total employment. The authors examine the importance of alternative hypotheses such as those related to the existence of supply constraints. The authors check the stability of the KVL throughout the period under the consideration and across countries. The authors evaluate whether, in the case of the developed countries, economies of scale are significant.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supportive campuses and first-generations-student learning outcomes	[ "Social capital", "Engagement", "First-generation", "NSSE", "Penalized regression", "Supportive campus environment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The number of high school graduates enrolling in college in the USA has increased steadily over the past 25 years. In 1990, college student enrollment numbers totaled approximately 12 million; by 2013 that number had increased 46 per cent to 17.5 million. This increase in enrollment is expected to continue over the course of the next decade, with projections surpassing 20 million active college students (National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 2017).\nStatement of the problem: First-generation students are projected to continue to be a significant portion of the USA undergraduate population (NCES, 2018) for the foreseeable future. First-generation students vary from non-first-generation in several ways, including demonstrating lower levels of engagement with their campus environments (Choy, 2001; Pike and Kuh, 2005; Soria and Stebleton, 2012). This variance is present even though student engagement in academic and social activities has proven to contribute to a wide variety of positive educational outcomes for all students, with these effects being more dramatic for first-generation student populations (Filkins and Doyle, 2002; Kuh, 2001). A lack of social capital has been identified as a significant factor effecting first-generation students' outcomes, including engagement levels (Pascarella et al., 2004; Collier and Morgan, 2007; Stephens, et al., 2012). It is reasonable to hypothesize that supportive campus environments could potentially reduce the negative effects associated with first-generation students' lack of social capital and, as a result, increase engagement leading to positive outcomes for first-generation students. Engagement studies have included results that speak to the importance of support campus environments and engagement for undergraduate students at large (Filkins and Doyle, 2002; Pike and Kuh, 2005), unfortunately, no studies are present that specifically identify and analyze the varying patterns of environmental support measures, a critical component to increasing engagement, as they relate to learning outcomes for first-generation students when compared to non-first-generation students.\nLiterature review: First-generation students\nMethods and procedures: Population and sample\nAnalysis and results: To address the research question penalized regression techniques, specifically least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), were used as the primary method of analysis. In the presence of a large number covariates or predictors, as was the case with this study, univariate linear regression followed by multivariable linear regression with thresholding p-values is the traditional approach for large portions of educational research. However, this approach can make replication and interpretation of the results more difficult because of the tendency of least squares regression to have high variance or over-fit the data. Penalized regression approaches work by injecting bias into the regression equation through the use of penalty term that forces beta coefficients contributing least to error reduction toward zero. The result is a sparse model that is more generalizable to new data and better able to identify variables most contributing to the understanding of the dependent variable in the presence of high-dimensional datasets (Hastie et al., 2015). This approach utilizes a lambda regulating term that balances between the tradition regression function and the penalty applied to the model coefficients. The lambda term is optimized through gradient decent and trained through ten-fold cross validation. The coefficients selected were verified through bootstrap validation that resampled the data 1,000 times to generate individual models to provide further evidence of the importance of the selected coefficients in explaining the dependent variable. The results of this resampling, seen in Table IV will indicate which variables were included on average in the models generated.\nDiscussion and conclusion: The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between supportive campus measures and student learning outcomes for first-generation students and non-first generation students to determine if variances are present. The analysis demonstrated that first- and non-first-generation students have differing statistical relationships with student learning outcomes. Primarily, first-generation students' learning outcomes had very limited connections to support for dealing with other non-academic responsibilities (envnacad) and the quality of relationships with administrative and office personnel (envadm) as compared to non-first-generation that had highly significant and consistent relationships throughout the factor levels for both of these variables.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between supportive campus measures and student learning outcomes for first-generation students and non-first generation students to determine if variances are present. A lack of social capital of first generation when compare to non-first-generation students is theorized to be a contributing factor driving differences between the two groups.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Research survey design using penalized regression methods to quantify differences between groups. The analysis used 10 years of student engagement data.\nFindings: Final analysis showed that first-generation student outcomes had little to no significant connection with the administrative focused aspects of the campus environment as compared to non-first-generation that represented highly significant relationships. This results supports the theory that first-generation students may simply be unaware of how to leverage these resources do to social capital disadvantages.\nPractical Implications: The result suggests that universities should reconsider first-generation programs to ensure that they have the capability to address first-generation students' lack of social capital. The primary method by which social capital is generated is through networking or peer groups expansion. Consequently, first-generation students might benefit greatly from student mentors that are not first-generation students to help aid in the transition to college as compared to participating in programs that group and isolate first-generation students together.\nOriginality/value: Very few studies have attempted to use social capital as a theoretical framework to explain differences in how first-generation and non-first-generation student learning outcomes relate to campus engagement variables. Moreover, no studies have used both penalized regression and bootstrap validation in addressing this issue, making the study original in design and analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does corporate governance beget firm performance in Fortune Global 500 companies?	[ "Financial performance", "Corporate governance", "Firm performance", "Board independence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In this study, we have investigated the relationship of corporate governance and firm performance using a large population set of Fortune Global 500 companies. Relationship of corporate governance and firm performance has always been measured using one or more variable of corporate governance mechanisms. Different researchers have used different variables to explain corporate governance arrangements of the firms. Bhagat and Bolton (2013) used board independence as a key mechanism to evaluate the relationship of corporate governance and firm performance.Gompers et al. (2003) developed a detailed and complex governance index that contained 24 provisions to measure governance mechanism of the firms. In their comprehensive study, Bhagat and Bolton (2009) have used five measures of corporate governance to evaluate its relationship with firm performance in US companies, and these include board independence, director ownership, CEO Chair Duality, G-Index (from Gompers et al., 2003), E-Index (from Bebchuk et al., 2009) and busy boards. Faccio et al. (2001), Maher and Anderson (2000), Maug (1998), Maury and Pajuste (2005) studied the variable of large shareholders and its impact on corporate performance. The academicians have agreement over the importance of board meetings' frequency as a proxy for corporate governance mechanisms (Jensen, 1993; Conger, 1998; Vafeas, 1999; Karamanou and Vafeas, 2005; Ntim and Osei, 2013). CEO compensation has also been discussed as corporate governance variable by Brick et al. (2006), Core et al. (1999), Jensen and Meckling (1976), Kumar (2010), Murphy (1999) and Valenti (2013). Another widely studied variable of corporate governance is CEO duality (Bresser et al., 2006; Core et al., 1999; Finkelstein and D'Aveni, 1994; Jensen, 1993; Kim and Buchanan, 2008; Kim et al., 2009; Vo, 2010).\n2. Related literature and hypothesis development: Corporate form of firms is based on separation of ownership and control, where the ownership is with the shareholders of the firm, while the control is maintained by the firm management (Kumar, 2010). Standing with a long history, corporations have been defined in various contexts by various authors. Some have defined corporations in legal terms; others have described it in economic and social perspective. Clarke (2007) argues that etymology of word \"corporation\" is originated from Latin word corpus which means body, thus indicating body of a people. An initial extensive definition of corporation was presented by Lord Justice Lindley in his seminal text on company law in 1902. He defined a company in a comprehensive way that is still popular in legal studies:\n3. Data and empirical methodology: 3.1 Sample selection\n4. Results: Thus, to test the hypotheses, we have run panel data OLS regression in STATA. Outcomes of our regression are detailed in the following Table IV.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: The hypotheses were tested using random effects model. As the primary measure of firm performance was Tobin's Q and the results were most significant using this variable as dependent variable, we concluded the results of our study on the basis of this variable coefficients and regressors. Four of five alternate hypotheses were accepted, concluding that board size, frequency of board meetings and CEO compensation are negatively related with firm performance whereas board independence is positively related with firm performance. One alternate hypothesis was rejected that stated that large shareholders have negative relationship with the firm performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to determine the impact of corporate governance practices on the financial outcomes of Fortune Global 500 Companies, thus covering impact of geographical differences (USA and non-USA) as well.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is a quantitative research based on a positivist paradigm using deductive reasoning and secondary data collection. Data collection has been done from secondary sources (annual reports, Edgar submissions and financial statistics from renowned financial databases such as yahoo.finance, Bloomberg, Ycharts statistics and Morningstar. Data were collected for 8 years (2005-2012).\nFindings: The study found a strong positive relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. Smaller board sizes are found to generate better firm performance in Fortune Global 500 Companies. Frequency of board meetings have also been found to have inverse relationship with firm performance. The study supports board independence to improve transparency in board decision-making process. CEO compensation has been found to have inverse relationship with firm performance. The robustness of our results has been measured with the usage of three dependent variables, and we have found same results with varying significance level.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to selection of globally broad sample set qualitative aspects of corporate governance could not be covered. Nevertheless, there is a need to go beyond the quantitative techniques (secondary data) of measuring corporate governance mechanisms.\nPractical implications: The population set is unique combination of big players and global diversification. Hence, the corporate governance practices of these firms as understood from the results of this study can be bench-marked for emerging corporates of varying global context.\nOriginality/value: The research is original and unique as it significant and globally diverse population of Fortune Global 500 Companies over a period of 8 years for 11 variables of interest. Results are helpful in bench marking for the rest of market players.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Process based archival descriptions - organizational and process challenges	[ "Process management", "Information management", "Public sector", "Sweden", "Public sector organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The perspective of business process management (BPM) broadens. The implementation and classification of archival records according to business processes is a new and emerging field with organizational and process challenges.\nTheoretical framework: Archives and records management\nMethodology: The findings presented in this paper are part of a wide benchmark study on information management in governmental agencies, municipalities and regions/country councils in Sweden. The study has been conducted by the research centre Centre for Digital Information Management (CEDIF, 2011) located at the Mid Sweden University. The main purpose has been to collect information and make an overall analysis, and to propose topics of interest for further investigations.\nResults: As a background, the questionnaire showed that 19 percent of the participating organizations (mainly government agencies and municipalities) had identified their business processes completely, and 28 percent had done it partly. Furthermore, 26 percent answered that they were about to do it.\nConclusions: We see a whole new array of challenges, relationships and roles in process management emerging from a maybe unexpected direction - from the archive and the archivists. Taking it to the extreme, in some cases the archivists become process developers in the business organizations, which may be very different to their traditional roles. They model processes and lead workshops or maybe they do everything alone. Maybe they end up with descriptions satisfying the archive but leaving the business, or maybe they do it brilliantly.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper presents the implementation and classification of archival records according to business processes, a new field with many organizational and archival challenges. The purpose of the paper is to map the current situation, challenges, problems and topics for further investigation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a wide benchmark study on information management in governmental agencies, municipalities and regions/country councils in Sweden.\nFindings: There are many general similarities with process projects regarding management initiatives and roles. There is also a need for alignment between the business organizations, the business processes, and the archival descriptions. Unresolved issues occur in modeling, e.g. from whose perspective should the processes be described and on which level is the mapping useful. The business organizations require detail in order to analyze flaws improvements, while archivists ask for a static \"frozen\" description at higher levels. This may contradict the purpose of the archive - to provide useful information for the unknown future user.\nOriginality/value: Process based archival descriptions is a new field that broadens business process management. Projects are starting in several countries with challenges in the interaction between the business organizations and the archivists.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Statutory adjudication in Western Australia: adjudicators' views	[ "Australia", "Laws", "Disputes", "Western Australia Construction Contracts Act 2004", "Statutory adjudication legislation", "Construction contracts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Construction industries in western economies are characterized by projects involving lots of firms and extensive subcontracting. Contractors usually need to provide weeks, if not months, of up-front financing because of the payment system. By using subcontractors for most of the works, the main contractor can effectively shift most financial risks to the subcontractors. However, this system can be abused by the main contractor who wrongfully delay and undervalue payments due to subcontractors.\nLiterature review: Evolutions of statutory adjudication\nResearch design: Method\nResults and discussion: Groups of interviewees\nConclusion and discussion: This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the statutory adjudication in Western Australia against its stated aims. The topic is a very important one for the construction industry as adjudication is a quick, cheap, informal method of dispute resolution which helps contraction companies maintain their cash flow and keep their business viable. Apart from the importance of the topic, another motivation comes from the lack of appropriate evaluations of the West Coast Model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the statutory adjudication legislation in Western Australia against its stated aims.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The four objectives of the Western Australia Construction Contracts Act 2004 were identified. For each objective a number of criteria has been devised. In total, 22 registered adjudicators were interviewed, representing 28 per cent of all adjudicators in Western Australia. The interviewees were divided into two groups, one with legal background (being both lawyer and adjudicator), the other without (construction professionals). They were asked to evaluate the criteria against a five-point Likert scale in addition to open ended comments. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to examine whether there were significant differences between the two groups. Annual reports of Building Commissioner, database of the WA State Administrative Tribunal and some law cases were also referred to.\nFindings: It is found that the West Coast Model is fair to both parties, the adjudications are generally completed speedily according to the prescribed timeframe, and they have been conducted in various levels of formalities. Adjudications are very cost effective for larger claims. However, they are not so for smaller claims. The increasing uptake rate shows that adjudication is getting more popular, while the low appeal rate shows that decisions on dismissal are fair.\nResearch limitations/implications: The adjudicators' opinions are only part of the overall picture and that more research on this topic needs to be done.\nOriginality/value: There have been two distinct legislative models in Australia, commonly known as East Coast Model and West Coast Model. A number of authors have called for a national dual model incorporating both current models. However, it might be too early to discuss the national dual model when there have been very few evaluations on the West Coast Model and among the few there have been problems in the research design. This paper seeks to bridge the gap by evaluating the West Coast Model against its stated aims.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competitive intelligence failures: An information behaviour lens to key intelligence and information needs	[ "Failure", "Information behaviour", "Information needs", "Competitive intelligence", "Competitive intelligence professionals", "Key intelligence needs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Competitive intelligence refers to the collection, transmission, analysis and dissemination of publicly available, ethically and legally obtained relevant information as a means of producing actionable knowledge (Bergeron and Hiller, 2002, p. 355). In addition, Kahaner (1997, p. 16) states that \"competitive intelligence is a total process, not just a function in the company which is made up of four steps: planning and direction, collection of data, analysis and dissemination\". Data or information are required on the environment in which an organisation or company originates, e.g., threats, opportunities and trends, and are interpreted in terms of organisational strategy to produce intelligence or intelligence products (Sewdass, 2012; Du Toit, 2015). Intelligence is used in strategic decision-making. Despite all the efforts, competitive intelligence professionals make to create successful intelligence products, failure is often reported (Erdelez and Ware, 2001; Frion and Yzquierdo-Hombrecher, 2009; Tsitoura and Stephens, 2012; Garcia-Alsina et al., 2013; Du Toit, 2015). Competitive intelligence failures result when analytical judgments of data or intelligence turn out to be wrong (Jensen, 2012). When properly formulated, key intelligence needs can provide the competitive intelligence process with the ability to adapt to an organisation's information needs (Muller, 2002; Sewdass, 2012). Du Toit (2007) writes extensively on understanding key intelligence needs. From her work, as well as from other authors, it seems as if information needs, prominent in information behaviour, are closely related to key intelligence needs. More about this is discussed in a later section.\n2. Background: The pace of competition throughout the marketplace is rapid (Shin, 2001, p. 165; Rothaermel, 2008, p. 203; Stefanikova et al., 2015, p. 210). According to Kahaner (1997, p. 28), \"Turning information into intelligence has become the most critical management tool of cutting-edge business leaders\". Dutka (2004, p. 19) further states that competitive intelligence \"will ultimately separate successful companies from those that fail\". The purpose of competitive intelligence is to focus on the organisational issues that are of critical importance (Muller, 2002, p. 2). According to Muller (2002, p. 2), these organisational issues trigger key intelligence needs[1]. Key intelligence needs relates to key areas of intelligence, such as information on the environment that must be collected to produce intelligence on threats and opportunities that can affect an organisation (Du Toit, 2007, p. 1). According to Herring (1999, p. 6), key intelligence needs are strategic and tactical requirements that are needed to achieve organisational objectives. Nasri (2011) states that the start of the competitive intelligence process involves the identification of organisational issues in terms of key intelligence needs. Similarly, Bose (2008) affirms that the first step in the competitive intelligence process involves identifying the key intelligence needs of the decision makers. The problems associated with the recognition of key intelligence needs are not explicitly noted in the literature; however, the studies by Tej Adidam et al. (2009), Strauss and Du Toit (2010) and Tsitoura and Stephens (2012) have implied certain individual factors which include individuals' skills, inadequate capabilities and poor knowledge of the organisation having an impact on the recognition of key intelligence needs. However, the participants of the study by Maungwa (2017), on which this paper is based, sturdily emphasised the problems associated with the recognition of key intelligence needs. From the searched literature, only a few competitive intelligence authors mention both key intelligence needs and information needs (Bernhardt, 1994; Herring, 1999). However, none of them fully succeed in an explicit portrayal of how key intelligence needs become what is known in the information behaviour literature as \"information needs\".\n3. Research methodology: The study followed a post-positivist research paradigm as defined by Gratton and Jones (2004, p. 27): it makes use of different methodological approaches, including qualitative as well as quantitative ones. The study used a qualitative research approach guiding data collection and analysis, with a quantitative approach of limited scope. It used a limited survey to collecting data through a self-administered semi-structured profile questionnaire and a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were collected between August 2016 and February 2017. The profile questionnaire included questions on highest educational qualification, description of professional position, formal training in information seeking and retrieval. The interview schedule covered problems experienced during the identification and expression of competitive intelligence needs, keeping the user informed, information activities causing competitive intelligence failures. Bearing in mind the convenience of the participants, interviews were conducted by means of either Skype, face-to-face meeting, telephone call interview or face-time call. Interviews took from 11 to 45 minutes. All recordings were transcribed before they were analysed.\n4. Findings: When a more substantial number of participants stated an issue, the number of participants are noted, however when only one or two participants mentioned it, the number is not noted. Participants emphasised that \"any phase in the competitive intelligence cycle can cause failures, but the activities mostly causing failure is the identification of key intelligence needs\" (Cynthia). Kate explained that the reporting and disseminating of intelligence will depend on the perception of the key intelligence needs: \"The findings of the data analysis should align with the initial information needs\", while Bob noted the implications of collecting the wrong data (based on understanding of key intelligence and information needs): \"The information activities causing competitive intelligence failures is collecting the wrong data, and does not matter how good the analysis or dissemination skills are, if you have the wrong data, you are already behind the 'eighth ball[2]'\".\n5. Discussion: \"Key intelligence needs\" is the term that stems from competitive intelligence and \"information needs\" is the term used in the literature of library science, information science and information behaviour. Although the competitive intelligence literature occasionally reports on both terms, the link between the two has not been successfully clarified. We acknowledge that although stemming from different literatures, key intelligence needs are broader, relating to needs for intelligence (data, information) regarding threats, opportunities and trends as needed by an organisation (i.e. the needs of an organisation). To actually collect intelligence, key intelligence needs must be translated as more specific and detailed information needs that can guide information seeking and search strategies.\n6. Recommendations: A few recommendations are offered for further exploration:\n7. Conclusion: To ensure strategically focused and relevant intelligence and information collection and gathering, it is required that competitive intelligence professionals appropriately determine and articulate end-users' information needs, stemming from key intelligence needs. Such needs must be contextualised against organisational operations and strategies. Various problems are experienced during intelligence interviews and specifically the determination, sharing and articulation of intelligence and information needs. These can be contributed to processes and factors discussed in this paper. Ultimately, competitive intelligence failures follow. Various processes and factors impact the awareness of key intelligence and information needs first on the end-user's side, and then on the side of the proxy information seeker (the competitive intelligence professional). Although participants noted these, they require a deeper exposure and understanding of how these can be addressed from the knowledge and theories of information behaviour and reference work (library science and information science). These fields offer rich experiences, insight and guidelines that need to be explored by competitive intelligence professionals. In addition to the problematic processes and influencing factors reported in this papers, two prominent issues stood out for further investigation: proxy information seeking as a process, and the development of rigorous methods (embedded in the theories of information behaviour and library reference work) to identify and articulate key intelligence and information needs in the context of competitive intelligence. Considering the findings reported in this paper, there is considerable scope for further research from the intersection of competitive intelligence and information behaviour, and to embark on more research using an information behaviour lens.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Competitive intelligence failures have devastating effects in marketplaces. They are attributed to various factors but seldom explicitly to information behaviour. This paper addresses causes of competitive intelligence failures from an information behaviour lens focussing on problems with key intelligence and information needs. The exploratory study was conducted in 2016/2017. Managers (end-users) identify key intelligence needs on which information is needed, and often other staff members seek the information (proxy information seeking). The purpose of this paper is to analyse problems related to key intelligence and information needs, and make recommendations to address the problems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is placed in a post-positivism research paradigm, using qualitative and limited quantitative research approaches. In total, 15 participants (competitive intelligence professionals and educators/trainers originating from South Africa and the USA) contributed rich data through in-depth individual interviews.\nFindings: Problems associated with articulation of information needs (key intelligence needs is the competitive intelligence term - with a broader scope) include inadequate communication between the person in need of information and the proxy information searcher; awareness and recognition of information needs; difficulty in articulation, incomplete and partial sharing of details of needs.\nResearch limitations/implications: Participant recruitment was difficult, representing mostly from South Africa. The findings from this exploratory study can, however, direct further studies with a very understudied group.\nPractical implications: However, revealed valuable findings that can guide research.\nOriginality/value: Little has been published on competitive intelligence from an information behaviour perspective. Frameworks guiding the study (a combination of Leckie et al.'s 1996 and Wilson's, 1981 models and a competitive intelligence life cycle), however, revealed valuable findings that can guide research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teaching managers: learning, research and workplace practice	[ "Management development", "Workplace learning", "Performance management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The age-old debate between liberal and instrumental education has resonances in deliberations about vocational training and education in the field of management. A range of approaches to management learning has emerged, ranging from practitioner models, which mirror the teaching of medicine to the use of critical theory and humanist concepts, which reflect a disciplinary rather than vocational emphasis. Notions of the currency and transience of knowledge have implications for both curriculum and research. As the lifespan of knowledge shortens, so the value of life skills is raised. The particular concern and focus for this research were the strategies and methods used for teaching management. Specifically the authors were interested in the extent to which teaching and learning are informed by current research and the impact, which this has on workplace practice.\nContext: Until the 1960s, management education in the UK was disparate. Management was taught at a number of universities usually as an adjunct to mainstream programmes of study. Management or industrial administration formed part of the syllabus of some professional bodies. In sharp contrast, in the USA, management had long been a distinctive discipline within graduate business schools.This pattern was to change significantly during the 1960s, with the establishment of British business schools and the Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA), which has grown rapidly since. By 1997 it was offered in over 100 schools with 8,000 graduates annually (Golzen, 1997, p. 1). Some ten years later there were 136 HEIs offering MBAs (www.find-mba.com) with over 30,000 students enrolled (ABS (Association of Business Schools), 2009). The MBA approach, aimed at increasing a manager's ability to take good strategic decisions was not paralleled in other management teaching during the 1980s and 1990s. Professional bodies, while recognising new techniques, were unresponsive to new philosophies of management, current research and different methods of teaching and learning, such as case study analysis.During the 1980s the continuing debate about how much management education contributed to the development of effective managers resulted in two reports (Constable and McCormick, 1987; Hardy, 1987) and the establishment of the Management Charter Initiative (MCI), an employer-led body which developed competence-based standards for managers from supervisory to senior level. National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ's) derived from these standards have, since 1990, transformed the traditional approach to teaching management on professional programmes. Knowledge and understanding and competence-based programmes, were influenced by the standards (MCI, 1991, 1997; MSC, 2004, 2008). As these standards are employer-led it might be expected that they will reflect current employer concerns such as performance management.Professional programmes of study have traditionally been located within Further Education rather than universities. The creation of universities, from polytechnics, and higher education developments, in colleges of further education, have tended to blur into distinction. Nonetheless, a divide was still apparent at the end of the twentieth century. Of the 155 registered institute of management centres in 1997, only 12 were universities. Of these, five were in the \"old\" universities (Institute of Management, 1997). By 2009 the picture had changed somewhat. The Chartered Management Institute had 401 registered centres of which 38 were universities. Of these seven were \"old\" universities. (CMI, 2009) As a comparison, in 2009 the CIPD had 311 centres including 68 HEIs, of which 17 were \"old\" universities (CIPD, 2009).This sectoral divide has implications for the type of programmes being delivered and research, programme design and delivery. In the five years following the incorporation of further education colleges in 1993, funding was cut sharply and staff reduced by 15,000 (Midgley, 1998; Mackney, 1998). This resulted in a reduction in guided learning hours for programmes, more part-time staff and increased class contact time for remaining full-time members of staff. Opportunities for research or other scholarly activity consequently diminished. In the eight years from 1998/1999 to 2006/2007 income for the sector increased by 66 per cent and was PS6.7 billion in 2009/2010 (AOC, 2008) However, according to the Association of Colleges the sector has more students than the university sector yet receives only 20 per cent of DIUS funding compared with HEFCE's 31 per cent (AOC, 2008). The introduction of foundation degrees has tended to increase the amount of HE in FE, but developments in the universities such as the DBA, a taught doctorate, have tended to re-establish the sectoral divide. Research tends to be concentrated in a small number of older universities while professional programmes and vocational qualifications are located mainly in the college and private provider sectors.Given the differences in provenance of the management programmes available in the UK and the differences in learners and cultures at the institutions providing the programmes, it is useful to ask whether there is a clear relationship between research carried out into management, what is taught on the programmes and what actually occurs in the workplaces of those participating.\nResearch questions: The connections between research, teaching and learning in professional management education programmes were explored against this background. Guiding questions included:1. Is there a divide between research findings, teaching and learning and workplace practices?2. To what extent are subject discipline research, up to date subject knowledge and understanding of workplace practice critical to the effective facilitation of learning?In order to enable managers to manage more effectively does there need to be a shift in the role of management educator from functional expert to facilitator, tutor and coach?\nMethodology: A mixed methods approach was used with documentary analysis, interviews and observation as its primary methodological tools. At the start of the research three topic areas were chosen as examples to reflect both techniques and orientations: appraisal, motivation and the management of change. These areas were still evident as major components of research, teaching and workplace practice during the final phase of the research. Literature reviews were carried out to establish current research findings and theoretical developments. In 1998 The Management Standards (MCI, 1997) and three Awarding Bodies syllabuses (National Examining Board for Supervision and Management, 1997; IPD, 1997; Institute of Management, 1997b) were examined at four levels to identify learning outcomes. In 2009 the Management Standards (MSC, 2004, 2008) and the syllabuses of three awarding bodies (ILM, 2009; CIPD, 2009; CMI, 2009) were examined at four levels to identify learning outcomes. Professional programmes from ten institutions were scrutinised for insights into content and learning strategies. Assignments, reading lists, examinations and examiners' and verifiers' reports were studied. Over a period of ten years (1998-2009) Management students at two institutions were questioned informally about existing workplace practices. In 1998 and 2009 over 100 managers were asked formally to reflect on organisational practice in the three areas. Content analysis was employed independently by both researchers and compared to identify recurrent themes. All participants were in full time employment as either middle or senior managers. The sample was a convenience sample representing both private and public sectors. All participants were aware of and consented to the research. Both authors carried out observations as tutors, lecturers, programme managers, internal and external verifiers, external examiners, QAA reviewers, approval panel chairs and researchers. They also discussed issues with practitioners. Multiple data sources and member checks were employed to verify the trustworthiness of the data.Findings\nConclusions: Our findings show a clear divide between research, teaching and learning and workplace practices.The nature of the divide is dependent on the area of study. In areas, which focus on the development and application of management techniques there is an alignment between research and workplace practices, not reflected in teaching and learning. In more theoretical areas like motivation there is a congruency between research and teaching, which does not permeate through to workplace practices. During the past decade of this study there have been some significant economic upheavals; a recession accompanied by associated cutbacks. Management practice has espoused the notion of teamwork and employee engagement. Many organisations rely on discretionary effort by employees yet there appears to be little recognition of its importance in management paradigms. Respondents still perceived management as paying lip service to appraisal and appear to be equally cynical regarding the performance management agenda including motivation in theory and use. The Managerial discourse was seen to be a prevailing and often negative change imperative in most organisations, set against the backdrop of economic downturn. However, some change in reflective practice had occurred including a growing use of action centred research and the emergence of professional doctorates including the DBA.In routine areas neither teaching nor workplace practices tend to be influenced by research findings. In the workplace in particular this continues rather that abates.This has profound implications for the role of the educator on professional management programmes. Subject discipline research is often too narrow to be of significant value to existing programmes. Up to date subject knowledge and an understanding of workplace practice is clearly essential if the divide is to be narrowed. Facilitation of learning, however, requires much more than functional expertise. As management knowledge expands, it becomes increasingly difficult for educators to have both the breadth and depth of knowledge, which their students may need. Consequently, the role must shift to one where the tutor develops skills of facilitation, coaching and mentoring to enable individual students or groups of students to learn. At some centres, student-centred learning, action learning sets, open learning facilities and information technology provide a framework in which this may be achieved. Assignments, which combine theoretical orientations with best practice approaches and workplace applications, can provide learning opportunities, which fulfil individual needs within the framework of awarding body requirements.This approach can also provide learning and development for tutors, who, through student assignment work, maintain up to date knowledge of both research and workplace practice. The change of role suggests an emphasis on different skills. Although knowledge of the terrain remains essential, subject knowledge and the pedagogic skills associated with representational teaching diminish in importance. Knowledge of research methods, consultancy skills and information sources becomes of critical importance and skills of facilitating individual and group learning of adults become paramount. It is here where perhaps the focus of research might be and where scholarly activity might best be concentratedImprovements in developing the ability of managers to learn and manage their own learning has much greater leverage than any amount of taught knowledge. Individuals have differing learning needs, which cannot be satisfied through a focus on teaching.These arguments have wider implications for institutions, awarding bodies and funding councils. There is a need to recognise that traditional teaching is not the only way in which learning takes place and to encourage innovative ways of facilitating the learning of adults through appropriate funding. In the area of management education there is also a need for government to move away from channelling the majority of funding to competence and practitioner programmes and to achieve a balance with more academic content (see Table I).Finally, there has to be recognition that many organisation cultures modify the impact of teaching and learning. There are strong indications to suggest that many organisations favour the pragmatic, short-term approach and have a tendency to marginalise the academic approach. Research is all too often discounted in favour of quick fix solutions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to explore the way in which professional management programmes are informed by research and workplace practice. The focus is on the areas of motivation, appraisal and the management of change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is a longitudinal study using a mixed methods approach. Middle and senior managers engaged on professional management programmes were surveyed on workplace practice. Literature reviewed included syllabus guidelines from professional bodies and selected core textbooks.\nFindings: - A content analysis revealed that there was a lack of congruence between what is taught to managers and workplace practice. However, research was found to have an impact on teaching and indirectly it influenced individual beliefs if not organisational practice.\nPractical implications: - Conclusions indicate that professional management programmes are still failing to bridge the gap between syllabus content current research and workplace practice. There is little to show that the needs of business are being satisfied compared with successful models embedded in other professions.\nOriginality/value: - The paper suggests the value of adopting an integrated model that combines professional and academic teaching of management. It further supports the relevance of research to workplace practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of information regarding sustainability issues and behavioral self-management instruction on college students' energy conservation	[ "Sustainability", "Education", "Education for sustainability", "Self-management", "Behavior change", "Pro-environmental behavior change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Humans are contributing to the exponential rise in CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases, resulting in global climate change (Alavosius and Mattaini, 2011; IPCC, 2007; Thompson and Kuo, 2010). Unfortunately, many Americans do not consider that global climate change is a result of anthropogenic inputs. In October 2009, the Pew Research Center found that only 57 per cent of Americans believe global warming to be real, down from 71 per cent in April 2008 (Heward and Chance, 2010; Thompson and Kuo, 2010). That being the case, it is unlikely that these individuals would make environmentally sound decisions. Alternatively, from a nationwide survey of 771 participants, Semenza et al. (2011) found that 78 per cent did recognize a certain level of vulnerability to the negative impact of climate change on their lifestyle. Furthermore, the majority of these participants (77 per cent) reported to have reduced energy consumption based on their knowledge of climate change (Semenza et al., 2011, p. 5). Of those who did not report energy conservation strategies (18 per cent), respondents cited inconvenience, lack of conviction and actions not making a difference as reasons for inaction (Semenza et al., 2011).\n2. Research question: Can a pilot training program concerning sustainability issues and self-management behavior change strategies increase the pro-e behaviors of college students enrolled in an environmental science laboratory course? Based on past research, it was expected that students' pro-e behaviors would increase after training on sustainability issues and self-management strategies.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Participants\n4. Findings: Overall, instruction in sustainability and self-management behavior change strategies appears to have increased the participants' pro-environmental behaviors. Based on participants' assessment of the number of hours that their goal-specific devices/fixtures were turned off or unplugged over a two-week period, 27 of 30 participants (90 per cent) met or exceeded their baseline rate for conserving energy (Table II). Corroborating the energy use results, of the 24 participants who submitted their behavior recording and graphing chart, all increased their goal behavior after training compared to baseline, as evidenced from their recorded data. Moreover, most participants indicated that they achieved 76-100 per cent or 51-75 per cent of their goal behavior on the post-evaluation assessment (56.5 per cent and 33.3 per cent, respectively).\n5. Results and discussions: The sustainability educational information and self-management behavior change strategies seemed to increase participants' pro-environmental behaviors. Participants consumed less energy both for their goal device and other devices that were not the focus of their self-management program. Students rated the program positively. Some written comments included: the lecture helped me to take some concrete steps to decrease energy use that will likely stay with me ongoing, it pushes you to do these better behaviors, and options for behaviors with more significant impacts. Given the favorable view of the program, participants may be more likely to continue with their pro-e behavior.\n6. Conclusion: This pilot evaluation of a pro-e training program focused only on particular energy conservation behaviors. Experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of this program, possibly using a single-participant research design, to increase energy and other pro-e behaviors, such as recycling and reusing items, is necessary. Moreover, determining whether participants' pro-e behavior gains are maintained a month or year later and a component analysis to identify effective elements of this intervention package are also important. Eliminating the possibility of self-reporting error will also be necessary to determine the success of this program. Future dependent measures should entail objectively tracking participants' amount of energy use for a particular electronic device over a period (Camargo and Shavelson, 2009). Additionally, metered buildings or utility bills might be a more valuable measure of energy use depending on the participant's goals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainability information and strategies to change pro-environmental (pro-e) behavior with introductory environmental science laboratory students.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A one-group pretest posttest study was used to evaluate a two-hour workshop in which 30 participants were instructed in sustainability education and behavior change strategies. Participants implemented self-management strategies and tracked their energy use every week for two weeks following the pro-e training.\nFindings: A significant difference between participants' baseline and Week 2 energy use assessments was found. The results suggest that the pro-e training increased participants' energy conservation behavior for their targeted device. Moreover, participants decreased their energy usage for other measured electronic devices, suggesting generalization of treatment effects.\nResearch limitations/implications: A sizable savings in energy was realized across all participants and devices (approximately 300 hours). However, there was no control group in this one-group pretest posttest study and the effect of reactivity cannot be discounted.\nPractical implications: This research suggests that behavior change strategies may be effective at improving pro-e behaviors. The relative ease and low cost of delivering the instruction, and minimal effort on the part of the participant to make behavior changes, provides a solid foundation from which to disseminate sustainability education.\nOriginality/value: This paper describes a preliminary evaluation of a behavior change approach to teach students about how to change their pro-e behaviors. Limited prior research has examined self-management to alter pro-e behavior.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Facilitators and barriers to the assimilation of function-specific executives into senior management roles	[ "Careers", "Mentoring", "Career development", "Role ambiguity", "Managers", "Charities", "Newcomer adjustment", "Uncertainty reduction", "Senior management development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A neglected aspect of the study of managerial career development concerns the factors that help or hinder a manager who currently undertakes a function-specific role (e.g. marketing, HR, operations) to fit easily into a more senior general management role at the top level of an organisation. The limited literature that exists pertaining to this matter has tended to focus on the consequences of lack of organisational intervention and/or support for managerial career development (Russell, 1991; Stevens, 1996; Barnett and Bradley, 2007), on the elements of programmes needed to facilitate internal promotion to higher levels (e.g. Prince, 2005), and on socialisation processes (as discussed below) and the establishment of useful personal networks (Chandler and Kram, 2005; Saks et al., 2007). However, the identification of variables with the potential to affect the sound assimilation of a functional executive into senior general management has not been a substantive topic of career development research. In the present study these variables are posited to comprise organisational factors involving planned induction and mentoring and organisational attitudes towards a particular business function; plus personal considerations including an individual's background knowledge and experience, occupational self-identity, social status, and the person's approach to learning about a new senior management role.\nThe newcomer adjustment process: Kohler et al. (2011) observed how the process of adjusting to a fresh and unfamiliar occupational role consists of task and social transitions whereby a person gains knowledge and learns the behavioural patterns expected of the new position. Feldman (1981), and Bauer et al. (2007) suggested that the process comprises three elements, namely obtaining role clarity, acquiring feelings of self-efficacy in respect of the new role, and gaining social acceptance. This was because, according to the outcomes of these and other studies, effective newcomer adjustment requires an understanding of job tasks, priorities, etc. (role clarity), learning the tasks of the new job and gaining confidence in the role (self-efficacy), and coming to feel accepted by new peers (social acceptance). Also these factors have frequently been found to be associated with job satisfaction, performance, and organisational commitment (Saks et al., 2007).\nFactors facilitating easy adjustment: Bauer et al.'s (2007) meta-analysis of the possible antecedents of successful newcomer adjustment identified a number of variables relevant to the process (although the literature in the field has examined assimilation into jobs generally and at all levels, rather than investigating how individuals fit into top management roles following promotion). The variables in question are discussed below and relate to the possession of prior knowledge and information (cf. Saks and Ashforth, 2000; Saks et al., 2007), social factors (cf. Berger and Calabrese, 1975; Ashforth et al., 1998), and organisational policies designed to facilitate easy assimilation (see Falcione and Wilson, 1988; Bauer et al., 2007). Additionally, and as little is known about the variables that might help an individual fit into a top management role following promotion, it is instructive to enquire as to whether factors known to facilitate appointment to senior management positions also improve a person's ability to adjust to a new senior general management role. These considerations were summarised by Bennett (2009 and 2011a) and involve a person's experience of financial management, and the individual's and the organisation's perspectives on marketing, as opposed to other business functions. Relevant variables, which may be organisational or personal in nature, are discussed below.\nResearch method: A sampling frame for the investigation was created from a collection of sources. The criteria for inclusion in the sampling frame were that an individual should currently occupy a main board level position in a large charity, should have moved into a top management position within the last four years, and should have a marketing background and have been employed as a marketing executive prior to entering senior general management. Individuals moving sideways from a senior management post in one organisation to a senior post in another were not considered. A period of four years was selected on the grounds that a participant might not remember events accurately if they occurred considerably more than four years ago. Two participants matching these criteria were recruited from the Advisory Board of a university in Greater London and six more from contacts in a marketing professional body with which the authors were affiliated. All six were listed in the professional body's membership directory as occupying board level positions in large charities and, when approached, confirmed that they met the above-mentioned criteria. The web sites of the UK's largest (by income according to Charity Commission data) 200 charities were scoured for information on the identities of their top managers and likely prospects (33 in number) were contacted by letter or e-mail and were asked whether they satisfied the relevant criteria and, if so, if they would be kind enough to participate in the study. A further set of contacts was available from lists of people who had participated in previous studies of charity management completed by the authors and their associates. Individuals who, when approached, agreed to take part in the research were asked to snowball the request for participation to anyone else they thought might satisfy the above-mentioned selection criteria.\nFindings: Open-ended responses: importance of social factors\nApproaches to learning: As regards the interviewees' approaches to learning how to accommodate their new senior management roles, analysis of the interview transcripts did reveal the presence of two contrasting types of approach to coping with the demands of higher level work. One group of (13) respondents appeared to follow a \"learning-doing\" approach to succeeding in their new roles; another group (comprising 15 people) seemed to have a \"doing-learning\" orientation.\nDiscussion and conclusion: This paper has examined a previously unexplored topic in the theory and practice of newcomer adjustment, namely the circumstances in which a specialist functional executive can fit easily into a senior role at the top level of an organisation. Uncertainty reduction theory posits that factors and situations that help reduce feelings of uncertainty within a newcomer will facilitate adjustment; notably an individual's mode of information seeking and learning, social status, and organisational activities such as planned experience and mentoring. In the present study, mentoring, planned experience and social status impacted on all three components of newcomer adjustment, confirming the value of uncertainty reduction theory in the current context. The investigation additionally included variables known to facilitate a functional executive's promotion to (as opposed to assimilation into) senior management, i.e., knowledge and experience of general management and of finance, occupational identity, and attitudes among existing top managers regarding newcomer's functional specialism. The outcomes to the study match conventional criteria for quality in qualitative research (see Lincoln et al., 1985). It is clear from the results that many of the participant's experiences were similar and that their stories represented common realities within the sample, thus indicating the consistency and likely dependability of the main results. The confirmability of the outcomes is evidenced by their validation by many of the participant's chief executives, the independent cross-checking of (audio recorded) responses by several researchers and by the clear willingness of the interviewees to provide information. (There were no instances of participants demurring when asked specific questions.) Outcome credibility and transferability are suggested by the coherence of the results to the outcomes to prior research in the newcomer adjustment field and to their applicability (given the previously mentioned similarities of managerial behaviour in commercial and non-profit domains) to other contexts. Collectively the interviewees suggested that role ambiguity constituted the major barrier to easy adjustment to occupancy of top management roles (cf. Saks and Ashforth, 2000; Kohler et al., 2011). However, formal planned induction (especially mentoring) greatly assisted newcomers in clarifying the expectations and contexts of their new positions. Possession of extensive experience of general management frequently contributed to an individual's degrees of role clarity and self-efficacy (again substantiating much prior research concerning this matter).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that might contribute to the ease with which marketing executives in UK charities who have been promoted to senior general management positions adjust to the occupancy of these roles.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 37 individuals with functional marketing backgrounds currently holding top general management positions in large fundraising charities were interviewed using a frame-worked occupational autobiographic narrative approach. The research was informed by aspects of newcomer adjustment theory, notably uncertainty reduction theory.\nFindings: Social and personal considerations were much more important determinants of the ease of assimilation into top management positions in charities than were technical job-related matters. Role ambiguity constituted the main barrier to smooth adjustment. Mentoring, planned induction programmes, the nature of a person's past work experience and the individual's social status critically affected how readily a marketer fitted into a top management role. Disparate sets of factors influenced different elements of managerial newcomer adjustment (role clarity, self-efficacy, and social acceptance).\nResearch limitations/implications: As the participants in the study needed to satisfy certain narrowly defined criteria and to work in a single sector (large fundraising charities) the sample was necessarily small. It was not possible to explore the effects on operational performance of varying degrees of ease of newcomer adjustment.\nPractical implications: Individuals promoted to top management posts in charities should try psychologically to break with the past and should not be afraid of projecting a strong functional professional identity to their new peers. These recommendations can be expected to apply to organisations in general which, like large charities, need senior management mentoring and induction programmes to assist recently promoted individuals from function-specific backgrounds; job descriptions for top management posts that are clear and embody realistic expectations; and \"shadowing\" and training activities for newly appointed senior managers with function-specific backgrounds.\nOriginality/value: The study is the first to apply newcomer adjustment theory to the assimilation of functional managers into more senior general management. It examines a broader range of potential variables affecting managerial newcomer adjustment than has previously been considered. Relevant issues are examined in the context of an important sector: fundraising charities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A framework for untapped creativity: leveraging components of individual creativity for organizational innovation	[ "Organizational learning", "Innovation", "Employment", "Graduates", "Education", "Entrepreneurship", "Global economy", "Individual creativity", "Untapped creativity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations must transform every day to remain competitive; hence, the organizations need to innovate continuously and motivate employees to contribute to the process of innovation. High levels of creativity are needed to ensure that organizations remain flexible and are able to succeed in tough markets, with constant technological developments and against fierce competition. Individuals in organizations hold the required know-how and skills for managing critical tasks and must, therefore, be enabled to carry out continual innovation.\nResearch methodology: This paper makes use of qualitative analysis on feedback received from 120 software engineers, 30 project managers, and 15 human resource (HR) managers across six Indian IT companies. In the first round, focus group interviews were conducted with a group size of seven to nine members. The questions posed to each group of engineers were on the concept of creativity, its components and how these components are recognized and nurtured by their respective organizations. Respondents were steered to categorize the components into innate, acquired, and domain specific skill sets. Follow-up questions were on the skills recognized and not recognized by their managers and organizations. Similar focus group interviews were conducted with project managers and HR managers to obtain a diversity of feedback sources. The duration of each focus group discussion was of 25-30 min. The responses obtained from all three groups were recorded and analyzed in the light of existing literature available. All the key terms suggested by respondents have been categorized under various existing components of creativity. Similarly, responses on the role of organizations in tapping and leveraging these components have been analyzed.\nComponents of creativity emerged: As a result of content analysis, a total of 15 unique terms/factors influencing individual creativity emerged from the discussions with software engineers, project managers, and HR managers. The components include innate personality traits, behavioral skills, and cognitive skills (Figure 1).\nWhat components of individual creativity get neglected?: It was signaled by the software engineers that individuals in the IT industry are assessed for their cognitive and domain-specific knowledge during selection processes, but their progression heavily depends upon their actions and enquiries which highlight creative outcomes. As per the respondents, inquisitiveness and risk taking capabilities are the most important traits, which get recognized by their managers and for which they get rewarded. From the innate personality components, confrontation and liveliness have been associated with employee enthusiasm and aggressiveness, but not with individual creativity. According to the project managers, the most recognized components were teamwork and a willingness to accept challenges, in contrast to emotional maturity and a capability to work independently. It must be noted that all four untapped components fall under the category of creative potential rather than creative behavior.\nOrganizational learning and support: It was essential to study and appreciate the circumstances and forces in which individuals nurtured creative ideas. Almost every respondent had a recent story to share about the organizational support given when they came up with novel ideas and actions. There were also many respondents who argued that it is difficult to nurture creativity. They viewed individual creativity as a natural gift or talent, solely linked to an individual's genetics and personality traits. The majority of respondents accepted the fact that the learning culture of an organization can foster or hinder the ability of individuals to exhibit these components of creativity. After critically examining all the responses, among the most important factors were organizational norms, recognition, infrastructural support, employee empowerment, and diversity in teams. For HR managers, the most crucial factor to nurture individual creativity was employee empowerment, whereas for project managers, it was having sufficient flexibility in organizational policies.\nRole of organizational learning in recognizing untapped individual creativity to achieve organizational innovation: Individual creativity is enhanced when innovation is the norm within the organization. Some studies advocate that organizational learning and culture influence both the intensity and occurrence of creative behavior (Amabile et al., 1996). It has also been argued that creative potential may never become creative behavior if an organization's work environment does not foster creativity (DiLiello and Houghton, 2008). With respect to the Indian IT industry, emotional support has been given maximum weighting as the factor that is most conducive to creating a suitable organizational culture (Mehra and Dhawan, 2003).\nConclusion: The Indian IT industry heavily relies upon young graduates and engineers with immense enthusiasm and potential. In many cases, lack of organizational support becomes an obstacle for the creative behavior of individuals' vis-a-vis organizational innovation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the components of individual creativity which are commonly unrecognized and untapped by managers and organizations. A framework is suggested to leverage these components of creativity for organizational innovation through organizational learning and support.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper makes use of grounded theory based on three levels of feedback received from employees of six information technology (IT) companies in India. The paper makes use of qualitative responses (and narratives) received from software engineers, their respective project managers, and HR representatives on various components of individual creativity. Deliberation on the role of respective organizations is also included to tap and leverage the unrecognized components of creativity\nFindings: The paper provides a framework for practitioners working in IT industries on how to leverage the untapped individual creativity to achieve greater process innovation.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper is written from the perspective of the Indian IT industry.\nPractical implications: The framework proposed in the study will help organizations to identify and use components to achieve organizational innovation.\nOriginality/value: In the context of the Indian IT industry, there has been little effort put into identifying and examining the untapped components of individual creativity to build sustainable innovative organizations. Moreover, the findings of the study will help IT companies to build robust models by using various learning interventions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the motivations of tourism social entrepreneurs: The role of a national tourism policy as a motivator for social entrepreneurial activity in Ireland	[ "Ireland", "Social entrepreneurs", "Entrepreneurs", "Entrepreneurial motivations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new literature, and this concept has not yet been appropriately considered within the tourism context. In the tourism literature, there is general agreement that entrepreneurship is an under-researched area (Li, 2008; Thomas et al., 2011) and as Komppula (2014, p. 369) notes, \"the role of individual enterprises and entrepreneurs is largely underestimated in the literature\". However as Thomas et al. (2011) state in addition to discussion around numbers of publications in this area, there also needs to be awareness of the relatively narrow avenues of research that have been undertaken in the area of tourism entrepreneurs, and the need for more conceptual development. Similarly, Short et al. (2009, p. 161) state that \"social entrepreneurship research remains in an embryonic state\". There are key challenges in the literature in terms of agreeing on definitions, moving from conceptual work and broadening the discussion into the very many related areas of concern.\nLiterature review: Short et al. (2009), in their review of research on social entrepreneurship, highlight the increasing practice of social entrepreneurship and the corresponding academic interest in this topic. One of the key difficulties is the lack of a single unified definition which makes comparison difficult. Perhaps as a consequence of this, \"the published literature is largely of a theoretical and descriptive nature\", and much of the emphasis is on definitional issues (Granados et al., 2011, p. 198).\nThe Gathering, Ireland 2013: The Irish economy entered into recession in 2007, and between 2008 and 2011, real gross national product declined by 10.1 per cent and unemployment reached 14.7 per cent by 2012 (ESRI, 2014). The country also experienced a banking crisis, and in 2010, the government negotiated a financial assistance package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Against this backdrop of an extremely difficult economic environment, in 2009, it was decided to establish a Global Irish Economic Forum, and the inaugural meeting was attended by 112 people from abroad and a range of public sector decision-makers and business and cultural leaders. The objective of the forum was to develop a link with the 70 million Diaspora and to provide a platform for them to contribute toward Ireland's renewal (Global Irish Forum, 2012). The idea of nominating a year in which the Diaspora would be encouraged to visit Ireland emerged from this forum, and subsequently, 2013 became the year of the Gathering. The population at large was urged to invite friends and family home and to organize events that would attract international tourists to visit. At the launch of the Gathering, the Taoiseach (prime minister) said:\nResearch methods: This research focused on two counties in Ireland, Co. Kerry and Co. Westmeath. The reason these two counties were chosen for this study was because Kerry is an example of an area with a significant tourism history and one which, after the cities in Ireland, attracted the next highest number of international tourists. By contrast, Co. Westmeath attracted one of the lowest number of international tourists in 2012 (Failte Ireland, 2013). During 2013, 229 gathering events were organized in Co. Kerry and 83 in Co. Westmeath. It was decided to choose counties with different levels of tourism activity, as this may result in gathering of a wider variety of different types of social entrepreneurs in terms of past experience, motivations and previous engagement with tourism.\nFindings: Who were these tourism social entrepreneurs who emerged because of the Gathering?\nDiscussion: This is a good example of how a tourism project can have significant implications at a local level and how national and local objectives and responsibilities can work together to achieve a common goal. Key to the success of the gathering was the local initiative that it generated. The question that has to be addressed in light of the discussion in the previous section is whether this initiative was taken by social entrepreneurs or local community leaders? At the outset, the expectation would be that leadership would be given by the established leaders in the community. And certainly when steering committees were established, they mostly comprised key individuals in the community, business leaders and from local government organizations. In both counties, the steering committees held public meetings to generate ideas and plans for the Gathering. At this stage, many other members of the community came forward and played a role in initiating ideas and organizing events. As the survey shows, 26 per cent of event organizers were not active in any other group. So while established community and business leaders did play an important role, other, newer leaders also emerged. These new social entrepreneurs were more guided by the objectives as set out by the national plan of the Gathering, in terms of being particularly focused on attracting more international tourists and bringing friends and family back home, than those who had existed previously. This shows how a government plan like this can perhaps have a long-term impact on such social entrepreneurs, as, at an early stage, it plays a role in the development of aims and objectives, and these are likely to continue for the individual and group beyond the Gathering event. From a tourism perspective, this is particularly important, as projects like the Gathering, encourage communities to be more focused on the importance of tourism for their local areas, and instilling the idea of measuring success and evaluating strategies of events on the basis of their impact on attracting tourists are fundamental achievements.\nConclusions: This research adds to our understanding in a number of different ways. First, it has shown how important it is that we pay more attention to social entrepreneurship in the tourism literature. This is a valid and relevant category of entrepreneur that is generally being overlooked. Although the discussion in the literature around definitional issues shows the lack of clarity that exists, there is a place for tourism researchers in this debate, in particular in terms of contributing to more empirical studies which is a current gap as identified by Short et al. (2009) and Granados et al. (2011). As this case shows very clearly, individuals acting in a socially entrepreneurial way can have a significant impact on a destination and in terms of the development of tourism products and experiences and a national strategy can play an important role in terms of motivating social entrepreneurs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivations of social entrepreneurs. It explores the case of the Gathering in Ireland in 2013, when against a backdrop of recession, the national Government encouraged individuals and communities to organize events and invite the Diaspora to visit Ireland as a way of helping the country to revitalize. Some 5,000 events took place across the country during the year, and this paper examines this in the context of social entrepreneurship. Three research questions are posed: Who were these tourism and social entrepreneurs who organized events as a result of the Gathering? What motivated them to engage in these activities? Will this social entrepreneurship activity be maintained beyond 2013 and how has it been impacted by the Gathering?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical research was conducted in two counties in Ireland, Co. Kerry and Co. Westmeath. The research tools used were key informant interviews, a survey of event organizers and focus groups.\nFindings: Key findings show that the Gathering has resulted in the emergence of new social entrepreneurs, but it has also had a positive impact on those who had run their events before, as it made them be more strategic in the way they planned and ran their event and also resulted in them thinking about these events in terms of tourists rather than just the local community. They also developed new skills which will aid their future development. It is clear that social entrepreneurs can play a fundamental role in the development of tourism destinations, and this is an important topic for researchers in tourism to be concerned about.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this paper lies in the fact that it addresses the issue of motivation of social entrepreneurs and challenges us to think more about how these types of entrepreneurs identify the problem that they will address. Furthermore, this case shows that the motivation for such action can be prompted by a national strategy, rather than as the literature heretofore represented it as an innate motivation that materialized and developed within particular individuals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Childhood-onset disability, strong ties and employment quality	[ "Family", "Underemployment", "Social capital", "People with disabilities", "Strong ties", "Childhood-onset" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Constituting roughly 15 percent of the world's population (World Health Organization, 2013), persons with disabilities are among the largest minority groups but have received relatively little attention from management scholars (Baldridge et al., 2016). Research on employment for people with disabilities has primarily focused on employment status and much less frequently examined employment quality. This omission may unintentionally imply that any job is sufficient for persons with disabilities without regard to their level of education, skill and experience (Baldridge et al., 2015). This body of research also often fails to capture non-disability attributes and in so doing may dehumanize these individuals. People with disabilities, like others, also need to be understood as men, women, fathers, mothers, siblings, children and friends. Although social ties such as connections with and support from family and friends are important to the career development of most employees (Erickson, 2001), there is reason to expect these ties to be of particular importance to people with childhood-onset disabilities due to the need to overcome disability-related discrimination, stereotypes and stigmatization from an early age (Stone and Colella, 1996; Villanueva-Flores et al., 2014) and to provide supports that can enhance links to the job market and job performance (Makela and Suutari, 2009).\nContext and theoretical background: Disability and social capital\nResearch model and hypotheses: Our research model, shown in Figure 1, proposes that strong ties with family and friends are associated with enhanced employment outcomes for people with childhood-onset disabilities. These main effects and ways they are likely to be moderated by individual differences in gender and disability severity are explained in the following sections.\nMethod: Sample\nResults: H1 predicted that family-of-origin-size would be positively associated with skill-utilization and paid-work-hours for employees with childhood disability onset. Regression analysis showed that family-of-origin-size was a significant positive predictor of paid-work-hours (see Table II, Model 1) but was unrelated to skill-utilization (see Table III, Model 1), indicating partial support for H1.\nDiscussion: Findings and implications for theory\nConclusion: Persons with childhood-onset disabilities are among the most marginalized populations, often unemployed or underemployed in jobs providing neither adequate hours for financial self-sufficiency nor fulfillment through skill-utilization. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which social capital in the form of strong ties with family and friends is associated with enhanced employment outcomes for persons with childhood-onset disabilities. As theorized, family-of-origin-size was positively associated with hours worked. Family-of-origin-size was also associated with having more close friends and children. These strong ties, in turn, were positively associated with hours worked. The impact of having more children on hours worked and skill-utilization, however, was positive for men but non-significant for women, supporting the theoretical amplification effect of gender on outcomes for workers with disabilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Persons with childhood-onset disabilities are among the most marginalized populations, often unemployed or underemployment in jobs providing neither adequate hours for financial self-sufficiency nor fulfillment through skill-utilization. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which social capital in the form of strong ties with family and friends is associated with enhanced employment outcomes for persons with childhood-onset disabilities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Questioning the current theoretical consensus that strong social ties are unimportant to employment quality, the authors draw on disability research and opportunity, motivation and ability social capital theory to propose a model of the impact of strong ties with family and friends on paid-work-hours and skill-utilization as well as the potential moderating role of gender and disability severity. The authors then test this model using data from 1,380 people with childhood-onset disabilities and OLS regression analysis.\nFindings: As theorized, family-of-origin-size is positively associated with hours worked. Family-of-origin-size is also associated with having more close friends and children. These strong ties, in turn, are positively associated with hours worked. The impact of having more children on hours worked and skill-utilization, however, is positive for men but non-significant for women.\nOriginality/value: This study breaks new ground by focusing on the association between strong ties with family and friends and employment quality for people with childhood-onset disabilities - a marginalized and understudied group. Findings further indicate the particular vulnerability of women with disabilities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The Information Seeking and Communication Model: A study of its practical application in healthcare	[ "Information behaviour", "Healthcare", "Models", "Communication", "Content analysis", "Information seeking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The term \"information behaviour\" has been defined in different ways. One widely quoted definition is that of Wilson (2000), who describes it as \"the totality of human behaviour in relation to sources and channels of information, including both active and passive information use\". Pettigrew et al. (2001) refer to information behaviour as \"the study of how people need, seek, give and use information in different contexts, including the workplace and everyday living\". Ingwersen and Jarvelin (2005) define it as the \"generation, acquisition, management, use and communication of information and information seeking\" (p. 259). The term has thus been taken to encompass a number of different activities and, in particular, information seeking and acquisition, use of information and communication.\nThe ISCM: The ISCM was developed by examining a range of existing models from the fields of LIS and communication studies (Dervin, 2005; Ellis, 1989; Gerbner, 1956; Gorman, 1999; Ingwersen and Jarvelin, 2005; Johnson, 1997; Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955; Kuhlthau, 1991; Leckie et al., 1996; Maletzke, 1963; Rogers, 2003; Schramm, 1997; Shannon, 1948; Thackeray and Neiger, 2009; Wilson, 1999). The model is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1. A detailed description of it has been given previously (Robson and Robinson, 2013; Robson, 2013). In brief it shows an information user seeking and using information, and an information provider or providers communicating information. The continuous arrows show information seeking and related activities, and the dashed arrows show communication and related activities.\nThe healthcare information domain: The primary aim of the study described in this report was to investigate the validity of the ISCM. To do this it was necessary to examine the behaviour both of those who seek and use information and of those who communicate information. Healthcare was chosen as a suitable information domain in which to carry out this research because it involves experienced seekers and users of information (healthcare professionals) and different information providers.\nMethods: To test the model's applicability to information users, the findings from published studies of physicians' information behaviour were examined. In this way the research built on previous work rather than repeating what had already been done. The technique known as deductive or directed content analysis (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005; Elo and Kyngas, 2007) was employed, using coding terms derived from the model. To test its applicability to information providers, interviews were carried out with staff working for NICE and with employees of a selection of pharmaceutical companies in the UK. Investigating two types of information provider with differing goals provides a more robust test of the ISCM than could be achieved by using the model to study the information behaviour of just one of them. The interview transcripts were analysed, again using deductive content analysis.\nFindings: Information behaviour of physicians: literature review\nDiscussion: The ISCM was developed to be more comprehensive than most previous models of information behaviour by explicitly taking into account both information users and information providers and with the aim of having wide applicability. The findings from the research described in this paper provide support for the validity of ISCM as a model of the behaviour of both users and providers of information in the field of healthcare.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study investigated the application in the field of healthcare of a recently developed model of information seeking and communication. The purpose of this paper is to test the model's validity and to identify insights that it may provide.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To investigate the model's application to information users, the findings from published literature on physicians' information behaviour were studied. To investigate its application to information providers, interviews were carried out with staff working for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and with employees of pharmaceutical companies. The findings were examined using deductive content analysis.\nFindings: The findings endorse the validity of the model, with minor modifications. The model provides practical insights into the behaviour of both users and providers of information and the factors that influence them. It can be used to identify ways in which information behaviour may be positively modified in both finding and communicating healthcare information.\nOriginality/value: This research demonstrates the practical value of a new model of information behaviour which was developed using insights from earlier models. In doing so it answers criticisms that research in library and information science often fails to build on previous research and that it has little practical usefulness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An investigation of the satisfaction of project managers and team members: A comparative study between ISO 9001-certified and non-ISO 9001-certified project based companies in Jordan	[ "Project management", "Job satisfaction", "ISO 9001", "Consultants", "Engineering", "Project managers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Ali and Rahmat (2010) described the construction industry as a catalyst to stimulate the growth of a nation's economy. However, this industry suffers from poor performance and failure, especially in terms of productivity, quality and quality systems (QS) worldwide (Rumane, 2011).\nLiterature review: As no studies, which explicitly addressed the theme of the current study, were found in the previous literature, the review of relevant literature took these paths: the review of job satisfaction studies in project-based companies, the review of the comparative studies of ISO 9001-certified and non-ISO 9001-certified companies, and then going through the job satisfaction of the project members.\nMethodology: Study design\nResults: The link between job satisfaction and ISO 9001\nDiscussion: Previous studies reflected the importance of adopting quality standards to enhance the performance and competitive advantage of the company and walked us through the benefits and downsides related to the adoption of ISO 9001 certification.\nConclusions, implications and future study: This study was set to compare the impact of ISO 9001 certification on the job satisfaction of the project members represented by PMs, consultants, engineers and architects. The Investigated samples included local construction and consulting companies in Jordan, of which this study aimed to explore the job satisfaction level of the project members by three elements: GS, SS and SWC.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare the job satisfaction levels between International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001-certified and non-ISO 9001-certified project-based companies in Jordan, for project managers (PMs) and project team members (consultants, engineers and architects).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study sample consists of individuals from the aforementioned four roles of ISO 9001-certified and non-ISO 9001-certified companies. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data from 57 companies. In total, 72 valid questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 92.98 percent. The data obtained were statistically analyzed, and then the independent t-test was used to test the study hypotheses.\nFindings: The results revealed that ISO 9001-certified companies experience higher job satisfaction level for the four roles compared to non-ISO 9001-certified companies. Between the two samples, it was noted that there is a significant difference in the PMs', consultants' and engineers' satisfaction with co-workers and without any remarkable difference in the specific satisfaction. No significant difference between the two samples in general satisfaction was found for PMs and engineers. Finally, no significant difference was found in three satisfaction elements for architects.\nResearch limitations/implications: Understanding the linkage between being ISO 9001-certified company and project members' job satisfaction can provide a new strategic direction for project-based companies' performance management that can help in achieving superior work outcomes. A small sample size is considered the main limitation of this study.\nOriginality/value: This study attempts to fill the knowledge gap that is rarely investigated in the literature, i.e. the link between being ISO 9001-certified company and the level of project members' job satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Foreign owners and perceived job insecurity: evidence from linked employer-employee data	[ "Product innovation", "Corporate globalization", "Managerial profit sharing", "Perceived job insecurity", "Personnel turnover", "F23", "F66", "J23", "J28", "J63" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The last decades have witnessed an enormous growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) around the world (UNCTAD, 2004, 2014). Corporate globalization is often explained by the superior products and production processes of multinational companies (MNCs) to which other firms have no access. However, the implications for national labor markets and specifically for job security remain a highly controversial issue. On the one hand, firms owned by foreign MNCs may have competitive advantages over domestic-owned firms and, hence, may provide more job security to their employees. On the other hand, foreign owners can more easily transfer production abroad so that jobs in foreign-owned firms may be less secure. Moreover, the specific production processes and management practices implemented in foreign-owned firms may reduce job security. This is reinforced if foreign owners face difficulties in adjusting their activities to the cultural and institutional framework of the host country and, thus, suffer from liability of foreignness.\n2. Background discussion: In this section, we hypothesize that perceived job insecurity in foreign-owned firms differs from that in domestic-owned firms as foreign MNCs bring specific firm strategies and production concepts to their local subsidiaries. Perceived job insecurity is a subjective labor market indicator. Thus, one might wonder if the new strategies simply provoke subjective feelings of insecurity that are more or less decoupled from objective insecurity. By contrast, we argue that new firm strategies also have an influence on objective job insecurity. We assume that this objective job insecurity is, albeit possibly imperfectly, reflected in perceived job insecurity.\n3. Data, variables, and method: 3.1 The data set\n4. Results: 4.1 Basic estimations\n5. Conclusions: The consequences of globalization are a highly controversial issue. Our study examines the link between foreign ownership and perceived job insecurity in Germany. The analysis is based on linked employer-employee data that allow controlling not only for employee but also for firm characteristics. This is important as it enables us to examine whether the relationship between foreign ownership and job insecurity depends on circumstances and type of firm.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between foreign ownership and perceived job insecurity. It takes into account that the link can depend on circumstances and type of firm.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on linked employer-employee data from Germany. The data enable us to account for both employee characteristics and firm characteristics. Most importantly, they allow a detailed analysis of moderating influences.\nFindings: The estimates show that there tends to be a positive link between foreign owners and perceived job insecurity. The link is specifically strong for foreign-owned firms with high personnel turnover or poor employment growth. It is also stronger if the foreign-owned firm providing managerial profit sharing. However, the link tends to be negative for foreign-owned firms with product innovations.\nOriginality/value: Econometric examinations on the link between foreign ownership and perceived job insecurity are scarce. The study contributes to the literature by using linked employer-employee data and provides a detailed analysis of interaction effects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is training worth it? How to evaluate learning against other investments	[ "Training", "Return on investment", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The Balanced ScoreCard (BSC) has revolutionized many organizations since it started being used in the early 1990s, and can be seen as the apotheosis of performance management techniques. Whereas before Return on Investment (ROI) was a wet-finger-in-the-air kind of calculation, the modern executive could now place values on all manner of functions and benchmark employees' performance. Whether this revolution was as popular with those having values placed on their functions is another question, and performance management regarding intangibles has been as thorny an issue as it ever was.\nEvidence: There is a paradox at the heart of Western corporates, and it is this: while many organizations plough thousands of dollars to train their employees, many managers don't think it is worthwhile. Not only that, evidence in the article \"Valuing the investment in organizational training\", by LW Murray and Alev M Efendioglu suggests that while per capita spend on individuals' training is buoyant in the early part of the twenty-first century, outsourcing of training is in decline due to doubts over the benefits to competitive intelligence. Furthermore, almost three quarters of the UK's learning professionals in a survey said that learning tended not to lead to change, with only half saying the programs they delivered were actually evaluated.There seems to be a feeling amongst corporates that training and development is a good thing and worth investing in, but a collective shrug when it comes to actually evaluating its impact. This is partly due to the amorphous aspect of training, as not only are the benefits hard to evaluate in terms of where learning has been put into action, but even the costs are, with debate as to where they should be covered, and therefore how training can be evaluated.\nMeasurement: First, the theory. Assuming above all else that the benefits of training can be evaluated at all effectively, theorists vary widely as to how it can be achieved. From the most basic measure of increase in revenues following a sales representative's training program to the most intricate attempts at evaluating areas such as morale, job satisfaction and customer relations, many have attempted to set down in black and white the benefits of learning and development. Moreover, evidence from Murray and Efendioglu suggests that organizations, in their attempts to measure training benefits, have done so with a large degree of sophistication as the theorists suggest and overall reported improvements, with increases in training budgets to match.Apart from a simple subtraction of costs from benefits of training (and hope for a positive value as a result), there are at least three ways an ROI figure can be formulated using ratios of benefits and costs, and differing in how they are actually calculated. Whichever way these are done however, they assume a valuation on the cost and benefit. The ratios are similar to the ROI calculations used by firms to assess the impact of, for example, buying new hardware, but differ in that they do not take into account of values over time. The Internal Rate of Return (IRR), for example, takes this into account over each year the new hardware is in operation and allows for the value of that return to gradually fall. Another system, Net Present Value (NPV), uses an expected rate of return in evaluating a net benefit in monetary terms.\nApplication: Surprisingly, while ROI calculations are commonplace for more tangible investments, firms have not made a habit of applying the same methodology to training, and perhaps more surprisingly, neither have the theorists. While some have suggested figures such as above the rate of inflation, the variation has been very wide, with some admitting it could depend exactly on what the position actually is. What can be done is to treat training like other investments and use the IRR and NPV formulae to work out its ROI in any given situation. Crucially, this will offer a method of working out benefits of training over time, rather than just in the present.For example, an initial training cost of $1m can be set against benefits of $5m that accrue over a five year period. They can be calculated at either $1m a year for five years, or weighted so that Y1 accrues benefits greater then Y2-Y5 to allow for diminishing returns over time. As IRR takes this into account, what happens is that the greater the short term benefit of training, the higher the Internal Rate of Return. Similar results occur when NPV calculations are made.\nBenchmarking: The benefits of applying IRR and NPV calculations to training for organizations are two-fold. Firstly, they create a more accurate picture of benefits over time, and secondly they allow firms to benchmark against other capital investments they make. This should give organizations a more accurate view not necessarily of the training benefit itself, but how it compares to other investments made, especially intangible ones. For example, if a firm makes a capital outlay of $1m on machinery, and it too accrues a benefit of $5m over five years, the IRR figures may differ if, say, the immediate benefits are greater in the short term than those estimated for training. This kind of assessment will greatly enhance decision making in the allocation of resources - something that all organizations will see the value of, with or without complicated equations to inform them.\nComment: The article \"Valuing the investment in organizational training\", by L.W. Murray and Alev M. Efendioglu (Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 39 No. 7 (2007), pp. 372-9), is a fascinating example of translating theory into practical application. While the question of accurately assigning values to intangible benefits such as training remain elusive, the article at least provides an example of how to assess the impact of training alongside other investments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: - The Balanced ScoreCard (BSC) has revolutionized many organizations since it started being used in the early 1990s, and can be seen as the apotheosis of performance management techniques. Whereas before Return on Investment (ROI) was a wet-finger-in-the-air kind of calculation, the modern executive could now place values on all manner of functions and benchmark employees performance. Whether this revolution was as popular with those having values placed on their functions is another question, and performance management regarding intangibles has been as thorny an issue as it ever was.\nPractical implications: - Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: - The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in hospitality research	[ "PLS-SEM", "Hospitality research", "Structural equation modelling (SEM)", "Partial least squares (PLS)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Structural equation modeling (SEM; Rigdon, 1998) is one of the most salient research methods across a variety of disciplines. Its ability to simultaneously examine a series of interrelated dependence relationships between sets of constructs represented by multiple variables while accounting for measurement error has contributed to the SEM's widespread application. SEM is a general term encompassing a variety of statistical models, of which covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM) is the most prominent. As Chin (1998b, p. 295) points out, \"to many social science researchers, the covariance-based procedure is tautologically synonymous with the term SEM\". This view of SEM is, however, very limited given that variance-based SEM constitutes a second string in SEM, which is growing in popularity among business researchers. Several variance-based SEM techniques, such as generalized structured component analysis (Hwang et al., 2010) and path analysis, have been introduced (Lastovicka and Thamodaran, 1991). By far the most prominent technique, however, is partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), which has experienced increasing prominence in a variety of fields, including, for example, international management (Richter et al., 2016b), marketing (Hair et al., 2012b), strategic management (Hair et al., 2012a) and tourism (do Valle and Assaker, 2016).\nPLS-SEM studies in hospitality research: journals and themes: This research reviews the application of PLS-SEM published in the six journals covering the hospitality management discipline included in Web of Science's Social Sciences Citation Index, i.e. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education and Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. All the issues of these six journals published between January 2001 and December 2015 were examined for empirical applications of PLS-SEM. A full-text search was conducted on each journal's website by means of keywords such as partial least squares, path modeling, PLS and PLS-SEM. This search yielded a total of 29 empirical articles that applied PLS-SEM. The breakdown of studies by year (Figure 1) shows that PLS-SEM use has recently gained momentum in hospitality research. Whereas seven (24.14 per cent) of the papers were published between 2001 and 2012, 22 (75.86 per cent) were published during the three years from 2013 to 2015. This result is in line with related studies in strategic management (Hair et al., 2012a) and international management (Richter et al., 2016b), which also identified a growing use of PLS-SEM, albeit earlier and not so rapidly.\nGuidelines for PLS-SEM analysis and results reporting: Following prior reviews in related fields (do Valle and Assaker, 2016; Kaufmann and Gaeckler, 2015; Nitzl, 2016) and guidelines for PLS-SEM use (Chin, 2010; Garson, 2016; Hair et al., 2017b), we analyzed the 29 studies included in our review in terms of the following issues, which are all relevant for a valid application of the PLS-SEM method:\nCritical issues in PLS-SEM application: Reasons for using PLS-SEM\nConclusion and future research: Discussions on PLS-SEM have increased as rapidly as the contributions that use or advance the method. Researchers opposing the use of PLS-SEM (Ronkko et al., 2016; Ronkko and Evermann, 2013) argue that it is not a (factor-based) latent variable method, lacks goodness-of-fit measures and produces biased parameter estimates (Ronkko et al., 2016; Ronkko and Evermann, 2013; Ronkko et al., 2015). Critics of this position note that such conclusions ignore the fundamental working principles of PLS-SEM, which:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Structural equation modeling (SEM) depicts one of the most salient research methods across a variety of disciplines, including hospitality management. Although for many researchers, SEM is equivalent to carrying out covariance-based SEM, recent research advocates the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) as an attractive alternative. The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine how PLS-SEM has been applied in major hospitality research journals with the aim of providing important guidance and, if necessary, opportunities for realignment in future applications. Because PLS-SEM in hospitality research is still in an early stage of development, critically examining its use holds considerable promise to counteract misapplications which otherwise might reinforce over time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: All PLS-SEM studies published in the six SSCI-indexed hospitality management journals between 2001 and 2015 were reviewed. Tying in with the prior studies in the field, the review covers reasons for using PLS-SEM, data characteristics, model characteristics, the evaluation of the measurement models, the evaluation of the structural model, reporting and use of advanced analyses.\nFindings: Compared to other fields, the results show that several reporting practices are clearly above standard but still leave room for improvement, particularly regarding the consideration of state-of-the art metrics for measurement and structural model assessment. Furthermore, hospitality researchers seem to be unaware of the recent extensions of the PLS-SEM method, which clearly extend the scope of the analyses and help gaining more insights from the model and the data. As a result of this PLS-SEM application review in studies, this research presents guidelines on how to accurately use the method. These guidelines are important for the hospitality management and other disciplines to disseminate and ensure the rigor of PLS-SEM analyses and reporting practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: Only articles published in the SSCI-indexed hospitality journals were examined and any journals indexed in other databases were not included. That is, while this research focused on the top-tier hospitality management journals, future research may widen the scope by considering hospitality management-related studies from other disciplines, such as tourism research or general management.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature by providing hospitality researchers with the updated guidelines for PLS-SEM use. Based on a systematic review of current practices in the hospitality literature, critical methodological issues when choosing and using the PLS-SEM were identified. The guidelines allow to improve future PLS-SEM studies and offer recommendations for using recent advances of the method.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perception of employees toward e-learning service quality: exploratory factor analysis	[ "E-learning", "Service quality", "Bank", "Employee perception" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school(Albert Einstein).\nBackground of study: According to Wang (2003) and Davis et al. (1989), the perceptions of employees must be computed and analyzed to understand the e-learning service quality. Employees have heterogeneous characteristics and backgrounds, various tech-savvy skills, personal beliefs, and interests, and these act as the determinants that influence the different perceptions toward e-learning service. As defined by Nichols (2008), e-learning is, \"pedagogy empowered by digital technology.\" The progressive development in the information technology encourages the employees in working and utilizing the applications of e-learning service quality (Nagy, 2005). E-learning has been classified into four categories; these are individualized self-paced e-learning online, individualized self-paced e-learning offline, group-based e-learning synchronously, and group-based e-learning asynchronously (Naidu, 2006). All the types of e-learning have emphasized on the improvement and enhancement of knowledge at both the individual and organizational level. E-learning service procured by employees to ease their work has various benefits such as flexibility, interactivity, portability to access anytime and anywhere, expert knowledge, greater coordination and collaboration, time saving, and less cost. Despite the advantages of e-learning, there are few limitations confronted by learners; these limitations are the requirement of new pedagogical skills, learners' motivation, and self-discipline (Cantoni et al., 2004). The motivation and self-discipline depends on the perception of a learner. The way of identifying, sensing, and organizing the information helps in understanding the surrounding environment that motivates and develops self-discipline among the learners. The previous studies focused on the satisfaction of learner related to e-learning have been used for the evaluation of effectiveness of e-learning (Levy, 2007; Zhang et al., 2004). The variables such as motivation and characteristics of learner, pedagogical design, technical competence, and technology have been considered as important factors to evaluate the effectiveness of e-learning (Soong et al., 2001), and these factors affect the acceptance level of e-learning from the perspective of learner (Martinez et al., 2007). The explanation supported by Roca et al. (2006) supported the explanation, as they studied the importance of technology acceptance model and stated that the intention of learner is identified by his satisfaction, which has been determined by cognitive absorption, confirmation, information quality, perceived usefulness and ease of use, and service and system quality. Thus, the above discussion puts forth the research objective of this study as: identifying the employee's perception toward the e-learning services as well as identifying the areas that need improvements.\nResearch methodology: The respondents were 294 employees of the government banks, private banks, foreign banks, and cooperative banks from the northern India; and these banks provided e-facility. The data were collected on the employees' perception about e-learning attributes and the responses were measured on 1-5 Likert scale.\nResults: F1. Approach to information technology (internet)\nConclusion: This study identifies that the approach to information technology plays an important role in the effectiveness of e-learning, but implementation of the program is vital. Certain factors are also responsible for affecting the effectiveness of e-learning such as content, interaction mode, and customization of the module as per the learner's requirements. This study concludes that effectiveness of e-learning programs will definitely increase the productivity and this will ultimately enhance banks' performance through proficiency in service quality as well as e-service quality. The five factors considered in this study provide useful insights for the banks to strengthen their e-learning system, which further improve the employees' perception toward these types of programs.\nFuture scope and limitations of study: Further research can be conducted to identify the dimensions in the different context and in different service environment for measuring the effectiveness of e-learning programs. Further, it can be explored that effectiveness of e-learning will increase with the increase of learners' involvement, which enhances through proper training and awareness about the effectiveness of e-learning programs. For this reason, nowadays, digital world captures all the competitive markets by encompassing all private and public companies, and e-learning becomes the essential channel for the advancement of digital technology (Agrawal et al., 2016). According to Khan (2005):E-learning can be viewed as an innovative approach for delivering well-designed, learner-centered, interactive, and facilitated learning environment to anyone, anyplace, anytime by utilizing the attributes and resources of various digital technologies along with other forms of learning materials suited for open, flexible, and distributed learning environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the employee's perception toward e-learning programs or services and to explore the attribute for improvements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: For this study, 294 employees from four different types of banks in North India were selected as respondents. Four types of banks were considered - government bank, private bank, foreign bank, and cooperative bank. The respondents were asked to give their responses as per their perceptions toward e-learning on a five-point Likert scale.\nFindings: Although e-learning has not been able to fulfill its promise in revolutionizing corporate training in India, there is little doubt that in future the mode of learning will play a major role in human resource development in India because the research carried out on the successful implementation of e-learning is mostly in the western part of world.\nOriginality/value: The present study provides a useful insight about employee perceptions on the effectiveness of e-learning, which ultimately improves the e-service quality and results in the improvement of satisfaction of customers in the online banking sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Predictors of health behaviours among Indian college students: an exploratory study	[ "Health behaviour", "Students", "Self-esteem", "India" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over a quarter of India's population are between the ages of 15 and 24 years (Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, 2014) and a majority (86%; 14.6m) of the young population in India attend college in order to pursue an undergraduate degree (University Grant Commission, 2012). College life is a period where individuals experience increased independence and, at the same time, are faced with several decisions about their health-related behaviours, that is, diet, exercise, sleep, smoking and alcohol consumption (Terenzine, et al., 1996). Short and Mollborn (2015) describe health behaviour as actions undertaken at the individual level which affect their health/mortality. These actions are found to either promote or degrade the health of the individual. Several factors may be linked with students' lifestyle choices (e.g. socio-economic status, level of stress, self-esteem). Research indicated that some psychological factors (e.g. self-esteem, life satisfaction and happiness) during this phase promoted healthy behaviours and acted as a protective factor against engaging in unhealthy behaviour (Hoyt et al., 2012; Ma and Lai, 2018). Although there has been research on health behaviours in Indian students, this has tended to focus on prevalence estimates, single health behaviours or the association between health behaviours and demographic factors (Giri et al., 2013; Tendulkar et al., 2006; Juyal et al., 2006). The current study aims to address this by exploring the association of diet, physical activity, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, safe sex and sleep quality with demographic factors such as age, gender and psychological factors such as stress, self-esteem and sense of coherence. Understanding these associations between health behaviours and demographic and psychological factors is valuable for (a) determining which of the student population may require intervention and (b) health educators to inform intervention design.Regarding prevalence, Giri et al. (2013) observed that 30.6% college students had abnormal-to-borderline sleep deprivation. In studies examining factors associated with tobacco use among college students, it was found that between 15.7 and 31.7% of the individuals had attempted to smoke at least once (Bhojani et al., 2009; Sreeramareddy et al., 2010). Regarding single health behaviours, Tendulkar et al. (2006) revealed that 13% of Indian college students reported unhealthy eating habits with this group also reporting high levels of depression and suicidal ideation. Regarding demographic factors, studies reported that students who did not live with their parents were more likely to engage in alcohol consumption, tobacco and substance use (tobacco, alcohol, opium, sedative and chemical drugs) compared to those living with their parents (Juyal et al., 2006; Naskar and Bhattacharya, 1999).Worldwide research has found factors other than demographic factors which are likely to be related to college students' health. For example, stress is a key psychological factor linked to health among college students in China (e.g. Liu et al., 2007; Xiang et al., 1999), United Kingdom (e.g. Serlachius et al., 2007; Steptoe et al., 1996) and United States (e.g. Dinger and Waigandt, 1997; Trockel et al., 2000; Von Ah et al., 2004). In terms of health behaviours, there is a relationship between increased levels of stress and negative health behaviours and poor health outcomes. For example, undergraduate students who reported higher levels of stress were more likely to have unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and engage in substance abuse and smoke (Deasy et al., 2014; Wichianson et al., 2009). Thus far there have been no studies examining the association between stress and health behaviours in Indian students.Another key predictor of health behaviours among college-going students is self-esteem. Self-esteem is defined as an individual's opinion and appreciation of their self-worth (Olea et al., 2012). Research suggests that self-esteem is positively associated with healthy behaviours of physical exercise among American (Greenberg et al., 1999; Lowery et al., 2005) and British (Furnham et al., 2002) college students and with healthy eating habits among American college students (Pastore et al., 1996). Self-esteem was negatively associated with alcohol use, smoking cigarettes and use of marijuana among Turkish college students (Kavas, 2009) and with risky sexual behaviour in American College students (MacNair et al., 1998). There is no research on the association between self-esteem and health behaviours in Indian college students.A recent psychological factor that is observed to be associated with health behaviours in students is sense of coherence (SOC; Dumitrescu et al., 2010; Piqueras et al., 2011). SOC is described as a stable, inherent quality possessed by individuals which generates positive coping reserves and an internal drive for retaining health (Chittem et al., 2015). The SOC construct includes the elements of comprehensibility (believing in one's ability to make sense of current and future events), manageability (believing in one's ability to handle any event) and meaningfulness (believing that one's life is pleasurable, engaging and worthwhile; Moksnes et al., 2011). Students with a strong SOC have a higher likelihood to engage in pro-health behaviours than those with a poor SOC among Polish university students (Binkoweski-Bury et al., 2010; Posadzki et al., 2010). Only one study explored the association between SOC and health behaviours in Indian college students; the study found that those students with higher SOC were more likely to choose health-promoting behaviours (e.g. hygienic practices and increased physical activity) than their low-SOC counterparts (Suraj and Singh, 2011).While the aforementioned studies shed light on the prevalence of and factors associated with some health behaviours among Indian college-going students, they do not examine the relationship between psychological factors of stress and self-esteem and health choices, with only one study exploring SOC in relation to health behaviours. As evidenced by the aforementioned worldwide research, these factors can play a major role in predicting health habits. Indeed, owing to the high incidence of unhealthy behaviours among Indian college students, it is important to understand whether stress and self-esteem are linked with these habits.This information can aid health promotion for Indian college students by determining which students may require access to a health intervention (e.g. determining if screening for high levels of stress, low self-esteem and/or unhelpful coping methods is necessary) and by designing appropriate interventions (e.g. developing tailored content for health education programmes). Despite research in India emphasizing the need for introducing health education programmes for college students (Gavarasana et al., 1991; Pati et al., 2012), there are limited documented efforts to introduce these interventions to students in India (see Sharma, 2005). More recently, government-initiated health education programmes were criticized for not providing adequate knowledge or giving ambiguous information on available resources to engage in health behaviours for young people in India (e.g. Santhya and Jejeeboy, 2007). Central to these criticisms is the lack of understanding the psycho-social determinants of health behaviours of the youth in India, thus limiting the scope and success of educational interventions.Therefore, the aim of the current study is to explore the association between health behaviours (diet, physical activity, smoking cigarettes, alcohol consumption, safe sex and sleep) with (1) demographic variables such as age, gender and academic year and (2) the psychological variables of stress, self-esteem and SOC among Indian residential college students. We hypothesize that the psychological factors will predict engaging in health behaviours.\nMaterial and method: Participants\nResults: Participants\nDiscussion: Main findings and implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the association between health behaviours of diet, physical activity, smoking cigarettes, alcohol consumption, safe sex and sleep quality with demographic (e.g. age, gender) and psychological (i.e. stress, self-esteem and sense of coherence) factors in Indian residential college students.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Students studying for Bachelor of Technology at residential colleges in India were invited to complete an online questionnaire regarding their health behaviours, demographics and psychological variables. Each health behaviour was regressed onto demographic and psychological factors to determine which of them were associated with performing each behaviour.\nFindings: There was no clear pattern of predictors for the health behaviours overall. Self-esteem was related to healthy diet, being single was related to adequate sleep, higher parental income was related to safer sex and being older was related to more alcohol use and safer sex.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study revealed that health education efforts may need to be designed for specific behaviours and correlates among Indian college students. Interventions regarding (1) healthy eating should target students with lower self-esteem, (2) sleep should target students in a relationship and (3) safer sex should target younger students and those from less affluent backgrounds.\nOriginality/value: This research is one of the first attempts to study the predictors of health behaviours among Indian college students. The study highlighted that psychological factors (e.g. self-esteem) and demographic factors (e.g. relationship status, parental income, age) affect different health behaviours. These findings can help health educators to design tailored interventions and aid in health education and promotion among Indian college students.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information systems outsourcing: Motivations and the implementation strategy in a Malaysian bank	[ "Outsourcing", "Information systems", "Banking", "Malaysia", "Communication technologies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Outsourcing of information systems (IS) services has exploded in recent years as many companies recognize its benefits ever since the landmark information technology (IT) outsourcing agreement signed between Eastman Kodak and service providers IBM, DEC and Businessland (Lacity and Hirschheim, 1995). Studies performed by Dataquest estimated global revenues for IS outsourcing have been growing at a rapid rate. A Dataquest report stated the outsourcing industry revenue to be $194 billion in 1999 and growing to $531 billion by 2002 (Young, 2000). Considering the market players, Lacity and Willcocks (2001) state that the most matured IS outsourcing partnerships are found in the USA. UK and Australia are said to be closely following the trend, followed by Western Europe and South America. The rest of the world, including Asia, is far behind. However, parts of the East Asia, including Japan, which initially resisted the trend, are now positively responding (Apte et al., 1997).IS outsourcing is taking place in private and public organizations, and affecting various industries. The banking industry represents one of the largest outsourcing markets in Japan (Goolsby et al., 2002). While there has been numerous researches conducted on IS outsourcing, only a few focused on the banking industry (McLellan et al., 1995; Ang and Cummings, 1997; Marcolin and McLellan, 1998; Baldwin et al., 2001; Goolsby et al., 2002). Furthermore, these studies were conducted in developed countries.This paper presents a case study of the IT outsourcing experience of one of the top commercial banks in Malaysia. The bank has become the first bank in Malaysia to outsource its IT function and the deal represents the largest IT outsourcing deal in Malaysia. As with most developing countries, there is a limited studies conducted on the practices of IT outsourcing in Malaysia. Yet, many large companies are embarking on IT outsourcing projects, and the Malaysian Government too is outsourcing most of the important national projects such as the Smart School, human resource management IS, and e-procurement project.The purpose of this study is to understand what drives a Malaysian bank to outsource its IS services, and how it implements the outsourcing strategy. The main themes of the study centre on a few fundamental questions: \"What motivates the bank to implement IS outsourcing?\" \"What approach is adopted by the bank in implementing IS outsourcing?\" \"How does the IS outsourcing strategy affect their IT staff?\" and \"How is the outsourcing partnership managed?\" It is hoped that the study filled the gap in providing insights on how a bank in a developing country adopts IS outsourcing. To achieve anonymity of the organizations under study, the bank will be referred to as ALPHA, the service provider as GAMMA and the intermediary company as BETA.\nPast research on outsourcing: In the last 15 years, academic research on IS outsourcing has evolved rapidly. Dibbern et al. (2004) had attempted to synthesize the academic literature on IS outsourcing and offers a roadmap which highlights how the past works fits together under one umbrella. They have identified five major sourcing issues namely, why to outsource, what to outsource, which decision process to take, how to implement the sourcing decision, and what is the outcome of the sourcing decision. Since, the term \"IT outsourcing\" has been defined differently by different researchers, it is necessary to look closer at the IT outsourcing concept.IT outsourcing concept\nIT outsourcing in Malaysia: The prevalent trend of outsourcing information and communications technology (ICT) operations in local scene is fast becoming an alternative business solution in Malaysia especially so among large organizations. Manecksha (2003) reported that Meta Group Asia-Pacific states that the current trend is to go into outsourcing by forming joint ventures. Malaysia views outsourcing as a value-added service to generate revenues and also a means of improving IS performance. Since, 1995, Asia-Pacific is the leading outsourcing market; Malaysia and Singapore are the leading countries where interest level is high.As reported by Kasim (2003), Sirim Berhad clarifies that an organization would typically have three ICT functions, namely management, development of new systems and maintenance. In preserving the organization's competitive edge such critical systems components should not be jeopardized. Maintenance of hardware systems could be outsourced unlike business specific applications. In addition, gateway to the organization's network is considered crucial to safeguard the organization's security; as such it is not advisable to be outsourced. The need to understand and develop a fit between IT outsourcing and business strategy has long been emphasized by researchers and practitioners.It was also reported that KPMG Consulting Asia believes third-party outsourcing works, but provided it has a track record Sakran (2001). Even as outsourcing becomes an integral part of the banking sector one needs to consider the issue of security. In the world heading towards borderless transactions and information communication technology, security is crucial to the reputation of the organization.In the public sector, among the early Malaysian Government's large-scale systems integration projects were for Malaysian Postal Office and Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad for Permodalan Nasional Berhad. All these massive computerization projects are outsourced to HeiTech Padu Berhad, which is Malaysian's leading total ICT solution and service provider. Electronic data services (EDS) Release on 12 October 1999, reported that the Malaysian Government awarded the Smart Schools project to the Telekom Malaysia Consortium. EDS Malaysia had earlier been selected, as part of the Sapura Consortium, by the Malaysian Government to develop and implement the pilot phase of the Prime Minister's Office - Generic Office Environment (GOE) Project.Then again, Malaysia can expect to attract at least US$ 3 billion of the global outsourcing business that is projected to be worth US$ 0.504 trillion by 2008 (Cheong, 2003). According to Multimedia Development Corporation, this would lead to the creation of some 60,000 high-end jobs in the country. The growth of Malaysia as an outsourcing centre would drive the outsourcing implementation, may it be in manufacturing, telecommunications, finance, government or other services.\nMethodology: Since, the main objective of the study is to understand the outsourcing decision and approach by the bank, it is thought that case study method is the most appropriate. According to Leidner and Jarvenpaa (1993), case study research is appropriate in situations where the research question involves a \"how\" \"why\" or exploratory \"what\" question, the investigator has no control over actual behavioural events, and the focus is on contemporary as opposed to historical events.This case study covers only on the understanding the IS outsourcing decision-making process and the implementation of the decision in ALPHA. It is not intended however to study whether the decision will bring the desired results because at the time of writing, the decision has not been fully implemented. This exploratory study seeks to understand the IS outsourcing undertaken by ALPHA and strive to identify potential challenges faced by the organisation. This study is predominantly based on interviews and review of reports, bulletins and other printed resources. The approach to the study is more qualitative than quantitative. Interviews were conducted which covers five top and middle managers, 15 technical staff and 20 internal customers. Internal customers are users who receive the services provided.A total of 40 interviews were conducted in the middle of the year 2002. A list of open-ended questions was prepared to guide the interview process. The length of each interview varies, depending on the interviewee's designation in the company. All interviews were properly recorded to allow analysis done on the textual information. It is observed that top and middle management are more passionate when it comes to the discussion on IT outsourcing, thus interviews lasted slightly longer than the other two groups, i.e. technical staff and other internal customers. Nonetheless, all interviews conducted have indeed provided useful insights on the IT outsourcing in the selected bank.\nCase background: As an effort to strengthen the Malaysian banking industry following the 1997 financial crisis, the Malaysian Central Bank had directed local banks to merge and to form only ten anchor banks. ALPHA was one of the mergers completed in this process, which represents a merged entity between two previously independent commercial banks. It is presently one of the largest banks with a strong presence of more than 300 branches and retail service outlets throughout the country. In addition to strong presence locally, the bank also has branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London.In the company's 2001 Annual Report, it is stated that the company's vision is to be a Malaysian icon - a dominant financial service provider in the country with a significant presence in the region. The mission statement of the bank is expressed as follows:We are building a financial institution with competencies and capabilities to deliver the highest standards of service and innovative financial products initially satisfying the needs of customers in all sectors of Malaysian society. We will achieve this through the introduction of best business practices, high standards of management, investments in enabling technology and strategic alliances with world-class players.In achieving the vision, the company is guided by the following core values:* Performance-driven - be result-oriented while mitigating risks through the adoption of prudent policies and processes. Quality shall be the trademark of all the company's endeavour.* Trustworthiness - exhibiting the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and business and work ethics.* Innovation - encouraging innovation, adopting best practices and leveraging technology to raise internal efficiencies and continuously create superior value propositions for our customers.Despite being one of the largest banks in the country, ALPHA envisages that the banking industry will be very competitive in the coming years, especially with the completion of all bank mergers in the country and the liberalisation of Malaysian financial industry. Having identified the threats, the bank has embarked on several steps to prepare itself for the challenges in order to safeguard and improve its position. One of the steps taken by ALPHA is to re-organize its credit department. The department was selected as it is closest to the customers in terms of banker-customer relationship. With customer base that spans Malaysian life in all its richness and diversity, from small households to huge conglomerate, it is important for ALPHA to be able to meet those unique needs. With those objectives in view, ALPHA has re-organised its credit departments into three sub-divisions or \"internal banks\" as follows:1. Retail banking: serving the banking needs of individuals and SMEs.2. Business banking: for the growing businesses.3. Corporate and institutional banking: for large and complex organisations.To support these divisions or \"internal banks\" there are Policy and Control and IS division cutting across the divisions. Figure 1 shows the organisational structure of ALPHA after the merger and prior to the outsourcing decision.\nCase description: IS outsourcing decision\nCase study findings: In the paragraphs that follow, the findings of the study are summarized. Key issues are highlighted and presented following the partial framework of Dibbern et al. (2004). Since, the focus of the study is to explore on the \"why\" and \"how\" of IS outsourcing, the discussion mainly centres on these two aspects of IS outsourcing.The \"why\": motivation for the IT outsourcing decision\nConclusions: Despite numerous research conducted on IT outsourcing worldwide, studies which focus on IT outsourcing in developing countries generally and Malaysia specifically, has been scarce. This paper presents a case study on IT outsourcing implementation in a Malaysian bank, which represents one of the largest outsourcing market in the country. The findings reveal that the motivations for IT outsourcing in the banking industry are both internally and externally driven. Furthermore, there is not a single factor that influence the decision but a multiply of various motivations including generating income from the outsourcing arrangement.The experience of the case bank also highlights the approach taken by an early adopter of IT outsourcing in the country. The bank has adopted a two-tier arrangement which involved a spin off and a reputable provider to minimize risks of failure. Additionally, the bank has been very cautious and far sighted in managing the outsourcing relationship by setting up the Change Management Committee as well careful handling of staff transition and staff morale. The study reveals that the outsourcing decision has affected almost every organisational aspect of the bank, most notably in the organisation's operations and administrative structure, human resource management and also on the issue of service level. The Bank, like any other profit-oriented organisation, will continue to closely monitor the management of the outsourcing contract to ensure the goals are achieved. Despite too early to assess the outcome of the outsourcing implementation at the point of writing, the study has contributed towards understanding the experience in implementing IT outsourcing in the banking industry in a developing country.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to aid in understanding the motivations for information system (IS) outsourcing decision and its initial implementation at one of the top commercial banks in Malaysia. The scope of the study includes the motivating factors, the implementation strategy and managing the change process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study adopts a case study approach where 40 interviews were conducted among the staff, covering the management as well as non-management group.\nFindings: - The findings of the study indicate that the motivating factors are the focus on core competencies, turning non-profit activities into profit-generating activities, and cost reduction. The implementation strategy involves the setting up of a two-tier relationship between the bank and the service provider. The challenges involved in the transition phase include managing the partnership and handling the staff transition and morale.\nResearch limitations/implications: - To some extent, there may be some subjectivity involved in interpreting the results of analysis, as with any other studies that adopt a case study approach.\nPractical implications: - Amidst the complexity involved in any IS outsourcing endeavour, the management of a bank may learn some lessons from the experience reported in this study. At the initial stage, the bank should be concerned with the approach in establishing the partnerships and staff matters should not be undermined.\nOriginality/value: - The study provides a real life example of IS outsourcing implementation in the banking sector of a developing country.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
HRD challenges faced in the post-global financial crisis period - insights from the UK	[ "Global financial crisis (GLC)", "Organisational learning capabilities", "Weakened HRD" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The workplace of the twenty-first century has radically changed (Brown et al., 2009). The economic, financial and labour relations' context of the first decade of the twenty-first century has influenced UK human resource development (HRD), although the historical limitations of traditional development strategies previously have stripped technical skills within the UK (Thompson, 2003). UK organisations continue to face challenges, however, to adapt in the face of foreign competition and continuing technological advances. The need to differentiate organisations by the investment into innovative responses and employee expertise became an issue (Beausaert et al., 2011; Gassman et al., 2010). A background of the increasing \"financialisation\" of organisations, post-2000 (Thompson, 2003) and a continuing uncertain economic climate has left HRD in a weaker position. Instead of focussing upon the holistic development of human beings, HRD had been described as an instrument of corporate profit maximisation led by short-term financial outcomes (MacKenzie et al., 2012).\nPost-GFC - a new era for the UK?: It has been claimed that UK HRD professionals have spent time trying to save their \"own jobs to the point that they may have failed to do their (HRD) job\" (MacKenzie et al., 2012) and failed to meet employee needs. Perceptions of HRD as a provider of training, rather than strategic partner, may have further prohibited it from making valuable contributions to the wider organisation through the workforce. As Wang et al. (2009) note, if HRD does not have a strategic role to play, then learning and performance becomes constrained. Despite that, during economic recession conditions, to stay in business, businesses must respond (Roche et al., 2013). The organisational status quo should not be one of \"silenced\" HRD. By contrast, the questioning of managerial assumptions allows for the evolution of ethical, socially responsible human intellectual capital (MacKenzie et al., 2012). Despite that HRD professionals may have failed to critically challenge the assumptions of HRD (Gold and Bratton, 2014; also see O'Donnell et al., 2006), a dialogical development perspective might assure that a greater sustainable people focus prevails.\nProblem statement and purpose: The problem lies with whether HRD has disengaged with its humanistic social science roots and its original ethical concerns for the well-being of individuals in organizations or for developing human potential (Ardichvili, 2013; MacKenzie et al., 2012). Responses lie within the tensions for HRD professionals which appear to have led them towards the juncture, where UK HRD has found itself 'backfooted' (MacKenzie et al., 2012).\nBackground - literature: To begin, it is perhaps useful to outline the position of Hassard et al.'s (2009) publication, which summarises their earlier published papers (McCann et al., 2004, 2008 and Morris et al., 2006, 2008) from their research. [This research was undertaken by their consideration of changes to work practice. It provides longitudinal findings.] Given the very little longitudinal empirical material available of post-GFC work practices at the time our research commenced in 2011, Hassard et al.'s work (2009) was used as an empirical predecessor for our studies. Hassard's team focussed upon the experiences of managers within three countries from 2000 to 2008, and included a study focused in the UK. They noted that there was substantial evidence of unpleasant and difficult working conditions emerging post-2000. Hassard et al. (2009) attributed this to short-term managerial thinking. Rather than evidence of support from HRD, Hassard et al. (2009) recognised that much of the organisational change enacted had led to work intensification, with an apparent decline of any influence, post-2000, from the HRD function to instigate any improvement in working practices (Hassard et al., 2009).\nHow then has HRD been theorised as providing support for organisational strategy?: It has been claimed that the nature of managing people and their development has become central to the strategic running of the organisation (Schuler and Jackson, 2005). Problems may have lain with limited appreciation of the social complexity of organisations (Singh and Mohanty, 2011). Traditional development approaches have failed to find divergent ways of observing the organisation or to facilitate reflective critical analysis. This has prevented [otherwise marginalized] critical ante-narratives from emerging. By promoting implicit organisational knowledge based within complex social relationships, however, developing OLCs encourage the promotion of healthy attitudes at the organisational core. These can be causally linked to competitive advantage practices and organisational survival (Camps and Luna-Arocas, 2012).\nMethod: The objectives for this study were to gain insights from the lived work experiences of participants in 2011, reflecting upon their prior three experience in the workplace. Given the dearth of empirical studies, our investigation used Hassard et al.'s (2009) prior research to confirm existing constructs. It further provided a template for the focus group research. Hassard's work had been limited solely to researching managers' experiences. We extended this to incorporate the experiences of the wider workforce, given our recognition of the flaws of approaches, which fail to engage further with the context within which practices are enacted (Guest, 2011). Despite their impact upon the organisation, there has been an absence of employees' attitudes in research (as opposed to collecting the views of management) (Conway and Monks, 2009; Guest, 2011). Also to examine how participants interpreted the impact of the environmental context and role of HRD upon their work roles, as there are few studies, which take into account the importance of the role of employees' perceptions or the mediating roles they hold in terms of organisational practices (Kehoe and Wright, 2013). By extending the sample to the wider workforce, we attempted to gain a more inclusive representation of perspectives from the organisational community. Conway and Monks (2009) identify that not focussing upon employees fails to recognise their perspective. As the organisation provides the social platform within which interactions take place. This affects the level of cooperation and how human capital and social capital combine which affords the basis of human capability (Wright and McMahan, 2011).\nResults and analyses: Analysis of the data took place using Hassard et al.'s (2009) study themes to guide data, that is, change, culture change, use of IT and communication. Then by re-visiting the data through open coding, themes were revisited to facilitate adjustment to the prior coding selected, enabling high-order codes to facilitate focus upon core concepts and to allow the final emergence of themes from the data through this inductive process using template analysis (King, 1998). The use of the template assisted triangulation of the data and its validity by allowing comparison through the themes and the data collected. By adjusting the template as new themes emerged from the focus groups, for example, aspects of control, facilitated a flexible approach to tailor the codes. To allow assumptions to be compared (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), data were organised in these major categories labelled as themes (Creswell, 2003).\nConclusions: The aim of the paper was to report initial insights by the consideration of the position of HRD in a retracted role in the UK organisations. The study recognises the potential challenges for HRD resulting from a potential climate of \"financialised\" organisations, which may have \"backfooted\" strategic HRD aspirations (Alagaraja, 2013; Ardichvili, 2012, 2013; CIPD, 2012; Garavan, 2007; Hassard et al., 2009; MacKenzie et al., 2012; Thompson, 2003, 2011) and complex environment within which HRD professionals find themselves compromised by their assumptions (O'Donnell et al., 2006).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to report initial empirical research that examines UK employees' perceptions of the changing nature of work since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) to consider how the financial context may have constrained HRD practice and more sustainable approaches.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Focus group research was facilitated through collective group discussion. Through template analysis of the findings, thematic analysis was undertaken to extend prior research. Themes used by Hassard et al. (2009) in terms of the changing nature of the workplace between 2000 and 2008, were used to provide new data on HRD realities.\nFindings: Participants reported diminishing personal control over changes within the workplace and a cultural shift towards a harsher work climate. HRD was considered as silenced or absent and associated solely with low cost-based e-learning rather than acting in strategic role supporting sustainable business objectives.\nResearch limitations/implications: Whilst providing only indications from employee perceptions, the research identifies a weakened HRD function. The key contribution of this paper lies with empirical evidence of post-GFC constraints placed upon HRD strategies. It further identifies whether alternative development approaches, mediated by organisational learning capabilities, might emancipate UK HRD.\nSocial implications: This paper engenders a debate around the status of HRD within the UK organisations, further to the global financial crisis (GFC), where HRD might be viewed as at a juncture to argue a need for a shift from a financialised mode for people management towards one of greater people focus.\nOriginality/value: This research provides initial findings of the impact of the economic climate. It considers new approaches which might resolve expiring HRD through more sustainable practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Female employment in hotels in Saudi Arabia and UAE	[ "Gender", "Hotels", "Arab", "Flexible working" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This study reports on the experiences of women working in hotels in two Arab countries: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The analysis focusses on the barriers they faced in trying to obtain work, the difficulties they experienced in and because of work, their motivation to work and their job satisfaction. The research contributes to the small but growing literature on the employment of women in Arab Gulf countries, where traditionally female participation in employment has been relatively low. The World Bank (2018) reports that the female labour force participation rate (as a percentage of females aged 15 and over) in 2017 was 20.8 per cent in the Arab World as a whole (i.e. members of the League of Arab states) which is close to the equivalent figure for KSA (22.3 per cent). However, female labour force participation is higher in UAE (40.9 per cent) and in the other Arab Gulf States of Qatar (58.1 per cent) Kuwait (49 per cent) Bahrain (43.6 per cent) and Oman (30.2 per cent).\n2. Research background: 2.1 Country context\n3. Methods: The study is based on the responses to a questionnaire survey administered in hotels in KSA and UAE in 2013. The sampling was purposive, targeting women working in hotels in a range of job roles, nationals and expatriates. The lead researcher recruited the sample through extensive field work in UAE and KSA. She visited over 100 hotels in in KSA and the UAE and secured face to face meetings with 75 hotel managers to ask whether they would allow female staff to participate in the research. In all, 66 hotels agreed to participate in the research: 39 in KSA and 27 in the UAE. These hotels were mainly from large, well-known international hotel chains (for confidentiality reasons the names of the hotels are not included). A small number were neither large nor international (n = 7). In the hotels where the managers agreed to participate in the study, the questionnaires were then made available to all female staff. Completion was on an entirely voluntary basis. In total, 385 questionnaires were completed.\n4. The sample: In total, 385 women participated in the survey. Women working in a wide range of roles were represented and the respondents included women with and without caring responsibilities (for children, or a sick or elderly relative), both nationals and expatriates and Arabs and non-Arabs. These differences allowed consideration of whether and how barriers to employment and motivation for finding and staying in employment varied according to the different cultural context of the country in which they were employed (UAE, KSA) their nationality status (national or expatriate; Arab or non-Arab) whether the women had children, their family caring responsibilities and as both the latter are likely to be related to age, the sample are also stratified by age group.\n5. Findings: Key findings related to barriers into and in work, problems caused by working, motivation for work and job satisfaction\n6. Discussion: The analysis of the questionnaire responses suggests that the experiences of work of this sample of women vary considerably by country, nationality and according to whether they have caring responsibilities. In particular, while both KSA and UAE are Arab countries and share many cultural features of the Middle East cluster characterised in the GLOBE study (Gupta et al., 2002; GLOBE Foundation, 2016), the employment situation for women in these two countries is very different. The situation is also very different from the perspective of nationals and expatriate workers and Arabs and non-Arabs as well as for women with/without caring responsibilities and children. For example, KSA and UAE nationals and expatriate Arabs were more likely to be satisfied with the ways they interacted with their supervisors and management. In contrast, women working in the UAE and expatriates were more likely to agree that they were fairly paid and that they had opportunities for promotion while KSA nationals were less satisfied with their pay and conditions. The general finding that job satisfaction levels are positively linked to pay is consistent with previous research in UAE (Shallal, 2011).\n7. Conclusion: This research contributes to knowledge concerning the factors which impact upon the experiences of women working in hotels in KSA and UAE. In particular, the study highlighted the importance of the country in which they are based, their nationality status, and their caring responsibilities. These findings indirectly support previous research that highlights the importance of cultural context (Kemp et al., 2013; Kemp and Xhao, 2016) and the impact of caring upon women's employment experiences (Carmichael and Ercolani, 2016). The evidence also adds to knowledge on the barriers to accessing and remaining in employment faced by women working in hotels in KSA and UAE - a previously under researched area. Social disapproval of working women, and particularly those working in the hotel and tourism sector, is one such barrier restricting employment opportunities. This study also highlights the difficulties faced by working women in maintaining a balance between work and family life. This is a particular problem for women with children or other home care responsibilities, who should be seen as \"part of a family system\" (Shallom-Tuchin, 2013). Importantly, the research supports previous work of writers such as Kemp and Rickett (2018) that highlight the need to look in more depth at the experiences of different types of women worker, and in particular self-initiated expatriate women who have received very little academic attention to date. This study builds upon this research by highlighting some differences between the difficulties faced by female nationals and expatriate working women. As identified in previous research, in Arab countries these difficulties include the need to adjust to the Arab lifestyle, culture and working environment (Kemp and Rickett, 2018). Wider access to flexible working options may help address some of the barriers to work identified in this research study, but not all. Policies that alleviate women's responsibilities for care (Moghadam, 2013) and support them into work are also needed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore barriers to employment, problems caused by working, motivation to work and job satisfaction of women employed in hotels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study surveyed 385 women working in 75 hotels in KSA and UAE. The sample included citizens of KSA and UAE (n = 177), Arab and non-Arab expatriates (n = 208) and women with and without caring responsibilities for children or adults. The survey responses were analysed by stratifying the sample, using mean-comparison tests to consider sub-sample differences and regression analysis to quantify associations with job satisfaction.\nFindings: Women in the sample with childcare or other caring responsibilities were more likely to report work-family conflicts which were in turn linked negatively to job satisfaction. These women were also the most positive about flexible employment practices. Nationals and expatriate Arabs reported higher levels of satisfaction with managerial aspects of their work. However, nationals in KSA recorded lower levels of job satisfaction in relation to pay and conditions and also said that low salaries were a barrier to taking up employment in the first place. Negative social attitudes towards women working in hotels were a particular concern for nationals and expatriate Arab women.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample is not representative of all females working in hotels in UAE and KSA, and the results cannot be generalised. However, implications include the need to examine the experiences of self-initiated expatriate women and consider women as part of a family system.\nOriginality/value: The analysis is based on original data collected through fieldwork. The findings generate new insights on the experiences of women working in hotels in KSA and UAE.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Environmental strategy: does it lead to competitive advantage in the US wine industry?	[ "United States of America", "Wine business", "Competitive advantage", "Family firms", "Environmental management system", "Cost leadership", "Differentiation", "Family‐owned", "Family‐managed", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: What managers need is a basis from which they can prioritize environmental investments. More broadly, they need to align these investments with the generic strategy of the company - Renato J. Orsato.\n1 Environmental strategy and competitive advantage: Managing environmental issues is a critical element of strategic planning. Less well known is whether or not managing environmental issues represents a potential or even beneficial entrepreneurial response in pursuit of either a low-cost or a differentiation position, essential to attaining a competitive advantage (Orsato, 2006). An environmental management system (EMS) is more than \"doing well\" or \"greenwashing.\" Implementing an EMS requires significant investments of managerial time, financial capital, and know-how (York and Venkataraman, 2010). While the wine industry has survived numerous environmental jolts in terms of industry evolution, wine businesses also confront survival threats from the natural world such as rising energy prices, water scarcity, mounting concerns about chemical exposure, and climate change (Guthey and Whiteman, 2009; Hertsgaard, 2010). Mitigating these threats involves many different actors and institutions in the wine business manager's decision to formalize a business case for EMS. Stakeholder pressures drive adoption of EMS, and adoption of EMS, in turn, can result in product innovation, pollution prevention, and stewardship of natural resources (Berns et al., 2009; Carrillo-Hemosilla et al., 2010). As the scope and intractability of an environmental problem rise, so do opportunities for EMS innovation in the pursuit of competitive advantage (Porter and Van der Linde, 1995).The EMS process and product innovations may be positively related to business performance (Nguyen and Slater, 2010; York and Venkataraman, 2010). Several researchers have found that business age, size, and ownership (public versus private) are related to investments in EMS (Elsayed, 2006; Melnyk et al., 2003; York and Venkataraman, 2010). Because of the huge sunk cost associated with EMS investments, incumbent businesses may resist adoption due to fears of cannibalizing existing product lines and instead elect to pursue only those activities considered absolutely necessary for regulatory compliance (Gabzdylova et al., 2009; Hughey et al., 2005; Manktelow et al., 2002). Younger, entrepreneurial agricultural businesses, conversely, show a propensity to invest in EMS innovations that supplant existing structures, some creating new standards for sustainable processes and products (Carrillo-Hemosilla et al., 2010; Gilinsky et al., 2008).1.1 Importance of this research\n2 Relevant research orientations and hypotheses: Optimizing the economic return on investments with environmental strategies is a key consideration of managers of wine business. There is a movement of wine businesses toward sustainable farming and business practices, whether organic, biodynamic, or a combination; and these environmental strategies can work toward a differentiation of their brand at retail (Steinthal and Hinman, 2007).A sustainable strategic position, according to Porter (1980), requires managers to choose between trade-offs. The conventional wisdom circa 1990 held that investments in improved environmental performance would reduce profits due to increased costs, reduced quality or increased lead time. Porter (1991) started a shift in manufacturer's attitudes towards environmental responsibility in 1991. He maintained that pollution was simply waste that diminished value and indicated problems in production processes and products. Eliminating pollution waste would actually improve competitiveness.Building on the work of Porter (1980, 1985) and Barney (1997), researchers have sought to prove linkages between the existence of an EMS and the generic strategies of cost leadership and differentiation, and competitive advantage (Table I).In strategic management, according to the resource-based view (RBV) (Wernerfelt, 1984), distinctive competencies are defined as firm specific strengths that allow a company to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals either through differentiation or lower cost (Hill and Jones, 2010). Distinctive competencies can be classified in terms of resources or capabilities and their value, rareness, inimitability, and organisational sustainability. Resources are assets of the company that can be tangible (physical items such as land, buildings, equipment, inventory and money) or intangible (nonphysical items such as brand name, copyrights, patents and trademarks). Capabilities are skills, processes and routines that companies develop over time to coordinate and use the resources.Sustainability practices can serve as part of a firm's capabilities that contribute to performance according to the RBV (Barney, 1991; Peteraf, 1993; Wernerfelt, 1984). The RBV starts with the assumption that the desired outcome of managerial effort is the establishment of a sustainable competitive advantage. The basic elements of an effective EMS are described in ISO 14001 standards, and as such, ISO 14001 certification can be thought of as an intangible resource that improves the quality of management in order to provide operational efficiencies (Delmas, 2001).Prior research into EMS tools, such as ISO 14001, have found that they have the ability to provide economic benefits to certified firms in terms of competitive advantage as well as improving environmental performance (Bansal, 1999; Corbett and Kirsch, 2001). Direct financial benefits might include a reduction in regulatory fines and increased operational efficiencies. Certification can also indicate that the company has a sound environmental system in place to placate external stakeholders such as customers, investors, and regulatory agencies.An expanded version of RBV theory is the natural RBV that includes a firm's environmental practices (Hart, 1995). Several studies have linked enhanced environmental practices with improved economic, operational, and environmental performance (Melnyk et al., 2003; Rao and Holt, 2005; Sroufe, 2003).2.1 Cost leadership advantage\n3 Research design: The survey instrument to collect information on winery sustainability practices, e.g. sustainability defined, potential impacts, strategies, possible challenges and benefits, and the value in environmental practices, was designed and adapted from the survey instrument used by Berns and his colleagues (2009). The survey was pretested with owners of 12 wineries in Northern California for suitability of questions and appropriate questionnaire length. For the main survey, we chose to collect data on-line, so we further pretested the questions on the web-based survey with 16 Green Wine Summit attendees in early Fall 2010. Minor adjustments were made to some questions to increase clarity and understanding.We chose a single geographically defined sector in the USA to remove any possible distortion arising from peculiarities of different sectors or the biases that various regulations or national aid and subsidy policies, which governments and other agencies might introduce in other wine-growing regions across the globe. We did not find any significant differences between the descriptive characteristics of the firms included in the study (location, activities and size when available) and the original population.In Fall 2010, an invitation to participate in the wine industry sustainability practices survey was emailed to a convenience sample of 1,469 US wineries, which was compiled from attendees at the annual Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento, California. Follow-up emails were sent two weeks later. 98 usable, completed surveys were received, resulting in a response rate of 7 percent, which is not atypical of mail surveys (Pullman et al., 2010). We adhered to Dillman's (1978, 1991) mail survey methodology, but the historically private nature of the wine industry may have posed an obstacle to gathering data about competitive strategy. Although this response rate was attenuated in comparison with more wide-ranging empirical studies, a number of recent published investigations into adoption of EMSs by SMEs in the food and wine sectors report similarly low response rates (Olsen and Thach, 2007; Martin-Tapia et al., 2008; Pullman et al., 2009). Non-response bias data were not collected for those respondents who started, but chose not to complete the questionnaire by closing their browser.Company owners comprised 68 percent of the respondents; respondents were asked to check all that apply as to their relationship to their winery (Table II). Over 80 percent of respondents' wineries were family-owned, family-managed. The majority of the wineries were small and medium case producers; more than three-quarters of respondents' wineries produced less than 20,000 cases. Demographics of the wineries represented are detailed in Table III.\n4 Discussion of results: To compute the statistic analyses, SPSS 15.0 was used. Content validity of the measurement instrument was established mainly through the adoption of existing instruments, while reliabilities of the constructs were performed using Cronbach's a coefficients. To address the hypotheses, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used. Standard and multivariate assumptions were tested and found adequate to perform all appropriate analyses.4.1 The case for EMS\n5 Implications for researchers and practitioners: The literature suggests linkages between EMS and opportunities for competitive advantage (Melnyk et al., 2003; Porter, 1985). This study found that wineries with a clear business case for EMS reported greater perceptions of cost leadership and differentiation advantages over those that did not have a clear business case for EMS. However, the wineries with a clear business case for EMS did not perceive greater operational performance over those that did not have a clear business case for EMS. This study also found that wineries continue to incorporate EMS despite the economic downturn.5.1 Cost leadership advantage\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the perceptions of competitive advantage (cost leadership, differentiation, and performance) of those wineries which have implemented a clear business case for an environmental management system (EMS) and those which have not. Benefits and challenges of sustainability practices are also addressed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected via self-report web-based survey. Of the 98 respondents, over 80 per cent were family-owned, family-managed.\nFindings: - Those respondents with a clear business case for EMS exhibited significant differences in cost leadership and differentiation advantages over those without a clear business case for EMS. Those with a clear EMS derived significantly greater supply chain optimization and operational efficiencies than those without a clear EMS. Those with a clear EMS also felt that they gained an enhanced ability to enter new markets to a much greater extent than those without a clear EMS. Results of this study demonstrate a significantly higher level of commitment by those respondents with a clear EMS when addressing sustainability initiatives during a current economic down turn over those who did not. Those respondents who had a clear EMS indicated that they had somewhat increased their sustainability commitments, rather than conducting business as usual with no change or somewhat decreasing sustainability commitments as those who did not have a clear EMS.\nOriginality/value: - Activities that create competitive advantages for wine businesses are understudied; this research bridges that gap.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tremors and tenants: The effect of a natural disaster and policy changes on commercial office occupiers in New Zealand	[ "Office buildings", "Building regulation", "Earthquake risk", "Earthquake-prone buildings", "Post disaster recovery", "Tenants" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The unprecedented seismic activity in the Canterbury Region from late 2010 through early 2011 has led to a marked increase in concerns regarding building performance during earthquakes over the whole of New Zealand. The most recent earthquake struck Christchurch on 22 February 2011, and was especially destructive, resulting in the loss of 185 lives. There has also been widespread damage inflicted on a large number of residential and commercial buildings in Christchurch city. Nearly 1,300 buildings in the Christchurch Central Business District's \"Rebuild Zone\" will eventually be demolished, which represents nearly 70 per cent of the CBD's commercial building stock (Christchurch City Council, 2014).\nLiterature review: This study considers the reaction of commercial tenants in Auckland to the Canterbury earthquakes and the subsequent policy changes. Little literature exists regarding office tenants' reactions after sudden events like natural disasters or deliberately caused catastrophes such as terrorist attacks. Two relavent studies include Abadie and Dermisi (2008) and Miller et al. (2003) who evaluated the impact that the attacks of 11 September (9/11) had on office vacancy rates in major US cities. While there were no significant increases in the vacancy rates of tall properties after the events of 9/11 (Miller et al., 2003), famous or landmark buildings (e.g. Sears Tower, Empire State Building) suffered much more pronounced increases (Abadie and Dermisi, 2008; Miller et al., 2003). Abadie and Dermisi suggest that once the perceived level of a similar event returns to the pre-9/11 levels, the long-term growth of cities would not be affected. This is confirmed by Fuerst (2005) who noted that the majority of tenants returned to their Manhattan offices after the damaged buildings were restored. Reactions of homeowners to California's 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake are documented in Palm and Hodgson (1992). Notably, experiencing an earthquake was the key factor in motivating changes in attitude and behaviour of households in Southern California. Although there was a clear increase in the perception of risk among respondents, this did not translate into greater uptake of mitigation measures. The survey of homeowners found that the highest increase in the purchase of insurance was in the county that was the most severely impacted by the Loma Prieta earthquake.\nResearch design: The goal of this research was to collect in-depth data about office tenants' building location preferences following the Canterbury earthquakes and identify major factors contributing to the change in tenant behaviour and risk perception. Given its conduciveness to providing rich information on the complex relationships, a qualitative approach was chosen utilising the thematic analysis method to identify, analyse and report the patterns emerged from the data (Braun and Clarke, 2006). To develop an understanding of tenant behaviour, data were collected from semi-structured interviews which allowed respondents significant freedom in their narration of responses (Anastas, 1988).\nFindings: Several primary themes emerged from the interviews. The following sections provide detail on these themes along with quotes from the participants related to the findings.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Despite the fact that buildings' seismic strength was not often considered before the Canterbury earthquakes, tenants across New Zealand now incorporate earthquake issues in their leasing decisions. It has been found that often landlords voluntarily disclose seismic strength (%NBS) of their property to tenants. Although ideally all tenants would apply similar standards to the spaces they occupy, the study revealed that level of concern varies with the type of tenant. Whereby large corporate firms and government departments tend to apply more onerous policies in regards to the safety of their employees, small-sized enterprises are inclined to accept a degree of risk by occupying earthquake-risk or -prone buildings. Gray and Balmer (1998) argue that maintaining corporate responsibility and image offers firms strategic advantage. There is however an optimal level of investment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and according to McWilliams and Siegel (2001) this \"ideal\" level will depend on a firm's size. Therefore this study has helped highlight the importance larger firms place on CSR while small occupiers are constrained by costs. Levy and Peterson (2013) in their study on the availability of sustainable buildings and its effect on office occupiers' location choice in the Auckland CBD, also found that capital constraints affect location decision and was more apparent for smaller tenants.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the changes in commercial office occupiers' preferences in their building choice as a result of a recent natural disaster which triggered policy changes in building safety.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study follows a qualitative research design comprising semi-structured one-on-one interviews with 24 property professionals (commercial leasing agents and property managers) in Auckland, New Zealand. A thematic analysis was employed for identifying, analysing and reporting themes emerged within data.\nFindings: Tenants across New Zealand now incorporate earthquake issues in their leasing decisions. Most tenants are familiar with the impending policy changes related to earthquake-prone buildings. The degree to which building standards are incorporated into office occupiers' choice varies with the size of the organisation and their willingness to invest in their corporate social responsibility. A certain level of overreaction was observed in tenants' behaviour in the face of risk and uncertainty following the earthquakes. However, risk appears to be subsiding and emphasis is placed on availability of space in desirable locations.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings are limited due to a non-random sample selection and a small sample size. Further quantitative research is required to determine if office tenants place a premium on occupying seismically safe buildings since forthcoming regulatory changes have been announced.\nPractical/implications: This study provides evidence that imminent building policy changes are efficient in raising public awareness and informing perceptions of potential losses following a recent natural disaster event. Building owners can potentially capitalise on tenants' desire to occupy high quality space.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that develops the knowledge base identifying the perceptions of tenants about seismic safety of buildings since the Canterbury earthquakes. The study also contributes to the literature on the market effect of policy changes triggered by a focusing event.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Comparison of mass customization and generative customization in mass markets	[ "Mass customization", "Supply chain management", "Mass production" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although it has been over 20 years since Davis (1987) first coined the term mass customization as \"a business strategy for profitably providing customers with anything they want, anytime, in any way\", it has yet to achieve these expectations in consumer mass markets. Pine (1994) designated mass customization as marketing's \"final frontier\", yet the big winners in consumer markets continue to pursue a strategy of standardization (Rigby and Vishwanath, 2006), opting for efficiency over innovation.One probable reason mass customization has yet to become a viable alternative to mass production is due to a lack of taxonomic classification within research of a clear definition. Kumar et al.'s (2007) content analysis of mass customization since the concept's inception found a \"lack of a general theory\" as a necessary, but missing requirement. In some cases, researchers are associating the term personalization, which often occurs in non-mass, niche market segments (such as personally fit golf clubs) and mass customization, which, according to the views of the author, should only be considered alternatively to consumer mass markets.In this paper, mass customization is strictly defined related to consumer mass markets; Broekhuizen and Alsem (2002) defined mass customization success as \"its ability to provide superior customer value - through customization on a mass scale\". As an alternative to a customer centric model of design and fulfillment of mass customization, Buffington and McCubbrey (2010) developed an alternative concept to mass customization called generative customization. Using this concept, the consumer is virtually involved (via a generative design process) rather than being an active participant, as in mass customization. The authors defined the term generative customization as a product conceptualization and fulfillment system that enables customization through a front-end generative design process rather than active or passive consumer involvement in the elicitation process, and a supply chain system that enables this innovation. Therefore, it is proposed that generative customization offers greater innovation and customization in product design in comparison to mass production, and superior supply chain fulfillment to mass customization. In general, Figure 1 is a representation of this system.Generative customization offers an interesting contrast to mass customization: the former assumes innovation through a method of using computing technology to generate and fulfill innovative, customized, and viable design possibilities (Krish, 2010), while the latter assumes a direct involvement of the consumer through the use of the consumer as a co-producer (as noted by Pine, 1993 and Kotler, 1989) as the driver of innovation. The purpose of this study is to explore mass customization and generative customization relative to a consumer's ability and willingness to be involved in the conceptualization and fulfillment process. To do so, a survey was conducted with the concept of mass customization as an alternative to a conventional mass production system, given the consumer's familiarity of the concept (and not of generative customization).A crucial difference between mass customization and generative customization is the degree of elasticity regarding consumer involvement and sacrifice, and the degree to which a consumer's involvement can be virtually simulated alternatively in a generative design process. If a consumer has an elastic aptitude toward involvement and willingness to sacrifice as a co-producer, then mass customization may be considered as the most viable alternative, given the consumer's desired proximity in the design and fulfillment process. However, if the consumer is ambivalent or worse toward involvement and sacrifice, it will be assumed that the generative customization system is a superior conceptual alternative to mass production.The remainder of the paper will be as follows: next, a literature review will be presented regarding critical concepts of mass customization, consumer behavior, generative design and generative customization. Next, the methodology section will present the research approach used to conduct this study. Finally, the results will be discussed, as well as conclusions and future research based upon this study.\nLiterature review: Mass customization research\nMethodology: Study design\nResults: Survey results\nConclusions: From the literature review, it was found that the study of mass customization in mass markets is a research challenge due to a lack of a general theory, governing tenets of customer choice theory, insufficient progress at the present in establishing an effective customer elicitation process/tool, and the problem of convergence related to the use of linear, deterministic methods in seeking product designs through mass customization. The results of the survey administered to the sample populations did nothing to reverse these concerns, with the US and Swedish populations generally ambivalent regarding their perceptions, and willingness to participate in a mass customization conceptualization and fulfillment process for mass markets.While the results indicate that consumers do not perceive mass customization as a viable option to mass production, it also implies a willingness to consider other alternatives. The findings of this paper support the notion that the concept of generative customization, as developed by Buffington and McCubbrey (2010) offers an opportunity for improvement in comparison to these production systems. Separate from Buffington and McCubbrey (2010), this paper established clear differences between mass customization and generative customization as alternative systems to mass production. Given the challenges associated with mass customization as a mass market alternative to mass production, and the consumer's suboptimal perception of mass production as well, both points established in this paper, the trade-offs identified within a generative customization system should be empirically explored as a viable approach to product design conceptualization and fulfillment improvements. The validation of the consumer's role in the process, via this study, will enable future research to do so.\nFuture research: In this study, generative customization was conceptually established as a potential alternative production system to mass production that should be empirically explored in future research. First, an experiment should be conducted comparing a consumer's evaluation of a virtual consumer approach to that of one's active involvement as a co-producer (mass customization). After establishing consumer requirement parameters, the study can simulate product design results using generative customization, and allow the consumer to compare these results to how they would perceive their own involvement in a process as a co-producer.Second, given the assumption that a generative customization system will achieve the same or near mass production efficiency, an agent-based modeling simulation can be undertaken to predict the accuracy of this hypothesis within a certain industry. With consumer tolerance to time and cost requirements being relatively inelastic, it should be studied whether generative customization can achieve consumer tolerance levels.Finally, an individual case study in the use of generative customization at a specific firm would be useful to better understand how a firm might consider its use, and perhaps a more specific understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of doing so. Boer and Dulio's (2007) assertion of the lack of analysis of mass customization in specific industries is posed as a limitation in this study, and should be mitigated as a lesson learned in the future study of generative customization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Mass customization has yet to fulfill its original purpose as established by marketing researchers to become an alternative to mass production, largely due to its inability to achieve mass market levels of efficiency. The purpose of this study is to survey consumer's perceptions, willingness and capabilities of participating in a mass customization system, and understand the implications of its findings related to an alternative production system, generative customization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - After an extensive literature review of mass customization, consumer behavior, complex adaptive systems and generative design, a survey was conducted across US and Swedish consumers relative to their willingness and perceptions regarding mass customization, with hypotheses based upon extant research standards.\nFindings: - The survey results found that consumers are ambivalent toward mass customization in mass markets, and a conceptual alternative (generative customization) appears to achieve, at least conceptually, the necessary objectives relative to product design conceptualization and fulfillment that mass customization cannot achieve.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A lack of significant findings from extant research regarding consumer perceptions and tolerances regarding mass customization in mass markets is a limitation to this study. The discussion of a new concept (generative customization) as a viable alternative to mass customization as a result of the survey findings needs to be validated empirically in future research.\nOriginality/value: - The paper empirically validates a definition of mass customization as a complementary rather than an alternative to mass production. It also introduces and develops the concept of generative customization as viable alternative to mass production, albeit one that must be empirically validated in future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The content of L-carnitine in meat after different methods of heat treatment	[ "L‐carnitine", "Food", "Animal tissues", "Heat processing", "Radio‐enzymatic assay", "Meat", "Muscles" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: L-carnitine (b-hydroxy-g-trimethylaminobutyrate) is an essential constituent of many mammalian tissues. It partly derives from endogenous synthesis and partly from nutrient sources, mainly from meat and dairy products. A principal function of L-carnitine is facilitating transport of activated long chain fatty acids from the cytosol into mitochondria for subsequent b-oxidation. Other functions of L-carnitine include modulation of the intramitochondrial CoA/acyl-CoA ratio, ketone body utilization and peroxisomal b-oxidation of fatty acids (Harmeyer and Schlumbohm, 1997; Reda et al., 2003).In humans the total amount of body carnitine is influenced by nutritional behaviour and the type of diet. L-carnitine deficiencies can occur, for example, after an impaired biosynthesis or after an impaired intracellular import of L-carnitine (Wan and Hubbard, 1998; Campos et al., 1993; Lahjouji et al., 2001). Low circulating concentrations of L-carnitine in blood plasma may reduce the rate of fatty acid oxidation and may result in muscle weakness. This can affect heart and skeletal muscle functions (Duran et al., 1990; Nezu et al., 1999; Roschinger et al., 2000). For healthy adults L-carnitine is not considered an essential nutrient (Rebouche, 1986; Vaz and Wanders, 2002). It may be regarded as a conditionally essential nutrient during certain physiological conditions, such as pregnancy (Schoderbeck et al., 1995; Kaise, 1997; Ylitalo et al., 2005, Donnelly et al., 2007), in new born (Shortland et al., 1998; El-Hattab et al., 2010), patients with diabetes (Mynatt, 2009; Galvano et al., 2009), cancer (Cruciani et al., 2009) or HIV (Benedini et al., 2009) and in certain states of liver and kidney diseases (Aseo et al., 1999; Tamamogullari et al., 1999).In the past, the content of L-carnitine in different types of food has been determined (Gotz, 1989; Demarquoy et al. 2004; Shimada et al. 2004; Knuttel-Gustavsen and Harmeyer, 2007). The measurements showed that the L-carnitine concentrations varied greatly between different animal-derived foods.In western countries, most of the meat is heated prior to consumption. It was of interest to examine whether the different forms of heating, such as boiling in water, pan-frying or cooking in a microwave are accompanied by losses of L-carnitine from meat. Such losses occur with a number of other nutrients, e.g vitamins (Kumar and Aalbersberg, 2006) and minerals (Gokoglu et al., 2004). Relatively little is known in this respect about L-carnitine and for people who suffer from conditional carnitine deficiency, it is of interest to know about the effect of food processing on the amount of L-carnitine in meat.\n2. Material and methods: 2.1 Reagents and chemicals\n3. Results: Contents of total and free carnitine and contents of carnitine esters as percentage of total carnitine in the meat samples before and after heat treatment are presented in Table I. The L-carnitine concentrations differed between the specimens. Among the tested unprocessed meat samples the highest concentration of L-carnitine was found in ostrich (439 mg/100 g DM) and beef (305+-126 mg/100 g DM) and followed by pork (86.5+-6.1 mg/100 g DM), turkey (56 mg/100 g DM) and broiler (25.4 mg/100 g DM). The mean content of free carnitine represented 70 per cent in beef, 88 per cent in pork and 97 per cent in poultry.The content of total and free carnitine in muscles declined during heating regardless which preparation method was used (Table II). Except for pan-frying, the increase in L-carnitine amount in the fluid fractions during heat treatment fully accounted for the carnitine losses from the tissue. This observation was similar for total and free carnitine. The percentage of carnitine ester varied before and after heating and showed no typical pattern. All processed samples showed weight reductions (Table I).Microwave cooking\n4. Discussion: The present study was performed to examine the effect of different forms of heat processing (cooking in a microwave, pan-frying or boiling in water) on the amount of L-carnitine in meat from different domestic animals.In untreated meat samples, the highest concentration of L-carnitine was found in beef (44-143 mg/100 g WW) and ostrich (128 mg/100 g WW) followed by pork (20-26 mg/100 g WW). The lowest L-carnitine concentration was found in turkey (13 mg/100 g WW) and broiler (6.3 mg/100 g WW). Most of the L-carnitine was present in form of non-esterified (free) carnitine, accounting for about 70 per cent in beef, 88 per cent in pork and 97 per cent in poultry. These values agreed well with findings from earlier studies (Gotz, 1989; Knuttel-Gustavsen and Harmeyer, 2007).Nowadays, meat is usually not eaten crude but cooked prior to its consumption. Thus, the cooking of meat is usually accompanied with the loss of water and weight. In general, when skeletal muscles are heated, the muscle fibres start to shrink, the sarcolemma contracts and its water binding capacity decreases. Consequently, tissue fluid is pressed out and mixed with the surrounding fluid. Since L-carnitine is water-soluble, the concentration of L-carnitine in meat decreases in proportion to the lost fluid. In our study we found variable losses of L-carnitine during heating, depending on animal species, type of meat and type of heat treatment. The remaining amount of L-carnitine in meat after microwave cooking was found to be approximately 50 per cent in pork, 71.4+-8.9 per cent in beef and 90.1+-5.2 per cent in poultry (including ostrich). The decrease of L-carnitine was statistically significant different in beef. In pork and poultry more samples are needed to make any conclusion about statistical significance. The amount of L-carnitine which was liberated from meat could be recovered from the surrounding fluid (7.9+-4.2 per cent in poultry (including ostrich), 26.5+-4.2 per cent in beef and approximately 45 per cent in pork). When the determined L-carnitine content in the fluid was added to the L-carnitine content in the sample, no statistically significance could be obtained. Gotz (1989) also reported that the amount of L-carnitine in meat declined when it was cooked in a microwave (beef: 64+-9 per cent; pork: 73+-6 per cent; poultry: 75+-0.8 per cent) and that the amount of L-carnitine could be recovered in the obtained fluid (16+-0.8 per cent in poultry, 31+-12 per cent in pork and 38+-9 per cent in beef). However, in her study, the decrease of L-carnitine from poultry meat with corresponding amount in the fluid was larger than in our study and could be explained with differences in processing of the samples (longer microwave treatments).During pan-frying, the L-carnitine amount in meat was found to be approximately 67 per cent in pork, 75.4+-7.5 per cent in beef and 80.3+-3.7 per cent in poultry (including ostrich). Again, the decrease of L-Carnitine was statistically significant different in beef. Our obtained results after pan-frying were similar to those reported by Wakamatsu (1999). After pan-frying no fluid was received and no L-carnitine could be detected in the washing water. The liberated L-carnitine was most likely destroyed during the high temperature process.In our study, the loss of L-carnitine from meat enhanced with increasing boiling time, regardless of animal species (beef: ten minutes boiling time 45.5 per cent, 20 minutes boiling time 34.7+-1.2 per cent, 30 minutes boiling time 25.8 per cent; turkey filet: ten minutes boiling time 57 per cent, 30 minutes boiling time 39 per cent). The decrease of L-carnitine was statistically significant different in the pooled meat group (beef, pork and poultry (including ostrich). The amount of L-carnitine which was liberated from meat during boiling could be recovered from the cooking water and enhanced with increasing boiling time (beef: ten minutes boiling time 54 per cent, 20 minutes boiling time 63.3+-4.4 per cent, 30 minutes boiling time 75 per cent; turkey filet: ten minutes boiling time 38 per cent, 30 minutes boiling time 55 per cent). Wakamatsu (1999) reported similar results in the meat, in addition, here smaller pieces of meat lost higher amounts during boiling than bigger pieces. For L-carnitine content in boiling-water, no literature data could be found.Rigault et al. (2008) suggested that boiling, grilling, baking or microwave cooking of different meat would not markedly affect the amount of L-carnitine present in the tissue. In her study, however, the weight losses of meat during cooking were not taken into account. If a mean weight loss of 25 per cent of the samples was considered (as shown in our study), the data from Rigault et al. (2008) showed equal losses of L-carnitine compared to our study.The percentage of L-carnitine esters appeared to be somewhat affected by the heat treatments but showed no typical pattern (Table I). Rigault et al. (2008) reported that the ratio between free and esterified carnitine was not markedly affected by heating. Gotz (1989) pointed out that the amount of long chain CE decreased in beef during cooking in a microwave. This was explained by hydrolysis of the CE. In our study, the long chain L-carnitine esters could not be detected by the radioenzymatic assay. The percentage of long chain carnitine esters in meat from domestic animals is usually less than 4 per cent (Gotz, 1989). Nelson et al. (1985) claimed that the decreased values of total carnitine in meat, which had been cooked, were mainly due to losses of free L-carnitine.In Germany, the average consumption of meat in 2008 per capita was estimated to be 60.4 kg (38.4 kg pork, 11.2 kg poultry, 8.6 kg beef and 2 kg others) (Bundesverband der Deutschen Fleischwaren Industri eV., n.d.). This intake depends on age, gender and food preferences. The average daily intake of L-carnitine per capita, calculated under consideration of our results in untreated meat specimen, was 19.7 mg/day for beef, 24.2 mg/day for pork, 2.96 mg/day for poultry and 5.4 mg/day for others (estimated as sheep/hare and roe deer (Gotz, 1989)). Additionally, 11 mg L-carnitine per day is received through the daily intake of dairy products (Knuttel-Gustavsen and Harmeyer, 2007; Milch and Markt Informationsburo der deutschen Milchindustrie, n.d.) and <2 mg L-carnitine per day is ingested through daily intake of fish and vegetables/fruit (Knuttel-Gustavsen and Harmeyer, 2007; Demarquoy et al., 2004; Proplanta, 2008). Based on these results, omnivore humans approximately ingest 66 mg L-carnitine per day. This is more than the carnitine produced endogenously, which has been estimated to be 0.19 mg per day per kg body weight or 13.4 mg per day for a 70 kg human being (Rebouche, 1992, 1996). In omnivore humans, approximately 75 per cent of body carnitine sources come from the diet and 25 per cent comes from de novo biosynthesis (Lombard et al., 1989) these earlier findings are in accordance with our results.Since carnitine is present primarily in meat, strict vegetarians obtain very little carnitine from their diet. Vegatarians obtain 90 per cent of their carnitine through biosyntheses (Rebouche, 1996) which leads to significant lower plasma concentrations of L-carnitine (Lombard et al., 1989). However, this is not of any clinical significance; L-carnitine is regarded as an essential nutrient only for humans who suffer from primary or secondary carnitine deficiencies. For humans who suffer from these conditions, the knowledge about L-carnitine concentrations in different processed meat products is helpful to establish a balanced diet to compensate lack of L-carnitine.\n5. Conclusions: Except for pan-frying where no liquid was formed, the loss of L-carnitine from meat was compensated by an equivalent increase of carnitine in the water fraction.Patients, who suffer from primary or secondary carnitine deficiency, lack the ability to meet L-carnitine requirements by endogenous synthesis. The findings of this study showed that for these individuals cooked meat can serve as an important source of L-carnitine. It is recommended to include the accompanying fluid fractions in the meal. To prevent L-carnitine losses into the water fraction during heating, it is suggested to use thicker meat pieces.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The objective of this study is to examine the effects of pan-frying, boiling and cooking in a microwave on the amount of L-carnitine in meat and to look at its distribution in the surrounding fluid after food processing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Total carnitine, free carnitine and acylcarnitines were determined in meat samples from beef, pork and poultry (including ostrich) and in a liver sample from beef. The measurements were carried out before and after the specimens were subjected to different heat treatments. A radio-enzymatic assay was used for measurement of L-carnitine. Results are expressed per 100 gram dry matter and per 100 gram wet weight.\nFindings: - Except for pan-frying, virtually no losses of carnitine occurred during the different procedures of heat treatment. During boiling and microwaving, however, a considerable portion of the tissue carnitine escaped into the water fraction. With pan-frying, carnitine losses from meat amounted to from 3 to 36 per cent. In all animal species, tissue losses of L-carnitine increased with increase of boiling time. When expressed as a percentage of total carnitine, the proportion of carnitine present as esters differed somewhat between different heating procedures but showed no typical pattern.\nOriginality/value: - The findings of this study show the important role that meat products play for providing an adequate amount of L-carnitine in humans who are suffering from carnitine deficiency and an exogenous supplementation is needed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding the learning tactics of college students and their relationship to leadership	[ "Leadership", "Learning", "Students", "Inventory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: People learn in a variety of ways. Similarly, people learn critical management and leadership skills from a variety of sources, often overlapping ones. While in school, college and university especially, learning about leadership and being a leader takes place in formal classes and seminars, through reading books and articles, participation in co-curricular activities (ranging from intercollegiate and intramural sports, residential halls, fraternal organizations, student government, clubs, community service projects, etc.), interactions with external speakers, role models, and coaches, through small-group project assignments, challenging tasks, competitions, and even hardships (Doh, 2003). Learning is the process of making meaning out of one's experiences so that one can act appropriately. Mezirow (1994, pp. 222-223) defines learning as \"the social process of construing and appropriating a new or revised interpretation of meaning of one's experience as a guide to action.\" Conceptualized broadly, therefore, people learn from their experience, however formal or informal, structured or naturally occurring. This study examined the tactics students use for learning, and explored how these various learning tactics might relate to how students actually behaved as leaders.\nSample and methodology: The sample consisted of all first year students majoring in business at a private comprehensive master's level university located on the west coast of the United States. Students (N = 830) completed the questionnaires at the start of a required course in their second quarter of enrollment. Data was collected over two years in order to minimize any potential impact of academic year. There were no significant differences in the demographic characteristics between the students in year one or year two of the study. The students in the sample were relatively homogenous in terms of their ages (18-19 years). Nearly all had little to no work experience (beyond summer employment), and although somewhat active in extra-curricular activities while in high school they had not spent enough time at the university to become very engaged in any substantive activities or to hold any formal organizational positions. While the percentage of male respondents was higher than female respondents (56 versus 44 percent) post hoc analyses revealed no significant differences by gender. In all of these dimensions this sample provided a good counterpoint to the sample characteristics reported previously (Brown and Posner, 2001).Students completed the Learning Tactics Inventory (LTI) and the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (S-LPI). The LTI (Dalton, 1999) is a 32-item set of statements intended to assess how people report learning when faced with \"the challenge of an unfamiliar task or experience.\" Each statement is measured on a five-point Likert scale with 1 anchoring \"I have almost never used this approach\" to 5 indicating \"I have almost always used this approach.\" The LTI yields four scales, each of which represents a different tactic for learning:1. action (e.g. I am proactive in my approach, preferring to learn by trial and error);2. thinking (e.g. I read articles or books or go online to gain knowledge and background);3. feeling (e.g. I confront myself on what I am worrying about); and4. accessing others (e.g. I bounce my hopes and fears off someone I trust).Each of the learning tactics (scales) is measured by eight statements and Cronbach's alpha coefficients of internal reliability for each has been reported at 0.70 or greater (Dalton, 1999). In this study, Cronbach's alpha scores were roughly equivalent ranging from 0.67 to 0.72. A Versatility Index is computed by adding up how many tactics the respondent reports using, where the respondent's score was above the median for the sample. Scores can range from zero to four, thus a score of four means the respondent scored above the median on all four learning tactics and is a highly versatile learner. Internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) in this study for the Versatility Index was 0.70.The Student Leadership Practices (S-LPI) was designed to identify specific behaviors and actions that students report using when they are at their personal best as leaders (Posner and Brodsky, 1992; Kouzes and Posner, 2008). These behaviors are categorized into five leadership practices. Representative statements of leadership behaviors for each leadership practice are:1. model the way (e.g. I set a personal example of what I expect from others);2. inspire a shared vision (e.g. I describe a compelling image of what our future could be like);3. challenge the process (e.g. I seek out challenging opportunities that test my skills and abilities);4. enable others to act (e.g. I develop cooperative relationships with the people I work with); and5. encourage the heart (e.g. I praise people for a job well done).Respondents are asked to consider how frequently they engage in each of the behaviors using five-point Likert-scales, with (1) indicating rarely or seldom and (5) indicating very frequently or almost always. Identified as practices common to successful leaders in corporate, government, and not-for-profit organizations, these leadership practices and behaviors have been shown to correspond well to the developmental issues of importance for college students (Brodsky, 1988).Cronbach's alpha coefficients of internal reliability for each have been reported in the literature at 0.70 or greater (Posner, 2004) and in this study internal reliability for these five leadership practices ranged from 0.65 to 0.77. A composite score was calculated following the same procedure used in the construction of the Versatility Index on the LTI. This score, representing a Transformational Leadership Index, was computed by adding up how many leadership practices the respondent reported using, where the respondent's score was above the median for the sample. Transformational Leadership scores could range from 0 to 5; thus a score of five means the respondent scored above the median on all five leadership practices and is a high transformational leader. Internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) for the Transformational Leadership Index was 0.75.Previous studies have found the Student Leadership Practices Inventory to have sound psychometric properties (Kouzes and Posner, 2009); with validity for these five leadership practices and effectiveness reported across a range of student sample populations. Numerous researchers have successfully used a summative or composite measure of the five leadership practices to represent transformational leadership (e.g. Carless et al., 1994; Francisco, 2000; Bell-Roundtree and Westbrook, 2001; Wong, 2007; Ferrara, 2008).\nResults: Table I presents the average score and standard deviation for each of the learning tactics. Students reported engaging most frequently in the thinking learning tactic, followed by action learning, then learning through accessing Others, and finally learning through feelings. Correlations between each of these learning modalities (Table I) were all above 0.40 (p < 0.001). Paired t-test analyses revealed that the means of all four learning tactics were significantly different (p < 0.01) from one another.Correlations between the students' learning tactics and their leadership practices are presented in Table II. Internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) coefficients scores for each scale are also reported. As this data illustrates each of the four learning tactics was significantly correlated with each of the five leadership practices (p < 0.001, two-tailed). Versatility and Transformational Leadership were also significantly correlated.Table III affords a more detailed view of the previous findings by looking at the relationship between respondents' high or low use of each of the four learning tactics and how this manifested itself in their use of each of the five leadership practices. High and low frequency was operationalized as scores either above or below the median on each learning tactic. Respondents with learning scores above the median were significantly more engaged in leadership behaviors than those who were less capable of learning. Better learners, those with higher average scores, regardless of learning tactic modality, consistently engaged in leadership practices more frequently than did those in the low learning tactic category. Accordingly, learners with high levels of versatility were significantly more engaged in transformational leadership behaviors than those with lower levels of versatility.Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the four Learning Tactics explained over one-third of the variance in Transformational Leadership scores (R=0.586, R2 =0.343, F=107.62, p < 0.001). Stepwise regression analysis found the feeling learning tactic entered into the equation first and accounted for the largest amount of variance (R=0.495, R2 =0.245, F=268.77, p < 0.001). The action learning tactic entered the equation next and made a significantly additive contribution to explained variance (R2 =0.068, FD =82.25, p < 0.001), followed by the accessing learning tactic (R2 =0.021, FD =25.77, p < 0.001). The thinking learning tactic entered the equation last and made a very small but still statistically significant contribution (R2 =0.009, FD =10.99, p < 0.001).\nDiscussion: The tactics students engage in for learning take many forms, and have been modeled here in terms of four principal modalities: action, thinking, accessing others, and feeling. Their most frequently used learning tactic is thinking, followed by action, accessing, and feeling. These learning tactics are not empirically independent from one another. However, the more frequent use of any one of the learning tactics resulted in greater engagement in each of the five leadership practices. Versatile learning also showed a significant impact on the practices of transformational leadership. These findings are consistent with those of Brown and Posner (2001) and lend credence to the importance of learning generally, and versatility especially, in the development of transformational leaders.While each of the learning tactics accounted for a significant amount of variance around transformational leadership they did so in an order of importance opposite to their most frequent scores. While the frequency rank order for the learning tactics was thinking, action, accessing and feeling, the order of these learning tactics into the stepwise regression equation (and hence contribution to explained variance) was in reverse order (starting with feeling, followed by accessing, action and thinking). While this particular sample population might use the thinking learning style most frequently (which on the face of it seems quite consistent with their status or position as students, or even their relative lack of life and work experiences) this modality does not have much impact on their overall behavior as leaders. On the one hand, while few would want to follow a leader who does not \"think,\" it is possible that an overuse of this learning (or problem-solving) style restrains the leader from making decisions and taking action. On the other hand, with relationships being considered an essential part of leadership, people with a more feeling tendency to their learning or problem-solving style may demonstrate greater empathy with other people as well as foster greater levels of involvement (especially over a more analytical style that might be favored by thinking types).Some interesting differences were found post hoc about the impact of the various learning tactics on the particular leadership practices. The feeling learning tactic explained the bulk of the variance on the leadership practices of model the way and enable others to act. Action explained most of the variance around the leadership practice of challenge the process and entered the equation in second place for inspiring a shared vision and encouraging the heart. Accessing others explained the major share of variance for encouraging and second most for enabling. Thinking was most significant for explaining Inspiring and entered second for challenging but did not make a significant addition to either enabling or encouraging.Students most comfortable with learning through their feelings engaged in the two leadership practices most associated with interpersonal relationships by both setting an example (modeling) and facilitating collaboration (enabling). Action oriented learners were most engaged with challenging which makes logical sense since both concepts (learning style and this leadership practice) involve taking risk, experimenting and learning experientially. Students comfortable with learning by reaching out and accessing others were, in turn, most engaged or comfortable with recognizing and appreciating others (encouraging). The thinking learning tactic facilitated the reflection and introspection associated with finding one's voice and envisioning the future (inspiring). However, as previously noted, it is possible that too much thinking (alone) may get in the way of building relationships, as indicated by the relatively insignificant contribution to explained variance by thinking as a learning tactic to the enabling and encouraging leadership practices.These findings offer several implications for leadership educators working with students particularly; although they may also be applied in workplace settings. For one, using a tool like the LTI helps students become more self-aware of their preferred learning tactics, as well as strategies to develop and use to become a more versatile learner. With this information they may to make better choices about putting themselves into situations that they can learn the most from. Second, because learning occurs through a variety of modalities, any effort to develop leadership skills would benefit from designs that access more than one learning style or modality. For example, rather than just having students listen to speakers talking about their leadership lessons, they need to be challenged to have their own leadership experience, and take time for reflective engagement on both activities (Roberts, 2008). Having identified a specific leadership practice that needs further development educators may want to design experiences that tap into the learning tactics most associated with that particular practice. For example, getting more comfortable with challenging the process may be most effectively facilitated by action-oriented experiences more than through other learning tactics. Similarly, working with personal (cognitive) reflection activities may be the key to developing Inspiring a shared vision leadership behaviors.Leadership development is a learning process in itself (Posner, 2009). Leadership development programs and approaches need to reach students at a personal and emotional level, triggering critical self-reflection, providing support for meaning making, for experimentation, and for taking action.Several limitations in this study are worth noting. Foremost are characteristics of the sample population, which was drawn from a single college campus, in a single geographical region, from students in a single discipline and in their first year of university education. The generalizability of these findings would benefit from studies involving heterogeneous samples on all of these dimensions, not withstanding the virtue of holding all these same variables constant in the current study. It should be noted, however, that the findings from this study do coincide with those reported previously in studies drawn from managerial samples (Brown and Posner, 2001).Employing different measures of learning tactics and/or leadership might also change, or substantiate, the relationships found. For example, when measuring transformational leadership post hoc as a linear sum of the five leadership practices (rather than computed using scores above the median) the amount of explained variance accounted for by these four learning tactics went up by nearly 30 percent. Finally, the implicit assumption is that engaging more in these leadership practices means being a more effective leader (Kouzes and Posner, 2006, 2007). Future studies should endeavor to include assessments of leadership effectiveness to validate this assertion in the context of transformational learning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This research aims to extend the generalizability of previous studies, using managerial samples, by investigating the tactics college students employ to learn and how this relates to their own behavior as leaders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - College students were surveyed regarding their typical tactics for learning, using Dalton's Learning Tactics Inventory, along with the extent to which they engaged in various leadership practices, using Kouzes and Posner's Student Leadership Practices Inventory.\nFindings: - Students who are more actively engaged in any of the various learning tactics (feelings, thinking, accessing others, and action), or all of them (versatility), subsequently report greater engagement across the range of leadership practices as well as transformational leadership.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The sample is drawn from college students, on a single campus, from a single discipline and in their first year of study and, while successfully holding these variables constant, may be unrepresentative of other student populations. The use of a student population may limit generalizability to managerial and/or professional populations. However, the hypotheses and methodology follow previous studies with managerial samples and serve to extend the validity of the learning and leadership relationships investigated. Future studies should add assessments of the effectiveness of leaders.\nOriginality/value: - Leadership skills can be developed through a number of learning tactics and strategies, rather than from a single perspective; but the greater the range of learning strategies utilized, the more comfortable students feel engaging in various leadership behaviors. Leadership development is a learning process in itself.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating the effectiveness of information retrieval systems using effort-based relevance judgment	[ "Information system", "Information retrieval", "TREC", "Large-scale experimentation", "Relevance judgments", "System-oriented evaluation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There are two categories of information retrieval evaluation, the system-oriented evaluation, and user-oriented evaluation. One of the important aspects of the system-oriented evaluation is the relevance judgment of a test collection containing information on the relevancy of documents concerning queries. In the TREC environment, topic experts judge the documents in regards to each query. In user-oriented evaluations, the interaction of the actual users with the retrieval systems is measured. Nonetheless, one of the disagreements between both the information retrieval evaluation categories is the consideration of relevance by the expert judges and the utility of the documents to actual users (Yilmaz et al., 2014).\n2. Research background: The following subsections highlight the importance of effort in user satisfaction and the effect of relevance to system performance.\n3. Classifying effort features and the boxplot approach for document grading: Many factors influence user satisfaction (Al-Maskari and Sanderson, 2010) and these factors can be broken down into measurable features. Simple document features, reading level features and metarank feature have been used to predict assessor disagreement (Chandar et al., 2013). Meanwhile, readability level of the document, document length and location of query terms in the document was used to measure effort needed in judging a document (Yilmaz et al., 2014).\n4. Document grades classification using the boxplot approach: The boxplot usually identifies outliers and data plots within 25 and 75 percent interquartile range which is based on the Tukey outlier detection mechanism. The suspected outliers and outliers are not removed from the evaluation but classified accordingly. The scores within 0 and the upper inner fence are divided into two to create binary relevance. The feature scores could only start from 0 and will not hold negative values, as it does not make sense to have negative scores. For example, the number of words could never be a negative value.\n5. Results and discussion: The results and discussion section is divided into three subsections. The first subsection contains the results of correlation coefficient evaluation of individual effort features for various depths of evaluation. The second subsection details the trend of correlation coefficient with regard to depth of evaluation. The final subsection analyses the cause of changes in system rankings by percentage of agreement of relevant documents between the original and effort-based relevance judgments.\n6. Conclusions and future work: This study generated and evaluated retrieval systems with low effort relevance judgments at different depths of evaluation using the proposed boxplot and standardized grading approaches. The retrieval systems evaluation using low effort relevance judgments has a stronger influence on shallow depth of evaluation compared to deeper depth. It is proved that difference in the system rankings is not due to just the number of relevant documents. At times, low numbers of relevant documents have shown strong correlation coefficient results compared to the higher number of relevant documents.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The effort in addition to relevance is a major factor for satisfaction and utility of the document to the actual user. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method in generating relevance judgments that incorporate effort without human judges' involvement. Then the study determines the variation in system rankings due to low effort relevance judgment in evaluating retrieval systems at different depth of evaluation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Effort-based relevance judgments are generated using a proposed boxplot approach for simple document features, HTML features and readability features. The boxplot approach is a simple yet repeatable approach in classifying documents' effort while ensuring outlier scores do not skew the grading of the entire set of documents.\nFindings: The retrieval systems evaluation using low effort relevance judgments has a stronger influence on shallow depth of evaluation compared to deeper depth. It is proved that difference in the system rankings is due to low effort documents and not the number of relevant documents.\nOriginality/value: Hence, it is crucial to evaluate retrieval systems at shallow depth using low effort relevance judgments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transformational leadership and innovative work behavior: The role of motivation to learn, task complexity and innovation climate	[ "Organizational culture", "Innovation", "Leadership", "Motivation psychology" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: An important factor in determining organizational competitive advantage is employees' innovative work behavior (Jiang and Gu, 2016; Shin et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2015). Innovative work behavior refers to activities pertaining to the employee's development, promotion and implementation of a useful innovation at any organizational level (Rank et al., 2004). Innovative work behavior includes the development of new ideas, technology and techniques, as well as the trial and application of new methods related to business procedures, in specific work areas. Organizations need to develop innovations to meet emerging problems and challenges due to increasing global competition, customer expectations or market changes (Savelsbergh et al., 2012; Somech and Khalaili, 2014). These challenges require employees to engage in innovative behaviors to improve the current state. Innovation helps the organizations to become viable and widely accepted as a critical factor for organizational success (Janssen et al., 2004). One of the best ways to become innovative is to capitalize employees' innovative abilities which ensure the continuous and long term effectiveness (De Jong and Den Hartog, 2010). Using their innovative abilities, employees can better contribute to organizational success by generating, promoting and implementing novel and useful ideas to improve work procedures, products and services termed as innovative work behavior (Janssen, 2000). It is therefore vital for organizations to identify and enhance the factors that regulate individuals' innovative work behavior.\nLiterature review and hypotheses development: Transformational leadership is described as the process in which leaders play an idealized role model, stimulate and encourage innovative work behavior, provide inspirational motivation and engage in supporting and mentoring followers to achieve the organization's shared vision and goals (Bass and Avolio, 1994; Bednall et al., 2018; Suifan et al., 2018). Transformational leaders' personalized attention and support to followers' needs and requirements could increase their influence on followers' engagement in creative activities. By constantly questioning and challenging followers' assumptions and thinking, these leaders stimulate followers' intellectual thinking, which ultimately encourages followers to become involved in generation and implementation of ideas. Such leaders have the ability to articulate the organizational vision with individual goals, increasing inspirational motivation among followers (Bednall et al., 2018). Therefore, it is assumed that transformational leaders will be able to inspire individual employees by relating their future to the organization's future and to encourage them to engage in the innovative work behaviors by developing a strong sense of shared vision and belongingness with the organizations.\nMotivation to learn as a mediating factor of innovative work behavior: It is argued that \"a continuous commitment to learning is central to innovativeness\" (Rhee et al., 2010, p. 66). Weisberg (1999) reckoned that learning can be indispensable for creativity, and the creative behavior of idea generation is a step-stone to innovative work behavior of adoption and implementation of those ideas that are useful (Scott and Bruce, 1994). Learning orientation can be presumed as one of many motivational orientations, and according to Sujan et al. (1994), this kind of behavior engages the individual in activities that help individuals in generating and implementing useful ideas. Employees' decision to engage or not to engage in innovative behaviors is influenced by their motivation to learn (Yu et al., 2018). Motivation to learn refers to employees' desire to learn new knowledge or insights that drives an individual to be creative and innovative in their work (Gong et al., 2009).\nModerating role of task complexity: Proponents of the IPC model identified task complexity as the major contextual factor that can influence individuals' creative behavior (Urbach et al., 2010). In the organizational context, task complexity refers to individuals' perception of the challenging nature of the work (Doci and Hofmans, 2015; Wojtczuk-Turek and Turek, 2015). However, the nature of the task still plays a critical role in employees' innovative performance (Doci and Hofmans, 2015; Hughes et al., 2018). The degree of employees' intent toward innovative activities depends on complexity and the challenging nature of the tasks. Cummings and Oldham (1997) noted that when the completion of complex tasks requires a variety of skills, employees feel more motivated to pursue new ideas. Complex tasks typically stimulate group discussions about work-related problems, and as a consequence, engaged and skilled team members provide insights that stimulate the process of forming a shared understanding of the need for change (Lantz, 2011). It is less likely that employees will look for creative ideas when the task is ordinary and simple. Complex tasks provide substantial decision-making latitude and opportunities to use high-level skills, thereby urging employees to proactively identify the task challenges and explore new possibilities and alternative courses of action (West, 2002). Performing these intrinsically motivating tasks also promotes risk-taking and experimental behaviors among employees because such tasks generate sufficient attention and motivation to experiment with unorthodox approaches when resolving given challenges (Sung et al., 2017).\nInnovation climate as a moderating variable: One of the organizational factors affecting innovation is organizational climate. It has been stated that to foster innovation, it is particularly important to create an organizational climate that is non-threatening psychologically, supports risk taking and motivates the employees to apply initiative (Parzefall et al., 2008). It has also been emphasized that organizational climate needs to include certain characteristics, such as team cohesion, supervisor support and autonomy, to foster the innovative work behavior of employees (Martins and Terblanche, 2003; Sonmez and Yildirim, 2019). Studies have empirically shown that supportive innovation climate enhances innovative work behavior among employees by fostering receptiveness to new ideas and improving proactiveness in exploring new opportunities (Yeoh and Mahmood, 2013; Yu et al., 2013). Nonetheless, limited literatures on innovation climate have integrated to advance a more precise role of innovative climate at different levels, which limits our understanding of innovation climate as a multi-level phenomenon (Wang et al., 2013).\nResearch methods: Quantitative approach and survey methodology were employed to collect employee-supervisor/colleague dyadic data. For the purpose of this study, initially, 44 organizations located in Pakistan were contacted. To stipulate their participation in the study, a presentation to the top management of each organization was delivered to inform them about the need and significance of the study, emphasizing its managerial implications. The authorities from 35 organizations showed their willingness to participate in the study. Next, with the cooperation of the management, a special orientation session for the employees and their immediate supervisors was organized at each participating organization. In the sessions, participants were informed about the importance of their careful observation of each survey item. At the end of each session, two different types of sealed envelopes (employee survey and supervisor survey) containing a questionnaire, cover letter and return envelope were hand-delivered and the participants were requested to personally complete it and return it in a sealed envelope to their HR department.\nMeasures: All constructs were measured on a five-point Likert scale. All the measurement items were taken from past research after studying the evolution of the variables of interest.\nMeasurement model: To assess the adequacy of the scales used, confirmatory factor analyses were performed. The measurement model estimates showed that the factor loadings (all>0.50), average variance extracted (AVE) (AVE>0.50) and CA (all>0.81) were all greater than the minimum threshold limit (Hair et al., 2014). As can be seen from Table I, the AVE values were greater than 0.50 and all the composite reliability values were greater than AVE values. This further confirms convergent validity of the proposed model. Furthermore, all the ASV and MSV values were found to be less than their respective AVE values confirming the discriminant validity of the constructs. Thus, the construct validity was established for all the study constructs. In addition, the VIF values ranged from 1.93 to 4.83 (below 10), indicating the absence of multicollinearity.\nStructural model: The structural model in Figure 2 shows the influence of task complexity and innovation climate on influencing innovative work behavior. It mirrors the R2 value, path coefficient and their associated significance levels with respect to the p-value, with bootstrapping of 4,000 cases. The b-value in a path relationship exhibits the strength of the relationship between exogenous and endogenous variables, and the R2 value indicates the overall predictive power of the structural model.\nHypotheses testing: Table IV represents the path coefficients of transformational leadership to innovative work behavior, transformational leadership to motivation to learn and motivation to learn to innovative work behavior relationships. The estimated path coefficients (bs) are significant (p<0.05) before running mediation: 0.553 (Transformational leadership-Innovative work behavior), 0.537 (Transformational leadership-Motivation to lead) and 0.571 (Motivation to lead-Innovative work behavior). The necessary condition is maintained for the running mediation effect. The estimates of the effect of transformational leadership to innovative work behavior are significant at p<0.001. Therefore, H1 is supported.\nDiscussion: The increasing importance of innovative work behaviors in all types of business organizations has fostered researchers to search out the mechanisms that stimulate innovative work behaviors among employees. There is a consistent gap in the literature about what constitute mediating and moderating effect on the process of predicting employee innovative work behaviors through various antecedents. The present study delves into the process of promoting employee innovative work behavior through transformational leadership and motivation to learn, and the role of task complexity and innovation climate in determining the strength of the relationship, from a multi-level interactionist perspective. We found that transformational leadership substantially influences employees' innovative work behavior. This finding is in line with previous studies that found a direct positive link between transformational leadership and innovative work behaviors (Afsar and Masood, 2018; Wang et al., 2015).\nTheoretical contributions: The findings of study contribute to the existing literature in the following ways. First, despite the growing research on creative outcomes and innovation, few studies have focused on innovative work behavior (Du et al., 2016; Masood and Afsar, 2017; Xie et al., 2016). The findings of the study could help advance the knowledge of the interaction effects of innovative work behavior from a multi-level perspective rather considering creative outcomes alone through the exploration of the impact of transformational leadership on employees' innovative work behavior. While earlier research has justified using the interactionist perspective to improve creative outcomes, the present study validates the applicability of interactionist approach to increase employees' innovative work behavior in the organizational context, as it found that employees' innovative work behavior is influenced by transformational leadership and enhanced by employees' motivation to learn, as well as the task complexity of the job.\nManagerial implications: In addition to the theoretical contributions, the study offers practical implications for managers, individuals and academics. The current research indicates that innovative work behavior in the workplace is less inclined to emerge if the organization does not focus on developing transformational leadership among managers. Findings demonstrate that transformational leadership positively impacts employees' innovative work behavior. Therefore, managers could use the essence of transformational leadership to improve employees' innovative work behavior in the organizational context. Transformational leaders on the foundation of optimism and enthusiasm, provide intellectual ingredients, make themselves readily available to support their followers and encourage them to work differently to discharge tasks. Thus, it is extremely important for managers to have a sound understanding about the theoretical and practical relationships that exist between transformational leadership and employee innovative work behavior. Managers should provide autonomy, growth opportunities and skill variety in the workplace to motivate employees intrinsically to learn new things at workplace, which will increase their engagement in creative and innovative pursuits. Organizations can benefit from combining interventions and practices that influence the work task design and the perception of employees about how complex a task is. Providing inspirational motivation to employees to try out challenging tasks and not being afraid of the outcomes of their ideas, innovative work behaviors can be enhanced quite considerably.\nLimitations and future research: Despite this study's theoretical and practical significance, it also has underlying limitations, which show avenues for further research in similar and different contexts. The sample used in this study consisted of employees working in organizations within the geographical boundaries of Pakistan and is relatively small which may limit the generalizability and external validity of the findings. The present study used cross-sectional data to investigate causal inferences (Henker et al., 2015). Future researchers are urged to employ a longitudinal or experimental research design to overcome the concern for causality relationships. The use of self-reported questionnaires might raise concern because informants are more likely to provide socially desirable answers than the most accurate responses. In our study, we developed the research model using prior constructs developed in western contexts. As emphasized by Zhang and Bartol (2010), we tested the model and found empirical support in an Asian context. Future studies in similar/dissimilar contexts in other parts of the world will increase the generalizability of these findings. Finally, while this study takes into account transformational leadership as a facilitator of innovative work behavior, it could not take into account a wide array of other leadership styles that can potentially enhance employee innovative work behaviors. Past research has, for instance, identified empowering leadership, inclusive leadership and authentic leadership as leadership styles that promote innovative behaviors (Valsania et al., 2016; Zhang and Bartol, 2010). It is recommended that future studies test how these leadership styles enhance innovative work behavior. In addition, empowerment of followers has been highlighted as an essential ingredient to increase innovative work behavior - future research may thus consider the role of psychological empowerment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of transformational leadership on employee's innovative work behavior, and the mediating role of motivation to learn, and the moderating role of task complexity and innovation climate on the link between transformational leadership and innovative work behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire, designed as a self-reported survey, was distributed to full-time employees and their respective supervisors working in 35 firms (services and manufacturing sectors) in Pakistan. Data were collected from 338 employee-supervisor dyads. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: Results showed that transformational leadership had a positive impact on employees' innovative work behavior and motivation to learn mediated transformational leadership-innovative work behavior link. The study further showed that task complexity and innovation climate moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and employees' innovative work behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: Based on the premises of interactionist perspectives on individual innovation, this study integrated multi-level variables to investigate leaders' influences on followers' innovative work behavior. This study contributed to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on influence of transformational leadership on employees' innovative work behavior as well as the impact of both individual and organizational level variables.\nPractical implications: The close connection among transformational leadership, motivation to learn and innovative work behavior suggests that transformational leadership traits among managers are important to enhance employees' innovative work behavior. Organizations should pay attention to creating a climate that is supportive of innovation and encourage individuals to learn new knowledge and skills, and provide employees with opportunities to use their acquired knowledge and skills.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributed to leadership and innovation literatures and provided insights into how the practitioners could use an appropriate leadership style to enhance innovative work behavior among employees. The study adopted a distinct model comprising five variables to investigate innovative work behavior from a multi-level perspective, i.e., motivation to learn and innovative work behavior at the individual level, task complexity at the unit level and innovation climate and leadership at the organizational level. This integrated model of using predictors from multiple levels supported the theoretical assumptions that innovative work behavior resulted from the interaction of individual, group and organizational level factors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An analysis of factors affecting growth of organic food: Perception of consumers in Delhi-NCR (India)	[ "Perception", "Demographics", "Delhi-NCR", "Drivers of organic food industry", "Impeding factors", "Organic food products" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Health and fitness aware society of today is more mindful of their food consumption habits. Consumer's food consumption patterns are shifting (Rezai et al., 2012). Consumers have become more concerned about their food intake. They tend to prefer food that is balanced, healthy, safe and certainly friendly to the environment and animals. Thus, demand of food free from chemicals is bound to increase with the changing mindset. Organic food will be in demand across all segments of the society. India has lately picked up a healthy growth rate in the market of organic food products but it is still in its nascent stage. As per a report released, \"India Organic Food Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2019,\" the revenues of organic food market are expected to grow at a CAGR of around 25 percent during 2014-2019.\n2. Literature review: There is a growing interest in organic food production throughout the world due to increasing concern about environment, safe food, human health, animal welfare and the like. As per the directive suggested by Soil Association (www.soilassociation.org), \"In organic farming practice synthetic (chemical) based fertilizer are prohibited and farmers increase the fertility of soil by using composite and natural manure.\" Organic Foods, as described by Lockie (2006), are foods that are grown without using growth hormones, chemicals or artificial fertilizers. The fundamental objective of organic farming is to maximize the well-being and productivity of inter-reliant areas of land, life, trees, animals and people. A number of definitions emphasize on aspect defining \"biological\" or \"natural\" production systems (Klonsky and Tourte, 1998) and \"green\" or \"environmental friendliness\" (Goldman and Hylton, 1972), while others stress on restricted use of synthetic chemicals in organic production (Torjusen et al., 1999). Organic farming has been practiced in India and China for more than 40 centuries (ncof.dacnet.nic.in). In India, organic agriculture has been practiced by farmers for varied rationale and depending on these the farmers were segregated into different categories (National Project on Organic farming Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Govt. of India). The first category is the farmers that have no resources to spend on chemical-based agriculture, thereby for them the only alternative is to depend on natural manure-based fertilizers. The second category is the farmers who have adopted organic agriculture in recent times in light of awareness related to the harmful consequence on soil fertility by excessive use of chemical. The third category is the enterprise and big farmers who have exploited organic farming as an opportunity to grasp the urban market and gain maximum price. A perceived opportunity will sensitize the farmers and boost the growing need of organic farming thrust required at this stage in India across all categories defined. The Government of India is also encouraging organic agriculture to increase sustainability. In a recent budget session, Prime Minster Narendra Modi has endorsed that the state of Sikkim has pledged to become first Indian fully organic state and stressed upon other states also to adopt the same practice for national interest. In most of the metro and tier I cities in India, demand of organic food is increasing rapidly. Number of retail stores and number of brands of organic food products is increasing every year (www.techsciresearch.com, 2013). However, the as per the psyche of average Indian consumer, organic food is considered to be premium quality food and so it is perceived much more expensive when compared to conventionally grown food. Therefore the need arises to identify all possible factors including those that motivate (persuasive factors) the consumers to buy the organic food products as well as those factors that are perceived as constraints (inhibiting factors) in the upcoming organic food product markets in India like Delhi-NCR.\n3. Research design: 3.1 Sample for the study and the measurement instrument\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 Demographic characteristics of respondents\n5. Social implications: India's tryst with the green revolution has produced a mix results. While post 1950s, the modern techniques and inputs used for agriculture contributed significantly in raising the productivity of land resources, offered more variety, quantity which reflected positive in choices and convenience to the consumers. However, soon the cost rose alarmingly high compared to the benefits delivered. The productivity growth rate could not be maintained but various ill-effects were glaring on the agricultural output. The farmer, their families fell prey to various life style diseases that cropped up due to various types of contaminants and adulterants. The organic food products can reverse this trend and bring healthy food to the society.\n6. Managerial implications and conclusions: In India especially in urban cities people are aware about the benefit of organic products and harm caused by pesticides to the soil and the environment. Against the backdrop of harmful effect of chemical pesticides and fertilizers on farmers and the people consuming them Indian government is strongly promoting organic farming.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Food gives us essential nutrients to lead a healthy lifestyle but lately it has been found that many food products have become hazardous due to contamination and lead to many diseases. The rampant use of pesticides and chemical-based fertilizers in agriculture has, increased the productivity but at the same time they have created an alarming situation for the environment. The demand of the hour is to therefore to encourage organic farming and offer a better choice to consumers as well as save the environment. The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand the factors affecting perception of consumers on organic food products in Indian context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used a structured survey of 150 respondents covering Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) of Ghaziabad, Noida and Faridabad (India). Exploratory research was used to know the variables from the literature that affect the perception of consumers regarding organic food. Descriptive research was used to understand the demographic profile of the organic food consumer's. Conclusive research design was used to test the hypotheses based upon the motivating and inhibiting factor in the growth of organic food.\nFindings: The data collected from the survey were analyzed using t-test, kh\nSocial implications: There are enough evidences of fertile land being converted into wasteland because of use of agro- chemical-based fertilizers in farming. There are also enough incidents of polluted water (ground and surface) due to agrochemical-based farming. Heavy use of pesticides leads to adverse effect on the health of farmers also. There were many reports of farmers committing suicide because of debt due to heavy investment on pesticides and fertilizers. Organic farming is a win-win proposition for environment, farmers and consumer's.\nOriginality/value: The study was an effort to understand awareness and perception of organic food consumers in urban India post-agriculture revolution. The result would help the organic food producing and marketing companies to understand the factors that influence the belief of consumers when they purchase organic food and henceforth they can formulate communication strategies and marketing policy based on consumer's expectations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Quality management practices in SMEs: a comparative study between India and Namibia	[ "Quality management", "SMEs", "Survey", "Comparative study", "Tools and techniques" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a critical role in the growth and well-being of the economies across the globe. In particular, SMEs have become a central part of economies in most developing countries, contributing significantly to growth, innovation and success of the societies. In recent years, globalization and liberalization has brought many business opportunities to the growth of SMEs, specifically in developing countries such as India (Singh et al., 2006), Namibia (April, 2005), Pakistan (Kureshi et al., 2009), Senegal (Suarez-Ortega et al., 2016) and Nigeria (Olusanya and Adegbola, 2014). On the other hand, globalization and liberalization has also brought about stiff competition at global level (Ihua, 2009). To survive the ever-growing competition and challenges in the market, SMEs have to emphasize on incorporating quality into various aspects of their products, processes and services (Herzallah et al., 2014).\nLiterature review: QM initiatives in SMEs\nResearch methodology: Questionnaire survey\nFindings: Preliminary analysis\nDiscussion: There are several studies about QM practices in developed economies as well as comparative studies such as by Kumar et al. (2014) on SMEs in the UK and Australia. But there are no prior comparative studies about QM practices in SMEs of emerging economies. This study tries to fill this gap by providing evidences from SMEs in India and Namibia. The purpose is to compare and contrast QM practices by the SMEs in the two emerging economies.\nConclusion: The study comes out of the existing discussions about QM practices in developed economies. It provides a different perspective on SMEs in emerging economies by comparing QM practices, CSFs, tools and techniques usage, business performance indicators and reasons for not implementing quality initiatives. We observed similarities in QM practices (quality control and TQM), tools and techniques usage (root cause analysis, overall equipment effectiveness and PDCA) and reasons (unknown to us and high cost of training). Differences emerged in terms of CSFs and business performance indicators. We hypothesize the difference is because of the market and type of customers these enterprises are supplying their products or services to. In Indian context it is major PSU, whereas for Namibian enterprises it is more about survival in market with broad customer base. Irrespective of the context, we feel \"unknown to us\" response by majority of enterprises shows that there is a strong need to educate the SMEs about QM practices and related tools and techniques.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have now become an important part of economy for not only developed nations but also for emerging economies. Irrespective of the benefits that can be derived, SMEs in emerging economies still lack the will to implement quality management (QM) practices. Using a comparative study, the purpose of this paper is to understand the status of QM practices in SMEs of emerging economies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey-based approach was adopted to understand the established QM practices in the SMEs. A survey instrument was designed by reviewing the literature on QM initiatives in SMEs. A sample of 270 SMEs across Southern India and 189 SMEs in Namibia was selected through stratified random sampling technique.\nFindings: The overall response rate was 19.52 percent for India and 26.46 percent for Namibia, respectively. There were similarities and differences in responses from SMEs in both countries. Similarities are in terms of limited implementation of QM practices, and also less use of tools and techniques. Reasons for not implementing include unknown to the authors, and the high cost of training. Differences emerged in the type of market (Indian SMEs catering to one major customer), CSFs and business performance indicators. It was interesting to find that management commitment and involvement do not have a major influence as CSF for SMEs in both the countries.\nOriginality/value: The research is the first attempt in bringing a comparative study about QM practices in SMEs from developing countries. The insights will help emerging economies to develop policies for education and training, and thus facilitate implementation of QM practices in SMEs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Age-group differences in Near Field Communication smartphone	[ "Smartphone", "Convenience", "Intuitive", "Mobiquity", "Near Field Communications" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Technology has been a constant force of change in human lives. In today's world, the development of the smartphone has risen to prominence has one of the technologies to have radically transformed people's lifestyles by allowing them to digitally connect with their lived environments. This trend was set in motion in 1984 with the development of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC technology has since been recognized as a global standard for data exchange and wireless connections within short-range (Volland et al., 2012). NFC-enabled devices can manage three different modes namely, read/write, peer-to-peer and card emulation mode (Leong et al., 2013). In essence, NFC technology enables mobiquity. Mobiquity is a new theme combining mobility of information technology (IT) strategic convergence (e.g. a smartphone) with ubiquity (e.g. internet among devices) (Miranda and Pastorelly, 2011). In other words, mobiquity is a linking bridge between the real world of physical objects and the virtual world of the internet (Miranda and Pastorelly, 2011). NFC tags and augmented reality (integrated with smartphones) are two mobiquitous technologies that can be used as a springboard to fuel many mobiquitous applications and services (Miranda and Pastorelly, 2011).\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 NFC SES\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 DSR and system architecture\n4. Data analysis: 4.1 Factor analysis, reliability and validity analyses\n5. Discussions and implications: 5.1 Discussions of the results\n6. Conclusion and research limitation: The primary contribution of this research is the application of DSR (Gregor and Hevner, 2013) to address the fundamental problems faced in the use of technology within home environment. This study extends the boundaries of technology capabilities by creating a new and innovative artefact for NFC-enabled mobiquitous home application, which utilizes a touch-driven interaction between photo interface and NFC-enabled smartphone. The secondary contribution of this study is to capture and understand the impact of intuitive, convenience and perceived usefulness on different age-group users' behavioural intention to use NFC technology. We find that convenience is the key determinant of youth's behavioural intention to use NFC-oriented mobiquitous home application. In contrast, although both intuitive and perceived usefulness are significant for the adult group, with the influence of perceived usefulness being significantly stronger.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper are twofold: first, develop a novel concept of a mobiquitous home application (Near Field Communication Smartphone Entertainment Systems (NFC SES)) with the use of photo interface and NFC smartphone. Second, examine age-group differences in relation to the influence of intuitive, convenience and perceived usefulness on users' behavioural intention to use NFC SES.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using design science research, NFC SES is developed and a survey of 52 users is conducted to evaluate NFC SES.\nFindings: There are age differences in individual behavioural intention to use NFC technology. Convenience appears to be the primary factor for the youths. The adult cohort, in contrast emphasizes intuitive and perceived usefulness as two significant determinants of their behavioural intention to use NFC SES.\nPractical implications: This study offers a fresh insight for mobile device manufacturer and application developers to focus their design efforts around three aspects (intuitive, convenience and usefulness) that are desired by different age-group users.\nSocial implications: The development of NFC SES bridges the gap of cyber-physical spaces by enabling users to automate multiple heterogeneous digital appliances without imposing undue technological effort and inconvenience. NFC SES, operating through a touch-driven interaction between NFC smartphone and photo interface, is likely to be useful for many home users, especially for people with disabilities.\nOriginality/value: NFC SES contributes in itself as a novel innovation. Additionally, studies on mobile technology largely focus on students as users, and often neglect the adult segment. This study entails a new model for evaluation of NFC technology, by uncovering age differences impacts on new technology adoption.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impacts of external factors on the growth of Chinese entrepreneurial enterprises: An empirical study	[ "Entrepreneurialism", "Business development", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: China overtook the UK as the world's second-biggest destination for venture capital investments in 2006, early-stage company funding to about PS1.4bn. During 2007, 53 VC-backed enterprises including 28 listed on Shenzhen SME Board or Shanghai Stock Exchange went public. Given the complex socio-economic and political factors involved in EEs' development in China, it is very interesting to identify and explain what factors remarkably impact on entrepreneurship in Chinese society. In recent years, many studies have documented the important roles of various factors on the growth of Chinese EEs, for example, innovation capability, locational factors, being located in a regional industry cluster, guanxi and networking opportunities, entrepreneurial skills including international business experience and access to more financial sources and capital for developing the business (Watkins-Mathys and Foster, 2006; Gibb and Li, 2003; Ahlstrom and Bruton, 2002; Pun et al., 2000; Cook, 1999). Despite these studies mentioned above, consensus has not yet been achieved with regard to what factors are more critical for the growth of Chinese EEs or how to comprehend the relationship between EEs and external organizations and environment. This paper was intended to empirically examine the impacts of several critical external organizations and environment on the growth of hi-tech EEs in Science and Technology Industry Parks (STIPs) of southeast China and offer a more comprehensive understanding about Chinese EEs' development context. The paper is organized as follows. First, the paper reviews the literature, analyzes the relationship between EEs and external organizational and environmental factors and advance corresponding hypothesis. Second, the paper performs an empirical validation about the relationship between these factors and EEs' growth. Finally, this paper discusses the result of empirical validation and puts forward some managerial implications and suggestions for future research.\nLiterature review and research hypothesis: Numerous prior studies have examined the impacts of external factors on entrepreneurship, which can be organised into two categories:1. organisation, including government (Walder, 1995; Li, 2002), university and R&D institute (Etzkowitz, 1998; O'Shea et al., 2004), financial investor or lender (Cook, 1999; Bitzenis and Nito, 2005);2. environment, including cultural environment (Yeung and Tung, 1996; Pun et al., 2000, Gibb and Li, 2003), institutional environment (Scott, 1995; Hoskisson et al., 2000), and geography (Sorenson and Audia, 2000; Coval and Moskowitz, 2001; Sorenson, 2003).However, these factors were studied discretely in different culture and countries. This paper intends to comprehensively analyse the role of these factor on the growth of Chinese EEs and empirically validate these hypothesizes about these roles. Although these factors could not represent and explain all of the reason and force that drive and support Chinese EEs to grow rapidly, we believe it is helpful for us to understand the current status and future trend of Chinese EEs by finding out whether and to what extent they have influence on the development of Chinese EEs.External organisations\nMethodology: Sample and data collection\nModel: Therefore, we hypothesized the following relationship between the growth of EEs and the external factors: Equation 1 where:P =Growth of EEs.Gov =Governmental support.Uni =Impacts of University and R&D institute.Fin =Relationship with Financial investor and lender.Leg =Legal and institutional environment.Cul =Entrepreneurial culture.Geo =Geographic location.\nResults: We used SPSS 10.0 statistical software to analyse the data. The article's purpose is to recognise key external factors that impact the development and growth of Chinese EEs and summarise the common rules of entrepreneurial activity in China to explain the reason and force of Chinese EEs.Through a backward method of multi regression analysis, we obtained the results in Tables I and II. We adopt the fourth model. As Table I shows, the overall fit of the model is fine.As shown by Table II, entrepreneurial culture shows a positive effect on the growth of EEs (p<0.00). The relationship between Financial Institution and EE has a significant positive effect on the growth of EEs (p<0.05). Furthermore, governmental support was negatively associated with the growth of EEs on the 10 percent significant level (coefficient=-0.264, p<0.1). Therefore, H1, H3 and H5 are supported and H2, H4 and H6 are not supported.The final model equation is: P=5.337+0.673C+0.328F-0.24G. Figure 2 shows the final tested model.\nDiscussion: This study proposes that external organisational factors and environment factor work together to affect the growth of EEs. It provides a direct test of the applicability of a linear regression model. Specifically, survey data from EEs in China were used to examine quantitatively whether these faced by EEs affected their growth. The empirical findings presented in this study provide significant insights concerning both external organisational factors and environment factor. Overall, the results show that a good financial support and a good entrepreneurial culture results in good growth. It is consistent with the study of O'Shea et al. (2004), direct and indirect linkages to investors were found to be important determinants of whether the business received venture funding and in reducing the likelihood of new business failure. Also an open environment with an excellent entrepreneurial culture would encourage free and spontaneous interaction and reward innovative results so as to improve the growth of EEs (Watkins-Mathys and Foster, 2006).The result showed that governmental preferential policy did not effectively drive the EE's growth and too close relationship with government was not useful for EEs for the improvement of EEs' growth and competitive power. Just as pointed out by Siu (2005), SMEs in China, which come under strong government influence, carry out minimal planning in marketing and their marketing activities are implicit. They adopt a relation-oriented marketing approach and place emphasis on building relations with government agencies. Yang's (2004) concept of \"institutional holes\" offers a plausible proposition for understanding this result, whose model implies that as institutional structures improve with time and experience, there will be fewer unexploited opportunities associated with institutional holes and hence a decline in this type of entrepreneurial activities.According to the empirical result, university and R&D institute has no significant correlation with the EE's growth. As pointed by Steed and De Genoa (1983), MacDonald (1987), and Joseph (1989) and later Bakouros et al. (2002), interaction between firms and universities was generally low. It is also consistent with Feldman (1994), university has had little direct effect on its regional economy in terms of benefits as measured by spin-off companies or university-industry cooperative relationships and thus provides an interesting contrast to the well-studied examples of Stanford and MIT.Our empirical result shows that the existing institutional environment was not very helpful to the growth of EEs. Chinese institutional rules are incomplete, ambiguous and subject to continuous revisions. Furthermore, as pointed by Bruton et al. (2003), an even bigger issue in much of the world is not the existence of laws, but rather their enforcement. Laws for investor protection maybe on the books, but enforcement there is erratic to non-existent. In China, these phenomena manifest more evidently.\nConclusion and managerial implications: The main contribution of our study to the literature is to comprehensively explore the influence of external factors, including organisational and environmental factors, on the growth of EEs in a transitional China. Few studies in past research had put these factors into a framework to empirically verify their impact on the growth of EE in Chinese entrepreneurship context. According to these results, we find that Chinese EEs' development mainly depends on financial support and they would operate better in a intensive entrepreneurial culture. Although governmental support could help the EEs to a certain extent, our finding indicates that it is disadvantageous to the competitive power.According to these findings, this study has several important implications for improving the policy for EEs. First, we noted that in nature, Chinese EE needs to face a culture of guanxi, that is, dealing with various relationships. A firm which is good at maintaining the relationship with government departments often could evade from competition with the rival for they can get benefit from governmental support, such as subsidy and preferential tax, which would cripple their own competitive power. By contrast, the firm possessing of excellent competitive power always devotes its mind to improve its internal level of management and technology and struggle by themselves and neglects to get support from public policy. So the strategy and means of governmental support for EEs needs to be adjusted, a reasonable evaluation system for small and medium-sized must be built up so as to identify and support the potential firm and drive the firms to improve their intrinsic capability and strive in the market to get more development room. Agencies such as industry consortium or small and medium-sized enterprise union should be introduced into the evaluation program as main subject survey and evaluation parts. Also a reasonable incentive and monitor system for the evaluation program needs to be built and applied by relative governmental agencies to maintain the fair and equitable allocation of public resource including fund and preferential policy.Second, the financial market and infrastructure must be strengthened to offer EEs with more financial source. At the same time, the credit policy for small and medium-sized enterprise should be reformed to get necessary working fund. And the EE manager must learn how to attract the investor and keep a close communication with them and thus to get more funding and advice from the professional VC specialists. More free entrepreneurship education about how to deal with the investor relationship should be provided by government to improve the capability and skill of entrepreneurs in communication regarding venture capital and get more funds from all possible channels. Furthermore, more entrepreneurship forums should be performed and supported by governmental departments, industry consortium or small and medium-sized enterprise union to offer chance for EEs to recommend themselves and improve the communication between EEs and VC.Third, Chinese legal and institutional environment for the development of EE is not very favorable. Although relative law and institution should be established more completely and perfectly, more important work is to perform these laws and institutions correctly and fairly according to differing conditions. Furthermore, a reputation and credit system based on social network may be helpful. As pointed by Allen and Song (2003), the importance of being a member of a network is also higher in countries where the legal system offers little protection for investors in weak legal systems, personal trust is paramount, and trust is built on prior relationships, but these relationships are vital in selecting deals (O'Shea et al., 2004). An open record system about the honor and credit of EEs and entrepreneurs should be built to improve their consciousness and maintain a fine ethos and regulation of the entrepreneurial realm.\nLimitations of the study and suggestions for future research: Despite the contributions of this study, it is important to recognise its limitations. First, although this study has validated six key external organisational and environmental factors that impacted the development of EEs, there are more key factors that could have influence on EEs and further research is necessary. For example, some market factors such as competition, industrial chain, etc, are very important for the development of EEs. Furthermore, the sample of this study is from only eastern China. Thus, caution needs to be exercised in generalizing the findings of an exploratory study of this nature.As to future research, much remains to be done. First, the interaction between organisational and environmental factors in this study should be studied further through some intervening factors which have been found to significantly relate to the growth of enterprises, such as entrepreneur social network. Second, we can consider the effect of competitive factors in an industry or area which greatly impacts the behaviour and fate of EEs. Thirdly, we could introduce the internal characters of EE, such as governance structure, strategic oriented types, etc.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the key external factors that are impacting on the performance of Chinese entrepreneurial enterprise (EE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A linear regression model was developed that comprised three types of organisations(government, university and R&D institute, agency, financial institution) and three kinds of environmental factors(legal and institutional environment, culture, geographic location) which greatly influence Chinese venture enterprises growth. The model was validated using 91 responses obtained through a questionnaire survey carried out in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian Province of China.\nFindings: - Evidence suggests that a fine relationship with a financial organisation positively impacts on the growth of EEs and a close relationship with government shows a disadvantageous impact on the EE's growth. The significant influence of environmental factors appeared to come from entrepreneurial culture and atmosphere.\nPractical implications: - The findings suggest that Chinese EEs need more favorable financial support. And they also need to have more entrepreneurial learning in a good entrepreneurial culture and atmosphere. Chinese governmental departments should adjust their strategy and means to motivate EEs, not only to give them favourable policy and support but also to improve their competitive power.\nOriginality/value: - The paper highlights the external factors which can significantly affect the growth of Chinese EEs and is, therefore, of practical use for Chinese EEs and support agencies in China. The analysis also offers a more comprehensive understanding about Chinese EEs' development context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The consumption values and consumer innovativeness on convergence products	[ "Consumption value", "Convergence products", "Consumer innovativeness", "Republic of Korea", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The convergence of technology has shifted people's lifestyles. In a study by Yoffie (1996), the trend of convergence was estimated to result in an expansion of technologies that would bring more convenience to homes with products and services. Convergence products, defined as a type of bundle product mixed with the benefits and costs of several products and appearing as all-in-one products (Bayus et al., 2000), have been found in a variety of product categories within recent years, attracting wide attention from product developers, as well as consumers (Jun and Kim, 2007). Examples can easily be found in our daily lives, such as TVs/DVD players, printers/scanners/copy machines, and cell phones/cameras/mp3 players. Yoffie (1996) denotes convergence as the unification of functions employing digital technologies. Convergence products have also been on the market in the forms of telecommunication devices and daily use home electronic devices.Convergence products can utilize products that originally served different markets. For example, smart phones are used as cell phones while featuring the functions of a computer, such as internet navigation or sending e-mail. The combined products - a cell phone and a computer - historically served completely different markets with entirely different functions. Although convergence products could act as substitutions of existing products, their diffusion is highly related to existing products at the same time (Jun and Kim, 2007). Therefore, convergence products can be complementary or competitive to existing products. For instance, in the case of the smart phone, it could be a complement of a computer not featured with mobility, but with more computing functions; moreover, it could be superior to a regular cell phone not featured with higher performance.Although convergence products have been combined with products in different categories and markets, they do not necessarily combine the different markets. For example, Han et al. (2009) suggest that consumers prefer a dedicated product to a converged one when their need for functional performance is high. On the other hand, they prefer a convergence product to a dedicated one when their need for functional performance is lower, but their need for convenience is higher. As a result, convergence products can possibly create new markets by making transitions in traditional products. Nowadays, almost every single electronic device incorporates some kind of converged technology (Kaluza et al., 1998). However, it was not until a few years ago that convergence products were investigated, from both the academic and industrial perspectives. Considering the substitution phenomenon, it is necessary to understand the factors influencing consumers' intentions to purchase convergence products and to identify how marketing efforts should be directed.Consumption value theory (Sheth et al., 1991b) and the consumer innovativeness are applied in this study in order to explain consumer values influencing decision-making behaviors on convergence home robots. Consumption value theory can be applied to understanding consumer choices for a wide range of product categories (Sheth et al., 1991a). Consumer innovativeness has been widely researched as an important variable in the adoption of new products in previous studies (Bartels and Reinders, 2011; Wood and Swait, 2002; Goldsmith and Flynn, 1992). Therefore, this study investigates the interaction effect of consumer innovativeness as a personal characteristic and consumption value, so that an in-depth understanding of consumption value and its relationship to purchase intentions of convergence home robots can be established. Understanding the value consumers place on choices and its relationship to consumer innovativeness will determine marketing strategies and will provide managerial implications when marketers promote convergence home robot products.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 The market of convergence home robots in South Korea\n3 Research hypothesis development: 3.1 Theoretical framework\n4 Mythology: 4.1 Sample\n5 Results: To test the hypotheses, the study utilized the hierarchical moderate regression model (Table IV). Demographic factors such as gender, age, and income were used as control variables for this study. Prior studies concerned with consumers' new product adoption of durable product categories (Pickering, 1981; Winer, 1985; Im et al., 2003) revealed that the demographic information of this study corresponds to life-cycle stage (i.e. age), ability (i.e. household income), and gender (Im et al., 2003; Kamakura et al., 1991; Martinex et al., 1998; Gatignon and Robertson, 1991; Rogers, 1995).Model 1, consisting of demographic variables (age, gender, and household income), had a significant R2 of 0.04 (p<0.05). Household income (b=0.21, p<0.01) was significant at this stage. When model 2 added consumption value variables to the model, the R2 change was 0.29 (p<0.01). In model 2, functional value (b=0.29, p<0.01), epistemic value (b=0.15, p<0.05), and emotional value (b=0.25, p<0.01) remained significant. Social value (b=0.11, p>0.05) and conditional value (b=0.05, p>0.05) were not significant. Thus, H1-1, H1-3, and H1-5 are supported.To test for the moderating effect of consumer innovativeness on relationships between consumption values and purchase intentions, H2-1-H2-3 were tested using sub-groups ordinary least square (OLS). Sub-group analysis was adopted since it is the most appropriate analysis when the moderating variable is categorized (Sharma et al., 1981).The procedure for hierarchical regression was as follows: first, the high-innovator group sample was targeted for the hierarchical regression analysis. Model 1, consisting of demographic variables, had a significant R2 of 0.02 (p>0.05). No demographic variables were significant at this stage. When model 2 added consumption value variables to the model, the R2 change was 0.35 (p<0.01). In model 2, functional value (b=0.27, p<0.01) and emotional value (b=0.34, p<0.01) remained significant. Social value (b=0.15, p>0.05), epistemic value (b=0.15, p>0.05) and conditional value (b=0.05, p>0.05) were not significant. Second, the low-innovator group sample was analyzed by hierarchical regression. Model 1, consisting of demographic variables, had a significant R2 of 0.05 (p<0.05). Household income (b=0.23, p<0.01) was significant at this stage. When model 2 added the five consumption value variables to the model, the R2 change was 0.19 (p<0.01). In model 2, only functional value (b=0.28, p<0.01) remained significant. Social value (b=0.06, p>0.05), epistemic value (b=0.17, p>0.05), conditional value (b=0.05, p>0.05) and emotional value (b=0.11, p>0.05) were not significant.To test for the moderating effect of customer innovativeness, b slope tests were conducted (Jaccard et al., 1990). The results indicate that only consumers' innovativeness level moderated their emotional value (high-innovative group: b=0.34 vs low-innovative group: b=0.11: t=2.05, p<0.05) when purchasing products model (Table V). This result indicates that as consumers perceive themselves as innovative, consumer evaluations of products, such as their feelings and affective states, are important to them when using convergence home robots. Thus, H2-3 is supported.\n6 Discussion: The findings of this study support previous claims. First of all, consumers perceive quality and functional value as very important (Nowlis and Simonson, 1996; De Marez et al., 2007). According to Alden et al. (2010), marketers are likely to be more successful when products meet the customers' long-term value orientation. In addition, not only the functional value, but also hedonic values, such as epistemic and emotional values are uniquely important consumption values in this study. These results conform to previous studies that the hedonic and utilitarian functions of products are important to consumers (Holbrook, 2006). However, one of the remarkable findings in this study involves understanding purchase intentions based on consumers' innovativeness level with respect to consumption value. Functional and emotional values have an effect on purchasing intentions among high innovators, whereas only functional value has an effect on purchasing intentions among low innovators. The consumption value of convergence home robot products are indeed perceived differently, based on consumers' degree of innovativeness. The difference indicates that certain types of experiential products that target high-innovative consumers are more likely to invoke hedonic value (Overby and Lee, 2006).Social value has been an important value component as a predictor of consumption patterns in the area of prior research (Valette-Florence and Toehrich, 1993; Pihlstrom and Gregory, 2008; Venkatesh et al., 2003). Social value was only significant on purchase intentions at a 90 percent confidence interval level in this study. This result can be attributed to the product characteristics. Social value can be more important for personal-related electronic products that consumers can carry around with them, such as cell phones, mp3 players or laptops. However, convergence home robots are household-related products, such as washing machines, refrigerators, and air conditioners, which are less likely to be made known to others. Probably, the social value is perceived less by the consumer of convergence home robots; therefore, its impact on purchase intentions could be marginal. Future research is required to understand the social value of household-related products.\n7 Conclusion: This study aims to examine the influence of consumption values and consumer innovativeness on intentions to purchase convergence home robots. The results suggest that functional value, epistemic value, and emotional value have significant influences on purchase intentions. The results also show that emotional value has a stronger influence on purchase intentions among consumers with high innovativeness. It is important to note that those consumers who place a great deal of emotional value on products, combined with high innovativeness, show greater intentions to purchase. By investigating these comprehensive relationships framed by the theory of consumption value and consumer innovativeness, the results of this study suggest important theoretical, as well as practical implications for convergence product management, including directions for future research application to promote convergence product adoption. In this section, several theoretical and managerial implications are illustrated.7.1 Theoretical and practical implication\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of consumption values and the moderating role of consumer innovativeness for intentions to purchase convergence home robots.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The data were collected from 506 participants in South Korea, where convergence home robots with a combination of multiple functions have rapidly penetrated the marketplace. A hierarchical moderated regression model was employed in order to analyze the data.\nFindings: - The results show that functional, epistemic, and emotional values are important factors affecting intentions to purchase convergence home robots. In addition, consumers' innovativeness shows a moderating effect on the relationship between emotional value and purchase intentions. This result showed that the effect of emotional value has a greater influence on purchase intentions for the high consumer innovativeness group than for the low consumer innovativeness group.\nPractical implications: - Marketers should focus not only on functional value, but also on the hedonic value represented by the emotional value, as well as the epistemic value that convergence home robots provide, especially to innovative consumers in the marketplace. Consumer innovativeness is a useful variable to divide value-based segments in convergence products.\nOriginality/value: - As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the convergence of technology has shifted people's lifestyles. However, it was not until a few years ago that convergence products were investigated. It is necessary for researchers to understand the factors influencing intentions to purchase convergence products, as well as the consumption value and consumer innovativeness that consumers place on these products in order to accurately direct marketing efforts. This paper contributes to that understanding.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Complaints in primary care arising from bereavement	[ "Bereavement", "Death", "Medical diagnosis", "Complaints", "Primary care" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although we know that death comes to us all sooner or later, the death of a loved one can still have a devastating effect on the surviving spouse, family members and friends. They may not always get the help and support they need and unexpected or even expected death can lead them to question whether the care provided by the healthcare profession, in the period before death, was adequate, not good enough or frankly negligent.Primary-care practitioners can therefore be the subject of a complaint following the death of one of their patients. This can be distressing, both for the healthcare professional and for the grieving relative(s). According to the NHS Information Centre, there were 43,000 written complaints about family healthcare services (such as general practitioners and general dental practitioners) during 2005/2006 (The Information Centre, 2006). The report does not say how many of these complaints are made by bereaved relatives, but MPS experience suggests that they may account for a significant percentage of complaints.MPS is a not-for-profit mutual organisation indemnifying more than 21,000 GPs in the UK. Members commonly seek help with clinical negligence claims, complaints, medical council inquiries, legal and ethical dilemmas, etc. In the past five years, MPS has assisted UK members with more than 8,000 complaints (MPS, 2007). With the aim of identifying common themes in primary-care complaints from which risk-management lessons may be drawn, MPS Risk Consulting (MPSrc) recently undertook a review of 526 complaints made against primary-care practitioners and notified to MPS during 2006 (unpublished data).\nMethod: A random sample of 526 files was drawn from all complaint files opened by MPS over a six-month period during 2006. The files were opened following written contact by MPS members (predominantly GPs, but in some cases the practice manager). Of the 526 files in the sample, 283 cases had been case-managed in MPS's northern office, and 243 in its London office. This was considered to be a representative sample of the spread of complaints notified to MPS from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.The files were then reviewed by two clinicians with expertise in clinical risk management. They coded cases according to the following criteria:* The reason(s) for the complaint (as presented by the complainant in the initial letter of complaint). As 64 per cent of the complainants gave more than one reason for the complaint, one was designated as the \"main reason\" and additional complaints were listed under \"other reasons\". The main reasons for the complaint were assigned to one of four broad categories (see Table I).* The outcome of events for the patient (e.g. death, serious impairment, no permanent injury).* The identity of the complainant (whether it was the patient and, if not, the complainant's relationship to the patient).* The age of the patient.* The nature of the illness precipitating the complaint.* The occupation of the main subject of the complaint (e.g. GP, receptionist, nurse).* The age of the main subject of the complaint.* The organisation concerned (GP practice or out-of-hours service).* Whether or not a significant event audit (SEA) had been carried out as a result of the complaint.This report focuses on a close review of a sub-set of data derived from the main sample. Of the 526 complaints, 116 (22 per cent) had been made following the death of a patient, mostly by close relatives (see Figure 1).Limitations\nMain findings: The main reasons for the complaint being initiated\nDiscussion: Dealing with bereavement sensitively\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to review a sample of complaints referred to MPS in order to throw light on the relationship between bereavement and complaints directed at primary healthcare services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A review of a sub-set of data from a study of primary-care complaints referred to MPS over a six-month period during 2006. The method combined both quantitative and qualitative analyses of complaints made after a patient has died.\nFindings: - Delays in the diagnosis and/or treatment of malignancies and cardiac problems were the most common reasons given for the complaint. This was especially true in the case of relatively young patients (under 65). Interpersonal and administrative problems also featured, but to a lesser extent than clinical issues. The majority of complaints were directed at male GPs. There was little evidence that the complaints stimulated practices to conduct significant event audits.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The sample was drawn from complaints referred to MPS by members in need of assistance. Members are by no means obliged to notify MPS when they are the subject of a complaint, and in most cases, practices are able to deal with complaints without calling on MPS for assistance. The sample may therefore be skewed toward more problematic/complicated complaints.\nPractical implications: - Several risk-management lessons can be drawn from the study: it is evident that there is a need for practices to develop protocols for dealing with bereavement sensitively and to take the time to explain relevant aspects of the deceased's illness and treatment to the bereaved.\nOriginality/value: - The nature of the data offers a window on the dissatisfactions and needs of bereaved family members.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
BPM for change management: two process diagnosis techniques	[ "Comparative method", "Organizational change", "Change management", "Business analysis", "Modeling", "Organizational processes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Due to the highly competitive environment and the growing consumer demands, organizations use several tools and methods of management aimed at achieving truly competitive advantages. Many management approaches emerge in the attempt to have companies survive and stand out in this scenario. There is a tendency for organizations to opt for a management approach focused on processes rather than a functional approach due to factors like: increase in product development frequency, need for rapid transfer of information, quick decision making, need to adapt to changes in demand and a growing number of international competitors (Seethamraju and Marjanovic, 2009).\n2 Literature review: 2.1 BPM lifecycle\n3 Research methodology: The aim of this study, as previously mentioned, is to compare the results from applying two techniques of process diagnosis: process modeling using the BPMN standard, and the cause and effect tree, using the CRT technique. To achieve this goal, we performed a pre-experiment to observe the different results produced by both techniques. It is noteworthy that accordingly to Malhorta (2004), an experiment is a study in which an intervention is deliberately introduced to observe its effects. The experiment conducted in this study should be classified as a pre-experiment, because it was performed with two units of comparison (Malhorta, 2004). However, in this study it will be mentioned only as experiment. The research protocol is presented in Table III. To guide the comparison of the techniques' results, a deployment of the main objective of the experiment was performed as shown in Table IV.\n4 Results: 4.1 Modeling application\n5 Research results: The comparison of diagnosis techniques was performed taking into account three aspects:\n6 Final remarks: This work was conceived in order to compare the results from applying two techniques of process diagnosis: process modeling using BPMN and root causes analysis, using the CRT technique. It was conducted a pre-experiment in the ITM process in an academic unit of the largest and most recognized HEI in Brazil. This experiment provided a better comparison of the diagnoses outcomes as a single process has been diagnosed, as well as the same process collaborators were interviewed by both teams, thereby minimizing any variable that might distort the result comparisons.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper focuses on organizational change through the business process management approach. While \"business process modeling\" permits understanding process activities and their activities with other participants, \"current reality tree (CRT)\" technique promotes the identification of process constraints. The purpose of this study is to compare the results from applying both diagnostic techniques, process modeling, using the business process modeling notation, and root cause analysis, using the CRT.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The comparison is made using a pre-experiment in which two teams conducted diagnoses concomitantly in the information technology management (ITM) process of one unit of the biggest and prestigious higher education institution (HEI) in Brazil.\nFindings: The modeling technique and the CRT should be considered complementary techniques, since applying one does not diminish or exclude the importance of using the other. Results were compared analyzing which dimensions of the process each technique highlighted: strategy, organization, activity/information and resources.\nResearch limitations/implications: A possible limitation of this research is that the experiment was conducted in a single process and the result cannot be generalized to other processes.\nPractical implications: It may be noted that the main contribution of this study is the presentation of the steps of two techniques for process diagnosis. It is expected that with the reports on diagnoses outcomes, team's assessment and the perception of the managers presented here other improvement teams may use the results of this research as an inspiration to perform process diagnosis, and as basis for decision making to define which technique to use according to the specific needs of process improvement.\nOriginality/value: The paper stands out the comparison of the technique application's outcomes. This study offers valuable insights to the organizations that are interested in restructuring their processes. It delineates many important benefits of such a diagnosis techniques. It also identifies possible pitfalls and recommends guidelines for the successful conduction of process diagnoses initiatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strategic organizational discourse and framing in hypermodal spaces	[ "Facebook", "Critical discourse analysis", "Hypermodality", "Issue framing", "Social media sub-arenas", "Strategic organizational discourse" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the context of the increasing use of social media platforms as issue arenas, this paper provides a nuanced understanding of how organizations can strategically frame and communicate their legitimate perspective for gaining public support in a social media context. More specifically, this paper explores framing processes and discursive strategies purposely employed on Facebook by the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Observatory Corporation, an organization that faces local and global contestation of its corporate operations.\nTheoretical background: Organizations, strategic framing and social media\nOrganizations, discourse strategies and hypermodality: As mentioned, organizational strategic discourse involves the development of discursive strategies aimed at fostering a particular version of reality and challenging alternative or opposing perspectives. In Fairhurst and Putnam's (2014) words, \"discourse accomplishes communication\" (p. 271). From a critical perspective, discourses can be understood as resources for representing some aspects of reality which can be drawn upon when those aspects have to be strategically recontextualized in communication (van Leeuwen, 2005, 2009b). Kress and van Leeuwen (2001) highlighted the strategic aspect of this process of reality representation when defining discourses as \"socially constructed knowledges of (some aspect of) reality [...] developed in specific contexts and in ways which are appropriate to the interests of social actors in these contexts\" (p. 4). van Leeuwen (2008) drew particular attention to the fact that discourses \"not only represent what is going on, they also evaluate, ascribe purposes to it, justify it, and so on, and in many texts these aspects of representation become far more important that the representation of the social practice itself\" (p. 6). Hence, the essential feature of this critical perspective on discourse is its focus on what is selected from reality to be recontextualized in discourse, and how that selection is based, in particular, on legitimations which are \"reasons that either the whole of a social practice or some part of it must take place, or must take place in the way that it does\" (van Leeuwen, 2008, p. 20).\nMethod: Case and data\nResults: Articulation and amplification of the organization's legitimate perspective\nDiscussion and conclusion: The main purpose of this study has been to reveal how the hypermodal legitimation strategies employed by an organization in the Facebook sub-arena contribute to articulating and amplifying its legitimate perspective, and how these can be purposefully adapted over time based on the dialectic between frames and events.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizations can strategically frame their legitimate perspective on a specific issue in order to gain salience and public support in a social media context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By means of framing theory and a critical perspective on strategic discourse in hypermodal spaces, the study examines in detail the discursive strategies and framing processes employed by a non-profit organization that faces local and global contestation of its corporate operations.\nFindings: Through a critical discourse analysis of the organization's 385 Facebook posts during two periods of time, the results not only show how the corporate perspective is strategically framed and legitimized, but also challenged and consequently adapted in this hypermodal issue sub-arena. In addition to legitimizing the organizational perspective by providing evidence-based facts and external expert views as reliable and neutral sources, and echoing supporters' voices and actions as further endorsements, the organization also strategically manages the Facebook dialogue by delegitimizing counterarguments.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the corporate communication field by revealing how framing can be materialized in specific discursive strategies aimed to legitimize and delegitimize. It shows how such strategies are interrelated in hypermodal clusters in ways that sustain the organizational discourse, and can evolve across time and within the same actor's strategy. Methodologically, this study expands the research toolkit by introducing hypermodality in exploring framing and strategic organizational discourse.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role in encroachment of the sustainability aspects of value propositions	[ "Innovation", "Sustainable development", "Value proposition", "Corporate responsibility", "Encroachment", "Societal value" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This study explores encroachment in the business-to-consumer market. Encroachment is defined as the process where new value propositions take market share away from incumbents (Van Der Rhee et al., 2012). In general, encroachment can come in two forms:\nLiterature review: This study focusses on gaining insights and explaining which aspects influence encroachment in relation to sustainability value propositions (Christensen et al., 2016, 2009, 2015, 2008; Druehl and Schmidt, 2008). In doing so, this study aims to address the gap that current encroachment theory cannot explain what is already going in practice. More specifically this article contributes to address the gap in literature on what concepts of encroachment explain the market share increase of companies with a sustainability value proposition. Sustainability value propositions and encroachment are first defined to be able to theorize about the relationship between them.\nMethodology: To study this conceptual model, a qualitative research strategy was used based on theoretical sampling (Glaser and Straus, 1967). To study forms of encroachment in relation to sustainability value propositions, this study first drafted a long list of 50 companies with sustainability value propositions and an increase in market share. From this list 10 companies were selected as a sample for this study. For these companies, additional data were collected about the sustainability value propositions, increase of market share and especially what patterns of encroachment explain the increase in market share. This data were coded, and analyzed to draft conclusions and discuss them in relation to the existing literature. The steps of the research strategy are visualized in Figure 2.\nResults: In total, the study of the ten selected companies provided 541 descriptive themes from which 159 relationships between sustainability value propositions and (potential) encroachment could be identified. From these, four overarching themes were identified. Three of the overarching themes are in line with the three forms of encroachment as it was identified in the initial template. However the interesting part is that a bit more than half of the identified relationships between the investigated sustainability value propositions and the potential for encroachment did not fit with the three existing encroachment mechanisms. These remaining relationships were coded in an overarching theme labeled Transparency Encroachment. This concept will be explained later. First, the forms of encroachments identified for each selected company are specified in Table III to clarify the relative contributions made by each selected company to the overarching themes. It is by no means our intention to claim that the percentages indicate the relative importance of that specific form of encroachment. It just illustrates what percentage of the relationships indicated in our data collection are coded in relation to that specific form of encroachment.\nConclusions: The aim of this study has been to elucidate what concepts of encroachment explain the market share increase of companies with sustainability value propositions. This section will present the main conclusions based on the results of this study before discussing the newly identified overarching theme of transparency encroachment in relation to both the literature and managerial implications.\nLimitations and recommendations: Despite the fact that achieving reliability and validity were central to this research, there are limitations like the focus on the activities of the selected companies which implies that we excluded the customer perceptions about these activities. And although this study aimed to explain transparency encroachment with the utmost care and depth, the relative importance of each of the three concepts (awareness, experience, and contribution) could not be confirmed. Therefore, in future research, the importance of each of these concepts should be further considered. Also related concepts should be included like the possibility that active customer contribution might be linked to the level of convenience for customers in participating (Lugosi, 2007).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to elucidate what concepts of encroachment in business-to-consumer markets explain the market share increase of companies with sustainability value propositions. It documents the encroachment field, analyses the practice of ten companies and proposes and defines the additional concept of transparency encroachment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of companies with an increase in customers and market share due to their sustainability value proposition. These were supplemented with secondary data, like documented interviews, sustainability reports and reports on market development. The interview transcripts and secondary data notes were coded using template analysis.\nFindings: As the literature on encroachment assumes that new value propositions take away market share from incumbents due to advantages for customers, it is questionable whether it can explain how value propositions with advantages for society as a whole can encroach markets. The results of this study show that the dominant forms of encroachment in the current literature - high-end encroachment, low-end encroachment and business model encroachment - can only partly explain encroachment through sustainability value propositions. An additional encroachment form is identified: transparency encroachment.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research adds greater clarity to what companies do when they encroach markets with sustainability value propositions. Furthermore, the pattern of transparency encroachment is discussed to define the common aspects of this concept and to argue why these aspects are needed for encroachment. It implies that marketing activities should start from the perception that customers are allies - and not kings - in the development toward higher levels of sustainability.\nPractical implications: The paper offers practical implications insofar as it deconstructs three aspects of transparency encroachment that are enacted by companies. Customer awareness, unique experience and customer contribution are all needed to enact transparency encroachment. It is argued that other companies introducing sustainability value propositions to encroach markets should find their own application of these three aspects to create the potential for successful encroachment.\nSocial implications: Because of the focus on sustainability aspects of value propositions, this study generates knowledge about the marketing and encroachment of products with a relatively positive impact on society. Adoption of the identified concept of transparency encroachment contributes to sustainable development.\nOriginality/value: To date, there has been very little marketing research that explores the role of sustainability value propositions in the encroachment of markets. Nonetheless, nowadays customers seem to look beyond their own benefits and are increasingly demanding a new approach that builds upon the sustainability aspects of products. This research adds greater clarity to encroachment through sustainability value propositions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Google search volume sentiment and its impact on REIT market movements	[ "Volatility", "Forecasting", "Google trends", "REIT", "GARCH", "Search query data" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and motivation: The more transparent a market, the more perfect and therefore more attractive it becomes. As the past has shown, this plays a major role particularly in the real estate market. Especially in times of turbulences, reliable information is a valuable asset. Hence, each individual market participant desires early, quickly accessible and relevant information. Particularly the internet is a convenient channel from which to obtain free information. The majority of people use search engines to satisfy their demand for market information. Google, the market leading search engine, is an easy-to-use tool and accessible for all with various information options. The search queries and their search volume are collected, collated and provided through Google Trends 2.0 (www.google.com/trends) in the form of a Search Volume Index (SVI). These SVIs are publicly available and can be downloaded freely for specific search queries over time. As this data are highly relevant measure of market behavior, it has already often been used in real estate research. Many studies, such as Kulkarni et al. (2009), use Google data to forecast house prices more precisely. Dietzel et al. (2014) extend this framework and test whether search engines are not only utilized for private, but also for commercial purposes. They show that GT data can also help to predict commercial real estate market prices and transactions. Whether investors in general can benefit from GT data to satisfy their demand for financial real estate market information has already also attracted attention in academia. Rochdi and Dietzel (2015) derive investment strategies for the US REIT market by predicting the future REIT market with GT data. This paper is the first to combine REIT markets and Google data, but also raises further questions about GT data and REIT market movements. One interesting issue in this context is how search volumes for individual REITs are progressing. In order to provide an overview, Figure 1 depicts the search query volume for the \"Simon Property Group,\" the largest REIT to date in terms of market capitalization in the USA, in the period from January 2004 to May 2015.\n2. Literature review: Many kinds of sentiment indices have been used in recent research to explain stock market data in general. Neal and Wheatley (1998) reveal the predictive power for returns of three measures of individual sentiment. Wang (2001) uses a trader-position-based sentiment index. Forecasting future prices in six agricultural futures markets demonstrates that major hedger sentiments, in contrast to minor hedger sentiments are able to predict price reversals. Simon and Wiggin's (2001) empirical results show that market-based sentiment has predictive power for S&P 500 Futures Contracts. Jansen and Nahuis (2003) examine the relationship between sentiment and stock market data in nine European countries and reveal that consumer confidence is positively affected by stock market performance. Further studies assess the predictive power of sentiment indices on financial markets, such as Chung et al. (2012). They examine stock returns in economic recession and expansion states, using a multivariate Marko switching model and find the predictive power of sentiment to be significant only in economically increasing states.\n3. Data: As mentioned above, Google is the market-leading search engine for anyone requiring any information. After a merge of Google Insights and Google Trends in 2012, SVI are now publicly available and downloadable for specific search queries over time. The time series starts in 2004 and the latest weekly data are available within two days. GT creates a time-adapted index between 0 and 100, where 100 is the peak of the SVI, represented by the point of time with the highest measured search volume. There are various options for creating a specific data set, through choosing time specific periods, geographical settings and subcategories for the SVI.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Preliminary steps\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Findings\n6. Conclusion: To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper to use Google internet search data for volatility forecasting of the US REIT market. Specifically, the main goal of this research is to explore investor interest and behavior and connect it to the volatility of REIT returns. Therefore, it is essential to capture investors' market interest, which is done by creating a sentiment index with the help of Google Trends. The interest volume for individual REITS is combined to form an individual SVI. Following former empirical studies with a similar research purpose, a GARCH model is first constructed to predict the volatility of the REIT market and second, this model is augmented by Google data, in order to compare the forecasting accuracy of these two models. Consistent with existing research on Google search data and forecasting accuracy, Google data can lead to a considerable improvement in forecasting accuracy of approximately 28 percent. Hence, investors obviously use internet search data in order to gather important information for investment decisions. Google Trends therefore proves to be a viable tool for mapping the investor sentiment reliably and thereby enables the derivation of implications about future market developments. With greater market agitation, accompanied by higher search volumes, higher volatility is to be expected. All in all, Google enables mapping market reactions almost in real time. As Google Trends have only recently made daily data accessible, further research could adopt this methodology and investigate daily volatility in the REIT market. By using higher frequency data, it should be possible to concentrate more on the difference in daily volatility in high and low-volatility phases. Furthermore, analyzing the link between internet search data and the volatility of different REIT sectors could be an interesting topic in the future, as there may be sector-specific differences. This paper therefore represents a viable starting point for further related research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of investor sentiment, measured with Google internet search data, on volatility forecasts of the US REIT market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author uses the S&P US REIT index and collects search volume data from Google Trends for all US REIT. Two different Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic models are then estimated, namely, the baseline model and the Google augmented model. Using these models, one-step-ahead forecasts are conducted and the forecast accuracies of both models are subsequently compared.\nFindings: The empirical results reveal that search volume data can be used to predict volatility on the REIT market. Especially in periods of high volatility, Google augmented models outperform the baseline model.\nPractical implications: The results imply that Google data can be used on the REIT market as a market indicator. Investors could use Google as an early warning system, especially in periods of high volatility.\nOriginality/value: This is the first paper to use Google search query data for volatility forecasts of the REIT market.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competition against common sense: Insights on peer-to-peer lending as a tool to allay financial exclusion	[ "Decision making", "Borrowing", "Competition", "Lending" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Financial exclusion is lack of access to financial services on the part of consumers due to inability, difficulty, or reluctance of some segments to access mainstream financial services (Panigyrakis et al., 2002; McKillop and Wilson, 2007). For instance, financial institutions often offer costly access to funding that involves substantial bureaucracy and paperwork. Furthermore, traditional institutions are known for refusing to extend lines of credit and grant loans to certain population groups based on their lacking on some parameters used in algorithm-based assessment of creditworthiness besides macroeconomic conditions. One way in which technology and rapid expansion of social media have contributed to overcoming this form of financial exclusion is through peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, where individuals can get loan applications funded within two weeks.\n2. Review of literature and theoretical development: Person-to-person or peer-to-peer lending - also known as P2P lending, P2P investing, and social lending; abbreviated frequently as P2P lending - refers to lending and borrowing between individuals through a for-profit online platform, without the intermediation of a traditional financial institution. In the direct unsecured P2P lending model, the lender lends money to one specific borrower and has access to some objective information such as the borrower's credit rating, loan size, maturity, and purpose, as well as loan interest rate. Subsequently, if the loan defaults, the platform sells it to a debt collection agency. On average, US-based Prosper.com, the world's second largest P2P marketplace, lists about 5,000 loan applications a year, with historical loss rates ranging from 2.3 percent for highly rated loans with returns of around 6 percent, to loss rates of 14 percent in the riskiest loan category of returns circa 15 percent. The average loan amount is $10,000 and the average maturity is 36 months.\n3. Data and research methodology: To test our prediction that P2P lending decisions can be detrimentally influenced by interpersonal competition, which can be fueled by certain personal characteristics of lenders and borrowers, we conducted two experiments for which a mock P2P platform has been designed and programmed using Qualtrics software. While much of the research on P2P lending effectively uses real data provided by P2P platforms, the more controlled experimental setting must be used in order to isolate the effects of interest from other precursors of lending decisions, while having the ability to systematically vary the latter. The extant research in both marketing and finance further supports our choice of methodology, as it shows that in a comparable context, merely imagining experiences has the same effect on behavior as actual experiences (cf. Zhu et al., 2012). Importantly, we took great care to create a mock P2P platform as similar in design and appearance to Prosper.com as possible, to minimize compromise to the external validity of our findings.\nConclusions: Information asymmetry, or limited access to objective borrower information on the part of a lender, is a fundamental problem in P2P lending (Bachmann et al., 2011). As the result, soft information, or the inferences lenders make about a borrower based on their photo (Ravina, 2012), the rationale for requesting a loan (i.e. narrative; Herzenstein et al., 2011), or the group they join (Everett, 2011), for example, have a major influence on successful funding of a borrower's loan-listing and the associated interest rate. This research goes beyond the impact of soft information on P2P loan success and finds that P2P lending decisions are also subjected to evolutionary influences, such as interpersonal competition (Buss, 1988). We also propose and test specific borrower characteristics that present the most potential to implicitly fuel competition (i.e. borrower attractiveness and financial success, as inferred from the photo and credit rating, respectively), which more often than not leads to suboptimal investment decisions. As such, the present research contributes to the fast-growing body of knowledge on counterproductive behaviors in bidding strategies and their likely contribution to further financial exclusion of certain consumer segments despite the overall effort of P2P lending industry to do otherwise.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into peer-to-peer (P2P) lending which has served as one important tool to mitigate financial exclusion. The main proposition of this research is that P2P platforms, which in many ways resemble auctions, naturally instill competitive mindset among lenders; furthermore, given only limited objective decision criteria, certain borrower personal characteristics fuel interpersonal competition enough to impact lending decisions in suboptimal ways. The two experiments support this proposition. As the result, while P2P lending offers unprecedented financial opportunities to some consumer groups, it may unintentionally exclude others, and even pose threat to the financial well-being of lenders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two experiments were used to collect data and are reported here. Rigorous pretesting of manipulation stimuli preceded a pilot (exploratory) and the main experiment.\nFindings: The authors generally find a significant age bias, where ceteris paribus, younger borrowers are offered lower loan amounts as lenders most likely infer greater risk and lower likelihood to repay loans on time. However, and perhaps more interestingly, when age is not a strong indicator of experience (as in the case with 30 something), the authors repeatedly find evidence of lending decisions driven by interpersonal competition: more attractive and financially successful loan applicants of the same gender as lenders are most likely perceived as a personal threat, decreasing lenders' confidence, which subsequently results in lower amounts being invested into loans that are possibly the most promising.\nOriginality/value: To the best knowledge, this research is first to demonstrate the impact of interpersonal competition on decision making in the context of P2P lending. Furthermore, this paper contributes to better understanding of P2P lending as a tool to allay financial exclusion, while raising concerns of possible unintended exclusion of certain consumer segments due to the competitive nature of P2P platforms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dissonant cognitions: from psychological discomfort to motivation to change	[ "Information processing", "Behavioral change", "Psychological discomfort" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Although growing concern about the negative effects of consumption can be observed today among western consumers (Gonzalez et al., 2009), the extent to which this affects their actual purchasing and consumption behavior is still under question (Grunert, 1993; Carrington et al., 2010, 2014). Preoccupations over food products relate to health, quality of life and physical appearance, leading consumers to pay close attention to what and how much they eat. More broadly and beyond the general level of consumption, food production processes are being criticized as they raise new global issues and potential threats to human health, the environment or levels of social well-being. In the mass and social media, warning messages and calls for behavioral changes and reduced consumption are intensifying. Consumers are faced with ever-more heterogeneous and often anxiety-inducing information, and these contradictory cognitions have to be processed and incorporated into their attitudinal system. As they become more informed and educated, they also tend to be more sensitive to the consequences of their consumption and feel challenged to adopt new consumption behaviors. However, recent studies show that, in spite of massive information and heightened perceptions of the potential negative consequences of their consumption, consumers globally are not significantly modifying their habits or practices (Carrington et al., 2010). Validation of such a gap between attitudes, intentions and declared behaviors has been provided in various illustrative fields, from organic products to ethically labeled products (coffee), energy and transport (De Pelsmacker et al., 2005; O'Driscoll et al., 2013; Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006).\nConceptual framework: Understanding the gap between attitudes and behaviors: the central role of psychological discomfort\nHypotheses: The first part of this research involves in testing a preliminary conceptual model that describes the mediating role of psychological discomfort in the process toward behavioral change intentions. The aim of the study is also to shed light on the effect of external dissonant information on psychological discomfort and the potential role of the information treatment strategies used by individuals to limit it.\nStudy 1: An initial study was conducted to test the global conceptual model, and in particular, the mediating role of psychological discomfort, its antecedents and the consumer informational strategies aimed at lowering the effects of opposite cognitions.\nResults: Overall, the sample shows a moderate level of perceived meat consumption (3.68), while at the same time, rather strong attitudes toward meat consumption (4.99). Resistance attitudes toward consumption also show an above-average score (4.24), while the score for attitudes toward meat production is lower (3.02). The Table I shows that exposure to the stimulus has an effect on the level of reported psychological discomfort. The mean of the variable goes from 2.47, when measured before the reading of the text, to 3.80 thereafter. This confirms that negative external information tends to increase the psychological discomfort related to the given consumption behavior. This is in line with H7.\nDiscussion: The contribution of this first study is three-fold. First, it makes an empirical contribution to the mediating role of psychological discomfort in explaining the consumption behavioral change intentions when attitudes are conflicting with the past behavior. Second, it confirms that when individuals are confronted with new dissonant information, they tend to process it using informational strategies such as decredibilization and trivialization to limit their psychological discomfort. Third, it suggests that dissonant information increases psychological discomfort, which should encourage behavioral change intentions. However, because in this study the effect of the dissonant information on psychological discomfort was measured immediately after exposure to the stimulus, the nature of this effect can still be questioned because of memory bias. Indeed, as we posited, the process toward behavioral change is longitudinal and implies that the progressive increase in psychological discomfort over time will at some point reach a sufficient level to balance the dissonant attitude and the past behavior. It is therefore, necessary to investigate whether the induced increase in psychological discomfort can be considered as a solidifying trend or if the effect of the dissonant information is only an emotional and momentary reaction. Beyond the strategies aimed at processing new external information to reduce its momentary effects on psychological discomfort, it can be posited that such effects may additionally be short and of insufficient duration to cause a lasting increase in the level of psychological discomfort. To test this further hypothesis, Study 2 was conducted to investigate the persistence of the increased level of psychological discomfort over time.\nStudy 2: To better assert the mediating role of psychological discomfort in motivations for behavioral change, the Study 2 aimed to replicate the previous study on a shorter model of hypotheses and in an experiment including a control group and a two-step procedure.\nMethodology: The Study 2 replicates the Study 1, but with a more focused objective of measuring the effect of external information on psychological discomfort. As in Study 1, respondents were asked about their attitudes toward meat, exposed to the stimulus, and then asked again about their attitudes and intentions via an online self-administered questionnaire. A control group was exposed to a different and more neutral stimulus to better capture the specific effects of the dissonant information. A total of 236 consumers were surveyed (80 of whom were in the control group. The sample consisted of 151 female and 85 male, at an average age of 35.1; no significant difference is observed in terms of gender, age, marital status, number of children, activity and revenues between the experimental group and the control group). Data collection took place in November 2017 with a similar procedure and the same stimulus as in Study 1, except for the content of the control group's stimulus[3]. All scales were replicated from Study 1 and showed similar psychographic qualities in terms of reliability and internal validity (Appendix 4).\nResults: One initial finding is that once more the external information has an immediate effect on the level of psychological discomfort, which results in an increase in motivation levels for behavioral change (Table III).\nOverall discussion: This study sheds light on the central role of psychological discomfort in the process toward behavioral change when attitudes conflict with consumption practices. In line with the cognitive dissonance theory, the aversive state results from the level of dissonant and consonant cognitions respectively opposed to or consistent with the consumption behavior concerned. Several types of cognitions were tested. The perceived level of past consumption is a condition that fuels the arousal of psychological discomfort. In other words, high levels of meat consumption are more likely to lead to cognitive dissonance. However, while feelings of excessive consumption are likely to enhance feelings of guilt, this can be compensated by strong affective attitudes toward the product and its consumption. Because eating meat may involve strong hedonic and emotional feelings, positive attitudes toward meat attenuate psychological discomfort. Thus, the power of affective attitudes toward meat consumption makes true meat lovers unlikely to question their valued behavior. In the present study, big meat eaters are more likely to feel discomfort, but their love of meat, as a consonant cognition, will concurrently reduce their ill-being and motivation to change. Two different categories of dissonant cognitions were investigated. One was, attitudes toward consumption in general, which can relate either to a personality trait or individual values (Black and Cherrier, 2010). These revealed a positive effect on psychological discomfort. This phenomenon may reflect the influence of today's emerging anti-consumption trends - resistant attitudes toward consumption generally - which increases psychological discomfort when consumption of some particular product categories is being considered. This result confirms that people may be subject to various levels of cognitive dissonance according to their personal values. Moreover, it confirms that while consumers make their choices in relation to a given product category, they also significantly embed them in a global and coherent normative design (Black and Cherrier, 2010; Stern, 2000). More precisely, in this study, meat consumption appears to be mostly contradictory to the resistant attitudes toward overall consumption. The other dissonant attitude tested is specific to the category. Quite interestingly, the effects of negative attitudes toward meat production processes on levels of psychological discomfort are not significant. This is in line with several previous research results showing that origin and production processes may not be decisive in explaining consumption choices (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006). Such attitudes, probably of a more cognitive nature, are based on perceptions of biospheric - and therefore more remote - consequences (Stern, 2000). Biospheric (environmental or social) cognitions have been proven to have lower explanatory effects on consumer behaviors than personal values and subjective norms (Carrington et al., 2010); they also seem to be less influential than emotions or other more affective attitudes.\nConclusion and implications: In western societies, information about products and consumption practices is widely published in the media and social media. Contrasting with advertisements and other promotional messages, more and more information now relates to the drawbacks and detrimental consequences of product use. The aim of this study was to shed light on how consumers integrate such messages into their decision process when the arguments presented are dissonant to their own past consumption behavior. Our results show that consumption of controversial products or categories (such as meat) can lead to the emergence of psychological discomfort in consumers. In particular, psychological discomfort will develop, as the consumption behavior is more strongly anchored in habits and practice, and as dissonant attitudes opposed to the behavior become stronger. The link between psychological discomfort and the consumer's motivation for behavioral change confirms that the gap between attitudes and behaviors is not an equilibrium state and that psychological discomfort plays a central mediating role toward motivation for change.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Many western consumers have become sensitive to the negative effects of their consumption levels in many product categories and those new attitudes are challenging their habitual consumption behaviors. How do dissonant attitudes influence the process toward behavioral change? How does external information reinforce those conflicting attitudes with new dissonant cognitions and foster intentions to modify behavior? This study aims to propose a conceptual model, based on cognitive dissonance theory, which introduces psychological discomfort as an important mediator toward behavioral change intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two studies are conducted. Using structural equation modeling under Amos, hypotheses are tested and validated in the field of meat consumption on a sample of 501 French consumers. A second study investigates the impact of the nature of the stimulus on consumers' responses.\nFindings: The results show that psychological discomfort is increased by the contact with dissonant external information and that consumers may at the same time minimize the effects of additional cognition by implementing informational strategies such as trivialization or decredibilization to defend their consumption behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future researchers could consider the various objections to meat consumption separately and further explore the dynamics between external information, consumer cognitions and consumer consumption behavior in diverse consumption contexts.\nPractical implications: The authors advise meat marketers to reduce consumer psychological discomfort by promoting the hedonic perceived value and by presenting credible counterarguments to defend the benefits of their products.\nSocial implications: The study may encourage advocates of lower meat consumption to provide credible information about the detrimental effects of meat consumption to influence behavioral change intentions.\nOriginality/value: As responsible consumption becomes a key trend in western societies, new attitudes, fostered by external critical information, are influencing consumption behavior in many product categories. This research contributes to a better understanding of the attitude-behavior gap in a context of emerging criticism toward highly consumed and traditional products.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tourism destination branding complexity	[ "Tourism", "Brands", "Advertising", "Marketing agencies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Very little published branding research provides pragmatic guides for destination marketing organisations (DMOs). The destination branding literature only surfaced relatively recently, with the first academic conference session convened in 1996, the first journal articles appearing in the late 1990s, and the first book published in 2002. The lack of literature seems incongruent with suggestions that the future of marketing will be a battle of brands, and that destinations are arguably the travel industry's biggest brands. With travellers spoilt by choice of available destinations, never before has it been more important for a destination to develop an effective brand. Alas, to do so is also more difficult than ever before.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper proposes enhancing the understanding of the complex challenges inherent in the development of tourism destination brand slogans.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Prior to completing a tourism marketing PhD, the author spent almost two decades working in the tourism industry, mostly in destination marketing organisations (DMOs). In this paper he laments a significant gap in the literature in the area of tourism destination branding, a field that has only attracted academic attention since the late 1990s.\nFindings: - While interest in applications of brand theory to practise in tourism is increasing, there is a paucity of published research with which to guide DMOs. There has been relatively little discussion on the complexity involved in capturing the essence of a multi-attributed destination with a succinct and focused brand position, in a way that is both meaningful to the multiplicity of target audiences of interest to stakeholders and effectively differentiates the destination from competitors.\nPractical implications: - The paper will be of interest to tourism practitioners with a vested interest in the marketing of their destination, as well as research students and supervising academics interested in destination marketing.\nOriginality/value: - The paper summarises six issues that make the application of branding theory to destinations a complex undertaking, and which are worthy of increased research attention.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Job satisfaction in Italy: individual characteristics and social relations	[ "Job satisfaction", "Social capital", "Health", "Italy", "Social relations", "Statistical matching" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Social relations play a prominent role in job-market searches. A large and growing body of evidence emphasizes the positive role of friends and relatives (so-called social or informal networks) in helping people to find work (see Ioannides and Loury, 2004; Bentolila et al., 2010; Pellizzari, 2010; Ponzo and Scoppa, 2010). Furthermore, happiness studies underline the importance of social interactions for individual well-being (see Becchetti et al., 2008, 2011; Bruni and Stanca, 2008).\n2. Job satisfaction and social relations: This section provides an overview of studies on the determinants of job satisfaction.\n3. Sample description: The data used in the present study is drawn from Multiscopo Survey of Households (MSH), a cross-sectional survey administered annually by ISTAT. The new MSH series was initiated in 1993. Every year a representative sample of 20,000 Italian households (roughly corresponding to 60,000 individuals) is surveyed on key aspects of daily life and behaviour. Though MSH is annual, it is not panel data. Among information provided, there are data on social relations, on a wide range of domain satisfactions as well as on socio-demographic characteristics.\n4. Econometric results: This section analyses the impact of individual and socio-economic features as well as social relations on job satisfaction.\n5. Conclusions: The paper adds a new piece of evidence to the existing literature on job satisfaction, i.e. the effects of social relations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which focuses on social interactions as determinants of job satisfaction. Four different measures of social relations were used: volunteering in non-profit associations, meeting friends, visiting relatives and church attendance. The study estimates micro-econometric job satisfaction equations for Italy using the ISTAT MSH for the period 1993-2000. The reported level of job satisfaction is considered an ordinal measure, with ordered probit estimations being carried out. The data describe a correlation rather than cause-and-effect as almost all empirical studies on job satisfaction. We do not identify clear causal relationships in one direction or the other. It is reasonable to assume that causation goes in both directions, with more satisfied workers having more social relations and with the time spent on social relations fostering worker well-being.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the determinants of job satisfaction in Italy with particular emphasis on social relations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses the data from the Multiscopo Survey of Households (MSH) conducted by the Italian Central Statistical Office for the years 1993-1995-1998-2000 for empirical investigations with ordered probit and robustness tests. A statistical matching procedure to impute missing values on household income in MSH is also performed.\nFindings: The paper finds that social interactions matter. While visits to relatives are not statistically significant, volunteer work and the frequency of meetings with friends are significantly and positively correlated with job satisfaction, with church attendance having the biggest impact on job satisfaction. These results seem to confirm the main assumption of the paper: social relations are helpful in gaining more and in improving career prospects. The findings also show that meetings with friends increase job satisfaction through self-perceived health, suggesting a \"buffering effect\" of the networks of friends. In addition, results for Italy confirm findings gathered from job satisfaction studies with some novel evidence.\nOriginality/value: The role of social relations in job satisfaction has received no attention. The paper contributes to the literature by carrying out the first empirical analysis on the relationship between social relations and job satisfaction. Overall, the value-added of the study is twofold. First, it adds a new piece of evidence to the existing literature on job satisfaction, i.e. the effects of social relations. To the best of the knowledge, there are no studies which consider social interactions as determinants of job satisfaction. Second, it extends the country evidence on the determinants of job satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From e-learning to social learning - a health care study	[ "Web 2.0", "E-learning", "Online communities", "Social media", "Health care" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The advancement of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is encouraging and supporting individuals to learn by new methods. The developments in ICTs have been enhanced by the emergence of Web 2.0, which give individuals opportunities to learn by social interactions on the internet. Social media create value for the online communities as a driver to enrich educational opportunity and enhance the quality of web-based learning. Learning through web implies that it is conveyed through a web browser over the internet, regardless of whether this is a private or public facility. This is frequently referred to as online learning and is a key element of e-learning or distance learning (Wellman and Wortley, 1990), which intends to enrich users\n2. Literature review and theoretical foundation: There is usually a debated on how the internet technologies influence online user\n3. Social media statement: The social interactions in learning groups within an environment using computer supported learning is frequently absent (Hassanein and Head, 2007). However, social connection and communication is known to have an important influence on collaborative learning (Huang et al., 2010). In the case of health, communication methods that involve individuals on a personal level and within different frameworks seem to have a greater effect (Neuhauser and Kreps, 2003). Social media can attract individuals to learn based on social learning through their social interactions. Social contact and exchange can initiate new social skills, enhance the problem-solving process through sharing support, and further cultivate innovative thinking (Huang et al., 2010), which can be achieved through social media. Moreover, learning is believed to be more effective when learners have interaction with their tutor, other individuals within a group and the course material (Johnson et al., 2008). Individuals go to places with the idea of finding others with mutual interests with whom they can interact and thus gain a more positive attitude. This encourages them to return to this place. Online communities can be such places.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Research design\n5. Results: This research investigated the social relationships of individuals on the internet with the emergence of social media. The study conducted a qualitative study on the health sector. The data has collected through interview of users in online health communities and analysis of data by a group of authors reveals that social relationship of individuals in the internet is playing an important role in transferring e-learning and developing it to social learning, where individuals learn in communities by social interaction. The research has discovered different themes and online social support is an interesting theme helping to develop e-learning. Social interactions of participants in the internet through social media generate online social support. Table II shows some examples of interviews that have shaped this theme. Participants join online health communities to search for the information, advices, and knowledge of other users. This is informational support produced in online health communities. Participants also receive emotional support in online communities, when they face difficulties, for instance. The research categorises the online social support in emotional and informational support. Online social support attracts participants to come online and interact with their peers and learn through their social interactions.\n6. Discussion: The e-learning is developing to social learning, which emphasises the role of social media. Health information available on the internet is believed to help consumers save time and embarrassment, and provide them with ease of access and additional knowledge (Deursen, 2012). Individuals who receive their information and advice online continue to use online services instead of going to class or the place they need to go. Social platforms with the help of social media can be significant channels for distributing relevant and accurate health information to a population that is underserved. Huang et al., (Huang et al., 2010) suggested that social networks should be the basis on which to form knowledge sharing communities. Therefore, developing online communities to attract individuals to come online and learn through their social learning process in these communities can have contributions to both academic and practice. Overall, our study provides insightful understanding on the role of social media in social learning process, which also brings some implications for practice. We conclude our theoretical contributions, practical contributions, as well as limitation and future directions as following.\n7. Conclusion: This research through a qualitative study has investigated the role of social media on e-learning environment. The study shed on social support theory to seek the opportunities that social interaction of individual provides for learning. Opportunities are informational and emotional support in online communities called online social support, which develop e-learning to social learning. Learning through social media and online social interaction can be beneficial for individuals giving them the opportunity to choose their own patterns of study and make their own agenda according to their individual needs. E-learning often lacks the social aspect of traditional learning methods which can often lead to negative feelings such as isolation and lack of support, assertiveness and emotions which can affect the e-learning process and thus its positive result. In order to improve the quality of e-learning, an environment that offers social interaction should be created within a technology facilitated learning environment. This will create perception in learners of being part of a vibrant social climate and can initiate positive feelings in learners and as a result encourage them to share information which is regarded as beneficial and valuable. Consequently, the platform on which this information is shared will be improved and the quality of learning enhanced. Social relationships in an online context can be powerful tools to enhance the quality of e-learning. Lack of social presence in an online context can be resolved by improving social technologies in learning sectors. Individuals can receive social support by interacting online with other individuals. They can have access to the information for free or cheaper than they need to pay elsewhere. These facilities in an online context can develop e-learning to social learning. Social media facilitates greater interaction among users, which boosts more profound learning involvement and increases online associations among individuals. The contribution of this research is to emphasise social relationship of individuals in the internet and social interaction in online communities, which enhance their learning qualities. The research drawn on social support theory describes social learning as a future for e-learning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The emergence of Web 2.0 opened a new route for education to use the values derived from this development. The future of e-learning is social learning, where individuals can learn online due to the facility of social media. Social media such as online communities are places for social interactions between users. These social interactions are the way forward and can drive social support in an online context. This paper aims to explore the impact of these interactions\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses social support theory to explore the impact of social interactions on the internet on learning and education. The research uses a case study and investigates the health industry.\nFindings: The paper explains the development in e-learning through social media and the emerging concept of social learning.\nOriginality/value: The contribution of this research is to emphasise social relationships of individuals in the internet and social interaction in online communities which enhance their learning qualities. The research drawn on social support theory describes social learning as a future for e-learning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Role of personality style on bargaining outcomes	[ "Economic philosophy/theory", "Management", "Well being" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Much emphasis on economic theory has been devoted to the study of bargaining. Two related problems in particular arise in contexts involving negotiations. There are numerous outcomes that can be rationalized and, consequently, coordination failure is a concern. Given the pervasiveness of negotiations, it is important to be able to effectively explain and predict the outcomes that arise.\n2. Personality styles: Schmitt et al. (2008) speculate that individuals \"approach decision problems in different ways and that this can have meaningful impact on behavior\" (p. 598). A variety of instruments have been used as a means of identifying personal traits to get at these differences. The MBTI has its origin in the studies of Carl G. Jung, a Swiss psychologist (1875-1961). Jung argued that his patients displayed certain styles of thought and behavior which were repeated over time. In his work on psychological types, Jung outlined a framework for explaining preferences. The typology that followed has been the focus of considerable research regarding management, teamwork, and human behavior in general.\n3. Theoretical model: Consider a two-player extensive-form game. Denote the agents as Player A and Player B. Player A has an endowment of 100 and chooses how much to give to Player B, keeping the residual for herself. Next, Player B chooses whether to accept the division or reject it. If the offer is accepted the game ends. If it is rejected, Player B makes a counteroffer of how much to receive, again leaving the residual to A. The rejection, though, destroys 10 so that A's wealth is only 90. Player A now has the choice to accept Player B's counteroffer or reject it. Each rejection reduces the wealth by 10, but provides the rejector with the opportunity to make a new offer. The game ends with either an acceptance of an offer or ten rejections.\n4. Experimental methods: Experiments of the alternating-offer bargaining game described in the previous section were conducted. Students from a small, private university in upstate New York were used in the experiment. The students were recruited from undergraduate economics and management courses, along with MBA classes. A total of nine experimental sessions were conducted in November 2012 and March 2013. Sessions ranged from 16-30 subjects. A total of 205 individuals participated. Background information was provided by the experimental subjects. Table II provides a brief description of the sample.\n5. Results: First, the outcomes of the negotiations can be provided. Table III presents information on the behavior observed in the sessions.\n6. Conclusion: Bargaining environments are associated with multiple equilibria and offer the possibility of coordination failure leading to inefficient outcomes. Institutional features, such as first-mover advantages, endowment sizes, and informational constraints, have been the focus of the economic analysis of bargaining. These provide partial explanations for bargaining outcomes that arise. Here we hypothesize that personality traits of the participants contribute to the prediction of equilibrium selection and coordination failures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify whether personality traits can help explain the outcomes that arise in bargaining outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Experiments with subjects playing the alternating-offers bargaining game are considered. Both full information and asymmetric information treatments are considered. Subjects also complete standardized Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessments.\nFindings: Personality type measurements are shown to help explain the opening offers, rejections, and resulting wealth in the negotiations. It is shown that interactions between the personality dimensions are important and that the interaction between personality and information play a key role in bargaining outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research utilizes laboratory experiments to generate data. This expands our understanding of individual-level behavior, but suffers from the limitation of not replicating realistic bargaining situations.\nPractical implications: The work should serve as a guide to organizations to identify traits of effective negotiators.\nSocial implications: Bargaining is a central economic activity. Being able to identify the root of differences in outcomes from negotiations should be able to inform institutional design issues.\nOriginality/value: Little work has been done connecting the rich literature in social psychology and management on personality to economic outcomes. The research on bargaining neglects to incorporate individual-level traits into the process. This research begins to bridge this gap and informs both bargaining theory as well as emphasizes on the importance of personality in application.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Rethinking library resource sharing: new models for collaboration	[ "Best practices", "Delivery", "Interlibrary loan", "Partnerships", "Interlending", "Discovery" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Libraries and librarians enjoy an established role in society - to connect people with information. Despite any and all other changes in the information world, or the world at large, that purpose remains a vital and consequential one. However, the challenges in meeting it are now taking on new dimensions. Enormous technological advances are pushing the boundaries of the information landscape and providing researchers with new ways to find and access resources. In addition, economic limitations are challenging librarians to meet the demand for quick access to global and digital information as efficiently and cost effectively as possible, while maintaining access to print material.\nThe rise of resource sharing: Resource sharing services such as interlibrary loan (lending/borrowing materials between libraries) or document delivery (delivering locally held materials physically or electronically, and/or utilizing commercial document suppliers to fill borrowing requests) have long provided access to information resources beyond what is available to a local community. What is different today is that in our rapidly changing landscape, resource sharing has evolved from a service to request and deliver physical information resources not available locally to one that delivers a variety of resources in multiple formats with workflows connected to acquisitions, collection development, reference, and other library services. The challenge of filling requests for hard-to-find resources has led to closer ties between resource sharing and reference services where, in some models, subject specialists are integrated into standard interlibrary loan workflows to assist in filling requests from faculty members (Bean and Rigby, 2011).\nDiscovery=resource sharing: Driven by changing user preferences and information seeking behavior in the age of Google, libraries today seek to provide rich and comprehensive search experiences. Major libraries and multi-type library consortia are deploying shared discovery and delivery platforms that bring together catalogs from partner institutions under one search. In Australia and New Zealand, for instance, libraries have worked together for a decade to ensure ISO-ILL interoperable systems, and today the Trans-Tasman Interlending program enables efficient resource sharing across national borders (Jilovsky and Howells, 2012) while within Australia, Libraries Australia Document Delivery (LADD)[1] provides users nationwide with over 700 library collections to search and request from (Hanington, 2010).\nBest practices: Traditional interlending - the sharing of loans and copies, of print and now digital information between libraries - remains essential for library patrons who need information that has not been or cannot be digitized (generally because of copyright and other intellectual property laws) and that is not owned by their local library. However, this traditional function is now performed more efficiently and effectively than ever due to new technologies such as electronic transmission and the development and sharing of best practices.\nCollaborative models: Interlending and resource sharing are by their nature collaborative enterprises. The closer that libraries and librarians work together, the more they can accomplish on behalf of their communities. There are many examples of collaborative models that improve interlending and many that expand the concept of resource sharing around the globe.\nConclusion: Discovery systems, best practices, and new collaborative partnerships are all logical ways to improve services, but they are not inevitable. Indeed, they require concerted time, budgetary support, and effort to build and maintain.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight significant changes in the information discovery landscape; discuss evolution in discovery systems and their connection to resource sharing; discuss the use of best practices by resource sharing practitioners; and describe new collaborations among libraries that change the definition of resource sharing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors observed the library landscape with a focus on discovery systems, interlending systems, and collaborative resource sharing models and reviewed literature related to these areas to structure discussion and draw conclusions about the changing role and definition of resource sharing.\nFindings: Innovations in discovery have significant impact on library resource sharing. Resource sharing practitioners are using best practices to improve services and develop new roles. New models for collaboration are changing the definition of library resource sharing.\nOriginality/value: This paper positions resource sharing as a dynamic, highly strategic area of service with growing importance to twenty-first century libraries and challenges readers to consider what new partnerships and collaborative models will benefit both libraries and their communities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Business process in supply chain integration in sugar and ethanol industry	[ "Supply chain management", "Business process", "Supply chain integration", "Supply chain management models" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Business management has entered the era of inter-network competition where individual businesses no longer compete as solely autonomous entities, but rather as supply chains. Several authors have addressed how beyond firm's boundaries relationships could lead to superior value creation in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Dyer and Nobeoka, 2000; Krause et al., 2007; Mesquita et al., 2008; Flyn et al., 2010). In today's competitive environment, the ultimate success of the single business will depend on management's ability to integrate the company's network of business relationships. Supply chain management (SCM) has emerged as an important strategy to develop relationships and improve firm's performance (for reviews, see Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Terpend et al., 2008).\n2 Supply chain management: Nowadays most individual business no longer compete simply as autonomous organizations but rather as supply chains. Supply chain is referred as a set of companies involved in the upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances, and information from a source to a customer (Mentzer et al., 2001). In brief, it can be understood that the supply chain constitutes a network of business relationships.\n3 Reference models for SCM integration: From a review of relevant literature, six SCM conceptual models that recognize the need of integrating business processes were identified (Cooper et al., 1997; Supply-Chain Council (SCOR), 1996; Bowersox et al., 1999; Melnyk et al., 2004; Srivastava et al., 1999; Vollman et al., 2000; Mentzer et al., 2001).\n4 Research methodology: In summary, the methodology focuses on identifying a SCM reference model, identifying the adequate research methodology and developing the method for evaluating companies' level of supply chain integration.\n5 Method development: In this section are detailed all the necessary stages for constructing the method for identifying companies' supply chain integration level.\n6 Case study: In order to identify company's supply chain integration level a case study research has been designed. The study has been conducted in one of the leading groups within the sugar and ethanol industry in the world: the largest Brazilian sugar-ethanol company, the third world largest sugar producer and the fifth world largest producer of ethanol (Cosan, 2010). The sources of information are interviews with:\n7 Conclusions: SCM has assumed increasing importance in the competitive environment since competition has shifted from one firm competing with another to one supply chain competing with another. The success of a single business depends, primarily, on its ability to integrate the company's network of business relationships So is the supply chain that needs to be competitive, what makes its effective management essential for all participating firms.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite the increasing interests in supply chain management (SCM) within academy and industrial environment, there is still a lack of academic literature concerning topics such as methodologies to guide and support supply chain integration. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This article presents the application of a diagnosis method in a Brazilian company from the sugar and ethanol industry to identify the level of supply chain integration. The diagnosis method is based on Cooper, Lambert and Pagh reference model for SCM. The method involves nine referential axes established from the eighth key business processes of the reference model.\nFindings: It was pre-tested and supplemented with findings from interviews with academics and practitioners. Additionally, an illustration application was conducted in three relevant companies.\nOriginality/value: The application results were useful for refining the method that can be considered as a diagnosis instrument to permit companies to evaluate its supply chain integration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning outcomes from business simulation exercises: Challenges for the implementation of learning technologies	[ "Decision making", "Curriculum development", "Computer based learning", "Business development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nDefinition of computer-based business simulation: Authors use different terminologies to define business simulation technologies that range from top management, flight simulators, business simulators, simulation games, macro-worlds/micro-worlds to learning laboratories. Gilgeous and D'Cruz (1996) explains that because of the connotations of each word, there is much confusion as to what these games are and why are called games. This has led to some people to not use them because they are unaware of their full scope and benefits, therefore it is important to define them in a realistic way.The following definitions help to clarify the confusion, for example, Thavikulwat (2009) proposes that \"a simulation is an exercise involving reality of function in an artificial environment, a case study but with the participants inside.\" According to Summers (2004), these are usually firm or industry business games, where \"players learn by managing a simulated firm, most often with a competitive industry or environment. Learners make decisions usually but not exclusively by allocating resources. The simulations can focus on the firm's internal mechanisms/dynamics, its interaction with its environment, or both. In some games, decisions focus on a particular business function or analysis or span many business functional areas\".With reference to the pedagogical aspect of business simulations, Akilli (2007) refers to games and simulations as experiential exercises in which there is \"learning how to learn\" that provides something more than \"plain thinking: beyond thinking\". Day and Reibstein (1997) define them as \"a facsimile of reality\", which is intended to display what would transpire if the assumed conditions were to occur in reality as, \"simulations offer a more effective way to understand the future than the extrapolation of trend lines, forecasting and brainstorming.\" Keys (1990) note the useful aspect of these experiential environments is that, \"learning and behavioural changes can be observed\". The emphasis of the simulation learning environments is on running experiments, testing different strategies, and building a better understanding of key aspects of the real world, where \"Cooperation is the key; as participants have to determine whether they can solve the problems and achieve the goals that the simulation presents from a range of multiple decision/outcome possibilities and levels of online feedback/coaching\" (Kenworthy and Wong, 2005; Romme, 2004).Not only does this added component embed insights about the theory in its context, but users also experience the dynamics of that theory as it plays out through time in common strategic challenges, as experimenting and learning how one decision can impact on another provides revelations that will prove useful back in the workplace (Hawker et al., 2006).\nLearning outcomes: A literature review on learning outcomes expected to be achieved, identified many claims for and against the usefulness of simulations in enhancing learning. Many authors assert that using educational electronic web-based or software-based simulations to complement conventional teaching tools has the potential to enhance learning, attitudes and behaviours (as shown in Table I).However, as many of these findings on the educational merits of simulations are based on perceptions of learning as reported by participants and instructors and not objective assessments, it measures the affective not cognitive learning. Therefore, there is so much debate about the legitimacy and the fact that the studies have not yet produced firm conclusions (Anderson and Lawton, 2009; De Freitas and Jarvis, 2007; Keys and Wolfe, 1989).\nThe learning technologies industry: The learning technology industry aimed at higher education is composed of a mixture of academicians and entrepreneurs (Gibson et al., 2007). According to the literature and a survey on the web, the domain of researchers and academics interested in this field consist of global organizations that serve as a meeting point for scientists and practitioners developing and using learning technologies, simulation, gaming and related methodologies. These organisations provide a wealth of information in all areas for the integration of these technologies with instructional design and business education and the research is addressed to faculty and students' needs of higher education. Their resources include free access to journal, research papers, and policy development reports, and resources dedicated to teaching business through innovative and effective methods and professional training. Members of these organizations contribute towards business simulations, experiential exercises, effective teaching, assessment of training methods, learning theory, simulation research and multimedia and advanced technologies, etc. A list of some of these organisations include:BECTA British Educational Communications & Technology Agency.ISAGA International Simulation & Gaming Association (www.isaga.info).ABSEL Association for Business Simulation and Experimental Learning www.absel.org/MERLOT Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning & Online Teaching (http://business.merlot.org/).INSEAD CALT Centre for Advanced Learning Technologies (www.calt.insead.edu/).NASAGA North American Simulation & Gaming Society (www.unice.fr/sg/resources/index.html).SIAA Simulation Industry Association of Australia (www.siaa.asn.au/)CRESS Centre for Research in Social Simulation (http://cress.soc.surrey.ac.uk/index.html).IITSEC Inter-service Industry Training Simulation & Education (www.iitsec.org/index.cfm).EDUCAUSE A non-profit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology (www.educause.edu/).Simulations comprise one of the six types of pedagogically-defined learning products, serving eight markets as shown in Figure 1.Thavikulwat (2009) states that business simulations have been classified in many ways, and proposes a classification that relates directly to the purpose for which a particular simulation may be used, such as:* discipline (accounting, marketing, strategy, entrepreneurship, international business, etc);* industry (advertising, aerospace, banking, etc.);* Scope (e.g. functional, total enterprise, and total economy);* difficulty (simple and complex); and* dependence (Independent and dependent across firms).Throughout the literature, various authors referred to business simulations distinguished by the following characteristics:1. Micro-world simulations - those that represent functional business areas as they involve intra-company efficiencies or in-house competitions, they are either custom designed by commercial specialized tailoring consultants, or bought as a generic representations of many scenarios that span across different industries from airline, retail, financial, telecommunication services, hospitality, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing (Romme, 2002; Keys, 1990; Wolfe and Crookall, 1998).2. Macroworld simulations - those that involve complex systematic problems with horizontal learning across industry by teams or participants, representing different companies, who are competing for market share of products that deal with the entire organization, provide a balanced number of decisions variables in marketing, production and finance and thus require the strategic integration of several subunits for organization performance. Financial modelling simulations, falls in this category: this type of simulation allows users to learn situations that are difficult to experience and are based on tough scenarios by learning to adopt \"what-if\" to see the impact of their decisions and course of action. For example, the impact of an interest rate changes on a discounted cash flow analysis or other type of financial equation (Keys and Wolfe, 1997; Wolfe and Crookall, 1998; Cadotte, 1995; Vinod, 2004).3. Interpersonal skills simulations - those that focus on specific training needs allowing the manager to practice different high-stakes interpersonal scenarios with peers, for example on how to deal with a critical customer escalation, development of critical decision making skills, operations and induction (Bolt, 2005; Aldrich, 2005; Gibson et al., 2007).4. Business acumen simulations - those that focus on development of skills on formulating strategy, allocate scarce resources, develop products and services, attempt to meet customer requirements, manage financial metrics, contend with exogenous disruptions, and compete against other managers in a shifting competitive landscape (Toki, 2000; Keys and Wolfe, 1989; Keys, 1990; Bolt, 2005).To help differentiate among these types, Bolt (2005), proposes the flight simulation analogy, from which in the flight simulation context: \"The first three types of simulation would be subset activities of the fourth. For example, a process flow simulation could examine the rate at which passengers exit and enter the plane. The interpersonal simulation could examine how to deal with a difficult passenger on a plane. The financial modelling simulation would be analogous to analysing different combinations of lift and drag on the speed of the plane. The business acumen simulation would be the most comprehensive of the four - actually flying the plane\".It was notable in the review, that many of these simulations are geared towards final year degree students in the areas of strategy, business policy, marketing and general management, and are integrated into a wide range of business, accounting and management subjects such as statistics, operational management, accounting, marketing, decision-making, information systems, e-commerce, finance, supply chain, business process management.Currently a wide range of business simulations exist and they can be acquired as outlined in Table II.\nChanging trends in the industry: The biggest changes are with distribution: since some publishers, who were once the main distribution channel, are leaving the industry or merging out of the business. Simultaneously, suppliers are moving delivery to the internet and providing complementary services to academics that go beyond running the simulation such as students' exercises and information that academics can use in their courses, which is a major change that might consolidate the industry (Summers, 2004).\nChallenges for the implementation of learning technologies: Among the major challenges presented to the adopters of business simulations are:* adapting flexibly to pedagogical change and professional development;* developing and updating infrastructure;* sustaining continuity of learning;* meeting learners' expectations;* negotiating the role of the instructor; and* delivering appropriate learning spaces.These were the main challenges highlighted in the literature review. In order to effectively implement a culture of adoption of these technologies that will lead to a sustainable innovative education, these challenges need to be met as described in Table III.Dealing effectively with these multi-dimensional challenges is required to achieve the potential of business simulations and other learning technologies. The fact that many educational institutions often are not able to resolve these issues effectively undermines the potential impact and use of business simulations and other learning technologies. However the producers of simulations need to do more to improve the accessibility, functionality and relevance of the simulations they offer.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - High order leadership, problem solving skills, and the capacity for innovation in new markets, and technologically complex and multidimensional contexts, are the new set of skills that are most valued by companies and employers alike. Business simulation exercises are one way of enhancing these skills. This article aims to examine the capacity of business simulations to deliver the learning outcomes they have the potential to achieve, and the challenges faced in implementing these technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A literature of the learning outcomes from business simulations, and critical assessment of the challenges and problems involved in the implementation of learning technologies.\nFindings: - Traditionally, postgraduate business education programs have adopted the functional silos that provide the organizational framework for the design of the curriculum. Business problems rarely present themselves in the compartmentalized silo supply-driven disciplinary framework. The question of how to achieve greater convergence of the business curriculum programs that offer students more practical oriented experiences to develop their conceptual understanding in cross functional decision making and analytical thinking abilities through \"learning by doing\" of real business problems, has concerned business education for a considerable time.\nOriginality/value: - The article shows that the prospect of adopting a broad-based, integrative approach that goes beyond the conventional lectures and case studies complemented by business simulations and emerging technologies has significant potential to resolve the traditional problems of business education convergence of the curriculum.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information quality and market share in electronic commerce	[ "Market share", "Services", "Electronic commerce", "Simulation" ]	[ { "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: Over the past decade, the emergence of electronic commerce has highlighted quality information as an increasingly critical component for organizational success. Quality information is necessary for purely digital products and also for information-augmented products where information about a product supplements the physical product or a service itself. In all these cases the product experience is degraded when information quality is deficient.Speed and reach characterize electronic commerce environments. Each affects information quality by affecting attributes such as information timeliness, completeness, and context. Beyond their impact on information attributes, speed and reach also change the inter-organizational dynamic regarding innovation. Prior to the internet, another firm could copy one company's revolutionary product or product enhancement only after experiencing time lags caused by temporal barriers involving information access, product development, and customer response. In electronic commerce environments the dynamic of product copying has indeed changed. Web site enhancements and new business practices are immediately available and easily duplicated. Developers now may upgrade internally or draw from others, and the time necessary is no longer measured in months or years, but often in weeks, days, or even hours. This altered landscape has affected information quality and its relationship to business success.Just what is quality information? Initially the concept appears to be clearly defined but upon further analysis, it becomes murkier. For example, how is quality information measured? How does quality information change over time? How might quality information translate into market share for information products? This paper presents a probabilistic simulation model that addresses these questions by drawing on concepts from the quality literature, organizational and consumer behavior, and characteristics of electronic commerce. The model is used to examine various scenarios that address \"what if\" questions, and to highlight directions that e-commerce researchers and practitioners can follow for designing and delivering information products and services.A critique of the modeling approach is that model assumptions often determine results. To address this, the model grounds many of its underlying assumptions in observed behavior and in findings from appropriate research (this includes assumptions pertaining to information quality, relationships between quality and market share, and characteristics of e-commerce environments). Doing this increases the likelihood that the model's insights are universal in nature and can benefit practitioners.Information quality\nThe model: The simulation model covers 40 periods and is based on three firms that produce a pure information product characterized by four quality attributes. These four attributes form an overall information quality index for the product - for example, if each attribute is of equal importance, the index would be the average of the four attribute values. The model itself has two components: a quality component and a volume component.Quality component\nDiscussion of results: The base case model\nDiscussion of cases: Base case: what is a baseline relationship between information quality and volume?\nConclusions: Based on the above, some conclusions are as follows:* A firm starting with an information quality lead tends to maintain that lead and even more so, maintain its lead in accruing market share. The results of case 2 support this conclusion. However, as seen in the results of case 3, a firm starting behind can gain lost ground by investing more in quality improvements (in this case the proxy being the percent growth rate). If each firm in the market can copy the best practices of others, the overall quality levels present in the market as a whole tend to be greater, even for firms starting out behind and with lower than normal innovation rates. This indicates that environments that foster investments in innovation coupled with openness that lead to inter-firm cross pollenization yield the highest levels of quality growth and most benefit customers. Development environments for open source software may reflect this assertion where the public nature of source code yields high levels of technological advance.* Firms starting out ahead along the information quality dimension can lose their lead in information quality and even more so, market share if their innovation rates lag their competitors. In case 4 only a 1 percent lag in quality growth resulted in major shifts in final quality and market share. The message for e-commerce firms is relatively low innovation rates lead to long-term decline. Firms' ability to copy initial quality advances - characteristic of many e-commerce environments - exacerbates this risk because competitors can innovate themselves and forge ahead by copying any initial lead in an information quality attribute. This illustrates the some advantages of patent protection regarding technological advances. However, patent protection may retard the diffusion of innovation and may result in lower quality levels for the market as a whole. Firms that fall behind in both quality and market share may invest to increase their quality growth rate but - depending on how quality relates to market share - may gain less ground along the volume dimension. However, in markets where information quality changes do not necessarily translate one-to-one into market share changes - for example, where brand loyalty or pricing are factors - investments in information quality may not enable firm to recover lost ground.* Variation in information quality growth leads to dramatic increases in information quality levels, especially when coupled with the ability of firms to copy best practices. Increasing the standard deviation of the quality growth rate - while keeping the mean growth rate itself constant - doubled the mean final quality index. For e-commerce where early in the product life cycle many firms struggle to innovate and gain market share, variation tends to be high which leads to quality advances; later, after industry consolidation take place, variation may decrease which may result in lower quality growth. It also may suggest that industry strategies to keep variation high would benefit customers, although volume shares may not increase for individual firms. Creating incentives to foster greater variation in development may benefit customers in general. As case 7 illustrates, in the face of variation firms choosing an insular strategy and refusing to adopt best practices risk disaster.* In environments where firms copy best practices, a strategy of specializing in specific information quality attributes does not result in sustainable advantages along those attributes nor does it lead to advantages in volume share. The results of case 8 indicate that when other firms copy best practices, one firm's \"specializing\" eventually is diluted and all of the firms who copy best practices emerge roughly the same quality levels. However, firms who specialize and do not copy best practices lag along quality levels and end up with miniscule market shares. As discussed above, these results are magnified by variation. Although overall quality levels are higher, for those firms copying best practices, volume shares end up about equal. This suggests that specialization coupled with barriers to copying best practices may be best for individual firms, although the levels of quality available in the market to customers may be lower overall.Further research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - For electronic commerce applications, the importance of quality information is self-evident, especially for firms offering information products where information either significantly augments a physical product or constitutes the product itself. Aims to use a probabilistic simulation model is used to explore the relationship between information quality and market share for firms offering an information product.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In the Excel-based Monte Carlo model information quality is represented as a function of four general quality attributes. For these attributes, quality gaps relative to best practices are calculated and these gaps are used to drive a volume model whose output includes market share. The model is used to examine various scenarios including cases dealing with differences in a firm's initial information quality levels, differences in innovation rates and their variability, and differences in a firm's proclivity to copy advances of competitors.\nFindings: - The results indicate that firms starting with information quality leads tend to maintain that lead and accrue market share. However, they may lose their lead if innovation rates lag behind the competition. Generally, variation and the ability for firms to copy advances are good for markets.\nPractical implications: - Some practical implications from the findings include: the criticality of innovation and its importance in fostering quality; the ineffectiveness of insular strategies; and evidence that specialization, while benefiting markets, does not necessarily benefit individual firms.\nOriginality/value: - The model presents a mechanism for scholars and practitioners to - expeditiously and inexpensively - test the impact of various information-quality strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Standardization as open innovation: two cases from the mobile industry	[ "Innovation", "Standardization", "Mobile communication systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There is a close link between innovation and standardization. One central question has been if standardization enables or constrains innovation. There is no single answer to this question since standardization and innovation influence each other (Swann, 2000). Standardization may appear to limit the options but it also opens up new opportunities (David and Greenstein, 1990).In recent years, the standardization processes have changed. Standardization has gone from a process where the market or an organization chooses between different existing products in hindsight to a process where companies pool their resources together to create new products and services - anticipatory standardization. Anticipatory standards define future capabilities in contrast to recording and stabilizing existing practices or capabilities de facto (Lyytinen et al., 2008). The following quote can illustrate the change towards anticipatory standards setting:The changing nature of the standardization process is evidenced by the growing importance of so-called \"anticipatory standards\", that is standards set far ahead and intended to guide the emergence of new technologies, and consequently set far in advance of the markets' ability to signal the features of products and processes the users will value (David, 1995, p. 29).The way firms innovate has also changed. Innovation is no longer limited to the realm of the firm, and innovation has in many industries moved from a closed to an open process (Chesbrough, 2003). One industry that has undergone a radical transformation is the mobile telecommunication industry. Standardization has been essential for innovation in the mobile industry (Tilson and Lyytinen, 2006) and the telecommunications industry is well suited for the new model of open innovation (Gassmann, 2006). The question today is how innovation is carried out within standardization, not if standardization enables or constrains innovation. The research aim of the paper is to establish standardization as a neutral arena for open innovation and explore the innovation processes used to create new products, systems, platforms and services within mobile telecommunications standardization.The research question in the paper is:What [open] innovation processes are used to create new service platforms in mobile telecommunication standardization?The innovation processes found in the standardization of mobile services and platforms are shown through two cases. The first case is the Android mobile operating system that is specified by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. The second case is the more general standardization done by the Open Mobile Alliance. Both cases aim at specifying a platform or architecture for the development of new mobile services. The paper will show how the openness of the standardization initiative influences open innovation processes.The paper will add to the research on inter-organizational relationships in open innovation (Maula et al., 2006; Simard and West, 2006; Vanhaverbeke, 2006; Vanhaverbeke and Cloodt, 2006) and expand the literature on innovation and the work of international standardization organizations in the mobile sector (Cargill, 1989; David and Greenstein, 1990; Schmidt and Werle, 1998; Swann, 2000; Tilson and Lyytinen, 2006).The rest of the paper is structured as follows: In the next section, the research on (open) innovation and standardization is introduced. Section 3 presents the research methods used and the rationale for why the particular cases were selected. Section 4 presents the two cases, the Android initiative and the work of the Open Mobile Alliance. In section 5, I compare the cases, analyze and discuss the findings before I draw some conclusions in section 5.\n2. Open innovation and standardization: Innovation has been viewed as a process that takes place within the boundaries of a firm. This closed way of innovating is changing. Open innovation is a new way of thinking of innovation for firms, where firms explicitly cooperate with others to create new innovations (Chesbrough, 2003). With the widespread diffusion of knowledge, all the knowledge necessary for creating innovations is no longer present within the firm's boundaries. They need to acquire knowledge from other sources. Open innovation is a model that assumes that firms can and should use external as well as internal ideas and internal and external paths to market, as they look to advance their technology (Chesbrough, 2006). Open innovation can be thought of as systematically exploring a wide range of internal and external sources for innovation opportunities, consciously integrating that exploration with the firm's capabilities and resources, and broadly exploiting those opportunities through multiple channels (West and Gallagher, 2006). In this process, firms should look for new sources of knowledge and new markets and outlets for their existing products and intellectual property rights (IPR), and collaborate with others, including customers, rivals, academics and firms in unrelated industries in the process.Traditionally innovation studies have distinguished between radical innovations and incremental innovations. Radical innovations are innovations that initiate new directions in technology, while incremental innovations are innovations that progress along established paths (Christensen and Rosenbloom, 1995). Later other types of innovations have been suggested, including architectural innovations where the linkage between the core components of a system are altered thereby creating adaptive challenges for incumbents (Henderson and Clark, 1990). A variant of architectural innovation is systemic innovation (Maula et al., 2006), where both the technology and the business system are altered. It is important to note that innovations that generate new architectures and/or platforms and thereby alter the relationships between the existing core components and value systems require much more coordination than incremental innovations and are better suited for open innovation processes than purely incremental innovation systems.The open innovation process can take on many forms. Gassmann and Enkel (2004) introduced three core types of open innovation processes:1. The outside-in process. Here external knowledge, technology and IPR are acquired from the outside and brought into the company. The locus of innovation is within the company.2. The inside-out process. Here unused technology or IPR are introduced to the market and exploited outside the company. The locus of innovation is still within the company.3. The coupled process. Here the outside-in and inside-out processes are coupled and the company works in alliance with other companies. How the company cooperates with others vary, and the locus of innovation is often outside the company.The outside-in process is about getting new ideas, technology or IPR from the outside into the firm, whereby the firm can make new products from it. One recent trend is to use customers as active helpers in the creation of new products (Piller and Walcher, 2006; Prugl and Schreier, 2006). Here the customers are provided with toolkits where they can create new products or designs.The inside-out process is mostly about finding new ways to enter the market for products, innovations or IPR that the company does not use or cannot find a market for. Two approaches of exploiting internal research and development (R&D) through external channels are licensing of products to others and pooling of R&D with others. Both are instances of open innovation (West and Gallagher, 2006). The inside-out process is typical for standardization. The basic aim of standardization is to create specifications that are distributed as widely as possible (de Vries, 1999).The coupled process occurs when firms cooperate with other to develop new innovations. The locus of innovation is no longer solely within the company. Cooperation can take place through joint ventures, formalized strategic alliances, consortia or cooperation with universities and research institutes. It is in this setting that anticipatory standardization becomes a new arena for open innovation. Anticipatory standardization is a collaborative effort to create technologies or services that do not yet exist (Lyytinen et al. 2008). The participants bring with them their knowledge, R&D capabilities and their IPR. Together they create specifications for new technology, services, procedures, systems or architectures.There must be a flow of IPR for open innovation to take place. IPR is needed for firms to acquire new technology (outside-in) and a way for firms to let others exploit their innovations (inside-out). Without some form of protection and a way to sell their technology firms would not have a way of appropriating some value from their inventions and there would be no case for open innovation (West, 2006). In the coupled process, the use of IPR must be negotiated between the participants. This is also the case if the development takes place within a standardization organization.Most research on open innovation has focused on the firm. The research on inter-organizational open innovation has investigated regional innovation systems (Cooke, 2005; Simard and West, 2006) and the networks and systems needed for successful open innovation (Maula et al. 2006; Vanhaverbeke, 2006; Vanhaverbeke and Cloodt, 2006), but the focal point has still been on the firm and the networks, and how firms can capture value from open innovation. This paper will broaden the scope on inter-organizational open innovation. It will focus on open innovation in a neutral arena outside the firm, the arena of standardization and show how standardization initiatives use different types of open innovation in their work.\n3. Case selection, research methods and analysis used: The research is based on two cases studies. The two cases were chosen because they in different ways illustrate how open innovation takes place within standardization, the collaborative effort needed to create new mobile services and the different open innovation approaches used by incumbents and newcomers in creating innovation in the telecommunication sector. The Android project is driven by newcomers, while the Open Mobile Alliance is the domain of incumbents. In this sense the cases are instrumental cases (Stake, 1994), that is they were chosen to give insight into an issue. The cases are a mix of what Yin (2003) labels descriptive and explanatory case studies, insofar that they both describe the cases and try to explain a phenomenon.Walsham (1995) describes four types of generalizations from case studies: the development of concepts, the generation of theories, the drawing of specific implications and the contribution of rich insights. The contributions from the case studies included here are both rich descriptions and drawing of some implications.Case studies can be based on any mix of quantitative and qualitative evidence (Yin, 2003). He puts forward six sources that evidence from case studies might come from; documents, archival records, interviews, direct observations, participant observations and physical artifacts. While the case study is the methodology or strategy for this research, I used a mixed methods approach for collecting the data. The data for the research consists of participant observations, interviews, documents and archival studies. The strength of using a mixed methods approach is that use of more than one method can compensate for weaknesses in the other methods used (Creswell, 2003).The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) case is based on participatory observation in the period October 2006 until June 2008. It encompasses more than 30 interviews with different participants and studies of documents from the OMA members' archive. The Android case is newer and the data collection is based on archive studies, following the developers' blogs and discussion forum, some email correspondence with Google and interviews with some of the actors that participated in both OMA and the Android project.In the analysis and discussion I have used the three process types of Gassmann and Enkel (2004) to describe the innovation processes. The aim is to show that the two cases have different openness at different stages in the process and this difference in openness leads to different open innovation processes.\n4. The case studies: The two cases presented are from the standardization of platforms for mobile services in the mobile telecommunication industry. The first case is the Android project which focuses on the development of a mobile operating system, the second case is the work of the Open Mobile Alliance which is creating a platform for new mobile services like multimedia messaging, mobile TV and mobile instant messaging. In both cases, the aim is to provide or create a platform that can be used for further innovation.4.1. The Android platform\n5. Analyzing and discussing the cases: The goal of both alliances is to create a platform or architecture for mobile services. It takes a lot of innovations to create the platforms. There is one set of innovation processes for creating the platform and another set of innovation processes for further development and use of the platforms. Once created, the platforms can act as foundations for further innovations. The platforms are the cornerstones of what the economists call a multisided market (Tirole and Rochet, 2006). Multisided markets often revolve around a platform where different actors provide complementary products so the market can thrive. This is also the case for systemic innovations (Maula et al., 2006), where the systems need complementary products to work as a whole. The platforms from Android and OMA have systemic characteristics.5.1 Membership\n6. Conclusion: This paper extends the intra-organizational aspects of open innovation and establishes standardization as a neutral arena for open innovation outside the domain of any single firm.The cases show that the creation of anticipatory standards and common technical platforms are forms of open innovation. They also illustrate the different types of openness and third-party involvement utilized by the incumbents and newcomers, and how these influence the innovation process.The innovation process in OMA is based on a coupled process and is similar to formal standardization, while Android is closer to the open innovation processes of a single firm using separate outside-in and inside-out processes. The differences can be attributed to the openness of the process. OMA's process is open for all, while the development of Android is for invited firms only.OMA creates a modular innovation that embeds new radical innovations like mobile TV, while Android creates an architectural innovation with possibilities for further radical innovations. OMA's radical innovations are early in the process with subsequent incremental innovations, while Android is an initial architectural innovation that aims for subsequent radical innovations. The Android platform targets third-party developers while the OMA platform is mostly for the OMA members. In terms of further innovation, Android's platform is more open than OMA's platform because of the availability of development tools and third-party toolkits.The two cases differ in their approach to licensing and royalty fees. OMA relies on granting licenses on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms while Android uses an Open Source license.The case alliances use both pooling of R&D and provision of third-party toolkits to generate new radical innovations. The main conclusions are that open innovation takes place in neutral arenas like standardization and that outside-in, inside-out and coupled processes are used to create new technological platforms. An open membership leads to a coupled process, while a more restricted membership gives separate outside-in and inside-out processes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of the paper is to introduce standardization as a neutral arena for open innovation. The aim is to show that different policies towards open membership in standardization initiatives lead to different open innovation processes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Two cases are used to illustrate the differences in open innovation processes. The cases are the Android mobile operating system and the service platform developed by the Open Mobile Alliance. The core process types introduced by Gassmann and Enkel are used to show the different open innovation approaches.\nFindings: - Both cases use open innovation to create standards. Open membership leads to a coupled process, while a more restricted membership gives separate inside-out and outside-in processes. The case lead by established firms in the industry has a process where radical innovations are introduced early in the process, while the case lead by newcomers has a process where radical innovations are introduced late in the process. The two cases have different approaches towards commercialization of the products. Android relies on third-party developers, while the Open Mobile Alliance relies on their own members.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The cases are from the telecommunication sector and based on standardization of large technical platforms. The findings might not be the same for other sectors.\nOriginality/value: - The paper establishes open innovation as a neutral arena for open innovation outside the domain of any single firm. It shows how the openness towards membership influences the choice of open innovation processes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Supervisor motivating styles and legitimacy: moderation and mediation models	[ "Motivation", "Legitimacy", "Self-determination" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: One of the most challenging aspects of management is how to motivate employees to achieve organizational goals. Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci and Ryan, 2000; Ryan and Deci, 2017) is an approach to motivation that uses traditional empirical methods to investigate how the interpersonal climate shapes people's quality of motivation (Gagne and Deci, 2005; Deci and Ryan, 2000). In work organizations, the ways in which supervisors attempt to motivate subordinates constitute a crucial component of the interpersonal climate. SDT differentiates between two main forms of supervisory motivating styles (Hardre and Reeve, 2009; Moreau and Mageau, 2012; Kanat-Maymon and Reizer, 2017). A controlling style describes supervisors who exercise authority through external factors such as incentives, deadlines, and surveillance in order to pressure subordinates to think, feel, or behave in specified ways (Ryan and Deci, 2017). By contrast, the autonomy-supportive style refers to supervisors' efforts to nurture employees' inner motivational resources, such as their on-the-job interest, perceived competence, and sense of value of the work they are involved in.\nHypothesis development: SDT of motivation\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: The results are presented in five sections. The first reports the power analysis. The second presents a preliminary examination of the correlations between the variables. The third section examines the mediation hypothesis. The fourth section examines the moderation hypothesis. The fifth and last section presents additional findings.\nDiscussion: This work aimed to integrate SDT (Deci and Ryan, 2000)-based motivating styles (i.e. autonomy support and control) as interpersonal relationship strategies used by supervisors in their work, with the RMA (Tyler, 1997; Tyler and Lind, 1992) and its view of legitimacy to explain employee work-related outcomes. Our theoretical model suggested that the supervisors' motivating style and their perceived legitimacy could be integrated in two ways, as expressed by the mediation and moderation models.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating and moderating roles of perceived supervisor legitimacy in the association between perceived supervisor motivating styles and subordinate functioning. Specifically, based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), two supervisory motivating styles were examined: the autonomy-supportive style, characterized by nurturing employees' inner motivational resources, and the controlling style, in which supervisors pressure their employees to behave in specific manager-directed ways. Legitimacy was defined according to the Relational Model of Authority (RMA).\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online survey was administered to a sample of 252 employees. Moderation and mediation analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The autonomy-supportive motivating style, but not the controlling style, was linked to employee work-related outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction, commitment, engagement, burnout, and depression) through perceived legitimacy. Legitimacy buffered the negative impact of the controlled orientation on burnout and depression.\nOriginality/value: Taken together, the results suggest that legitimacy as a resource may be enhanced by autonomy support and can also minimize the harmful consequences of controlling supervisory behaviors. The theoretical implications of integrating SDT with RMA and the practical implications of these findings are discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge-based capabilities and their impact on performance: a best practice management evaluation	[ "Customer relations", "Market orientation", "Learning organizations", "Innovation", "Business performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Both academics and practitioners are interested in understanding of which value-creating resources are a key source of differentiation. For most organizations, both tangible resources (for example plant, land, financial assets, equipment and raw materials) and intangible resources (for example culture, trademark and capabilities) have a role to play in creating superior market values. However, in today's economy, it does seem that intangible resources contribute much more to company's market value than do tangible resources. While tangible resources can be bought and sold in open markets and can be imitated by competitors, intangible resources cannot easily be duplicated by competitors. As a result, intangible resources are assumed to be the main source of competitive advantage. Firms that possess valuable and difficult to imitate advantage should enjoy superior performance.To understand the significant contribution of intangible resources to companies' market values, we collected information on the market value and the book value of some of the world's largest companies (see the appendix). These companies have been in the top of the 2007 Financial Times global 500 rank. Book value is the value of the net assets of a company as reported in its balance sheet. Market value or market capitalization is the total value of the company on the stock market.The data in the Appendix suggest that 67 percent of the total market value of these companies lies in intangible off-balance-sheet resources. Figure 1 shows the percentages of the market values that derived from intangible resources for these companies. You can see that the intangible value of these companies ranges from 41 to 92 percent of market value.Look at Altria Group. In March 2007 its book value was $14.5 billion while its market value was $184.3 billion. Altria's market value was about 13 times its book value. Put differently, Altria's book value accounts for only 8 percent of its market value and 92 percent of this market value lies in intangible resources. Microsoft's book value was $34.97 billion while its market value was $272.91 billion. Microsoft's market value was about eight times its book value. Microsoft's book value accounts for only 13 percent of market value and 87 percent of this market value lies in intangible resources. Procter & Gamble's book value was $66.5 billion while its market value was $199.3 billion, almost three times as much.Taking all these organizations together, the market value ($5,521 billion) is about three times the book value ($1,820 billion). In other words, the ratio of the market value to the book value is three which suggests that two-thirds of the market value of these companies lies in intangible resources. The big differences between book value and market value assume that there is something largely invisible in these companies. The key source of these differences is thought to be the knowledge-based capabilities. From a managerial standpoint, it is important for managers to understand from where these differences derive and what practices make these differences. Companies will not be able to manage something they cannot describe or identify. In this paper, we analyze a number of best practice case studies to develop an understanding of the behaviors that give firms superior knowledge-based capabilities (see Table I). We will give special attention to four knowledge-based capabilities: customer relationship management (CRM), market orientation, organizational learning and innovation. These distinctive capabilities are difficult to imitate or duplicate by competitors and therefore give firms competitive advantage that is necessary for achieving superior performance.\nCustomer relationship management: Creating close customer relationships is expected to be among the greatest sources of superior performance in today's highly competitive environment. Today's customers are better informed about products. They also can choose from a wide range of competing products available in the marketplace. Therefore, organizations have recognized the importance of maintaining and enhancing the relationships with their existing customers. This is especially important as previous research has shown that the success rate of CRM varies between 30 and 70 percent (Teo et al., 2006). We identified four principles required to make CRM implementation a success: shared vision, customer knowledge development, focusing on the valued customers and knowledge sharing.Shared vision\nMarket orientation: Market orientation has been one of the major topics in management research during the past decade. A market orientation is a business culture in which every individual in the organization is committed to delivering customer satisfaction to all customers. With market orientation, organizations can understand customer needs and offer products that meet these needs. Developing an effective customer-oriented culture requires to consider all of the following (Zairi, 2000):* Being customer oriented means that we are attempting to get closer to our customers, know them better and have a feel for their future needs.* It is important to get some direct feedback on how well we are doing from the customer's perspective.* It is also important to learn about market dynamics, competition, threats and opportunities amongst other things.* Customer focus means that we are in a position to assess the adequacy of current approaches for fulfilling our customer needs and in a position to know what new services, products and innovations are required in the future.Two activities have been widely recognized to be essential for market orientation development: market intelligence generation and dissemination and responsiveness to market intelligence.Intelligence generation and dissemination\nOrganizational learning: Organizational learning involves continuous changes in behaviors that reflect new knowledge. Learning has been related to environmental change. Organizational learning is regarded as crucial for a firm's ability to adapt to its environment. In today's ever-changing environment, the management of change is a central concern of executives in all successful organizations (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994). Jack Welch, CEO and chairman of General Electric (GE) introduced the philosophy of \"change before you have to\" to create a global organization. When Welch took over at GE in 1981, the company had sales of $25 billion and GE's market capitalization was $13 billion. In 1999, GE's sales reached $112 billion and in 2000, the year before Welch retired, GE's market capitalization became $600 billion. He believes that it is the role of leaders to create a climate that constantly reminds people that change is a continuous process. According to Welsh, \"change should not be an event but rather a continuous process in the quest for success\" (Zairi, 1999). A number of case studies have identified three factors that are important in order to develop a learning organization: shared vision, effective transfer of knowledge and leadership commitment.Shared vision\nInnovation: Innovation is related to everything that impacts on customer satisfaction and therefore is only related to those aspects that provide value added contributions to the end customer. Innovation is used to describe the whole process of the development of an invention and the launch of a new product or process. A study of 700 companies which launched a total number of 13,311 new products between 1976 and 1981 reported that 22 percent of profits and 28 percent of sales growth came from new product launches. The trend was predicted to rise to 31 percent profits and 37 percent sales (Zairi, 1995). Three factors have been found to facilitate and support successful new product innovation: organization culture, top management support and customer information.Organization culture\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - It is widely acknowledged that customer relationship management (CRM), market orientation, organizational learning and innovation are the most critical knowledge-based capabilities required to achieve superior performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify management practices that are necessary to develop these capabilities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The findings of this paper are based on the analysis of a number of best practice case studies that have been published on many subjects, including, for example, strategic marketing, relationship marketing and knowledge management.\nFindings: - Successful companies are configurations of management practices that enable the development of knowledge-based capabilities. This paper identifies the factors that give a firm superior knowledge-based capabilities.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides managers with some insights into how to develop better knowledge-based capabilities.\nOriginality/value: - The paper highlights a set of attitudes and practices that are necessary for firm success in today's competitive environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The regulation of practices that promote brand interest: a "3Cs" guide for consumer brand managers	[ "Promotional methods", "Brand awareness", "Brand management", "Marketing strategy", "Case law", "United States of America" ]	[ { "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: Since law is based on factual information and logical argument, it is not surprising that much has been written about the law and regulation of factually false or misleading advertising designed to give consumers a rational reason for using a particular brand. However, consumer brand marketing is not solely about rational appeals to position a brand based on its performance and attributes. Brands are well recognized as platforms for building customer relationships (Dawar, 2004). Strong brands have been shown to attract consumer attention, lead to favorable consumer evaluations, and engender consumer loyalty (Hoeffler and Keller, 2003). In order to gain these advantages, brand must first attract the interest of potential purchasers. This is typically done through attractive packaging and advertising (Gobe, 2001), as well as promotions where approximately two-thirds of all marketing dollars are spent. Over 90 percent of all consumer marketing companies use some form of promotion.This paper focuses on practices intended to attract consumer interest in a brand beyond attractive packaging and interesting advertising. The various interest attracting promotional techniques can be usefully categorized into the 3Cs frame work: compensation, connection and cajolery. Compensation involves some additional reward (immediate or promised in the future) for purchase. Connection tactics try to make a somewhat personal appeal for purchase to circumvent consumer skepticism of marketing appeals generally. Cajolery covers higher levels of persuasion than mere occasional exposure to advertising to include personal selling (whether in person or through electronic media) and repeated solicitations. While this categorization is useful for examining the regulatory and legal risks of these practices, it must be emphasized that most marketing programs will contain elements of all 3Cs. The 3Cs are summarized in Table I.The 3Cs are intended to be illustrative and are not mutually exclusive. For example, bait and switch advertising features an item that the seller does not intend to sell. The low price is compensation for the consumer to come into the store. When the consumer enters the store seeking the item, the seller attempts to cajole or \"sell up\" the consumer to a more expensive item, by arguing it is of higher quality. \"Selling up\" is a legitimate personal selling technique when the consumer is free to choose among the alternatives (but is treated as a separate transaction among the FTC's Telemarketing Rule). Often in the process of \"selling up,\" the sales person may try to connect with the customer by explaining that a person of the customer's level of status or sophistication would not want a second rate product. All of this becomes illegal bait and switch when the seller essentially refuses to sell the advertised special and insists that the customer may only purchase the higher priced alternative.Both Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (16 C.F.R SS 238) and Council of Better Business Bureau (BBB) (Better Business Bureau, 2003) Guidelines condemn such practices and provide numerous examples of practices to help managers distinguish legal from illegal. While Hess and Gerstner (1998) have argued that under limited circumstances, bait and switch might benefit consumers, it is generally agreed that if consumers lack choice, then they are misled about purchase options and the practice should be condemned (Wilkie et al., 1998). In most cases, bait and switch may lead to the short-term purchase of the \"switched\" brand, but for many the shopping experience is negative. Only a very positive usage experience with the purchased brand might overcome the negative experience. For this reason, bait and switch is usually considered to stimulate sales in the short term, but not lead to long-term brand interest.In actual practice, marketers combine tactics to create an overall marketing strategy. Marketing managers must be aware that regulatory authorities and courts examine the totality of marketing practices used. Some practices, such as bait and switch are typically condemned once it has proven that a marketer's selling tactics constitute the illegal tactic. Other tactics are judged as part of an overall strategy and may only be condemned under particular circumstances.\nCompensation: Some form of compensation is often used to attract interest and induce trial of a brand. The fact that the consumer got a \"good deal\" can be the beginning of a favorable brand experience. Compensation tactics include simple price discounts or rebates; additional product (either more of the same or another complementary product) provided either with a purchase either or as a premium to be received later; contests that have a probability, but no guarantee, of winning and loyalty reward programs where each purchase earns credit toward prizes, rewards, or discounts on future purchases.Price promotions\nConnection: Customer interest in a brand can be developed by establishing a personal connection with the customer. For centuries, merchants, as neighbors and community members, have been acquainted with the tastes and desires of their customers and been able to offer recommendations to them. Today, technology allows distant merchants to make similar personal connections by personalizing solicitations with individual customer names and by collecting information about the browsing and purchase information of large numbers of consumers and offering recommendations to each. A basic tenet of customer relationship management is that customers be kept satisfied to maximize lifetime purchases. Marketers attempt to establish a personal connection with each customer. Of course such connections might include compensation tactics, discussed above. Customers enjoy feeling special - that they were singled out for special compensation that was not offered to everyone.Personalized recommendations\nCajolery: Impersonal mass advertising has a limited ability to develop consumer brand interest. Magazine and broadcast advertising are easily ignored. Indeed, the recording of television programs on VCRs for later viewing facilities the \"zapping\" or fast forwarding through advertisements. Even direct mail and e-mail can be discarded without opening it and being exposed to the solicitation contained within. However, if the marketer can just communicate with them repeatedly for a long enough period of time, some people can be persuaded to buy a brand. This is the classic salesperson with a foot in the door. Although the classic \"hard sell\" might seem antithetical to developing positive consumer brand interest, salespeople and other communication techniques can be persuasive and sometimes appeal to a customer's emotional insecurities to develop a brand relationship. Repeat solicitations may be used to try to catch consumers at a time when they are interested in the solicitation such as when they run out of a consumer disposal product and need to purchase more. Furthermore, trial may be so favorable that a consumer will forgive some amount of distastefulness in the selling of the first purchase.This section does not include techniques involving explicit customer coercion. The classic bait and switch scenario, discussed in the introduction, where the consumer is drawn into a store by the advertisement of a low price and then essentially not allowed to leave until he or she buys a higher priced model is one example. In the late 1950s, the FTC also pursued cases where furnace repair companies would offer free furnace inspections but then refuse to reassemble the furnace until a service contract was purchased (e.g. Davis Furnace Co. 1961; Holland Furnace Co. 1958). More recently, the FTC has pursued internet cases where:* internet surfers have been \"mouse-napped\" to webpages, bombarded with ads, and not allowed to escape (Federal Trade Commission, 2002);* consumers who downloaded a free image viewer were secretly reconnected to the internet through expensive international phone routes (Federal Trade Commission, 1997); and* spyware was secretly downloaded onto consumers' computers, triggered a barrage of pop-up ads and frequently caused the computers to crash (Federal Trade Commission, 2004).Personal selling\nManagerial implications: This paper has examined many of the tactics, other than factual advertising, available to the brand manager who wants to stimulate consumer interest in a brand. The 3Cs model is a useful way for managers to consider both the broad scope of tactics that are available and the legal risks associated with each tactic. It has examined past cases and policy statements that apply to each tactic to inform brand managers about the legal risks and allow the manager to intelligently discuss the risks of particular proposed tactics with an attorney. However, the model is intended to be suggestive rather than comprehensive and most strategies designed by brand managers to develop brand interest will contain elements of each of the 3Cs: compensation, connection and cajolery.The 3Cs model also allows brand managers to consider the \"big picture\" of using brand interest tactics. The most common legal risk identified here across all 3Cs is that of consumer deception. The law requires that all aspects of a sales offering be accurately described, including salient details of the proposed sales contract and that the marketing effort not be disguised as independent information. In contrast to the broad risk of deception, the legal risks of privacy law violations are relatively minor for compensation practices, but more significant for data collection practices that enable connection practices and even more significant for cajolery practices where the law restricts how and when consumers may be solicited. Antitrust legal issues are rarely invoked for only a few of the compensation practices and need only concern firms that have some level of market power that typically is associated with a market dominating position. The most extreme legal sanctions are invoked under criminal law, which for practices that stimulate brand interest is most notable in the prohibition of lotteries and intentional fraud. In addition, some states are considering criminal statutes for the control of spam.At any given time, there may be a lapse of enforcement against particular brand involvement practices. For example, both federal and state enforcement agencies are struggling to keep up with spam violations. The FCC has taken no recent actions against undisclosed product placements and the FTC has not enforced its Door-to-Door rule that covers solicitations and sales made outside of the ordinary place of business against buzz marketing practices. While this might appear to be implicit approval of such tactics, marketers should beware that as public pressure grows, enforcement actions may be brought or new regulations enacted. This is particularly true since marketing practices may be challenged by multiple sources including federal regulatory agencies, state attorneys general, private consumer or competitor lawsuits and industry self-regulation.\nConclusion: While this paper has focused on legal risks of brand interest practices, consumer brand managers should realize that attempts to mislead or coerce consumers not only entail high legal risks, and the risk of political pressure for new laws, but also risks disenfranchising the consumers that they seek to interest in a long term relationship with the brand. While it is possible that a favorable brand experience will overshadow any negative consumer feelings resulting from the brand marketing practices, it is obvious that brand marketers should strive to avoid negative brand experiences whenever possible.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This research seeks to examine the regulation of practices that promote brand interest. Its goal is to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework of such practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A comprehensive search of US marketing laws and regulations was conducted to find cases and regulations pertaining to practices that promote consumer interest in a particular brand. These practices were then arranged into categories by their method of influencing consumer behavior.\nFindings: - The 3Cs approach appears to provide a useful conceptual model for consumer brand managers. This model allows managers to consider the applicable case law and regulations for each type of practice.\nOriginality/value: - The conceptual model developed here is the first of its kind. It provides a useful tool for consumer brand managers who are considering various practices to promote brand interest. It helps brand managers evaluate the legal risks of the various practices they are considering.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Planning for knowledge-based urban development: global perspectives	[ "Urban regions", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The last few decades witnessed the rise of knowledge-based economy as the main driver of global and local economic development. Carrillo (2006) identifies the twenty-first century as the \"Century of knowledge cities\" since creative urban regions and knowledge cities have become centres of knowledge generation, knowledge-based economy and knowledge-based development. The dominancy of knowledge-based economy coupled with rapid technological changes in the fields of science, information and communication and transport have resulted in a shift from the era of \"information\" to \"knowledge\" (Yigitcanlar, 2008). Within this new knowledge era concepts of knowledge, innovation and creativity have become sufficiently important primary factors of production and development (Durmaz et al., 2008). Many cities around the world started to view knowledge, innovation and creativity as keys to development and economic prosperity, and adjusted their endogenous development strategies increasingly by visioning the ultimate goal of knowledge-based development (Knight, 2008). In this context, \"knowledge-based urban development\", a strategic development management approach applicable to human settlements, has gained popularity as a powerful strategy for sustainable economic, social and urban growth, and for the post-industrial development of cities (Yigitcanlar et al., 2008b). In the knowledge-based development process of cities, knowledge-based assets play a critical role by both securing a competitive advantage in the knowledge-based economy, and contributing to the formation of creative urban regions (Boisot, 1999; Yigitcanlar et al., 2008c).The central goal of this paper is to shed light on the different policies and transition pathways of knowledge-based development of creative urban regions. The paper aims to discover common features of cities in coping with a global competitive environment. This paper focuses on successful global knowledge city experiences and how they are planning for knowledge-based development of their creative urban regions. The paper examines a number of cases from different creative urban regions, which are selected for their achievements and innovative approaches in knowledge-based urban development. These cities' pursuit of excellence in planning successful solutions for their own needs provides an inspiration for urban administrators around the globe. The experiences on how these cities are managing to attract and generate new knowledge-based industries by providing places to suit their requirements, and high quality urban spaces to satisfy their knowledge workers provide useful examples for other cities. This paper produces a wealth of inspirational information for cities preparing themselves for the knowledge era. The best practice case studies scrutinised in this study include: Austin, Barcelona, Helsinki, Melbourne and Singapore. These cases illustrate a wide range of knowledge-based urban planning and development approaches on how creative urban regions could be engineered.\nKnowledge-based development of creative urban regions: In the knowledge era, sustainable economic growth and development are highly associated with knowledge-based economies (Metcalfe and Ramlogan, 2005). A knowledge-based economy creates, distributes, and uses knowledge to generate value and gives rise to \"a network society, where the opportunity and capability to access and join knowledge and learning intensive relations determines the socio-economic position of individuals and firms\" (Clarke, 2001, p. 189). Rapid advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) during the last two decades established the infrastructure that enables knowledge-based economy to scale up. The main novelty of the knowledge-based economy consisted of the need to manage an intangible asset that, in contrast to material resources, does not depreciate through use but rather becomes more valuable the more it is used (Laszlo and Laszlo, 2006).Knowledge-based economy promotes knowledge generation and creativity as central activities of economic and urban growth mechanisms, and recent literature indicates a strong correlation between creative places and economic growth (Durmaz et al., 2008). In other words success of cities in the knowledge era depends on how creative they are. During the last three decades creative urban regions have become the localities of key knowledge community precincts and knowledge clusters across the globe (i.e. Silicon Valley, DNA Valley, One-North), where a knowledge community precinct is the clustering of R&D activities, high-tech manufacturing of knowledge-intensive industrial and business sectors linked by mixed-use environment including housing, business, education and leisure within an urban-like setting (Yigitcanlar et al., 2008d). Besides prosperous economic development such regions also provide quality life and place to their residents and employees with various lifestyle options in a secure and clean environment (Yigitcanlar et al., 2007). Creative urban regions offer vast opportunities for knowledge production and spill-over, which lead to the formation of knowledge cities. For these reasons in recent years the development of creative urban regions has come to the fore. In the knowledge era, creativity concept has gained an increased prominence among urban planners and policy-makers, influencing the development strategies of cities, and luring the attention towards knowledge-based and creative industries as a significant driver of urban growth (Baum et al., 2009).To compete nationally and internationally cities need knowledge infrastructures (e.g. universities, R&D institutes); a concentration of well-educated people; technological, mainly electronic, infrastructure; and connections to global economy (e.g. international companies and finance institutions for trade and investment). Moreover, knowledge cities must not only possess people and things necessary for the production of knowledge but, as importantly, function as breeding grounds for talent and innovation (Winden and Berg, 2004). The economy of a knowledge city creates high value-added products using research, technology, and brainpower. In a knowledge city, private and public sectors value knowledge, spend money on supporting its discovery and dissemination and, ultimately, harness it to create goods and services (Carrillo, 2006). Although many city initiatives call themselves knowledge cities, currently, there are only a few cities around the world (i.e. Barcelona, Delft, Dublin, Montreal, Munich, Singapore, Stockholm) that have earned that title. Many other cities seek out the status of knowledge city through urban development programs that target knowledge-based urban development (Ergazakis et al., 2004). Examples include Bangalore, Brisbane, Copenhagen, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai (Yigitcanlar, 2008).As Knight (2008) emphasises engineering and orchestrating the development of creative urban regions is not an easy task to undertake. Besides a strong economy, organisation skills, knowledge pool for talent and investment, socio-cultural vibrancy, rich natural, physical and knowledge assets and amenities, it also requires a new understanding and perspective in physical, economic and social development dynamics of our cities (Baum et al., 2007). As an emerging field of study and practice, knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) principally is about processes of knowledge production, and their reflection on the urban form and functions, which provides a new perspective for the development of creative urban regions (Yigitcanlar and Velibeyoglu, 2008a, b). KBUD is considered as a new strategic development approach in tough global economic competition. KBUD involves contemporary understanding and management of value dynamics, capital systems, urban governance, development, and planning. And the main promise of KBUD is a secure economy in a human setting, in short, sustainable urban and economic development (Yigitcanlar et al., 2008a).KBUD transcends many areas of economic, social and urban policy, and has three broad purposes (Figure 1). First, KBUD is an economic development strategy that codifies technical knowledge for the innovation of products and services, including urban services, market knowledge for understanding changes in the economy, financial knowledge to measure the inputs and outputs of production and development processes, and human knowledge in the form of skills and creativity, within an economic model (Lever, 2002). It aims a local economic development that is competitive and integrated with global knowledge-based economy. Second, KBUD indicates the intention to increase the skills and knowledge of residents and employees as a means for intellectual, human and social development (Gonzalez et al., 2005). It aims to increase the quality of life by providing necessary services for societal development. Third, KBUD builds a strong spatial relationship among urban development clusters for augmenting the knowledge spill-over effect that contributes significantly to the establishment and expansion of creative urban regions (Yigitcanlar et al., 2008a). It also aims an ecologically sensitive and sustainable urban development.The social benefits of KBUD extend beyond aggregate economic growth. On the one hand, it is the possibility of a particularly resilient form of urban development secured in a network of connections anchored at local, regional, national and global coordinates. On the other hand, quality of life and place, defined not only by the level of public service (e.g. health and education) but also by the conservation and development of the cultural, aesthetic and ecological values, give cities their character and power to attract the creative class of knowledge workers. The common broad KBUD policies include: developing financial, intellectual, social and human capital systems, distributing instrumental capital, developing and adopting the state of art technologies, providing hard and soft infrastructures, and increasing quality life and place (Carrillo, 2004; Yigitcanlar et al., 2008a). Sound KBUD policies, if implemented and governed appropriately, support the development of creative urban regions, and the formation process of knowledge cities (Yigitcanlar, 2008).\nGlobal knowledge-based urban development perspectives: The recent literature claims that the following factors are decisive in the development and growth of knowledge cities:* local, state and federal government commitment;* large corporations;* small and start-up corporations;* quality universities;* public involvement; and* quality of life and place (Carrillo, 2006; Landry, 2006; Yigitcanlar et al., 2008b, c).Among a number of cities that adopted KBUD approach, to investigate these claims further, five of them are selected:1. Austin;2. Barcelona;3. Helsinki;4. Melbourne; and5. Singapore.The overall achievements and success factors of these global best practices are summarised in Table I and each best practice case is introduced and discussed in the following sections.The human capital: Austin, Texas, USA\nConclusion: As emphasised by Yigitcanlar (2008) creative urban regions and knowledge cities are the first new urban formation tailored for the needs of a knowledge-based economy where ideas rule and there are infinite recipes for innovation and wealth creation. Their feature growth is based on the generation of value using common assets with the purpose of achieving sustainability. The advantages of a creative urban region or a knowledge city at global, national, regional and local scales cannot be ignored by the city authorities, policy-makers, private sector investors, and social organisations.Creative urban regions and knowledge cities are complex entities, and attempts to transform urban regions into creative urban regions and cities into knowledge cities would likely result in failure unless they are guided by sound strategic visions. These strategic visions should incorporate KBUD policies for attracting and retaining knowledge workers and industries and also empowering citizens as knowledge creators and innovators. The top-tier knowledge cities specialise in a few sectors only, but set ambitious goals for each, and they also develop their knowledge-based policies carefully. As the global best practice analysis undertaken in this study reveals common strategies for building successful creative urban regions and knowledge cities including:* political and societal will and good governance;* strategic vision and dynamic log-term development plan;* setting-up of agencies to promote KBUD;* strong financial support, partnership and strategic investments;* international and multi-cultural character of the city;* creation of urban innovativeness engines;* research excellence - universities, R&D institutions;* metropolitan web-portal - E-government, E-democracy;* value creation to citizens - skill development, employment, social outcomes;* quality of place, life and affordable housing and urban services; and* low-cost access to advanced communication networks.Planning for knowledge-based development of creative urban regions along the abovementioned strategies and policies requires a broad intellectual team with expertise in urban development, urban studies, planning and management, socio-economic development, models of intellectual capital and knowledge management. Planning for KBUD also requires understanding the diverse spatial forms of creative urban regions and knowledge cities where a large number of knowledge clusters and precincts are particularly important in the promotion of the spill-over effects found to be vital for long-term economic prosperity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to investigate the engineering of creative urban regions through knowledge-based urban development. In recent years city administrators realised the importance of engineering and orchestrating knowledge city formation through visioning and planning for economic, socio-cultural and physical development. For that purpose a new development paradigm of \"knowledge-based urban development\" is formed, and quickly finds implementation ground in many parts of the globe.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper reviews the literature and examines global best practice experiences in order to determine how cities are engineering their creative urban regions so as to establish a base for knowledge city formation.\nFindings: - The paper sheds light on the different development approaches for creative urban regions, and concludes with recommendations for urban administrations planning for knowledge-based development of creative urban regions.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides invaluable insights and discussion on the vital role of planning for knowledge-based urban development of creative urban regions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Senior consumers and risk/benefit trade-off in functional foods	[ "Value", "Risk", "Seniors", "Functional foods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With growing population ageing, the senior market gained a greater share of interest in research works. Catchy messages conveyed through a widespread media coverage mirror the opportunities offered by this promising segment (\"Promote independent ageing,\" \"How to age well,\" \"Fast living slow ageing\"). As a key issue, health is understandably a sector holding an outstanding potential profitability. Literature commonly asserts that the elderly show a greater interest in health issues, as a way to improve quality of ageing and life satisfaction. Hence, healthy eating, including health-enhancing foods, was reinforced as a top-of-mind concern. The meta-analysis of American and European studies on functional foods (FFs) performed by Siro et al. (2008) established that, alongside women, the elderly segment (over 55 years) prevails in the typical profile of FF consumers, mostly in European countries. Seniors are more willing to pay a premium for the so-called FFs (e.g. cholesterol-lowering margarine, yoghurt with plant sterols, omega-6 eggs) and react favorably to the beneficial effects of the products backed by scientific evidence (Bower et al., 2003). They demonstrate high satisfaction and high reward feeling toward FFs. Seniors over 60 are among the most involved in this product category (Niva and Makela, 2007). The concept of FF - implying exogenous technological intervention to add/concentrate an extra-component meant to target a specific health function - is defined by Doyon and Labrecque (2008), as follows:A functional food is, or appears similar to, a conventional food. It is part of a standard diet and is consumed on a regular basis, in normal quantities. It has proven health benefits that reduce the risk of specific chronic diseases or beneficially affect target functions beyond its basic nutritional functions.\n2. Conceptual framework: 2.1 Age rating, senior consumers and FFs\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Participants and procedure\n4. Results: 4.1 Typology of FF senior consumers\n5. Discussion: 5.1 A \"value/uncertainty\" trade-off\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how French senior consumers deal with duality between perceived risk and perceived value associated with functional foods (FFs) and to analyze whether the risk-value trade-off may help to derive different consumer profiles.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 220 senior consumers (50-70). A two-step clustering analysis was carried out on factor scores of perceived value and perceived risk. Discriminant analysis was then employed to verify the classification reliability, and analysis of variance was performed to profile the clusters on the basis of additional variables.\nFindings: Four distinctive profiles of FF senior consumers were identified. Significant differences were found to be attributed to personality traits. Interestingly, the \"Trustful enthusiasts\" and the \"Ambivalents\" consumers do not differ in their repurchase intention, despite a significant discrepancy in risk perception.\nPractical implications: The study is an opportunity to offer a segmentation of this attractive growing target of health-enhancing products. The typology can help the practitioners to find out a new valuable scope of messages to better communicate to elderly market.\nOriginality/value: The research seeks to contribute to the existing knowledge on seniors' nutrition-related behavior, by proposing a segmentation still lacking in research works. Since FF perceived value appears to be multidimensional and not only utilitarian, the study provides a new insight into the experiential approach of health-enhancing eating. Also, it shows how the differences between FF consumers could be attributed to certain personal variables.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does non-profit brand image mean the same across cultures? An exploratory evaluation of non-profit brand image in three countries	[ "Charities", "Brand image", "Non-profit brand image", "Cross-national", "Donations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Prior research in the domain of international marketing suggests that non-profit organizations, despite being different from commercial ones, they equally seek to employ traditional marketing tools and ideas to achieve their mission (Dolnicar and Lazarevski, 2009). Specifically, the notion of branding is very crucial for the non-for-profit sector (Stride and Lee, 2007; Waters and Jones, 2011; Michaelidou, Micevski, and Siamagka, 2015), with charitable organizations utilizing branding techniques in order to stand out from other similar organizations (Mort et al., 2007). Indeed, branding is of particular significance to charities that operate at a global or international level (e.g. United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Red Cross, Save the Children, ActionAid, WWF, Oxfam, etc.), as it applies to a wide range of decisions in developing and communicating a globally consistent and stable image (e.g. see Whitelock and Fastoso, 2007) across different countries. For example, in comparing their brand image across countries, international charities may be able to identify problem areas (e.g. negative perception of ethicality) across different countries, diagnose the nature and cause of the problem, and take corrective action. Equally important is the fact that, charitable organizations that seek to leverage their scarce resources across countries need to know whether their image has equivalent measurement across national cultures (e.g. is understood the same by individuals). Indeed, cross-cultural benchmarking is useful for tracking performance and developing strategies in domestic and international markets, and serves as a basis for designing global marketing campaigns.\nTheoretical background: Conceptualization and measurement of non-profit brand image\nMethodology: Country selection\nData analysis: Measurement model\nDiscussion, implications and limitations: The present research assesses a significant topic with practical impact and relevancy, and for which prior research does not exist. The results provide support for the potential applicability of the non-profit brand image scales (Michaelidou, Micevski and Cadogan, 2015) in a cross-national setting, indicating, however, some limitations. Specifically, we examine the measurement equivalence of non-profit brand image across three countries (India, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UK) using a set of invariance tests. The results of multi-group invariance analysis show that non-profit brand image (an instrument consisting of 18-item scales and six factors) is equivalent in terms of having the same dimensionality and structure, and being perceived the same across the three countries (configural and metric invariance). More specifically, the achieved configure and metric invariance indicates that the items comprising the measurement instrument exhibit the same pattern of factor loadings across the three countries. This means that the structure of non-profit brand image, and the number of dimensions is conceptualized in the same way across countries, with individuals perceiving non-profit brand image as having six dimensions, in line with prior works - usefulness, efficiency, affect, dynamism, reliability and ethicality (e.g. Michaelidou, Micevski and Cadogan, 2015).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The current challenges international charities face with regards to their deteriorating image, as a result of recent scandals (e.g. Oxfam, Save the Children), provide the impetus for this exploratory research, where the purpose of this paper is to examine the conceptualization and dimensionality of non-profit brand image across national cultures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study employs a quantitative research design, using multi-country samples from India, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UK. The authors first examine the psychometric properties of the non-profit brand image scale via confirmatory factor analysis across countries, identifying the optimal model for invariance testing. Further, the authors use multi-group invariance analysis to evaluate whether non-profit brand image (using an 18-item scale and six factors) provides equivalent measurement across cultures.\nFindings: The study shows that individuals in the three countries perceive non-profit brand image equally, and as consisting of perceptions of usefulness, efficiency, affect, dynamism, reliability and ethicality. However, the results also indicate that the means of the dimensions of non-profit brand image are not comparable across different cultures.\nOriginality/value: The study extends limited current literature on non-profit brand image in international contexts, deriving insightful suggestions for further theoretical approaches in this under-developed research domain. It also yields key implications for charities and other non-profit organizations operating internationally, as they can use non-profit brand image and its dimensions as actionable tools in their communication campaigns to shape their brand image.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Experiences of international tourists with healthy signature foods: a case study in Malacca	[ "Qualitative methods", "Destination marketing", "International tourists", "Food providers", "Healthy signature food" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In addition to the unique culture, eating mouth-watering dishes or signature foods, including snacks, are exciting moments for international tourists during their visits to Southeast Asian countries (Loh, 2018). Good memories of food enhance the experiences and satisfaction of the tourists at the tourist destination (Kivela and Crotts, 2006; Larsen and Urry, 2011; Urry, 2002). However, many sought-after food experiences are compromised by foodborne-related illnesses and microbiological hazards, which are common problems, especially with street food (Harding and Knott, 2016). Moreover, in a recent study from the University of Malaya, researchers found that in 64 per cent of foodborne disease outbreaks in Malaysia, the producer was to blame (Fong, 2018). Therefore, the exploration of healthy signature food is needed to add commercial value to food tourism in Malacca by safeguarding the health of tourists.\nLiterature review: Food tourism definition\nMethodology: A qualitative method using semi-structured interviews was applied to understand the phenomenon of tourists' experiences concerning healthy signature food at a selected tourist destination in Malacca.\nResults: Profile of the participants\nTheme 4: tourist happiness: On average, international tourists on Jonker Street were happy and satisfied with the local signature food. Some tourists experienced food adventures, and others tried smaller portions of the local food:Taiwan (T2): This is the first time I have visited Malacca. I tried some food like durian puff, nasi lemak, bak kut the, and noodles (Hainan mee). Yes, I am happy with the food even though I had to wait for so long.Thailand (T1): I love and enjoy eating spicy and hot dishes like laksa, fried noodles and satay. I waited in a long queue to get the food at Jonker 88, but the food was delicious. I will come back again.Ireland (Ir1): I came with two kids. We had limited time to walk freely on Saturday night market on Jonker Street; it was too crowded to walk and buy street food. We prefer to go to well-established and recommended restaurants instead of food stalls. I liked the food at the Daily Fix. The noodles (wan tan mee) tasted good. Yes, I enjoyed the food in Malacca.\nDiscussion: This study investigates international tourists' experiences with healthy signature foods in Malacca. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to derive coding and themes from semi-structured interviews. The first research objective was achieved by analysing international tourists' perception of signature food in Malacca. Most of the foreign tourists enjoyed Malacca signature food. The variety of food choices attracts many foreign tourists to visit and revisit Malacca. With that, it was confirmed that Malacca is a food paradise; it is a favourite place for many people who like to try the signature dishes and experience the food culture. However, the willingness of international tourists to taste and consume local signature dishes remains low. This statement is based on the findings relating to theme one (memorable food experiences), whereby tourists from China, India and Taiwan were reluctant to try new foods, and they limited themselves only too familiar foods. It might occur due to their neophobic behaviours, where tourists stick to old habits. Therefore, the findings of this study were consistent with the previous studies on willingness to try new food (Roozbeh et al., 2013), food desire (Chen and Huang, 2018) and how different types of tourist select different foods (Quan and Wang, 2004).\nConclusion, theoretical and managerial/practical implications: It is worthwhile to investigate the international tourists' experiences and food providers' perceptions about healthy signature food in Malacca. Integration of the element of healthy signature food raises the value of food tourism, boosts tourists' confidence to consume local signature dishes, and encourages a healthier lifestyle among the global tourist community. An OCTA report found that food tourism experiences last longer than sightseeing experiences. Food tourism has grown exponentially in the modern era, and people's interest often starts from tasting good food abroad. By integrating the values of the local cuisine and culture, and by serving hygienic, high-quality food, food tourism in Malacca will only continue to grow. The current study explores the experiences of foreign tourists by examining memorable foods, food hygiene awareness, cultural values and tourist happiness, all of which are influential in determining the satisfaction levels of tourists.\nLimitations and future research: The current study highlights several important issues related to healthy signature food, but some limitations should be considered in future research. First, due to the lack of cooperation and participation of food providers in the current study, future research could obtain more comprehensive data regarding food providers' perceptions of signature foods. Second, the current study shows that signature foods have a strong connection with cultural values. Thus, a future study should investigate this perspective further. Additionally, further research could consider the type and purpose of the visit as a moderator in quantitative research. Lastly, the current scope of the study could be extended to other Southeast Asian countries to assist in developing a theoretical framework for ASEAN countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, which are all similar to Malaysia in the aspect of food evolution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of international tourists with healthy signature food at a tourist destination, and explore the perceptions of food providers regarding the preparation of healthy signature foods. Healthy signature food at tourist destinations has become a crucial factor that can determine whether tourists revisit a tourist destination. The relevant literature review and Urry's tourist gaze theory indicate that there is a lack of previous research on healthy signature foods among international tourists and food providers. The current study addresses this gap by providing a holistic understanding of healthy signature foods and how they have led to a culture of healthy eating in the tourism industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A case study was conducted in Malacca, a World UNESCO Heritage Site, to identify the experiences of international tourists with local signature foods. A purposive sampling method was selected to gather information from international tourists and food providers. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews to gain a detailed perspective of healthy signature foods.\nFindings: The results revealed four thematic analysis outcomes, namely, memorable food experiences, food hygiene consciousness, cultural values and tourist happiness, which directly impact tourists' satisfaction and intention to revisit. Additionally, aspects such as type of trip, trip frequency and the purpose of the trip influenced tourists' experiences with healthy signature food. Furthermore, it was found that the selected food providers prepared their meals according to the standard procedures.\nOriginality/value: The current study extends Urry's tourist gaze theory by exploring tourists' perceptions of healthy signature food as well as exploring the way the food is prepared. Healthy signature food has much potential as a means of attracting and sustaining international tourists at tourist destinations. Furthermore, it strengthens the supply chain relationship between international tourists (customers) and food providers (suppliers) in the food tourism industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning and growing: trust, leadership, and response to crisis	[ "Leadership", "Trust", "Crisis", "School community" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: School communities face a complex landscape of challenges where uncertainty has become the norm. Difficult policy climates, failed school improvement, the scarcity of financial resources, violence, tragedy, poverty, and maintaining a quality teacher workforce are among the social and professional issues school leaders are expected to navigate while building meaningful communities of learning (Truscott and Truscott, 2005). School leaders may not be able to control or influence the occurrence of crises, but their responses can lead to positive learning and change in schools and communities (Mishra, 1996).\nThe importance of trust: Trust is vital for individuals working together to create effective systems (Seabright et al., 1992). Trust works as a lubricant for social and interpersonal interactions (Arrow, 1974; Goodwin, 1996) leading to desired behaviors including altruism, civic virtue, and conscientiousness (Dirks and Ferrin, 2002). Trust also reduces the number of transactions among employees necessary to complete tasks (Rousseau et al., 1998). Distrust results in anxiety and insecurity, causing individuals to monitor others' motives (Fuller, 1996) and to protect oneself to avoid being taken advantage of (Limerick and Cunnington, 1993). Distrust undermines cooperation and efficiency (Deutch, 1958; Tarter et al., 1989; Tschannen-Moran and Hoy, 2000), and communication (Grovier, 1992; Tschannen-Moran, 2014b). Individuals use their time to defend their own interests (Tyler and Kramer, 1996).\nCrisis, change, and trust: Research on crises in schools predominantly focuses on prevention, or on the mechanics of the responses during and immediately after a crisis (Jimerson et al., 2005; Klingman, 1987) including important actions involving communication (Allen and Caillouet, 1994; Benoit, 1997). Existing knowledge and practice focuses primarily on prescribed protocols and actions that are akin to algorithms for technical responses to stressors and changes brought about by crisis. Little to no research, however, investigates how the conditions of schools and communities relate to crisis for extended periods beyond the crisis event.\nConceptual framework: The framework for this study is one of trust and responses to crisis. Mishra (1996) identified three components that represent positive responses to crisis that are related to trust. The first is decentralized decision making, which involves the redistribution of decision-making authority to individuals other than the upper level leadership (Mishra, 1996). Devolving the decision-making process during crisis, and including stakeholders, is related to higher levels of trust. The second is undistorted communication both downward from upper level leadership and upward from stakeholder groups and individuals (Mishra, 1996). Beliefs in the honesty, openness, and benevolence (Tschannen-Moran and Hoy, 2000) of leadership elicits the same facets of trust from followers, thus enhancing the accuracy and benefit of reciprocal communication processes between leaders and followers (Sutherland and Yoshida, 2015). The third is collaboration within and between organizations, which the interactions and actions between individuals and stakeholder groups to satisfy the needs of all parties (Mishra, 1996). In this scenario, not each party gets their way, but needs are met through collaboration and compromise.\nMethod: Design of the study\nFindings: Losing trust\nDiscussion and conclusion: Learning and growing\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of trust in a school community related to the leadership response to crisis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study was a multiple-source qualitative study of a single case of a PreK-12 international school called The Learning School.\nFindings: The findings revealed the nature of how leadership influences and is influenced by context and community. These led to a discussion about two shifts, the focus on self to focus on others and the collective community, and a shift from a focus on self-preservation and protection to learning and growing together as a community. Communication, decision making, and collaboration in the community played a significant role in the community learning and growing from the crisis.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was limited by the nature of the topic, crisis in schools. The nature of crisis limits the ability to engage in inquiry before the crisis, and the inquiry was limited to the specific case that occurred in a unique context. The author proposes future cross-case research to develop an understanding of school and leader responses to crisis varies across individuals and contexts, and culture.\nOriginality/value: While there is a growing literature about trust, it is difficult to study schools in crisis due to the limitations of the topic and sensitivity of issues of crisis in schools. This study gives insight into the dynamics of leadership and trust in a school in crisis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Promoting competition in Swedish primary care	[ "Healthcare", "Primary care", "Sweden", "Choice of care", "Managed competition", "Quasi-market" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Quasi-markets are increasingly used in the provision of public services in European countries. The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of the competition among Swedish primary healthcare providers when a new quasi-market model (Le Grand, 2007), commonly referred to as the \"choice of care model\" (CCM), is introduced. In such models, individuals choose their primary healthcare centres (hereafter, the care centres). The care centres receive capitation payments from the government calculated as a set amount for each enrolee, regardless of the number and type of patient treatments (Anell, 2011). The care centres are expected to compete based on differences in the quality of the services they provide.\n2. Swedish primary healthcare - a brief history: Sweden has a Beveridge-style, publicly financed healthcare system in all its 21 county councils or regions (we use the word \"region\" in this paper). In the early 1970s, when primary healthcare policy was reformed, regional care centres began to provide primary healthcare (Hjortsberg and Ghatnekar, 2001; Saltman, 2006). Among the Nordic countries, Sweden and Finland have mainly developed the concept of the primary healthcare centre, that is based on a community model for geographic areas (Chauvette, 2003). A care centre typically consists of a number of general practitioners, nurses with specific medical specialties, district nurses, social workers, and psychologists. However, the care centres are not responsible for homes for the elderly and for people with intellectual disabilities who have somatic and mental illnesses. Thus, primary healthcare contrasts with the specialist care provided by hospitals and other medical facilities. For at least the past 30 years, there have been political initiatives aimed at concentrating healthcare in such care centres in order to avoid the more costly specialist care provided elsewhere (Anell, 2005).\n3. Literature review: 3.1. New Public Management and the role of markets\n4. Methods: In 2009, the Swedish Parliament amended the Health and Medical Services Act (SFS 1982:763, 1982) to require that all regions use the CCM for primary healthcare (Government Bill 2008/09:74, 2008). The Act allows care centres to enter the market and to choose a location following their accreditation. Each region has to present an AD specifying the requirements for approval of its care centres. The regions are required to publish their ADs on a dedicated web portal (www.valfrihetswebben.se).\n5. Description of the ADs: 5.1. The ADs and the market for primary healthcare\n6. Discussion: The research question of this paper is the following:\n7. Conclusions: This paper points to the crucial role of the AD in primary healthcare as an instrument that promotes competition among care centres. This understanding of the role of the AD contrasts with the commonly held New Public Management theory that maintains that competition will organize itself if enough providers enter a market. The rationale for this theory is that providers should be allowed to compete for patients so long as the healthcare provided meets the minimum quality standards set by the politicians. In contrast, the contribution of this paper is its description of how the AD promotes and organizes competition by selection processes, quality differentiation, and rankings. Although individuals make choices in primary healthcare, politicians influence these choices by differentiating care centres using the scores achieved on the quality indicators. It is, however, a competition at the margin because care centres must also meet the fixed, minimum quality standards of the AD. Quality indicators are used in the narrow areas where it is possible (and politically acceptable) to measure differences. It may be argued that the AD organizes individual choice because care centres respond to the rankings. This means that the AD exerts political influence over choice. The AD promotes regulated choices (Rose, 1993) in primary healthcare.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of accreditation documents (ADs) in the competition based on provider quality in a quasi-market for primary healthcare.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a mixed-method research methodology to analyse two primary healthcare ADs in two Swedish regions. In total, 19 interviews were conducted with actors involved in the creation and use of such documents.\nFindings: This paper points to the crucial role of ADs in the identification of quality differences that influence the competition in primary healthcare. This finding contrasts with the commonly held laissez-faire idea that competition causes providers to develop their own service concepts and where the invisible hand creates quality differences. The paper adds to the discussion with its detailed description of how ADs create competition among primary healthcare providers through selection processes, quality differentiation, and ranking.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper does not explore quality differences in the medical treatment of patients in primary healthcare centres.\nPractical implications: The paper provides insights for politicians on how to use ADs to control competition and regulate choice.\nOriginality/value: The paper takes an innovative approach to the examination of how ADs increase the competition in primary healthcare choice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An evaluation of the NHS Direct online health information e-mail enquiry service: Quality of health information on the internet	[ "National Health Service", "Health education", "Information management", "Quality", "Electronic mail", "Internet" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The internet is now a popular tool for consumers to use when searching for health information. In January 2002, 110 million looked for health information online in the US, 31 million in Germany and 14 million in France (Harris Interactive, 2002). There are a variety of forms of medical web sites, including online self-help groups and sites set up by individuals or organisations. Some of these sites will also offer an enquiry service where the public can ask questions of health professionals by e-mail. In November 2001 the NHS launched an online enquiry service of their own, which enables internet users to submit enquiries on health related issues to which they then receive a reply via e-mail.One of the major concerns with regard to such web sites is the quality of the information that is presented. Health information of a poor quality can easily lead to individuals inadvertently causing harm to themselves or their family. The accurate assessment of health information available online therefore becomes an important issue. Tools have been developed to assess this information but these tools are varied in both content and standard. There is no one accepted method to apply to health information on the internet.This study addressed issues of quality by undertaking an evaluation of the NHS Direct online e-mail enquiry service. The service is accessed via the NHS home page www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/ A link in the left-hand column titled \"Send us your enquiry\" takes you to a disclaimer, which lists a number of terms and conditions applying to the site. These include the fact that information can only be given about named conditions, and that it is not suitable if you:* have symptoms that have not been diagnosed;* are unsure about what condition you have; and* feel the treatment you are receiving may not be working.After clicking the \"Accept\" button at the bottom of this page you are taken to the \"Health Enquiry Questionnaire\". The form asks for a range of information and lists a number of questions which the user must answer, such as:* their e-mail address;* who the enquiry is about; and* what information are they looking for and at what level.After submission a user can expect to receive an e-mail within five working days. The response will include instructions and a link to another web page, which will give the user links to a number of health web sites containing information specific to their needs.\nAims and objectives: The aim of this study is to judge the quality of the health information provided to internet users of the NHS Direct online e-mail enquiry service.The specific objectives are listed as follows:* To develop an appropriate checklist for judging the quality of health web sites.* To use the checklist to judge the information retrieved from the NHS.* To measure users' satisfaction with the information they receive and the enquiry service as a whole.* To measure readability statistics of the web pages.* To use case studies to examine the similarity of URLs receeved by enquirers, with regards to requests for information on glandular fever, and to examine differences in requests for basic information against requests for advanced information.\nLiterature review: The literature on health information on the internet covers a number of themes. Those discussed here cover quality of health information and health information literacy.Quality of health information on the internet\nMethodology: Methods used include:* An evaluatory checklist.* Questionnaires.* The Flesch-Kincaid readability scale.* Case studies.The checklist\nResults: Existing quality assessment tools\nDiscussion: Limitations of the study\nConclusion: One specific aim of the NHS Direct is to improve the quality of its health provision (NHS Direct, 2001). Results from the checklist developed for this study indicated that the majority of health information sent on to users of the NHS Direct online e-mail enquiry service is of adequate or excellent quality. Even so, the NHS must try to improve this so that 100 per cent of the web sites it promotes contain health information that is at a good or excellent quality level.The enquiry service works within the confines of what already exists on the internet and responses to users will reflect this. The readability levels of information promoted by the NHS service are at levels higher than is recommended in the literature yet this is a feature common to most health sites on the internet. The NHS can do little about this, but they can ensure that the specificity of sites sent to users match the queries they are sent out in response to. Only two of the respondents had difficulty in finding information on the web pages sent to them, which indicates that specificity at this level exists. Yet results from this study show that there is some question as to whether sites are correlated against the users' choice to receive basic or advanced information. If the NHS is to follow recommendations by others working in the field of online health information, then those asking for information at a basic level must receive information graded at or below eight on the Flesch-Kincaid scale, so that the potential for misunderstanding health information is kept to a minimum.Of the respondents, 97 per cent were happy with the information sent to them. This indicates that the NHS Direct online enquiry service is satisfying the information needs of the majority of its users. A combination of user satisfaction with referral to adequate or excellent quality health information suggests that the NHS is providing a good quality information service to the English public. Hopefully, in time, this service can be extended to cover the whole of the UK so that the NHS will be able to achieve its aim of improving the quality of health provision to all its users.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To judge the quality of health information provided to the users of the NHS Direct online enquiry service.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An examination of available online tools was necessary to enable the development of a quality framework appropriate for the study. The checklist developed from this process provided a method of judging a specific web site's quality level. Readability levels of web sites were measured using the Flesch-Kincaid scale. Two case studies were conducted to examine consistency of responses, and in order to measure user satisfaction questionnaires were distributed.\nFindings: - Results from the checklist indicated that the majority of health information sent on to users of the service was of adequate or excellent quality. The readability levels of information promoted by the NHS Direct Online enquiry service are at levels higher than is recommended in the literature. The case studies implied that the criteria used by the NHS in composing responses to enquiries is not always consistent and may need streamlining. Despite this, 97 per cent of respondents were happy with the information sent to them. A combination of user satisfaction and referral to adequate or excellent quality health web sites suggests that the NHS is providing a good quality information service to the British public.\nResearch limitations/implications: - It is difficult to draw reliable conclusions from the small sample size employed in this study. It is also unfortunate that the respondents could not be interviewed or observed as they submitted their enquiry and while they examined web pages. The checklist developed to measure web site quality could, in itself, bring limitations, no weighting factors were employed when comparing criteria and the researcher felt that some of the criteria were hard to judge in practice.\nPractical implications: - The NHS need to undertake some streamlining of their e-mail enquiry service so that all the web sites it promotes contain health information that is at a good or excellent quality level.\nOriginality/value: - Examination of a practical health service which purports to help improve the quality of NHS health provision.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of a metrological management model using the AHP and SEM techniques	[ "AHP", "Structural equations", "Metrological management", "Multicriteria analysis", "AHP technique", "SEM technique" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This work represents a step forward in the line of research initiated in 2006 by Beltran (2006), which set the basis for a quantitative model to evaluate the degree of maturity of metrological management in companies, following the corresponding international standard (ISO 10012:2003, 2003). This quantitative model offered the possibility to assign a score to the metrological management system in a company, and many companies where the model was tested found in it a simple and attractive validation and decision-making tool. The model was later incorporated into the associated Spanish standard (UNE 66180:2008, 2008), and has since then known several further developments and empirical applications (Beltran et al., 2007a, b).\n2. Analysis of metrological management systems (ISO 10012) using SEM: The objective of SEM analyses is to find a model that fits to the empirical data sufficiently enough to serve as a useful representation of reality. The behavior of the observed variables could then be explained by the cause-and-effect relations estimated in the model. A SEM analysis normally covers three steps: model specification, model estimation and model evaluation (Coenders et al., 2000).\n3. Estimation of a weighted model for metrological management using AHP: The quantitative model to evaluate metrological management in companies uses a set of variables which need to be quantified in the evaluation process. The final value of the MLMM obtained by each company is then the result of the direct aggregation of all those variables, thus considering all equally relevant in metrological management systems. This is not necessarily so, and it is reasonable to suppose that a more accurate version of the model would be:\nConclusions: We have integrated two different analyses in this work, both based in the metrological management model outlined in the introduction of this paper and described in detail by Beltran et al. (2010). These two analyses were focussed on the two basic hypotheses upon which the model is based, confirming one of them and discarding the other.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The evaluation of management systems is usually based on a series of assumptions which are never questioned. The purpose of this paper is to focus on two of these assumptions, in order to further develop a quantitative model to evaluate metrological management in companies, based on the ISO 10012:2003 standard.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, the paper uses structural equations to identify the underlying relations between the different variables of the model and conclude that it follows the typical continuous improvement cycle formulated by Deming. And second, the paper processes the opinion of experts using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques in order to prove that not all the variables included in the model are equally relevant in metrological management.\nFindings: The first SME analysis validates the model itself and its integration with the other management schemes in the company, all based on the Deming cycle. The second AHP analysis leads to a reformulation of the model, assigning weights to the different variables and providing better guidelines for companies to improve their metrological management.\nOriginality/value: This constitutes a development of the management guidelines contained in the ISO 10012:2003 standard for metrological management, establishing the appropriate evaluation procedures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improvement of laboratory turnaround time using lean methodology	[ "Value stream mapping", "Lean tools", "Lean healthcare", "Clinical laboratory", "Turnaround time" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The concept of lean was first developed by Toyota executives \"Mr. Kiichiro Toyoda and Mr. Taiichi Ohno\" as the Toyota Production System, which was later promoted by two MIT professors Jim Womack and Daniel Jones (Black and Miller, 2008). Lean methodology has been applied to various manufacturing sectors since many decades and in services since start of twenty-first century. Lean had transformed the service operations to achieve measurable performance improvement which motivated further organizational commitment to conduct lean process improvement projects (LaGanga, 2011). Lean was introduced into the healthcare sector in the late 1990s. Since then, the application of lean in healthcare processes has grown continuously across the world. Lean in healthcare had created a management and process improvement philosophy, with its principles of challenging the status quo in favor of simplified and standardized processes (Wong et al., 2012). Many hospitals have adopted a lean thinking approach in areas like reducing registration time (Bhat et al., 2014), cycle time in OPD (Gijo and Antony, 2014), clinical laboratory (Dundas et al., 2011), emergency care services (Decker and Stead, 2008), nurses scheduling (Johnson et al., 2012), etc. proving its potential to improve both the efficiency and quality of healthcare deliver (Das, 2011). The healthcare industry in India is currently visualizing how lean processes can deliver better quality outcomes, increased customer satisfaction and improved working conditions for staff while treating more number of patients with the same resources.\nScope of lean in Indian healthcare: India has emerged as a major hub for medical solutions globally. This has opened a new growth opportunity for Indian healthcare organizations. Promoted by the government and fueled by the corporate boom in medical care, India is increasingly seen as the favored destination across national boundaries to seek medical services that are cheaper and at par with world quality (Govindarajan and Ramamurti, 2013). Medical tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry promoted by government, the medical and tourism industries (Gupta, 2008). According to a report of IBEF, overall Indian healthcare market today is worth US$100 billion and is expected to grow to US$280 billion by 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 22.9 percent which is presently running at a pace of 17 percent (IBEF-Healthcare, 2015). India's competitive advantage also lies in the increased success rate of Indian companies in getting Abbreviated New Drug Application approvals. To sum up, there are vast opportunities for investment in the healthcare sector both in urban and rural India. However, there will always be substantial healthcare challenges like reducing costs while improving the quality of care and access for patients .Thus, to manage these challenges, there is a significant scope for adopting lean in Indian healthcare services.\nTAT: TAT is an important performance parameter for any clinical laboratory. Clinical laboratories often give importance to faster delivery of services as one of their goals for quality assurance. It is a well-known fact that patient outcomes are adversely affected by delays in diagnosis (Kenagy et al., 1999). Right and fast delivery of results helps clinicians with accurate diagnosis and early institution of treatment. Thus, the technicians prefer a reduced TAT of the tests, which may help clinicians to diagnose, treat and discharge their patient earlier, leading to patient satisfaction and improved efficiency of clinicians (Howanitz and Howanitz, 2001).\nLean implementation in the case hospital: Background\nResults and discussion: As seen from the VSM of the current state and Pareto chart the major wastes in process were reports waiting either to be delivered or for review by residents/consultants or waiting for results to be entered in the hospital information system. Using Pareto principle of 80-20 rule, factors J and L were two major factors responsible for maximum waiting time. The factor J was non-availability of the lab boy to deliver reports from the hematology lab to the consultant room which was around 12 meters from the lab. Results of why-why analysis identified that the lab boy was not dedicated for this task only and he was assigned multiple duties. Although he was advised to report to the lab at interval of 10-15 minutes for transferring the reports, due to other tasks assigned to him the interval varied. Various solutions were discussed; one alternative was appointment of a dedicated lab boy but that was not found suitable due to increased expenses. Factor L was related to non-availability of consultants to review the reports.\nConclusion and recommendations: After implementing series of lean tools and techniques like process flow chart, VSM, root cause analysis, Pareto charts the researchers were able to reduce TAT for the CBC lab to 94.70 minutes and for the biochemistry lab to 208 minutes. The faster TAT is likely to improve patient satisfaction, speed the delivery of reports and might enhance hospital revenue. This study's goal was to improve the TAT of the two labs, but other process improvement scopes were also identified and addressed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implementation of lean methodology to reduce the turnaround time (TAT) of a clinical laboratory in a super speciality hospital. Delays in report delivery lead to delayed diagnosis increased waiting time and decreased customer satisfaction. The reduction in TAT will lead to increased patient satisfaction, quality of care, employee satisfaction and ultimately the hospital's revenue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The generic causes resulting in increasing TAT of clinical laboratories were identified using lean tools and techniques such as value stream mapping (VSM), Gemba, Pareto Analysis and Root Cause Analysis. VSM was used as a tool to analyze the current state of the process and further VSM was used to design the future state with suggestions for process improvements.\nFindings: This study identified 12 major non-value added factors for the hematology laboratory and 5 major non-value added factors for the biochemistry lab which were acting as bottlenecks resulting in limiting throughput. A four-month research study by the authors together with hospital quality department and laboratory staff members led to reduction of the average TAT from 180 to 95minutes in the hematology lab and from 268 to 208 minutes in the biochemistry lab.\nPractical implications: Very few improvement initiatives in Indian healthcare are based on industrial engineering tools and techniques, which might be due to a lack of interaction between healthcare and engineering. The study provides a positive outcome in terms of improving the efficiency of services in hospitals and identifies a scope for lean in the Indian healthcare sector.\nSocial implications: Applying lean in the Indian healthcare sector gives its own potential solution to the problem caused, due to a wide gap between lean accessibility and lean implementation. Lean helped in changing the mindset of an organization toward providing the highest quality of services with faster delivery at an optimal cost.\nOriginality/value: This paper is an effort to reduce the gap between healthcare and industrial engineering and enhancing the use of lean practices in Indian healthcare. The study is motivated toward implementing lean methodology successfully in services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Changing management history, gender moderating pay to job satisfaction for IS users	[ "Job satisfaction", "Gender", "Pay", "Information system", "Information system user" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With such fast changes in the business environment emanating from the quick integration of technology in all aspects of the job, the topic of job satisfaction comes back to light as \"technology and management created new demands\" (Hoffman, 2007, p. 55). Although many researchers along the history of management thought have visited and revisited the topic, and despite the repetitive suggestion of many scholars for continuous theoretical development of the field (Pfeffer and Langton, 1993), it remains of interest to researchers and practitioners as well, due to its direct relationship to employees' well-being and recruitment potential (Benders and Van de Looij, 1994) and efficiency and work productivity (Ostroff, 1992) as well as to the fact that \"the study of the development and evolution of theories in the management field is insufficient\" (Muldoon et al., 2013, p. 148). Murphy et al., 2006 pointed that the,\n2. Literature review: Millions of employees rely heavily today on computers and networks, software and communication media to do their jobs. Many spend long hours working from behind their computer work-stations. These employees who use ISs at work for >50 per cent of their working-time are defined as extensive IS users. Lebanon is not strange to this fact (Maamari and Chaanine, 2013). \"Using the application of history to unify the extant and wide-ranging concepts underlying the field\" (Murphy et al., 2006, p. 12), we revisit the modernization, globalization, global-village, global-sourcing, etc. terms that are all part of this innovation trend that is invading the work place and becoming vital to any firm's success. The challenge for organizations in adapting to the trends is in managing change to reach a point in which employees adopt the change and engage in required or desired behavioral actions voluntarily (Maamari and Messarra, 2012).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sampling and population\n4. Research results and hypotheses testing: The analysis of the research results reveal a number of facts on the employees' gender pay satisfaction of the high tech users in Lebanon.\n5. Discussion of results: The results of the field study show that for the male extensive technology users in the commercial banks of Lebanon, pay and job satisfaction are both correlated and meaningful. However, for female employees of the same category, the importance of pay is higher in its impact on their job satisfaction. This may be due to more than one factor.\n6. Limitations and future research: In this study, the researcher has attempted to minimize the impact of limitations on results. However, with every statistical process is associated a number of pertaining limitations. First, the study was applied to only one economic sector of the Lebanese economy. This indicates that the results, although based on a large number of respondents, are still limited in their generalizability potential. Another limitation is the small duration of the study which can be extended, thus allowing to take a bigger sample size, as the sample of 620 responses of 21,337 employees in the banking sector is relatively small. In addition, fear of information leakage is the main obstacle of getting accurate responses from the respondents, as most of the employees may not provide appropriate answers to the questions because they think it will be disclosed to others, especially bank employees. Other demographic factors which can be of value to the research can be added. The job satisfaction aspect was not thoroughly examined in all its aspects, such as motivation, job involvement, organizational citizenship, organizational commitment, perceived stress and others, which is also considered a limitation for the study.\n7. Conclusion: This study aims at examining the relationship of gender to pay and to job satisfaction in the commercial banking sector of Lebanon. The research results revealed a low negative correlation between gender and demographic factors as well as job satisfaction. However, there was a positive correlation between gender and job position. In addition, the research results showed a considerable difference in pay satisfaction between male and female respondents, and that female respondents exhibit a higher job satisfaction (positive relation between pay) which is inconsistent with the findings of Crossman and Abou-Zaki where the employee satisfaction was not necessarily related to gender or any other factors. Moreover, after testing the first hypothesis, it was concluded that pay and job satisfaction were more importantly correlated for women than for men, which guides the researcher to believe that there are gender-based differences in the job satisfaction of the banking employee of Lebanon which is consistent with the results of studies done by Bartol and Wortman (1975), Murray and Atkinson (1981), Clark (1996), Clark (1997), Hodson (1989), Sloane and Williams (1996), Sousa-Poza and Sousa-Poza (2000), OECD Employment Outlook (2001) and Hogan and Kaiser (2005) and mentioned in the literature review.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impact of pay on job satisfaction. Moreover, it studies the changes in the structure of the work force, as well as in the way work is done, on the pay to job satisfaction relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A confirmatory survey is conducted, and results are presented.\nFindings: The study suggests that gender is a variable affecting the relationship of pay to employees' job satisfaction. It highlights the roles of education and training in user participation and system usage. The study investigates the current situation in Lebanese commercial banks.\nResearch limitations/implications: The outcome of the study could have significant implications on managerial decision-making in the process of implementing novel technologies in banks. It also points to policy changes needed at the human resource management levels.\nPractical implications: The study findings suggest a needed change at the policy-making levels of corporate human resource management, as more and more employees are becoming extensive information system users on the job.\nSocial implications: If the suggested practical implications are applied, the social implications derived therefrom will generate a social drift in attitude toward gender differentials.\nOriginality/value: The paper is based on a large sample collection from the services sector, commercial banking in Lebanon. The quantitative survey results highlight a number of correlations and tests a suggested model. It puts forth a linear relationship between the different variables under consideration and suggests recommendations for practitioners.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Economic exposure to exchange rate risk and financial hedging: Influence of ownership as a governance mechanism	[ "India", "Family ownership", "Exchange rate exposure", "Financial hedging" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The sensitivity of potential cash flows of firms to exchange rate fluctuations is known as economic exchange rate exposure of firms (Eun and Resnick, 2014). The unexpected changes in exchange rates can move stock returns of firms into any direction (Bahmani-Oskooee and Saha, 2015). Management of exchange rate exposure is of utmost importance for all firms, whether a multinational or a domestic firm, as lower risk exposure leads to higher firm value on account of lower cost of capital and less volatile cash flows (Madura, 2014). Firms use a variety of innovative hedging tools involving operational and financial hedges to manage their exposure to exchange rate risk. The popularity of financial hedging which involves the use of financial contracts such as currency derivatives to manage the exposure has attracted an ample of research on the effective usage of derivatives.\nTheory and hypothesis development: Financial theory suggests that a firm's future cash flows are sensitive to unexpected changes in exchange rates and therefore the value of the firm is affected by unpredictable fluctuations in exchange rates. Economic exposure is defined as the extent to which future cash flows are affected by unanticipated changes in exchange rates. The changes in exchange rates can have a profound effect on the firm's competitive position in the world market and thus on its future expected operating cash flows and market value. For example, a domestic firm that manufactures and sells locally will also be exposed to the appreciating currency as competing imports become relatively cheap.\nOwnership pattern in India: some stylized facts: In India, listed firms are required to give mandatory disclosure of their shareholding pattern for each quarter in the format outlined in Clause 35 of the equity listing agreement. The ownership disclosure requirements under Clause 35 have undergone several important changes from March 2001, one from June 2006 and another from February 2009. The shareholding pattern is indicated under three categories, namely, \"shares held by promoter and promoter group,\" \"shares held by public\" and \"shares held by custodians and against which Depository Receipts have been issued.\" The clause requires firms to report shareholding of promoter and promoter group following the definition under Explanations I, II and III to sub-clause (m) of clause 6.8.3.2 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Disclosure and Investor Protection Guidelines, 2000. Promoter may be an individual, group of individuals, a family or a company who are in overall control of the company, are instrumental in the formulation of a plan and named in the prospectus as promoters. A promoter group includes a promoter and an immediate relative of the promoter. As per the definition of the promoter in Indian context, shareholding by promoter and promoter group reflects the direct insider or the family holding in the firm (Pant and Pattanayak, 2007). Promoter and promoter group is further classified under Indian and Foreign promoters. The disclosure under public shareholding is ownership by non-promoters which includes institutional non-promoters and non-institutional non-promoters. Holdings by financial institutions, commercial banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, foreign institutional investors, venture capital funds, foreign venture capital investors, central and state governments and others, fall under institutional public shareholdings. Under non-institutional public shareholdings are corporate bodies, individuals and others.\nData and sample selection: The sample of firms for this study is primarily obtained from Centre for monitoring the Indian economy (CMIE) Prowess database. Financial firms are excluded from the sample due to their business related usage of derivatives. The non-financial listed firms that report international transactions (exports or imports) in each of the years of sample period with no missing information were 651. Out of these, firms that use financial hedging, i.e. currency derivatives to hedge their exposure were identified which brought down the sample to 364. This extraction was necessary to prove the hypothesis that the different levels of family ownership affects the exposure due to diverse motives of currency derivatives usage. The data for currency derivative usage were hand-collected from the notes to financial statements within each firm's annual report. Finally, after eliminating the firms that have Government/State or an MNC as a promoter and other outliers, sample of this study reached to 312.\nResearch methodology: Measuring foreign exchange exposure\nEmpirical results and discussion: Exchange rate exposure estimates\nRobustness tests: Analysis with spline specification\nConclusion: The recent literature has explored the role of firm level governance mechanisms such as ownership structure in influencing the motivations for financial hedging by managers and firm value, however, whether these mechanisms are effectively able to reduce exchange rate risk exposure through hedging is an unaddressed question. This study attempts to explore the impact of family ownership as a governance mechanism and exchange rate exposure through financial hedging. For this purpose, a sample of 312 Indian firms that use currency derivatives to hedge their exposure is selected. The study finds that exchange rate exposure increases with family ownership at low and high levels (as a result of improper hedging) and decreases with family ownership at intermediate levels (as a consequence of value-enhancing hedging). The findings have important practical implications for the firms that use currency derivatives and have substantial family ownership. The firms with low and high levels of family ownership should focus on various ways to reduce the involvement of managers into inappropriate usage of derivatives. This might be achieved either through stricter monitoring by outsiders or by providing more attractive compensation structures. The firms should try to explore alternative hedging policies like natural hedges, operational hedges which are less reliant on the use of currency derivatives by managers and involve more engagement of board and other shareholders. With this, the possibility of improper hedge by managers might get reduced. The future research might consider the other measures of firm level governance such as compensation structures of managers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential non-linear relationship between family ownership as a governance mechanism and exchange rate exposure of firms that use financial hedging.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The exchange rate exposure is estimated using two-factor Jorion (1990) model for a sample of 312 Indian firms over the period from 2001 to 2016. The cross-sectional regression model is used at the second stage to investigate the effects of family ownership on exposure for the firms that use currency derivatives.\nFindings: The results suggest a significant non-linear cubic relationship between family ownership and exchange rate exposure. Exchange rate exposure increases with family ownership at low and high levels (as a result of improper hedging) and decreases with family ownership at intermediate levels (as a consequence of value-enhancing hedging).\nPractical implications: The study has practical significance for firms to understand the circumstances in which currency derivatives usage is ineffective in alleviating exposure. Firms that have high or low family ownership should integrate operational hedges with financial hedges and should incorporate other firm-level governance mechanisms to avoid the misuse of derivatives.\nOriginality/value: This study provides new evidence that the relationship between family ownership and exchange rate exposure is non-linear for firms that use financial hedging which has not been investigated before in the prior literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating alternative industrial network organizations and information systems	[ "Supply chain management", "Computer software", "Simulation", "Resource management", "Discrete event simulation", "Evaluation model", "Coordination mechanisms", "Supply chain management software", "Enterprise resource planning system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Information systems are indispensable for the coordination of complex material and information flows in globalized industrial networks. Transactional systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have been implemented widely while analytical software like supply chain management (SCM) tools are adopted less by manufacturing companies (Buxmann et al., 2004). In the future only moderate growth rates are expected for the SCM software industry (Trebilcock, 2010).ERP systems are considered major enterprise backbones while benefits from additional add-on SCM software tools such as advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems are questioned. On the one hand APS software complexity is considered themajor reason for the slow propagation and its limited use (Hvolby and Steger-Jensen, 2010). On the other hand the benefits of these systems increase with the planning complexity to deal with (Jonsson et al., 2007).At first glance the low adoption rate can be attributed to difficulties in quantifying benefits and high infrastructure and implementation cost (Buxmann et al., 2004). A closer look reveals more hurdles. The complexity of real world problems often has been underestimated so that the developed optimization models could not fulfill the users' expectations (Crawford, 2008). Furthermore, the required centralized coordination approach has been rejected frequently by organization's members (Pibernik and Sucky, 2007). The proper evaluation of SCM software benefits is only possible when comparing with alternative solutions that are based only on ERP systems for network coordination. However, standard ERP systems do not support all required coordination mechanisms and lack an integral problem solving approach leading to logistic underperformance and costly iterative coordination loops. In this paper an evaluation method based on logistic performance and coordination cost is developed for the comparison of different organizational alternatives and IT support levels. Discrete-event simulation (DES) is employed in order to capture adequately dynamic properties of industrial networks such as environmental uncertainty.The paper is structured as follows.In Section 2 relevant literature focused on evaluation methods and empirical results from ERP/SCM software implementations is reviewed. Coordination deficiencies of ERP software are analyzed and alternative organizational designs are developed in Section 3 and compared using a simulation model (Section 4). The paper concludes with managerial implications and an outlook on future research opportunities in Section 5.\n2 Literature review: In the future, enterprise software shall be improved by means of decentralized mechanisms such as web-based collaboration applications (Mourtzis, 2011; Chengalur-Smith et al., 2012) or software agents dedicated to supply chain event management (Bearzotti et al., 2012). New business models like software-as-a-service (SaaS) have been recently introduced in order to keep upfront investment small (Yan et al., 2012).However, nowadays risks associated with SCM/ERP software implementations are manifold due to technical, organizational or financial reasons (Peng and Nunes, 2009). The productivity payoff of IT investment is discussed controversially. Positive effects in terms of profitability and process efficiency often are not observable until four or five years after ERP implementation - or even not at all in smaller enterprises (Huang et al., 2010). In contrast to these findings, recent empirical studies have revealed that IT contributes to productivity in small firms (Wu and Chuang, 2010), in particular when operating in complex business environments, for example as a consequence of strong market diversification (Sandulli et al., 2012). Other authors (Blankley, 2008; Blankley et al., 2008) have detected positive first-order operational impact and - after a significant delay - also second-order financial effects such as sales growth, reduction in administration cost or the increase of firm value.Numerous contextual factors have been proven to influence the SCM performance such as the distribution of decisions rights and the setting of cost parameters (Bichescu and Fry, 2009), environmental uncertainty concerning suppliers, customers, competitors and production technology (Wong et al., 2011; Chan and Chan, 2010) or organization size and structure (Ifinedo and Nahar, 2009).According to a recent case study, SCM software does not assure cost reduction, but faster and more reliable response to customer request is possible through higher updating frequency (Rudberg and Cederborg, 2011). The need for re-planning procedures and increased planning frequencies is one of the major challenges for the future because forecast accuracy is expected to remain poor (Gilmore, 2010; Ivert and Jonsson, 2010; Haberleitner et al., 2010; Catt et al., 2008). Research concerning the a-priori evaluation of ERP/SCM software suitability is scarce. For ERP system evaluation, Karsak and Ozogul (2009) developed a multi-criteria selection method including criteria such as total cost of ownership, functional fit, user friendliness, flexibility, vendor's reputation and service support. Mittermayer and Rodriguez Monroy (2008, 2009) compare ERP and SCM systems based on coordination cost and benefit taking into account contextual factors. ERP system's capability for SC performance measurement is analyzed by Forslund (2010) in several case studies. The results are used for the development of a criteria catalogue addressing the selection and use of ERP systems for SCM purposes (Forslund and Jonsson, 2010). The literature review reveals that the evaluation of ERP and SCM software success is a complex task. Empirical results from software implementations are ambiguous. Coordination cost often is not considered as decision criteria although benefits from SCM software use are more evident for administrative processes than for cost reduction. The few existing decision support tools for ERP/SCM software selection lack organizational and contextual aspects.\n3 Design of alternative organizational forms and IT support levels: 3.1 Coordination deficiencies of ERP systems\n4 Simulation model: Various modeling methods such as systems dynamics (SD), DES and agent-based simulation (ABS) are commonly employed as decision support tools in the supply chain context (Tako and Robinson, 2012; Siebers et al., 2010).The decision-making process can be modeled properly by means of DES and ABS, because the behavior of entities (for example organization units) can be defined at discrete points of time and stochastic influence factors (for example demand) can be parameterized. ABS is the right choice for decentralized concepts with distributed decision makers, i.e. when actively behaving entities with own threads of control are involved (Siebers et al., 2010). In the current research only central decision making alternatives are compared - therefore DES has been chosen instead of ABS.Decisions simulated by means of the coordination module are implemented on the material flow layer. The design of coordination procedures requires a simulation package with strong customization capabilities. The commercial package \"Tecnomatix Plant Simulation 8.1\" has been selected because of its recognized completeness regarding built-in elements and programming language (Zapata et al., 2007).The supply chain structure of the example network is shown in Figure 2. The notation is adapted from existing models (Pibernik and Sucky, 2007):* I is the index of value adding processes (I=1, ... , i).* Vi is the set of locations capable of realizing process i.* vi,j(i)[?]Vi j(i)=1, ... , J(i), the location j(i) to realize process i.All locations are represented by nodes vi,j(i), whereas arcs vi,j(i), vi'j(i') indicate the material flow among two nodes. Locations (i.e. nodes) are associated with production and holding cost, markets (v0,j(0)) with lost sales if forecasted demands cannot be satisfied and material flows (i.e. arcs) with transportation cost.Components or products manufactured by process i at a location j(i) are identified by k(i).Dependent on the coordination procedure, the simulation model mimics either the organizational forms supported by common ERP systems (\"logistic segmentation\" or \"functional consolidation\") or additionally by APS software (\"network integration\").4.1 Logistic segmentation\n5 Managerial implications and conclusions: The profitability of IT investments historically has been discussed controversially. In industrial practice ERP systems nowadays are the indispensable backbone of the enterprise. Analytical SCM software shall improve the decision-making process when transactional ERP system do not provide sufficient coordination capabilities. A broad range of SCM software modules cover different functional purposes. In the present investigation the profitability of so-called APS software is compared to alternative coordination schemes based only on common ERP systems. The use of SCM software proposed within the organization type \"network integration\" provides excellent logistic performance at minimum coordination cost. However, due to the elevated acquisition, implementation and maintenance cost, alternative solutions that do not require important upfront investment shall be evaluated based on the difference in logistic performance and coordination cost.\"Logistic segmentation\" is characterized by long-term policies for the allocation of orders to locations. Iterative procedures within the sequential ERP logic are not foreseen to improve the coordination result. \"Functional consolidation\" considers joint task realizations for various locations driven by a central coordination unit. The sequential ERP procedure is maintained but additionally iterative procedures are allowed in order to find a feasible solution if necessary. Allocations are decided for the first stage before coordination of the second stage is addressed. The more difficult a feasible solution to achieve on each stage the higher the probability to iteratively readdress tasks and consequently the higher is the coordination cost expressed by a proxy indicator named \"iteration factor\". Furthermore, second tier decisions are contingent on the solution selected before on the first stage. This lack of coordination can influence significantly the logistic performance. Both organization types are benchmarked against \"network integration\" which assures optimal logistic performance.5.1 Managerial implications\n6 Conclusions: The presented prototype simulation model is characterized by simplified demand, product and network structures. Further model development would be necessary in order to represent complex properties so that the tool is suitable for industrial scale application. The systematic variation of model parameters would provide new theoretical insights, for example regarding capacity loadings, planning horizons or security stocks. Coordination cost - currently considered by the \"iteration factor\" - shall be monetarily valued. Furthermore, other unconsidered cost concepts shall be integrated in an extended evaluation method. For example, the opportunity cost of delayed decision making could be perfectly introduced in the DES model. The coordination cost approach and the methodological framework can be adapted for the evaluation of other enterprise software applications, for example for customer relationship management or enterprise content management. Also innovative business models such as SaaS are interesting future research objects because the attractiveness of SCM software-based organizational forms will be boosted thanks to sharply reduced upfront investments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present a simulation-based evaluation method for the comparison of different organizational forms and software support levels in the field of supply chain management (SCM).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Apart from widely known logistic performance indicators, the discrete event simulation model considers explicitly coordination cost as stemming from iterative administration procedures.\nFindings: - The method is applied to an exemplary supply chain configuration considering various parameter settings. Curiously, additional coordination cost does not always result in improved logistic performance. Influence factor variations lead to different organizational recommendations. The results confirm the high importance of (up to now) disregarded dimensions when evaluating SCM concepts and IT tools.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The model is based on simplified product and network structures. Future research shall include more complex, real world configurations.\nPractical implications: - The developed method is designed for the identification of improvement potential when SCM software is employed. Coordination schemes based only on ERP systems are valid alternatives in industrial practice because significant investment IT can be avoided. Therefore, the evaluation of these coordination procedures, in particular the cost due to iterations, is of high managerial interest and the method provides a comprehensive tool for strategic IT decision making.\nOriginality/value: - Reviewed literature is mostly focused on the benefits of SCM software implementations. However, ERP system based supply chain coordination is still widespread industrial practice but associated coordination cost has not been addressed by researchers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Enhancing collaborative intrusion detection networks using intrusion sensitivity in detecting pollution attacks	[ "CIDN", "Intrusion detection", "Trust computation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Network intrusions such as virus, Trojan, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks are a challenging threat for computer and network security. For example, intrusion behaviours may cause a great damage of systems, even financial loss. To address this issue, intrusion detection systems (IDSs) have been widely implemented in various environments aiming to defend against such attacks, and these detection systems have already become an essential component for current network security infrastructure (Scarfone and Mell, 2007).\n2. Collaborative intrusion detection network framework: In Figure 1, we present the adopted CIDN framework with major components such as certificate authority (CA), trust management component, collaboration component, communication component, aggregation component and query component. Different from our previous work (Li et al., 2013), we develop a new component called aggregation component in the framework that aims to collect feedback and aggregate alarms. The details of each component are described as follows.\n3. Trust computation and alarm aggregation: In this section, we mainly introduce the trust computation and alarm aggregation as compared to the work by Fung et al. (2008), which established the trust computation according to the similar CIDN framework used in this work.\n4. Evaluation: In our previous work, we did not consider and evaluate our approach under pollution attacks in which a group of malicious nodes cooperate with each other through sending the CIDN with false alarm rankings. In this section, we mainly attempt to evaluate the performance of our approach in detecting malicious nodes, as compared to Fung et al. (2008, 2009), under the simulated pollution attacks.\n5. Further discussions: This work illustrates how to defend against pollution attacks based on the proposed IS. However, there are still several challenges in this area:\n6. Related work: A lot of trust models have been proposed to identify malicious nodes or peers in CIDNs. For example, Janakiraman and Zhang (2003) focused on the case of distributed IDSs running over P2P networks and proposed Indra, a distributed scheme based on sharing information between trusted peers in a network. It can offer a scalable solution by providing for security plug-ins that can be loaded on the fly simultaneously by thousands of machines in an administrative domain. Then, Li et al. (2006) identified that most distributed intrusion detection systems (DIDS) relied on centralized fusion, or distributed fusion with unscalable communication mechanisms, and then proposed a DIDS based on distributed hash table (DHT). In particular, they embedded the intrusion symptoms into the DHT dimensions so that alarms related to the same intrusion could be routed to the same sensor fusion centre with good load balancing. The experimental results showed that their approach could greatly outperform the traditional hierarchical approaches when facing large amounts of diverse intrusion alerts. However, these approaches assume that all peers are trusted, which can be vulnerable to insider attacks.\n7. Conclusion and future work: In this work, we mainly propose and evaluate an IS-based approach to enhance the performance of CIDNs in detecting pollution attacks and aggregating alarms. We identify that different IDS nodes may have distinct capabilities in detecting intrusions. Thus, IS is defined to describe different levels of capability of IDS nodes in detecting particular attacks. More specifically, we first introduce the CIDN framework with major components and then describe the computation of trust values and the aggregation of alarm ranking. In the evaluation, we explore the performance of our approach in detecting pollution attacks and aggregating alarms from other trusted nodes. The experimental results indicate that our approach is more effective in decreasing the trust values of malicious nodes and reducing the impact of pollution attacks on the accuracy of alarm aggregation as compared to similar approaches.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to propose and evaluate an intrusion sensitivity (IS)-based approach regarding the detection of pollution attacks in collaborative intrusion detection networks (CIDNs) based on the observation that each intrusion detection system may have different levels of sensitivity in detecting specific types of intrusions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this work, the authors first introduce their adopted CIDN framework and a newly designed aggregation component, which aims to collect feedback, aggregate alarms and identify important alarms. The authors then describe the details of trust computation and alarm aggregation.\nFindings: The evaluation on the simulated pollution attacks indicates that the proposed approach is more effective in detecting malicious nodes and reducing the negative impact on alarm aggregation as compared to similar approaches.\nResearch limitations/implications: More efforts can be made in improving the mapping of the satisfaction level, enhancing the allocation, evaluation and update of IS and evaluating the trust models in a large-scale network.\nPractical implications: This work investigates the effect of the proposed IS-based approach in defending against pollution attacks. The results would be of interest for security specialists in deciding whether to implement such a mechanism for enhancing CIDNs.\nOriginality/value: The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is more effective in decreasing the trust values of malicious nodes and reducing the impact of pollution attacks on the accuracy of alarm aggregation as compare to similar approaches.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does megaproject social responsibility improve the sustainability of the construction industry?	[ "Construction", "Management", "Project management", "Strategic management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Megaprojects are large-scale infrastructure projects that provide fundamental public services for social production, economic development and daily-life products, and they form the backbone of modern societies (Flyvbjerg, 2014; Lin et al., 2018; Wu et al., 2019). Following \"the biggest boom in history\" in global megaprojects business, megaproject management has received increasing attention from both industry and academia (Caldas and Gupta, 2017; Flyvbjerg and Turner, 2018; Li et al., 2018). Megaprojects involve a prolonged project lifecycle and a huge investment of financial and human resources (Flyvbjerg, 2014). As the construction industry's flagships, megaprojects usually introduce leading ideas, and as the industry's bellwethers, they engage in advanced practices (Davies et al., 2009) in which efforts toward social responsibility have become critical for the industry's sustainability (Zeng et al., 2015; Hubbard and Hubbard, 2019). Megaproject social responsibility (MSR) refers to \"the policies and practices of the stakeholders through the whole project lifecycle that reflect responsibilities for the well-being of the wider society\" (Zeng et al. 2015), and it plays a vital role in the sustainability of the construction industry (Zhao et al., 2012; Ma et al., 2017). Given that the efforts toward megaproject management may lead to improvements within the scope of the construction industry, such as have been seen in the experiences from the UK (Brooks and Rich, 2016), Turkey (Eren, 2018), Iran (Hosseini et al., 2018), China (Shen and Cheung, 2018) and other nations, a strategic consideration of the outcomes of the practice of MSR is crucial for sustainability management in the construction industry (Tinoco et al., 2016; Zhou and Mi, 2017; Ma et al., 2019). Thus, this paper addresses the question:\nTheories and hypotheses: MSR's spillovers: from megaprojects to the construction industry\nMethodology: Research design\nResults: Table III presents the descriptive statistics for all of the variables, and the Pearson's correlation coefficients matrix. All coefficients were smaller than 0.8 and therefore were acceptable for regression.\nDiscussion: In this paper, we have argued that MSR facilitates an improved sustainability in China's construction industry. In the foregoing argument, we have advanced the possibility that the interactions among primary stakeholders and also those among secondary stakeholders within megaprojects play contingent roles. Furthermore, we have analyzed the roles of MSR's four dimensions in our theoretical framework. Our findings generally support the predictions of two direct effects of MSR: we found positive influences of MSR on improvements in the construction industry in terms of both economic sustainability (H1) and social responsibility (H4). Moreover, those influences were weakened by high-level interactions among primary stakeholders (H2 and H5) but were generally strengthened by high-level interactions among secondary stakeholders (H3 and H6).\nConclusions: MSR has received significant attention in terms of megaproject management, but what is not well known is how MSR facilitates the sustainability of the construction industry. As a pioneering attempt in that direction, this study offers a theoretical elaboration of and empirical investigation into the impacts that MSR's different dimensions exert on the construction industry's improvement in the arenas of economic sustainability and social responsibility. According to our results from analyses of survey data on megaprojects and construction enterprises in China, three conclusions emerge. First, MSR generates positive spillovers onto the industry's economic sustainability. Specifically, the economic and quality dimension of MSR-EQ and the political and communal dimension of MSR-PC significantly enhance economic sustainability. Second, MSR also has positive spillovers onto improving the industry's social responsibility. All four basic MSR dimensions - MSR-EQ, MSR-LR (MSR's legal and regulatory dimensions), MSR-EE (MSR's environmental and ethical dimensions) and MSR-PC - significantly and positively affect social responsibility. Third, given the profound beneficial spillovers from MSR mentioned above, this study sheds light on the significant but heterogeneous contingent roles of megaprojects' primary and secondary stakeholders. The positive impacts by MSR on improving the industry are weakened by the interactions of the business stakeholders within megaprojects, whereas they are strengthened by the interactions of governmental and public stakeholders. In summary, we wish to highlight the positive impacts of MSR on the construction industry's sustainable development and the contingent effects of stakeholder interactions within megaproject management.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Since megaproject social responsibility (MSR) has received increasing attention in megaproject management and plays critical roles in megaproject practices, the purpose of this paper is to explore how MSR facilitates an improved sustainability of the construction industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By integrating multiple theoretical perspectives of transaction cost theory, institutionalism and attention- and resource-based views, and by using survey data of Chinese megaprojects and construction enterprises, this paper offers a theoretical elaboration of and an empirical investigation into the impacts that MSR's four dimensions exert on industrial improvement in economic sustainability and social responsibility.\nFindings: The study's empirical results indicate that MSR has positive impacts on improving the sustainability of the construction industry, and that such positive impacts are weakened by the interactions of primary stakeholders in the megaprojects but are strengthened by the interactions of secondary stakeholders.\nPractical implications: This paper suggests that managers and policymakers make efforts to governmental guidance, media monitoring and public participation in megaprojects, so as to limit the potential unethical behaviors in megaproject management and enhance the sociopolitical legitimacy that are essential for the sustainability of the construction industry.\nOriginality/value: By analyzing the industrial outcomes of MSR, this paper extends studies on the topic beyond the current literature's focus on the antecedents of MSR, and it enriches the research on MSR stakeholders by elaborating on the contingent roles of the various stakeholders in megaproject management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Reducing unnecessary outpatient attendances	[ "Outpatients", "Attendance", "Ireland", "Process efficiency", "Health services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Outpatient (OPD) visits are the most common form of clinical contact in hospitals and up to 70 per cent of all hospital activity is carried out in this way (www.dh.gov.uk). There has been a great deal of focus on inpatient activity. Efforts to reduce inpatient stay and prevent unnecessary admissions to secondary care have been made (Edwards and Hensher, 1998). One way of doing this has been to switch inpatient activity to OPD settings. But there has been much less focus on whether OPDs are functioning well, however. There is evidence that many patients are reviewed unnecessarily in secondary care (Hughes et al., 2003). Unnecessary OPD visits are costly for Ireland's Health Service Executive and patients. Outpatient attendances do not reduce hospital readmission following an acute episode (Rayner et al., 2002). Inappropriate OPD visits also reduce service access thereby increasing health service waiting lists. Pressure is growing on health providers to provide speedier access to secondary care; for example, the UK National Health Service is in the process of reducing waiting time from GP referral to treatment to 18 weeks. Consequently, we sought to determine whether an active OPD management process could affect waiting times and access to services.\nMethods: From July to December 2007 all charts for a weekly internal medicine OPD clinic were pre-screened by a senior clinician two weeks ahead of the scheduled clinic and written notification to patients. A brief, written management plan was made. Investigations were ordered if appropriate prior to the visit. Clinic visits were cancelled if an appointment was deemed inappropriate or if a required investigation would not be available in time. If a clinician felt that it was necessary to deviate from the pre-written management plan then he or she was required to discuss plans with a senior clinician. Pre-screening and reviewing results took about three hours. Pre-screening's effects on the number of clinic attendees, new to review patient ratios and clinic waiting time were analysed. All results are expressed at mean +- 1 standard deviation, while Student's t-tests were used to compare paired data. One-way analysis of variance was used when three or more data groups were compared; p-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant.\nResults: Over a six-month period, 768 patients were scheduled for reviewed in the medical OPD clinic. Following our chart pre-screening policy, 458 patients were reviewed. Weekly clinic attendance fell by 40 per cent from 32.8 patients (+-9.7) to 19.1 (+-4.4) patients (p<0.05). Figure 1 shows that the pre-assessment policy significantly reduced outpatient attendances. New to review patient ratios fell from 1.42 to 1.27. This 10.6 per cent reduction, however, did not achieve statistical significance (p=0.2). Figure 2 shows pre-assessment policy reducing new to review patient ratios by 10 per cent, but did not reach statistical significance (p=0.2). There was no significant fall in the waiting time from referral to outpatient consultation for new non-urgent patients. The waiting time for new patients was 3.2 (+-0.9) weeks prior to the study, 2.9 (+-1.5) weeks at the midpoint and 3.4 (+-1.6) by the end of the study. Figure 3 shows that the pre-assessment policy did not increase patient waiting time over the six month study.\nDiscussion: Patient management changes are leading to shorter medical inpatient stays and greater reliance on OPD efficiency. One problem that may arise in the OPD is what is called the \"Senior House Officer (SHO) trap\" (Figure 4).The trap occurs when relatively inexperienced clinicians review patients who could safely be discharged. This may occur either because of the mistaken belief that reviewing a patient may cause no harm or the belief that this is \"routine\" practice. Unnecessary review is likely to: create anxiety for many patients; create opportunity costs; and (cause \"routine\" practices creating an expectation in both doctor and patient that this practice reflects the standard of care. In either case, the practice has little or no benefit and only increases clinic size (Gill et al., 2003). One solution for reducing the problem is to populate OPDs with senior clinicians. However, this might not always be practicably feasible. Moreover, the OPD provides learning opportunities about chronic disease and sub-acute disease presentation. Removing junior clinicians from OPDs, therefore, reduces their experiences. Our solution, adopting chart pre-screening by senior clinicians, made explicit the likely management plan and an expectation that patients should be discharged at that visit. It helped to provide the opportunity for junior clinicians to attend smaller, more structured clinics and largely removed the \"SHO trap\" (Figure 5). By ordering investigations prior to clinic visits, we hoped to ensure that the actual visit would be as clinically useful as possible.This policy reduced clinic attendance by about 40 per cent and had a non-significant beneficial effect on what was already a low new-review ratio. We were unable to show any referral to OPD visit waiting time benefit but this was unsurprising as the time period from referral to review was already at about three weeks, including a two week notification period. No change in waiting times shows that delaying clinic visits pending investigations for non-urgent new cases does not produce significant delays in overall patient assessments. We were helped by highly efficient radiology and cardiac investigations departments.The time between general practitioner referral and OPD appointment is an important patient satisfaction determinant (Williams and Calnan, 1991). Because clinic attendances were reduced, we were able to offer same week access to more urgent cases while maintaining routine referral time at about three weeks. We were surprised, however, by clinic size reductions as we thought we already had an aggressive discharge to general practitioners policy for chronic disease management with an easy access \"open door\" return policy if the need arose. Clinic size reduction is likely to have had beneficial effects for patients although these were not formally assessed. Patient satisfaction is dependent on consultation length and there is evidence that shorter consultation times may result in poor compliance with medical recommendations (Ogden et al., 2004; McKinnon et al., 1998). However, we were in a position to offer more time to those who attended clinic. Moreover, patients were being seen within five minutes of their arrival.Our junior clinicians said they felt less-pressured, more closely supervised and experienced greater learning opportunities. Although the actual clinic time was shorter, the total work hours were time neutral as the pre-screening took about three work hours. We feel that this is a useful investment for improving OPD experiences. Outpatient attendance can be unnecessary and does not reduce hospital readmissions. Instituting chart pre-screening policies by senior clinicians, on the other hand, can significantly reduce patient attendances with positive knock-on effects for hospital doctors, referring general practitioners and of course patients themselves.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore unnecessary outpatient department attendances and to improve efficiency by actively pre-assessing patient charts and pre-specifying management plans before scheduled outpatient visits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - All charts were reviewed by a senior clinician two weeks before the clinic and a brief, written management plan made.\nFindings: - A significant reduction in clinic sizes by about 40 per cent can be expected. There was a non-significant increase in the ratio of new to review patients and no significant reduction in waiting lists.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Pre-assessing patient charts leads to cancelling unnecessary outpatient reviews, which can increase outpatient department effectiveness.\nOriginality/value: - Clinical efficiency is becoming increasingly important. This work describes a simple strategy to improve outpatient department productivity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Affirming entrepreneurship: the best hope for organizations	[ "Entrepreneurialism", "Education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: During a recent College Advisory Board meeting, several business leaders were asked to advise our Curriculum Committee on what they felt were the most salient human capital needs of their organizations. A manager from a local corporation stated \"that we needed to infuse our students with an entrepreneurial spirit.\" This comment evoked similar responses from other participants who decried the status quo of entrepreneurship education. Currently, a vast array of organizations suffer from a paucity of entrepreneurial and leadership talent. This paper provides a coherent call for transforming business education programs by more fully integrating entrepreneurship education into curricula.\nEntrepreneurship: a closer look: Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning, and acting that is opportunity driven. Many other definitions of entrepreneurship exist, but this definition illustrates the critical items of the term. First, entrepreneurship is a process. It involves a way of thinking and reasoning that can be taught and learned. This \"way of thinking and reasoning\" means that entrepreneurs look at the world differently than others. This \"way of thinking and reasoning\" focuses completely on organization opportunity, but not on ideas. Second, entrepreneurs must not only \"think and reason\" about opportunities, but also act on them. It is not enough to just think about great opportunities - the world is filled with armchair quarterbacks, but an entrepreneur must act on his/her vision (i.e. opportunity). This is what separates entrepreneurs from others (i.e. managers, leaders, and diplomats) - entrepreneurs follow their visions with action.While it is widely acknowledged that organizations suffer from too few entrepreneurial types, the good news is they can be taught the entrepreneurship process and the \"way of thinking and reasoning.\" This allows these non-entrepreneurs to gain perspective, knowledge, appreciation, and greater confidence in entrepreneurs and the process. It also provides people with average entrepreneurial talent the confidence to create and act on their visions.\nEntrepreneurship: the antithesis for lackluster management: Sustained competitive positioning of organizations necessitates that corporate and organizational executives accept their personal lack of entrepreneurial talent and their organizations' need for real opportunity obsession (i.e. imagination, intuition, and innovation). Examples of business executives failing to recognize and seize opportunities, to be driven by opportunities, are prevalent. In 1980 IBM was entering the PC market, needing an operating system to run the computer. It contacted fledgling company in Seattle and its two owners, Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft lacked an operating system, but Allen knew another company that had one. Microsoft purchased the operating system, modified it, and presented it to IBM. The IBM executives thought that they would purchase the operating system from Microsoft, but Gates saw \"around the corner.\" Instead, Gates told the IBM executives that he would license the software to IBM. The IBM executives likely regarded Gates as inept. They could not imagine growing a business by selling PC software. Today, Microsoft is the largest software creator in the world and IBM is out of the PC business.Gates has continued to demonstrate his entrepreneurial talent, leveraging Microsoft's operating system (i.e. MSDOS, Windows, and Window XP) to create near monopolies in applications software, web browsers, and network server software. He is also trying, with less success, to gain market share for game platforms (i.e. Xbox), search engines, and TV set-top box software. The impressive thing about this entire example is that Gates and Microsoft were never the innovator of any of this technology, but he knew how to see the future.\nA call to action: Scholars, consultants, and business writers tend to blame corporate decline and failure on corporate arrogance and complacency. This happens in many organizations due to an over promotion and reliance on managers who often lack entrepreneur type thinking. Because managers only focus on the short term they fail to realize the need for change until it is too late. This line of thinking adopts the mantra that we are meeting short-term goals, so we must be doing great. More business failures are caused not by corporate arrogance and complacency, but by a failure of leaders (and managers) to recognize opportunities and threats. This is exacerbated by the refusal to realize the need for internal entrepreneurs and indigenous change agents. This is not arrogance or complacency, but ignorance (i.e. lack of imagination). It is intuitive to conclude that if executives realized their blind spots they would act to remedy the situationFully integrating entrepreneurship education into the core curricula of business education programs is one obvious mechanism for improving the status of entrepreneurship in business organizations. Unfortunately, growth in entrepreneurship program development (at colleges and universities) is waning. Because of the current lack of organizational entrepreneurship talent and understanding, it is imperative for all business programs to mainstream entrepreneurship education before a crisis ensues. This is a critical venture given the rate of change in business and the resulting opportunities, threats, and chaos.Integrating entrepreneurship curriculum goes beyond what some business schools have done by simply adding an entrepreneurship course as an elective. While adding a course in corporate entrepreneurship is a step in the right direction, true integration also entails \"mainstreaming\" entrepreneurship thinking, reasoning, culture and attitudes into the core curriculum of all business programs. This requires a significant paradigm shift in the way colleges and faculty view business education. Specifically, concepts and fundamentals of entrepreneurship should be injected into a variety of business courses. For example, courses such as accounting or economics that are typically regarded as quantitative courses could expose students to course related case scenarios allowing students to see the problems or situation from a system-wide perspective, recognizing how entrepreneurial thinking could provide new, innovative alternatives that would significantly enhance the overall competitive position of the company, while simultaneously addressing risk and compliance related concerns. Recognizing the importance of entrepreneurship as a cornerstone to a well-rounded business education is the first step.Mainstreaming entrepreneurship into core curricula will also provide balance to business school education. Today, business school education is overwhelmingly biased towards analytical control courses. While there is nothing wrong with teaching students to analyze business problems, it is short sighted to provide students with only one way of looking at a problem situation. As the saying goes, analyzing and controlling margins is easy, but producing growth is hard. Teaching accounting, finance, statistics, operations control, microeconomics, and all of the other quantitative classes is a necessary, but not sufficient business education condition. These classes do not introduce students to creating and/or growing a business, only to controlling costs and maintaining the operation. Thus, mainstreaming entrepreneurship will help restore some balance to business school curricula.Finally, mainstreaming entrepreneurship into college programs will help bring back credibility to business school education. Bennis and O'Toole (2005) provide a great deal of information about such things as the falling number of business school applications and lack of corporate interest in MBAs, but the problem is much deeper. Business school education must move towards a more practice-oriented model. They must begin to celebrate the profession of business and not the \"science of business.\" Business is not science, nor can it be practiced as science. While all should embrace the scientific model of knowledge creation and theory development, one must realize that all business \"knowledge\" must be practical and applied if the profession is to move forward. Entrepreneurship is the most applied, practice oriented area of business. Exposure to this discipline will only help business education move forward to a more complete profession.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The business world has long heralded the value of entrepreneurial talent. Not surprisingly, there has been tremendous growth in entrepreneurship over the past 25 years. Sustaining this momentum will depend, in part, on elevating entrepreneurship education to the next level, through the adoption of entrepreneurship into both graduate and undergraduate core curricula. This paper aims to examine this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper presents and investigates major points illustrating why it is necessary to more fully integrate entrepreneurship into business education.\nFindings: - The paper finds that the catalysts for change include: the lack of entrepreneurial talent at executive levels in most organizations; the dominance of analysis-driven \"managers\" at all levels of business organizations; the fact that entrepreneurship skills and processes can be learned; and the current state of entrepreneurship education.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides useful information on the development of entrepreneurial talent through education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining occupational stress, job satisfaction and gender difference among bank tellers: evidence from Ghana	[ "Occupational stress", "Bank tellers", "Job satisfaction", "Gender difference", "Banking industry", "Ghana" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recent global economic downturn, constant technological changes, managerial attitudes and unhealthy competitive work environment have contributed to stressful work environments (Colligan and Higgins, 2006). Stress occurs when a person conceives that a threat from an external event is beyond his or her abilities and resources to deal with that threat (Lazarus, 1993). Workplace stress are often caused by stressors. Stressors are workplace circumstances and conditions that lead to strain (Semmer et al., 2005). Organisations are currently confronted by enormous stressors such as ambiguous job responsibilities, lack of job autonomy, organisational change and insatiable customer demands (Coetzer and Rothmann, 2007; De-Bruin and Taylor, 2006), including role conflict, work-family conflict and workload, which are all considered major stressors at the workplace (Rizwan et al., 2014).Occupational stress is a growing concern for employees in private and public banks (Malik, 2011). Occupational stress is an employee's awareness or feeling of personal dysfunction, as a result of perceived conditions or happenings in the workplace, and employees' psychological and physiological reactions caused by these uncomfortable, undesirable or threats in the employee's immediate workplace environment (Montgomery et al., 1996). Investigating occupational stress is essential because work-related stress has considerable organisational costs, including absenteeism (Kang, 2005), low productivity and performance (Chinnadurai and Venugopal, 2016; Foy et al., 2019), mental and physical health (Health and Safety Executive, 2001) and financial loss (Riga, 2006). Moreover, stress and stressors generate psychological, physiological and behavioural outcomes for employees (Bliese et al., 2017). The psychological reactions to stressors include depression, burnout, anxiety and mental illness, whereas the physical reactions to stressors include high blood pressure and increased chances of cardiovascular diseases, eating disorders and headaches (Salami, 2010; Semmer et al., 2005). The behavioural outcomes include work attitudes and organisational citizenship behaviours.Job satisfaction is one of the work attitudes that can be affected by high levels of occupational stress (Fairbrother and Warn, 2003; Mansoor et al., 2011). Job satisfaction is an overall evaluation of the favourability of one's job (Harari et al., 2018). Investigating job satisfaction in the banking industry is essential because it is often assumed that satisfied employees can satisfy customers (George and Zakkariya, 2015). Crossman and Abou-Zaki (2003) maintained that although the relationship between job satisfaction and performance is still open to further interrogation, it would be unwise to assume that job satisfaction does not lead to high performance in banks because high performers are often satisfied with their jobs. Job satisfaction is one of the standards for measuring the health of an organisation and rendering effective service largely depends on satisfied employees who affect the quality of service organisations render (Fitzgerald et al., 1994; Petty et al., 1984). For these reasons, banks are expected to improve employee satisfaction by examining the way employees do their work and the environments in which they work. Bank tellers are core employees who are expected to work under excessive pressure and interface with diverse stakeholders, including demanding customers, and they often represent the \"receiving end\" of most of the changes in the banking industry.This paper adds a banking industry perspective from a developing country to stress research, as most of the stress research emanates from developed countries. Although scholars have examined work-related stress among other professionals (Cherniss, 2016), there is still a paucity of research on occupational stress among bank tellers (George and Zakkariya, 2015), especially in the Ghanaian banking industry (Agbozo et al., 2017). Fairbrother and Warn (2003) claimed that despite the strong connection between work-related stress and job satisfaction, however, there is relatively limited application of relevant theories to provide a nuanced understanding of this relationship. This study strengthens the inherent value and application of the transactional stress theory, which is less applied in the banking industry. This study seeks to address this concern by examining the impact of occupational stress on job satisfaction among bank tellers in Ghana by using the transactional stress theory, as a theoretical lens. The next subsection presents the background of the banking industry in Ghana. 1.1 Background of the banking industry in Ghana\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Transactional stress theory\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and data\n4. Analyses and results: 4.1 Analyses\n5. Discussion: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relationship between occupational stress, job satisfaction and gender difference among bank tellers in Ghana. Our results are in line with the transactional stress theory (Lazarus, 1993, 1966; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) and show that work-related stressors cause occupational stress and consequently affect job satisfaction. The current results revealed that occupational stress has a significant negative impact on job satisfaction among tellers in the banking industry in Ghana. The results showed that there is a significant negative relationship between bank stressors including responsibility pressure, quality concerns, workload and job versus non-job conflict and job satisfaction. Another interesting result is that there was no significant relationship between role conflict and job satisfaction among bank tellers. This result can be attributed to the well-defined routine role of bank tellers. The job roles of tellers are properly defined in the banks such that they hardly engage in any other jobs during the execution of their duties. Consistent with the appraisal and coping concepts of the transactional stress theory, our results further demonstrate that stress occurs when bank tellers perceive and consider that job responsibilities, quality concerns, role conflict, job versus non-job conflict and workload emanating from the internal and external banking environments are beyond their ability and resources to cope. These results support the view of Lazarus (1993) that a person-environment transaction allows employees to appraise their work demands and determine whether they have enough resources to cope with these demands. Thus, the person-environment transaction is significant because the way employees perceive their work environments can influence their job attitudes. Our results further support the views of past research (e.g. Kunte et al., 2017; Kumar and Varma, 2017; Malik et al., 2010) who found that occupational stress has a negative influence on job satisfaction among employees in banks. However, this result is somewhat inconsistent with the views of past research who argued that occupational stress has a positive influence on job satisfaction among employees in the banks (e.g. Ayupp and Nguok, 2011; Singh and Pestonjee, 1990). The current results strengthen the view that bank tellers are more likely to be less satisfied with their jobs due to stressful working conditions. Importantly, this study helps to understand occupation-specific stress because work-related stress outcomes in specific occupations are less researched (e.g. Johnson et al., 2005; Rees, 1995; Young and Cooper, 1995). This is because same workplace factors are not consistently related to stress in all workplaces, and the relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction may differ depending on the work group being investigated (Young and Cooper, 1999).Interestingly, we also found no significant gender difference in job satisfaction among the bank tellers. Our results strengthen the growing intersection between gender and job satisfaction research by showing that gender may not be a key predictor of job satisfaction. These results challenge the widely held assumption that female workers are more satisfied with their jobs than male workers. Thus, our results support earlier views that both male and female bank workers can be more satisfied with their jobs (Spencer et al., 2016; Belias et al., 2017). However, our results contradict the views of Okpara (2006) and Okpara et al. (2005) that gender plays a key role in job satisfaction. Therefore, gender may not be a strong determinant of job satisfaction among bank tellers.In addition, we further found no significant gender difference in occupational stress among the bank tellers. This result reveals that female and male workers who are exposed to similar stressful work environments can have similar stress perception and experiences. There has been a general assumption that women report higher levels of workplace stress because they are either less effective in coping with stressful demands (McDonough and Waters, 2001) or they are generally and naturally exposed to higher levels of stress (Bolger and Zuckerman, 1995). The current result reiterates the views of previous research (e.g. Emslie et al., 2004; Oloyede, 2006) that both male and female workers can have similar stress perceptions and experiences. However, this result rather contradicts the view that male and females are unlikely to have similar stress experiences and perceptions (e.g. Bez and Emhan, 2011; Mannocci et al., 2018). Consistent with our results, gender might not be a key predictor of occupation stress because both male and female bank tellers may be expected to meet similar job demands. 5.1 Managerial implications\n6. Conclusion: The changing nature of work has enormous implications for occupational stress and work-related attitudes and behaviours. Globally, several concerns have been raised about the increasing occupational stress and its related human and organisational costs (Health and Safety Executive, 2001; Jain and Cooper, 2012). Stressful work environment negatively affects employees and organisational productivity and performance (Chinnadurai and Venugopal, 2016; Foy et al., 2019). The socioeconomic consequences of occupational stress are expensive for organisations, economies and society. Thus, any research that examines occupational stress must be considered significant for designing and implementing interventions that can address psychological, physiological and behavioural outcomes of stress. Although this study did not assess the business case for occupational stress, the results suggest that bank tellers in Ghana are likely to exhibit counterproductive behaviours such as job dissatisfaction due to work-related stress. This study has provided the basis for applying the transactional stress theory, which has advanced our understanding of occupational stress and job satisfaction in the banking industry.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Bank tellers have been ignored in stress research. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between occupational stress, job satisfaction, and gender difference among bank tellers in Ghana.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a cross-sectional survey approach, the authors used questionnaires to collect data from bank tellers in Ghana. Valid questionnaires were retrieved from 112 tellers across four banks. The hypotheses were tested using Pearson r-test, standard multiple regression and independent t-test.\nFindings: The results revealed that tellers are more likely to exhibit counterproductive behaviours such as job dissatisfaction due to work-related stress. The results further showed that gender is not a strong determinant of job satisfaction and occupational stress among the bank tellers. Thus, both male and female tellers can have similar stress perceptions and experiences. Also, both male and female tellers can be satisfied with their jobs.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings must be interpreted with caution because cross-sectional surveys are often criticised for causality issues. The causality issue here is that the use of cross-sectional data did not allow the study to examine any changes in some of the constructs examined with time. Also, the results are occupation, industry and country-specific.\nPractical implications: To reduce counterproductive behaviours due to occupational stress, human resource managers and line managers of the banks urgently need to train bank tellers on stress management. Emotional intelligence training is also necessary for bank tellers to obtain the needed resources and competencies to deal with daily stress.\nSocial implications: A stressful work environment negatively affects employee and organisational productivity and performance. The socioeconomic consequences of occupational stress are expensive for organisations, economies and society. The indirect effect of stress on employees' families and friends are often ignored by organisations.\nOriginality/value: The transactional stress theory has been applied towards an understanding of occupational stress and job satisfaction among bank tellers. The examination and establishment of particular relationships between occupational stress, job satisfaction and gender difference are significant for human resource managers and other line managers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ethical food and the kosher certification: a literature review	[ "Certification", "Kosher", "Ethical food" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The increased awareness about the importance of a safe and healthy nutrition has changed human interactions with food and increased worldwide demand for high quality, safe and ethically produced food.\n2. Literature review on ethical food and kashrut: The role of religious dietary certification has been studied from different perspectives, such as, to cite some of the most important, the sociological (Ayyub, 2015; Makiniemi and Vainio, 2014), the organizational (Tieman et al., 2013; Souza-Monteiro and Hooker, 2017) as well as the behavioral (Verbeke and Poquiviqui Lopez, 2005). As regards the ethical issue, literature needs to deeply study the factors determining ethical food and the link between the ethical perspective and the religious certification.\n3. Ethical background of kosher productions: The term \"Kosher,\" borrowed from the Jewish language, literally means \"fit,\" \"proper,\" \"possible\" but also \"pure\" and is used to indicate any kind of food that observant Jewish people are willing to eat following strict food regulations of Judaism. The basis of Judaism is the Torah. It is, along with the rabbinical writings, the basis of instructions on the behavior that should be adopted in each aspect of everyday life, here including food. This system is composed of both written and oral instructions and, in its application, requires rabbinical schools' analysis and interpretation. Hence, it is a dynamic process, according to which also new productions and materials are examined in the light of the tradition of the sacred books. One of the main pillars of this system is the Kashrut, the body of religious laws that addresses the preparation and consumption of food and beverage.\n4. Methodology: In order to proceed with an accurate analysis, this paper matches both the conceptual analysis and the bibliometric one. The interconnection between these two levels of analysis makes it robust and strong.\n5. The conceptual and bibliometrix analysis on kosher food: In recent years, the academic literature has begun to concentrate on the kosher industry. The Pareto diagram (Figure 1) shows the evolution of the topic from 1985 to 2016. In the first five years (1985-1990) the literature production appears rather scarce considering one paper per year. The attention starts to increase between 1991 and 1993, with five papers per year. From 1994-2000, the trends remained stable. During the following years two peaks are reached in 2008 (8 papers) and 2013 (11 papers).\n6. Conclusions: limitations, practical and social implications: This paper shows a double level of analysis. The first one is connected with the exploration of possible links between kosher food and ethical food.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Increased awareness about the importance of a safe, healthy nutrition has changed human interactions with food and increased worldwide demand for high quality and ethical food. In this respect, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the concept of ethical food and the nature of kosher food production, assessing common traits and the main differences between the two. A literature review was undertaken in order to verify the direction in which further studies might proceed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A research review on current literature was carried out exploring concepts of ethical food and food certification underpinning kosher businesses by means of an analysis of both producers' and consumers' perspectives. In order to proceed with an accurate analysis, the paper matches both the conceptual analysis and the bibliometric one. The overlap between these two forms of analysis makes results robust and useful for future research.\nFindings: This review reveals common points between ethical and kosher food because attention is given to both processes and products and the way the market perceives them as expressions of trustworthy and safe production. Furthermore, the analysis reveals an under emphasis on kosher food in the academic world and the results reveal the importance of empirical analysis.\nResearch limitations/implications: The analysis is focused mainly on kosher food production as an expression of ethical food. It would be interesting, however, to expand the analysis to other types of ethical certification such as Halal food, for example, in order to perform comparative evaluations.\nPractical implications: From a practical point of view, it is interesting to note that kosher food is conceived as very safe food and that non-religious people are sensitive to this, which opens new horizons for ethical food. It also offers the possibility that firms that have never considered entering the field of ethical food certification may do so to expand their businesses. This implication also reveals that there is a higher attention on sustainability and safety in agro-food market. Therefore there are great opportunities of expansion for ethical food.\nSocial implications: From a social point of view, this paper is of importance for several reasons. It deals with a relatively new and relatively unexplored issue; it points out the relevance of sustainability and safety in food market and consumer behavior, it presents the possibility of exploring knowledge interactions between different perspectives (multidisciplinary approach) and cultures which, in the opinion, will present significant challenge in relation to agro-food business research in the future.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this work is that of systematizing a literature review of ethical food, enlarging its scope and boundaries with specific reference to kosher food. It also highlights the need to focus on both management and marketing, since up to now there has been a lack of academic contributions to these areas of research. Directions for further research are outlined.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Comparative appraisal of Kreis methods for the assessment of incipient rancidity in ghee	[ "Quality control", "Lipid oxidation", "Ghee", "Dairy products", "Fat", "Kreis value", "Oxidation rate", "Flavour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Ghee is almost anhydrous milk fat. It is used in the daily diet of Indian consumers. It is defined as a product exclusively obtained from milk, cream or butter, by means of processes which result in almost total removal of water and non-fat solids, with an especially developed flavor and physical structure (Codex, 2006). Ghee is manufactured by clarification of milk fat at 110 to 120degC (Jariwala, 2014). It is a rich source of energy, fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) and essential fatty acids (linolenic acid and arachidonic acid). It has a pleasant, nutty, slightly cooked or caramelized flavor, rich aroma and long shelf life at ambient temperature.\n2. Materials and methods: 2.1 Chemicals and reagents\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Assessing the Kreis value with different Kreis tests\n4. Conclusion: The Kreis value of ghee was determined by four different Kreis tests and the values correlated with flavor scores of the ghee during accelerated storage. The Kreis values obtained by Kreis tests-1, -3 and -4 showed fluctuation during the accelerated storage, while the values obtained by Kreis test-2 showed a more consistent trend during storage. Significant correlations were found between flavor scores and Kreis values. The correlation coefficients for values obtained by the different methods were in decreasing order: Kreis test-2>Kreis test-4>Kreis test-3>Kreis test-1. Among the different Kreis tests, Kreis test-2 was found to be more sensitive and consistent, and the values obtained by it showed the highest correlation with flavor score of ghee during storage. Hence, Kreis test-2 was considered to be the most appropriate method for detecting rancidity in ghee at an early stage. Determination of the Kreis value by this test can provide an opportunity for industry personnel to devise suitable control measures and/or make decisions on utilization of the product. However, there is a need to optimize various parameters in Kreis test-2 such as temperature and duration of incubation, amount of the ghee and concentration of the TCA and that will be addressed in our next research work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There are various Kreis tests reported in the literature with wide variations in the procedure. The purpose of this paper is to select the most suitable and reliable method for the rancidity evaluation in ghee.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Ghee samples were prepared from butter by the direct cream method. They were assessed for early-stage oxidative deterioration by four Kreis tests in an accelerated storage trial at intervals of 48 h. The amount of ghee samples, amount of reagents (chloroform, 30 percent trichloroacetic acid, 1 percent phloroglucinol, and ethanol), incubation temperature and duration were different in the four tests. For each method, the ghee samples were also monitored for changes in flavor at intervals of 48 h by sensory evaluation. Relationships among the Kreis values determined by the four different Kreis tests and flavor scores were established using a correlation analysis.\nFindings: The correlation coefficient of the Kreis values determined by different Kreis tests was in decreasing order of: Kreis test-2 (-0.904) > Kreis test-4 (-0.792) > Kreis test-3 (-0.648) > Kreis test-1 (-0.469). Thus, among the four different Kreis tests, Kreis Test-2 reported by Pool and Prater (1945) was found to be more sensitive and more consistent, and have the highest coefficient of correlation (-0.904) with flavor score of ghee during storage at 80+-2degC.\nPractical implications: The finding of this study will be useful for the selection of an appropriate and reliable Kreis test that can be used for detecting rancidity in ghee at an incipient stage. The development of rancidity in the ghee leads to formation of off-flavor and such an oxidized product is not accepted by the consumer; this leads to economic loss to the manufacturer. Detection of traces of rancidity at an early stage provides an opportunity for industry personnel to take suitable control measures and/or make decisions regarding utilization of the product.\nOriginality/value: The use of a reliable Kreis test that detects traces of rancidity in a ghee can be very useful for enabling suitable measures to be taken to prevent further oxidative deterioration or to dispose of the ghee as early as possible.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital disclosure in Chinese (mainland) companies	[ "Intellectual capital", "Disclosure", "Quality", "Annual reports", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The new economy is characterized by the emergence of globalization, the spread of internet and information technology, and the prevalence of soft, intangible and human factors within organizations, such that the process of value creation for companies has changed (Cordazzo, 2007; Tayles et al., 2007). Owning the best machinery and equipment no longer necessarily secures firms a competitive edge in the fierce global competition because technology is easily accessible (Wong and Gardner, 2005). Intellectual capital (IC) takes many forms: management processes, intellectual property, brand and reputation, business partnership, supplier and customer relationships, staff competencies, etc. It is increasingly recognized as a key value driver to create and sustain competitive advantage for companies (Li et al., 2008; Ghosh and Wu, 2007). Some of the most successful firms are those with significant intellectual capital but relatively fewer fixed assets, such as Microsoft, Google, and Oracle.With the growing awareness of the importance of IC, many managers attempt to disclose the intellectual capital of their companies in annual reports on a voluntary basis to reduce the information asymmetry and improve the transparency between management and various stakeholders (Guthrie and Petty, 2000; Pablos, 2002; Schneider and Samkin, 2008; Vergauwen et al., 2007). Intellectual capital is, however, difficult to capture and measure. There is no widely accepted accounting framework for IC disclosure around the world. Thus the current status of IC disclosure throughout the world is limited and highly variable.Research on IC disclosure has grown in significance in the past two decades (Garcia-Meca et al., 2005). Tan et al. (2008) provide a useful reference on the stages of development of IC, its application to business and management issues and the application of IC research in different cultural contexts. Many of the studies in the field are cross-sectional and country specific (Li et al., 2008), for example, Australia (Guthrie and Petty, 2000), Canada (Bontis, 2003), Ireland (Brennan, 2001), India (Kamath, 2007, 2008), Italy (Bozzolan et al., 2003), Japan (Mavridis, 2004), Malaysia (Goh and Lim, 2004), New Zealand (Wong and Gardner, 2005; Whiting and Miller, 2008), Singapore (Tan et al., 2007), Spain (Oliveras et al., 2008), Sri Lanka (Abeysekera and Guthrie, 2005), Taiwan (Chen et al., 2005), UK (Williams, 2001). These studies provide insights regarding the level of IC reporting in a particular country across various industrial sectors. However, among the studies, only three of them - Malaysia (Goh and Lim, 2004), Sri Lanka (Abeysekera and Guthrie, 2005) and India (Kamath, 2008) - relate to developing countries. There has been minimal IC disclosure research in mainland China, the largest developing country and one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This paper reviews research that starts to address this gap by examining the extent and quality of IC disclosure by 49 dual-listed A and H share firms in mainland China.The first section of the paper reviews the Chinese stock market followed by a literature review on IC disclosure in a national context. The research study is described followed by the methods, results and discussion. The final section draws conclusions including implications and future research directions of this research.\n2. The Chinese stock market: Since the Chinese government implemented economic reform in 1978, the economy of China had undergone dramatic development. Both GDP and individuals' income have grown rapidly. During this period, the Chinese government attempted to attract capital infusion in the state-owned enterprises in order to improve the performance of the companies (Seddighi and Nian, 2004; Zhang and Zhao, 2004). Simultaneously, Chinese enterprises have demanded new channels for raising capital and individuals have sought new investment opportunities rather than merely putting money in banks at low interest rates. In November 1990, the first stock exchange was established in Shanghai; several months later in April 1991, the Shenzhen stock exchange commenced operations. The Chinese market has since grown to be the largest emerging share market in the world (Zhang and Zhao, 2004).The Chinese (mainland) stock market is unique in that the shareholding structure of the listed companies is heterogeneous. Specifically the listed firms in mainland China can be classified into domestic shares and foreign shares (see Figure 1). The domestic shares, namely A-shares, can be further divided into three classes including state-owned shares, institutional shares and public shares. The state-owned shares and institutional shares are non-circulation A-shares that cannot be traded at stock exchanges. The institutional shares can be traded among institutions through Securities Trading Quotation System (an over-the-counter market). The public shares, generally called circulation A-shares, can be traded in both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. A-shares denominated by RMB are subscribed and traded in RMB, and only available to domestic investors. Foreign shares comprise B-shares, H-shares, N-shares, L-shares and S-shares. All of them are circulation shares and available for foreign investors rather than domestic investors[1]. B-shares are ordinary shares denominated in RMB but subscribed for and traded in either US dollars or Hong Kong dollars. The US-dollar B-shares are traded on Shanghai stock exchange while the Hong Kong-dollar B-shares are traded on Shenzhen stock exchange. H-shares refer to shares issued by mainland Chinese companies that are listed on Hong Kong stock exchange[2]. Currently there are 144[3] Chinese mainland companies listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The other three types of foreign shares including N-shares, L-shares and S-shares refer to shares issued by Chinese companies that are listed on the New York, London and Singapore stock exchanges. At present[4], no more than ten Chinese mainland companies issue N/L/S and shares. The majority of overseas listed companies issue H-shares. This indicates that Hong Kong has become a very important capital market from which Chinese enterprises can raise funds.Chinese mainland companies are not allowed to be listed on both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges simultaneously, but they can be dual-listed on either of the domestic exchanges (Shanghai or Shenzhen) and the Hong Kong stock exchange. A Chinese mainland company could issue both A-shares or B-shares and H-shares. Normally dual-listed companies issue A-shares and H-shares rather than B-shares and H-shares, since B-shares, as foreign shares, overlap with H-shares in nature. At the time of the study there were 49[5] dual-listed companies for both A-shares and H-shares. Most of these are large firms[6] according to market capitalization and top performers in their industries and in the national economy.\n3. Literature review: 3.1 Intellectual capital\n4. Research methods: 4.1 Content analysis\n5. Results: 5.1 The extent and quality of IC disclosure by attributes\n6. Discussion: 6.1 The extent and quality of IC disclosure\n7. Conclusions: As an exploratory research regarding IC disclosure by Chinese mainland companies, this study begins to fill a research gap of limited research with respect to IC reporting in mainland China. Secondly, the research examines both the extent and quality of IC disclosure through constructing an IC disclosure index while many of the previous studies in the field only explored the extent of IC disclosure. The IC disclosure index can be employed by other researchers in other developing countries such as India, which can facilitate comparative research. This research is also significant in that it has used all 49 dual-listed A and H share firms which are a \"doorway\" into mainland China for international investors.There is also much scope for extending the present work. Future research can expand the sample size, for instance, by selecting more companies in the sample comprising large, medium and small firms, or by selecting more specialized groups of companies (e.g. IC-intensive firms) to enable a more comprehensive understanding of IC disclosure in mainland China. A longitudinal study could be conducted for capturing the trend of reporting practices during the period. Further research could apply research methods other than content analysis (e.g. questionnaire survey, interviews or a mixed-methods) in order to obtain a more in-depth view of how the Chinese mainland firms manage, measure and report their IC. Finally, owing to the lack of generally-accepted framework for IC reporting, further work needs to be done in the area of developing an IC disclosure model that is applicable to the Chinese (mainland) environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to report research on the extent and quality of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure of Chinese (mainland) companies that have dual listed A and H shares.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A comprehensive IC disclosure index was constructed in the study to code, using content analysis methods, the annual reports of 49 dual-listed companies in mainland China.\nFindings: - Consistent with previous research, the current level of IC disclosure by mainland Chinese companies is not high. Most of the reported IC attributes are expressed in discursive rather than numerical or monetary terms. However, the average number of items disclosed is high enough to suggest that there is a clear awareness of the significance of IC disclosure. While the disclosure quality is not considered strong, it does suggest that the companies have a modest commitment in communicating their IC information to an external audience.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research only examines the dual listed companies covering a one-year period from the 2006 annual reports.\nPractical implications: - IC disclosure in China is an important part of the movement to greater transparency. Increased appreciation of the levels of IC disclosure may encourage greater debate over IC disclosure in that country.\nOriginality/value: - This paper reviews one of the few research studies of IC disclosure in mainland China. The research also incorporates a quality index of the disclosure.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Processes of hybridization and de-hybridization: organizing and the task at hand	[ "Control", "Knowledge intensive", "Framing", "Hybrid", "Overflow" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Hybridity is for certain not a novel concept (Miller et al., 2008), but there is a continuous development of the research field (Denis et al., 2015). A review of the literature indicates a recurrent focus on hybridity emphasizing organizational arrangements, were organizational activities incorporate values from different settings, most often the public and the private sector. Lately, and as a part of the institutional logics theorizing, more attention has been paid to the relationships between the institutional environment and the actors and processes within organizations. We regard the reference to institutional logics as a prolongation of the observed tendency within the field to use ideal types as analytical tools (e.g. Skelcher and Smith, 2015). Recent reviews (Denis et al., 2015) have indicated that the theorizing has tended to focus on structural organizational arrangements and pointed out the need for a more nuanced discussion on what hybridity is and how to bring the field further. Suggestions have been made that hybridity might be defined at different levels and concern different dimensions of organizational activity (Denis et al., 2015) and include hybrid practices, processes and expertise (Grossi et al., 2017; Miller et al., 2008).\nOn hybridization: We indicated in the introduction that we perceive hybrids as a response to and a cause of complexity. The argument we develop here and further conceptualize in the following theoretical section is that settings might be characterized as more or less hybrid, and furthermore, that it is fruitful to talk about processes of hybridization and de-hybridization.\nTheoretical framework: We indicated that we are less interested in hybrids as set stable entities and more in the processes of hybridizing and de-hybridizing. The actor network theory (ANT) views stable states as an achievement and a network effect rather than a cause or a natural state. Furthermore, ANT points at the importance of following actors and networks \"in action\" (Mouritsen et al., 2010) allowing the researcher to observe how things evolve and capture the dynamics of social interaction. The concepts of framing and overflowing (Callon, 1998b) will be at the center of the analysis. The concepts help us draw attention to formative problems (Kastberg, 2014). These might be about how actors create arrangements for interaction, stabilize identities, relationships and entities and not least how these processes are always contested, making them fragile (Callon, 1998b; Slater, 2002). An important dimension for scholars interested in hybridity is that the concepts center on the relationship between object and network; or put differently, objects are perceived as a network effect. The theoretical concepts help us scrutinize the relationship between elements pulled together, rationale (i.e. task at hand) and objects.\nFraming hybridization, implications of the framework: The theoretical conceptualization helps us to further scrutinize processes of hybridization and de-hybridization. We might expect hybridization to be triggered by problematizing (perhaps by media), calling disperse elements to come together. Framing activities will lead to elaborations on the task at hand, a process which in turn might lead to the pulling in of new elements. While adding and re-configuring is a result of an aim to frame a setting that facilitates action, it might result in an increase of complexity. Every element added is also a potential source of overflow. Intensive framing might lead to a cool, smooth situation were action is easy. However, there is an inherent risk that the situation instead heats up.\nResearch methodology and methods: The case\nAnalysis: In Sweden, Social Investing Funds (SIF), a certain type of model for the allocation of resources within welfare services, gained rapid popularity in the last few years. Even though SIF cannot be described as well-defined or ready-made for implementation, it is founded upon some basic features. First, the idea is to incentivize the provision of preventive interventions based on the assumption of its \"cost-effectiveness.\" Second, the outcome of the various operations funded by the SIF should be measurable in economic terms, thus emphasizing a turn away from input control and toward a result-based management control system. Also, SIF is characterized by an emphasis on inter/intra-organizational relationships, both in terms of the overall governance of the model as well as the interventions carried out. Internationally, various models sharing these characteristics have been studied under the umbrella concept of \"Impact Investing.\" Examples of other sub-categories are social impact bonds, pay-by-result models or social enterprise (Arena et al., 2016; Hochstadter and Scheck, 2015).\nDiscussion: According to Callon (1998b), in the case of a problematic situation where \"something needs to be done,\" but the cause-effect relation is unclear or contested among a wide range of actors, a \"hot situation\" is likely to appear. We observe in our case how a problematization brought actors together causing an entanglement of perspectives. The multitude of perspectives resulted in a construction of both task at hand and object hard to frame; we observe a hybrid emerge. In our analysis, we conceptualize four empirically grounded phases, characterized by various degrees and levels of complexity.\nConclusion: The main contribution is the empirically detailed description of how hybridizing must be understood in relationship to a complex task at hand. We set the aim of the study to be about conceptualizing the relationship between hybrid organizing and object and to add to our understanding of hybrids from a processual perspective. We used the concepts of \"hot hybrid,\" \"disciplined hybrid\" and \"compartmentalization\" to illustrate our observations. In a situation where a heterogeneous set of actors forming a hybrid organization meet a complex task at hand, the risk of a hot hybrid forum is obvious. A core observation is how the complexity is escaped by either an intensive framing or compartmentalization. The former might lead to a disciplined hybrid allowing efficient action or, if not successful, to a hot and contested situation characterized by inertia. The latter, compartmentalization, might lead to less complexity with the potential of full de-hybridization into single-purpose organizing, failing to deal with the complex task at hand.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The problematization indicates the need for enhancing the understanding of hybrid settings as potentially dynamic, changing and fragile. The purpose of this paper is to generate the knowledge through a conceptualization of the relationship between hybrid organizing and object, helping us understand how and why hybridization takes place or de-hybridizing occurs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on a longitudinal qualitative case study of an attempt to introduce cost-benefit calculations as a management initiative in the social sector. In total, 18 observations of meetings and 48 interviews were done.\nFindings: The main contribution is the empirically detailed description of how hybridizing must be understood in connection to a complex task at hand. A core observation is how complexity is escaped by either an intensive framing or compartmentalization - the former either leading to a disciplined hybrid allowing efficient action or to a hot and contested situation characterized by inertia. The latter, compartmentalization, presupposes less complexity with the potential of full de-hybridization into single-purpose organizing, failing to deal with the complex task at hand.\nResearch limitations/implications: A limitation is the one case approach and further research could focus on other settings.\nPractical implications: The paper provides concepts useful for analysis of specific cooperative arrangements.\nSocial implications: The authors believe that the findings can bring useful insights to professionals, policy makers and others who are engaging in and addressing complex societal issues, not least within the public sector, a matter all too often overlooked by the accounting research community.\nOriginality/value: The originality of the paper is the focus on the organization and control in relation to the task at hand.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customer sociability and the total service experience: Antecedents of positive word-of-mouth intentions	[ "Personality", "Customer loyalty", "Health services", "Customer service management", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1 Service-dominant logic and the dispositional and experiential nature of customer-actualized value\n2. Conceptual framework and hypotheses: 2.1 Positive WOM intentions\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Analyses and results: 4.1 Measure reliability and validity\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The service-dominant logic describes customer-actualized value as being idiosyncratic, experiential, contextual, and meaning laden. Since positive word-of-mouth (WOM) is an expression of customer-actualized value, the paper postulate that WOM is not only related to a holistic set of assessments of the service experience but also to the idiosyncratic nature of the individual customer. In particular, do socially oriented individuals have a greater propensity to engage in positive WOM? The purpose of this paper is to test hypotheses that socially oriented personality traits, and personal values as well as a set of dimensions of the total service experience, are antecedents of positive WOM. The context studied is a surgical operation involving considerable personal meaning and implication in the whole service process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A cohort of 500 surgical patients are studied prior to, three-days after and one-month post-surgery. Independent variables include the socially oriented personality traits of agreeableness and extraversion, social- vs self-oriented personal values, as well as dimensions of the total service experience assessed by information adequacy, pain and discomfort, patient-to-patient interaction, patient-to-personnel interaction, and recovery outcomes. The dependent variable is the strength of positive WOM intentions.\nFindings: - The sociability of surgery patients as measured by both their personality traits and socially oriented values is significantly related to the strength of positive WOM intentions. Self-oriented values are not associated with positive WOM intentions. Also, to varying degrees, all dimensions of the total service experience are associated with positive WOM intentions.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is the first to illustrate that, in a given service context, the antecedents of customer loyalty may be complex, not only dependent on customer assessments of their interactions and experiences throughout the service process, but also relative to their dispositional characteristics such as sociability. The consistency of the results for positive WOM assessed at three-days and one-month post-surgery adds to the robustness of the findings. This paper makes a significant contribution to the service-dominant logic and the concept of value co-creation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A quantitative and qualitative analysis of social dominance orientation and race-related comments	[ "Race", "Black people", "Race relations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Legislative policies and procedures have been implemented to facilitate more equality among the different races in the US, particularly with regard to the goal of equal education and organizational opportunities for both minorities and non-minorities. However, there are still polarizing differences between whites and blacks in the US school systems as well as in organizations. For example, most students who partake in Advanced Placement programs are higher income white students and educational leadership (e.g. principals) within schools are often inclined to believe that blacks are not as suitable as their white counterparts for Advanced Placement curriculum content (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 2009). Similarly, bias with regard to race is still observed within the organizational setting (Bernstein, 2001). For example, many believe this can be observed when noting that only 13 African-Americans have ever become a CEO of a listed Fortune 500 organization (Black Entrepreneur Profile, 2012).\nTheoretical framework and hypotheses: Race is an attribute that is often allotted a certain amount of social value (King et al., 2006). Historically, whites have been allotted a higher level of social value than blacks (Shih, 2002). SDT can help explain why this is the case. The theory suggests that people form societies, and they are commonly structured in groups that compose a social hierarchy. The types of bias examined among groups, such as racial bias, and even gender bias, are often the result of individuals' proclivity to create and maintain group-based hierarchies (Sidanius et al., 2004). The drive to sustain these traditional hierarchies is identified as SDO, which is formally defined as, \"[...] the degree to which one endorses group-based social inequality and group-based dominance\" (Sidanius and Veniegas, 2000, p. 12).\nMethod: Participants\nQuantitative results: Hypothesis testing\nQualitative method: Qualitative methods help understand the meaning of phenomena and how or why they occur (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998). In fact, 24 percent of all participants who wrote comments thought the statements made by the professor were stereotypical and/or racist. In this study, participants were also asked to share their thoughts about the condition wherein they participated so that authors could understand the reasons for the respondents' answers to the quantitative survey. The question stated, \"Please share your thoughts about the comment made by the professor.\"\nQualitative results: A pattern emerged from the respondents' comments with regard to racism/stereotyping. In fact, 24 percent of all participants who wrote comments believed that the professor's comments were racist and/or stereotypical. The proportion were highest in the condition 1 (African-American professor-Caucasian student) and, less so, in condition 4 (Caucasian Professor-African-American student). In this regard, some students seemed to perceive racism and/or stereotyping primarily when the professor and students about whom he/she made the remarks were not of the same race. Below is a sampling of the respondents' remarks:\nDiscussion: This study sought to determine how SDO might influence perceptions of bias, between status differences, when the race of the offender is either white or black and the target of the biased comment is either white or black. We chose to investigate this phenomenon in an American university setting, as that is an important arena for socio-economic advancement and a source of societal progression (Blau and Duncan, 1967). However, these types of behaviors are also likely to be observed in an organizational setting.\nConclusions: Individuals who are high in SDO's (regardless of their race) tend to support the historical belief that whites and men are superior (e.g. more intellectually astute) to blacks (and other racial minorities) and women and, thus, seek to maintain institutional support for these beliefs (Sidanius and Pratto, 1999). We found that high SDO's tended to perceive higher levels of racism or stereotyping when low-status group members made derogatory comments about high-status group members. Conversely, we found support for the propensity of high SDO's to support or display a deference to race-related remarks that may be considered racial stereotyping or racist when low-status group members are the target. It appears that these beliefs and behaviors serve as a way to reinforce established hierarchies within society.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine how social dominance orientation (SDO) might influence perceptions of bias when the race of the offender and the target of the biased comment is either white or black.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This investigation was conducted in a laboratory with undergraduate students.\nFindings: In a study utilizing American student participants, the authors found that when an individual is high in SDO they are more likely to perceive racism/stereotyping when a low-status group member (i.e. African-American) makes a racially biased comment about high-status group members (i.e. Caucasian).\nOriginality/value: The authors determined the influence of SDO on the perception of racial comments regarding African-Americans and Caucasians. These findings are also unique in that the authors manipulate the authority (i.e. status) of the offender and target.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Which capabilities matter for successful business process change?	[ "Research methods", "PLS", "Capabilities", "Process management", "Business process change", "Resource-based theory", "Case survey methodology" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Business process change (BPC)[1] has been on the agenda of organizations for decades (Hammer and Champy, 1993). The latest Gartner surveys show that improving business process performance is still a top priority of CIOs (Hill and McCoy, 2011; Lopez, 2011). However, many organizations are daunted by the challenges and risks that BPC imposes (Hill and McCoy, 2011). Most companies no longer have the luxury of funding BPC projects that may not succeed. Yet, the high failure rates of BPC projects show that not much clarity exists among practitioners and researchers on the factors impacting BPC success (Hammer and Champy, 1993; Al-Mashari et al., 2001; Trkman, 2010).\n2. Theoretical background: The RBT provides an appropriate theoretical frame for analyzing BPC capabilities. To motivate the selection of our measurement variables and their latent variables, we begin by summarizing the core concepts of the RBT. Next, we define the concept BPC, show how it relates to other concepts and discuss the important impact factors.\n3. Research model and hypotheses: In the following sections we shortly introduce the dependent and independent variables as well as the corresponding hypotheses. It needs to be noted that the selection of capabilities was limited to main and most frequently discussed ones in BPC literature (Kettinger and Grover, 1995).\n4. Research method: As this study's objectives was to identify which capabilities matter for BPC project performance and which matter for the final process performance, an in-depth perspective such as that offered by case studies was deemed appropriate. To meet our objectives, we needed a relatively large sample of rich cases. Operationally, conducting such a large number of original case studies is very resource-intensive and difficult to achieve. Consequently, and given the availability of high-quality cases on BPC projects, we adopted a case survey strategy (Larsson, 1993). Case surveys \"integrate qualitative studies, transforming qualitative data into (semi-) quantitative data, using a coding scheme and expert judgments by multiple coders\" (Newig and Fritsch, 2009, p. 4).\n5. Results: The PLS technique facilitates the exploration of two models of a structural equation model, the measurement (outer) model, examining the relations of measurement variables and their latent variables, and the structural (inner) model, examining the latent variables to each other (Diamantopoulos, 2006).\n6. Discussion: Our principle concern of this study was to examine which capabilities impact BPC project and process performance. The empirical results provide a tentative support for the RBT. We show that certain capabilities directly influence the project and process performance, while others have no impact.\n7. Conclusion: Some limitations of our study must be acknowledged. The first limitation stems from the use of secondary data, meaning that the cases we selected had not been written with the specific purpose of studying which capabilities matter for successful BPC. However, due to the care with which we selected - and excluded - cases, we are confident that the cases in our sample were indeed narrations of the experiences of BPC projects, and that they provided sufficient data for appropriate coding and analysis. A second limitation is that assigning numbers to qualitative data \"unduly simplifies the complex phenomena under investigation\" and may leave out some of the richness of case research (Larsson, 1993, p. 1519). However, the use of a large number of cases (here, 130 cases) compensates for such information loss (Larsson, 1993). More so, the coding procedure of case survey method carries a certain degree of subjectivity, which we tried to reduce by assessing inter-coder reliability. Another limitation has to do with the theoretical incompleteness of the identified capabilities. According to Molloy et al. (2011) the question of how to measure capabilities is \"simultaneously very important to RBT yet very difficult to conceptualize and validly assess\". But since we primarily relied on predefined and tested constructs, we are confident that our items measure what they are supposed to measure. The last limitation refers to the focus of our analysis on the main capabilities listed in BPC literature. We are aware that additional capabilities (e.g. learning or integration) might also impact the success of a BPC initiative. Nonetheless, due to limitations imposed by the research method and by the information reported in the case studies, we could not assess these additional capabilities. Future research should analyze the effect of additional capabilities on BPC project and process performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Business process change (BPC) initiatives are complex endeavors, which require many different sets of capabilities from the organization (e.g. IT, change management, project management capabilities). This study aims to examine which capabilities matter for successful BPC.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper posits that a structured analysis of case studies will help in identifying the capabilities relevant for BPC. Against this background, the paper adopted a case survey methodology, which combines the richness of case studies with the benefit of analyzing large quantities of data. The paper identified and analyzed 130 case studies reporting the past BPC project experiences.\nFindings: The results show that project management, change management and IT capabilities have a positive impact on BPC project performance. IT capabilities also have a positive impact on the final process performance. Thus, IT capabilities matter for both BPC project and process performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study had a few limitations, such as the use of secondary data. More so, assigning numbers to qualitative data unduly simplifies the complex phenomena under investigation and may leave out some of the richness of case research.\nPractical implications: The findings provide considerable support for determining which capabilities practitioners need to leverage and develop when improving their business processes.\nOriginality/value: The study makes a number of contributions. It fills a gap in the literature concerning which capabilities matter for successful BPC. The paper offers a theoretical explanation of the effects of capabilities on the BPC project and process performance. Another contribution is methodological, in that the paper adopted the case survey method, which is still new to information systems research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of Zakah and Zakah coverage in monotheistic faiths	[ "Islam", "Christianity", "Judaism", "National cultures", "History" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There have been a considerable number of research efforts on Zakah. The focus of most of those studies has been on the socio-economic aspects of Zakah. However, the authors of this analysis have not seen much review of the historical development of Zakah and Zakah coverage. Papers such as Mannan (1983, 1989), Ahmad (1989), Sadeq (1980, 1989), Rahman (1980) and Mohammad (1991) have analyzed the distributive impact of Zakah on the poor and the economy in general. Zakah has been characterized as an important fiscal tool for achieving socio-economic justice and has the potential of eliminating poverty.Chowdhury (1980) and El-Din (1986) have described the allocative efficiency of Zakah. The concept has been studied in the context of the Keynesian IS-LM model by a number of authors. Khan (1985), Chowdhury (1983) and Metwally (1986) have discussed Zakah from the point of Keynesian aggregate demand. Their analysis shows that Zakah increases aggregate demand functioning as a built-in stabilization fiscal tool, which increases employment in Islamic economies. Finally, there have been a number of recent researchers who have sought to determine the level of Zakah as a proportion of total economic activity in Muslim nations. Kahf (1986), Sadeq (1994) and Shirazi (2003) have completed analyses of these issues over the last couple of decades.But again, none of the above-referenced studies has dealt with the historical development of Zakah as an institution nor appropriately described the coverage of Zakah in current times. The paper seeks to meet the demand for historical and Islamic knowledge perspective on this important issue and to compare Zakah type activities in each of the monotheistic faiths.The organization of the remainder of the paper includes: first, a brief description of the meaning and objectives of Zakah (the poor due) and the group of people who have been described as worthy to receive Zakah. Additional sections trace the development of Zakat (the poor due) in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Finally, we present some conclusions for the consideration of the reader.\nMeaning and objective of Zakah and the Zakah entitled group of people: The literary meaning of Zakah has a twofold meaning:1. It means \"purity\" and \"cleanness.\" The payment of Zakah purifies and cleans the wealth and the heart of the person who pays Zakah. It cleans the dirt of wealth as well as the heart of the Zakah payer. By removing the stringiness, Zakah purifies the heart of the Zakah payer and prepares him to sacrifice for the cause of Allah (Shad, 1986).2. The second meaning of Zakah is fertility or growth. The payment of Zakah is designed to enable the poor to grow in wealth and spirit (Al-Qaradawi, 1973).Believing Muslims accept the premise that Allah is the repository of all bounty and wealth and He gives it to who He wishes (Quran 17:29). Thus, the real owner of the richness of the earth is Allah. By paying a part of his wealth (Zakah), the Zakah payer seeks the pleasure of Allah and thereby expresses his thanks to Him. The poor have a right to the wealth of the earth as well as the rich, the payment of Zakah provides that a part of the wealth of the rich is made available to the poor.The establishment of Zakah payment has several objectives including the following, to:* eradicate poverty and maintain socioeconomic justice;* safeguard wealth from the jealousy of the others, the poor in particular;* purify one's wealth and remove one's stringiness; and* remain thankful to God for His bounty to him.The Divine Book (Al Quran) is also quite specific with regard to who is worthy to be the recipient of Zakah, and leaves little ambiguity about these issues. According to Quran (9:60), there are eight categories of people entitled to receive Zakah proceeds. Zakah proceeds should be distributed to none but the following:1. beggar (Fuqara);2. poor (Miskin)[1];3. Zakah collectors/officers (Ameleen);4. a Muslim who recently converted into Islam (Muallafah);5. emancipated slave (Fil-Riqab);6. debtors (Gharemeen);7. Allah's cause (Fi-Sabi Lillah)[2]; and8. wayfarers (Ibn al Sabil).\nHistorical developments of Zakah and coverage in religion: Zakah, a contribution from the wealth of the rich to the poor is neither a new nor an unknown concept to mankind. It is a continuation of Celestial order which has been in existence since time immemorial. The virtue of the obligatory contribution from wealth was proclaimed and instructed by God thousands of years before the birth of Islam through his messengers - Ibrahim, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets (pbuh). The Quran is full of testimony of this proof. For example, in 2:73, 2:83, 19:31, and 19:55, the Quran clearly testifies that earlier prophets, long before the birth of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) were enjoined to pray and pay Zakah. Charity and benevolence have played an important role in all religions.Zakah in Judiasm (before Christ)\nZakah in Islam: The growth of Zakah development in Islam may be classified into five phases: Zakah in pre-Hijra period of the Prophet's life, Zakah in post-Hijra period of the Prophet's life, Zakah in the Republic of Islam (four Khalifas), Zakah in the Ummyad and Abbaside dynasty, and Zakah in the present world.Zakah in pre-Hijra period\nConclusions: Zakah, the religious and social/political institution for the support of the poor and needy is not new in Islam. It is a continuation of Divine order of God from the time of Prophet Abraham. The payment contribution, Zakah during Moses (pbuh) and Jesus (pbuh) was purely voluntary. It was strongly encouraged as a measure of their devotion and support of society. The rate of payment was generally considered as a tithe or 10 percent of their annual increase.The recipients of Zakah in Judaic and Christian societies were mostly resident aliens who could not own land or orphans and widows.The implementation of the formal practice of Zakah that required a contribution from the wealth of the rich to the poor and needy originated during the lifetime of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). After the establishment of a Muslim state in Medina, the payment of Zakah was made compulsory administered formally through the Islamic state. It was implemented not only as a religious duty but also a legal requirement binding upon the rich. The Prophet, as a head of the state, declared war (legal action) against the tribes who refused to pay Zakah.The procedures for the payment of Zakah rate were directly proscribed by the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). Those procedures included exclusion levels under which a person was not responsible to pay, specific rates on varied types of wealth, commodities, and other personal holdings. The Prophet also identified specific types of people who should receive Zakah and outlined those groups in the Quran (9:60). Initially, the collection and distribution of Zakah remained a state responsibility until the end of the Islamic Republic of four Khulafa.Most of these practices continued largely as originally outlined until after the end of the Republic of Islam, when the collection and distribution of Zakah was eliminated as a state function and instead transferred to the discretion of the individual to pay the Zakah directly to those in need. The administration and process for distribution of Zakah in contemporary Muslim states varies depending on the school of Islamic thought most prevalent in that society and the level of theocratic involvement of the government in those societies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The unity of Divine Law is reflected in monotheistic faiths having their origin with Prophet Abraham (pbuh), but later divided into three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There is a unity of Divine practice in a variety of areas among these monotheistic faiths. One such area is Zakah, in Islamic tradition, and often characterized as \"the poor due\" in Christianity and Judaism. By whatever name, Zakah or \"the poor due,\" is an important Divine institution in all three monotheistic faiths. The purpose of this paper is to trace and examine the development of the Zakah institution and Zakah type coverage in those faiths.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - First, the paper provides a brief description of the meaning and objectives of Zakah (the poor due) and the group of people who have been described as worthy to receive Zakah. Additional sections trace the development of Zakat (the poor due) in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Finally, some conclusions are presented for the consideration of the reader.\nFindings: - The administration and process for distribution of Zakah in contemporary Muslim states varies depending on the school of Islamic thought most prevalent in that society and the level of theocratic involvement of the government in those societies.\nOriginality/value: - This paper usefully examines the development of the Zakah institution and Zakah type coverage in the three monotheistic faiths.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Partners learn people skills at Ernst & Young: Nine-month development program helps to change the organization's culture	[ "Leadership development", "Customer satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The days when organizations could beat their competitors simply by having the best knowledge, technology or quality are gone. In the modern global economy, having employees who get on well with each other and with their customers is critically important, too.\nThe leadership-foundation event: An intensive three-day leadership-foundation event then focused on leading oneself, leading people and teams, leading in the marketplace and leading change together. Each theme included a carefully designed experiential exercise, which required the partners quickly to apply any models learned to current real-life situations and constantly use each other for feedback and coaching.Half the time at the leadership-foundation event was spent in learning groups of six partners, facilitated by a senior coach/trainer from Bath Consultancy Group. Group selection aimed to ensure a mixture of partners from different business units, functional specialisms, offices and levels of seniority. This not only helped partners to build new networks across the organization, but also required them to find ways of coaching one another that relied on skills other than technical or local knowledge.Individual feedback gathered from both internal and external sources was shared in the learning groups and combined with specific development challenges. This enabled the group as well as individuals to form goals for the program.Each partner had a chance to experience being a:* leader;* coach who needed to change how the leader was thinking, feeling and acting; and* shadow coach who had the responsibility for monitoring the coaching process and helping the coach to raise his or her game.\nFollow-up sessions: The learning groups continued to meet for follow-up sessions two or three times over the following six to nine months. In these sessions, the partners gave feedback on how their plans to transform the relationships they had explored on the foundation had progressed and describe how they would undertake further coaching rounds on new internal and external leadership relationship challenges.Picking up on the key themes of the program, there were also targeted modules on personal leadership capacity, transformational coaching and transforming account relationships. Partners chose two out of the three sessions, focusing on those that most related to their development needs.\nThe leadership summit: The leadership summit was the final event of the nine-month program. For this, the four groups of 24 partners came together with members of the UK and Ireland leadership team. The partners were invited to present a story to a small group on how they had used the program to transform their own leadership, either internally or externally. They were challenged to tell the story in a way that inspired and motivated the other partners, so they could apply some of the lessons in their own jobs.The leadership summit helped to translate individual learning and development into organizational learning and change. This was done by:* engaging partners to work on current organizational challenges, some of which were identified by the leadership team and some of which had emerged from the group sessions; and* helping partners to see how they could transform strategy, culture and leadership in their own areas of the business.\nEffects of the program: The partner-development program is now three years old. Throughout this time, Bath Consultancy Group has met Ernst & Young regularly to share the information that has emerged from the various groups of partners and analyze patterns that have changed over time. The patterns have been fed back to Ernst & Young's top leadership team, with recommendations for organizational change. The information has also been used to upgrade and develop the program.The partners have committed themselves to the program in a way they had never done before. Feedback has been consistently positive. Ernst & Young's chairman has attended most of the foundation events as an evening visitor, and most of the leadership summits.Client satisfaction has improved, while Ernst & Young's internal people surveys are recording unprecedented levels of improvement.\nComment: This review is based on \"Being the change you want to see: developing the leadership culture at Ernst & Young\", by Peter Hawkins, chairman of Bath Consultancy Group, Bath, UK, and Andrew Wright, Ernst & Young director of leadership and partner development for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. The article advances the view that being able to make successful connections internally and externally is at the heart of being a successful partner in a professional-service firm. It focuses on the successful nine-month development program that Ernst & Young introduced to achieve this, and highlights the lessons for similar organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe a leadership-development program that is being conducted internationally with more than 500 partners at Ernst & Young.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper looks at specific issues that relate to the Ernst & Young partner-development program, including the need for leadership development at partner level, the leadership challenge of the program and the success of the initiative.\nFindings: - The paper reveals that the partners have committed themselves to the program in a way they have never done before, client satisfaction has improved and Ernst & Young's internal people surveys are recording unprecedented levels of improvement.\nPractical implications: - Highlights individual relationships with colleagues and clients as key leadership skills.\nOriginality/value: - The paper advances the view that being able to make successful connections internally and externally is at the heart of being a successful partner in a professional-service firm.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of formulation change and R&D cooperation types on the eWOM of extension products	[ "Consumer behaviour", "New product development", "Formulation change", "Electronic word-of-mouth", "R&D cooperation type", "Brand extension" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Many companies use brand extension strategies to make new product development (NPD) successful (Tauber, 1988). In the United States, about 81% of goods launched since 1990 have been the result of brand extension (Barone et al., 2000). Similarly, an increasing number of Korean food companies have extended their brands into multiple product categories (Kang and Park, 2011). In the dessert market, an interesting NPD phenomenon, using the brand extension strategy, involves changes in formulation. This is attempted in various ways, including companies developing products within their own brands or in cooperation with other companies. Consumers find such extensions hedonically appealing, and they are led to share their feelings spontaneously online. As a result, the extension products with changed formulations gain rapid popularity through active viral marketing. Brand extension using changes of formulation with viral marketing seems to be a widespread trend, evidenced by the fact that many formulation-changed products have been, and are being, brought to market. Despite the prevalent trend of brand extension with formulation change, prior studies have not identified the factors that make the development of these products successful. Thus, the overall aim of this study is to examine how formulation categories and cooperation types affect product development success. Formulation categories are divided into the parent brand and the extension product to examine the effect of formulation change. This study also examines the success of product development in terms of the volume of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), which indicates the extent to which a product has gone viral online.\n2. Literature review and research hypothesis: 2.1 The volume of eWOM: an indicator of product performance\n3. Main study: The main study was conducted to test the impact of parent brand formulations and R&D cooperation types on the eWOM volume of extension products. 3.1 Material and methods\n4. Follow-up tests: Follow-up tests based on the results of the main study were conducted to examine the effect of the extension products' formulations and R&D cooperation types on eWOM volume in specific parent formulation categories. Beverage and ice cream categories were selected because extension products changed from these formulations more positively affected the diffusion of eWOM than did those changed from the candy formulation (p < 0.05). Snacks were not used in the follow-up study due to the relatively small number of cases. 4.1 Material and methods\n5. Discussion: Currently, a growing number of extension products are being introduced through various cooperation types and changes in formulation categories, but a limited number of studies have examined how cooperation types and formulation categories have affected NPD success. This study is the first to investigate the impact of formulation categories and cooperation types on the eWOM volume for extension products.The results of the main study showed that both formulation changes and cooperation types affected eWOM volume. The eWOM volume of products increased more for extension products changed from beverages, ice cream and snacks than for those changed from candy. Furthermore, the eWOM volume of products increased more for extension products created through vertical cooperation than for those created through horizontal cooperation. The results of the follow-up tests showed that when products were changed from the beverage formulation, the products extended to the jelly and extra formulations, and those produced through vertical cooperation, were better diffused online. Moreover, when the products were changed from the ice cream formulation, the products extended to the beverage, ice cream and extra formulations were better diffused online. These findings yield interesting and important insights for both practitioners and academic researchers. 5.1 Practical implications\n6. Limitations and future research: Although these results provide new product developers with guidelines for the effective diffusion of their extension products with changed formulations through eWOM platforms, this study also has certain limitations. First, while the brand extension strategy is widely used in different countries, this research considered only data from extension products whose formulations were changed in Korea. Therefore, future studies should expand the research by examining cases in different countries in light of these results.Second, since this study used secondary data, we could not collect data representing actual purchases for each product. Rather, we used proxy variables, such as parent brand life and extension product life data. Furthermore, previous studies have shown that eWOM volume has a significant impact on new product sales (Cui et al., 2012; Liu, 2006). Consequently, this study presented eWOM volume as an indicator of product performance to examine the success factors of brand extension products whose formulations had been changed. However, eWOM volume signifies only current product performance. Thus, our results are limited in understanding the long-term effects of eWOM on product performance. In addition, eWOM platforms have a greater impact on new product sales early in the product life cycle (Amblee and Bui, 2008; Dellarocas et al., 2007) and product life cycles are diverse, from short to long, after the release date (Cui et al., 2012). Because the impact of eWOM on sales depends on the product life cycle, future studies should consider the long-term effects of eWOM on product sales, taking into account product life cycles.Third, we could not collect data related to the degree of online advertising and promotion of each product. As this study focussed on extension products with formulations changed from the parent brand, most of these extension products' brands were well known and only needed minimal investment through online advertisements or promotions. In the present study, parent brand life and extension product life data were used as control variables instead. However, to analyse the effect of online advertising on eWOM, further research should include variables related to online advertising or promotion.Fourth, collected data of products in this study are complete enumeration of all extension products with changed formulations, in the Korean dessert market from 1 February 2014 to 19 February 2019. However, the sample size for some sub-groups of follow-up tests is small, limiting the possibility of making strong conclusions about significant results. Therefore, to increase the accuracy of the significant results from the follow-up tests, further research should consider increasing the sample size.\n7. Conclusions: This study examines the effects of formulation categories and R&D cooperation types on eWOM volume. The results show a significant difference in eWOM volume based on formulation categories and R&D cooperation types. The results support the idea that formulation change and R&D cooperation types play a central part in eWOM proliferation, which is the key driver of product sales. The findings indicate that customer response to products varies according to the way in which the formulation is changed and the type of cooperation involved in the launch of the product. This suggests that when planning and launching extension products, the developers should consider formulation change and cooperation type in relation to eliciting consumers' interest. In addition, further studies with increased sample size and meaningful variables will provide an in-depth understanding of the effect of formulation categories and R&D cooperation types on eWOM volume for the extension products.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of formulation categories (parent brand and extension product) and research and development (R&D) cooperation types on electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) volume for extension products.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses data from 109 extension products in the Korean dessert market whose formulations were changed between 1 February 2014 and 19 February 2019. The formulation categories and R&D cooperation types are transformed into dummy variables to conduct a linear regression.\nFindings: The formulation categories and R&D cooperation types play key roles in proliferating eWOM for formulation change products. The most effective way to proliferate eWOM is through product extension by changing the formulation of ice cream, beverage and snack category products. Furthermore, vertical R&D cooperation positively affects the proliferation of products' eWOM.\nOriginality/value: These findings contribute to increasing the chance of successful food product development by providing information on the formulation changes that are effective at inducing consumers' interest.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Explaining variation of implementation outcomes of centralized waiting lists for unattached patients: A comparative multiple case study in Quebec	[ "Primary healthcare", "Waiting lists", "Implementation effectiveness", "Family practice", "Case study" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Implementation of innovations is a key step in the diffusion-dissemination-implementation process in terms of maximizing the likelihood of achieving beneficial outcomes (Nilsen, 2015; Durlak, 2015; Damschroder et al., 2009). In the health services field, implementation of tailored healthcare innovations is recognized as a critical strategy for improving health service delivery, health system performance and patient outcomes (Flottorp et al., 2013; Grol and Grimshaw, 2003). However, ensuring implementation in a real-world setting and integrating the innovation into daily routine practice remains complex and challenging (Fixsen et al., 2005; Fleuren et al., 2004; Grol and Grimshaw, 2003). The success or failure of implementation is often associated with context (Proctor et al., 2011), which encompasses, according to Pfadenhauer et al. (2017), \"not only the physical structure but also the dynamic roles, interactions and relationships, within which the innovation unfolds and interacts (p. 6)\" (Kirk et al., 2016; Damschroder et al., 2009; Pfadenhauer et al., 2017). Moreover, contextual factors may explain variations in the way an innovation is implemented. Research investigating variations in the implementation of a particular innovation can help to understand which implementation strategy works best for which patient group, and under what conditions variations in implementation influence healthcare delivery and patient outcomes (Champagne et al., 2011; Liang et al., 2016; Damschroder et al., 2011).\nMethods: Study design\nResults: In this section, we discuss the five main constructs that helped identify relevant and rich explanations of variation between high and lower performance level cases. These constructs were: network and communications; leadership engagement; available resources; adaptability; and engaging.\nDiscussion: Our study succeeded in identifying factors that enhance implementation effectiveness and may be used to address performance shortcomings in CWLs. Five main influencing factors were seen to operate at different levels, interact synergistically and work together in mutually reinforcing ways to produce implementation process outcomes. These factors were also seen in four other similar studies (Damschroder and Lowery, 2013; Gilmer et al., 2013; Varsi and Ekstedt, 2015; Liang et al., 2016) that used the CFIR to explain variation in implementation outcomes.\nConclusion: This study provides the first in-depth analysis of CWLs implementation. Findings can be used to develop strategies to overcome barriers to implementation, better manage wait lists, and improve performance. Ultimately, they could contribute to reducing inequities in access to a family physician, and in health outcomes, notably for vulnerable populations and those with complex physical and/or mental healthcare needs. Findings are also relevant for decision makers responsible for designing complex innovations whose decisions shape the development, implementation and scale-up of CWLs. They may also more generally inform the dissemination efforts of similar complex organizational models in different contexts. When implementing this innovation in similar real-world healthcare delivery contexts, and when redesigning implementation strategies, greater consideration should be given to the combination of organization-level factors (leadership engagement, resource availability, networks and communication), intervention characteristics (adaptability) and the process domain (engagement) identified as factors important to achieving implementation outcomes. Moreover, a mandated innovation that is simultaneously top-down and less prescriptive creates a good opportunity for stakeholders in the field to identify practical ways to bring about change.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Centralized waiting lists (CWLs) for patient attachment to a primary care provider have been implemented across Canada, including Quebec. Little is known about the implementation of CWLs and the factors that influence implementation outcomes of such primary care innovations. The purpose of this paper is to explain variations in the outcomes of implementation by analyzing the characteristics of CWLs and contextual factors that influence their implementation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A multiple qualitative case study was conducted. Four contrasting CWLs were purposefully selected: two relatively high-performing and two relatively low-performing cases with regard to process indicators. Data collected between 2015 and 2016 drew on three sources: 26 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, 22 documents and field notes. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research was used to identify, through a cross-case comparison of ratings, constructs that distinguish high from low-performing cases.\nFindings: Five constructs distinguished high from low-performing cases: three related to the inner setting: network and communications; leadership engagement; available resources; one from innovation characteristics: adaptability with regard to registration, evaluation of priority and attachment to a family physician; and, one associated with process domain: engaging. Other constructs exerted influence on implementation (e.g. outer setting, individual characteristics), but did not distinguish high and low-performing cases.\nOriginality/value: This is the first in-depth analysis of CWL implementation. Results suggest important factors that might be useful in efforts to continuously improve implementation performance of CWLs and similar innovations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Biodiversity information retrieval across networked data sets	[ "Information retrieval", "Relational databases", "Databases", "Integration", "Distributed databases" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the past 20 years, scientists have engaged themselves in the informatics discipline of querying multiple remote or local heterogeneous data sources, integrating manually received data and manipulating it with advanced data-analyzing and visualizing tools. The access to relevant data, combining data sources and coping with their distribution and heterogeneity is a tremendously difficult task (Lacroix, 2002). In recent times, however, information retrieval has become faster through networking of related datasets. Searching integrated multiple biodiversity databases simultaneously have significantly alleviated the process of information retrieval in this field. The underlying mechanism which integrates different data sources has greatly helped researchers in information gathering and mining.However, most of the current systems which serve the above purpose are either too specialized or complicated, hence there is a critical need to adopt an alternative approach which is simple yet dynamic for the scientific community. After a critical review of the current systems, a new approach is proposed, developed and presented in this paper.\n2. Review of biological database integration systems: A review was done on GenoMax (InforMax, 2001), Kleisli (Wong, 2000a,), DiscoveryLink (Haas et al., 2001), SPICE (Jones et al., 2000) and DiGIR (Biodiversity Research Center, 2005). These systems were reviewed to evaluate their architecture, strengths and weaknesses (Table I).Our review indicates that GenoMax, Kleisli and DiscoveryLink do not support biodiversity data and are far too complicated. Not only is programming of queries difficult but adding new data sources are far too complicated (Wong, 2002). Although SPICE and DIGIR are built specially for biodiversity data, these systems impose a restrictive set of requirements on the kinds of data that the individual databases must have. For instance, DiGIR requires five fields:1. Date last modified.2. Institution code.3. Collection code.4. Catalogue number.5. Scientific name.Although GenoMax, Kleisli and DiGIR have simpler and user-friendly interfaces, their underlying architectures are not easily understood. DiGIR was also tested using some of our local biodiversity databases but was unsuccessful (Sarinder et al., 2009), probably because of the strict data format imposed by DiGIR.\n3. A possible solution: The literature review indicated that a simple and dynamic system is needed to serve the purpose of querying multiple databases using a single search engine. This paper focuses on our proposed new solution for retrieving information from biodiversity datasets. In this paper, biodiversity datasets are confined to databases containing taxonomic information of flora and fauna. The conceptual architecture is presented in Figure 1 and the search mechanism is described below. The proposed solution in this paper is named Communication Architecture for Biodiversity Information Retrieval (CABIR).3.1 Search mechanism\n4. Discussion and conclusion: CABIR is a system designed to serve the purpose of storing, disseminating and sharing biodiversity information among the scientific community. It also provides interaction among researchers while maintaining the privacy of their databases by hosting and maintaining their own databases. CABIR is able to integrate databases in various DBMSs including FileMaker and is also able to retrieve images from the integrated databases. Search results are typically returned in a few seconds in CABIR (Sarinder et al., 2009), hence making it a high performance system with a user-friendly query interface and having the necessary attributes of database integration systems (Table II). This system can be further explored and improved to handle the up to date demands of the scientific community. Finally, CABIR is deemed to attract various researchers interested in database integration field.\n5. Future work: The following can be implemented to further enhance CABIR:* Testing CABIR with other database integration systems in particular TAPIR which was published after CABIR was developed (Sarinder, 2007).* Development of an application with user-friendly interface to add providers in CABIR. The scope of this paper did not look into automated software for database owners to add their databases (providers) automatically into the system.* Development of a UNIX version of CABIR portal.* Adding more search fields.* Improved feedback for wrong entries in the search box.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Biodiversity resources are inevitably digital and stored in a wide variety of formats by researchers or stakeholders. In Malaysia, although digitizing biodiversity data has long been stressed, the interoperability of the biodiversity data is still an issue that requires attention. This is because, when data are shared, the question of copyright occurs, creating a setback among researchers wanting to promote or share data through online presentations. To solve this, the aim is to present an approach to integrate data through wrapping of datasets stored in relational databases located on networked platforms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach uses tools such as XML, PHP, ASP and HTML to integrate distributed databases in heterogeneous formats. Five current database integration systems were reviewed and all of them have common attributes such as query-oriented, using a mediator-based approach and integrating a structured data model. These common attributes were also adopted in the proposed solution. Distributed Generic Information Retrieval (DiGIR) was used as a model in designing the proposed solution.\nFindings: - A new database integration system was developed, which is user-friendly and simple with common attributes found in current integration systems.\nOriginality/value: - The proposed system is unique in that it allows biodiversity data sharing, through the integration of biodiversity databases, hence enabling scientists to share information and generate knowledge. It also solves copyright problems by suggesting distributed warehouses, giving data owners the benefit of having their database under their own jurisdiction. It meets the requirements of querying heterogeneous and remote biodiversity databases.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Framing a descriptive profile of a transformed apparel industry: Apparel import intermediaries in the United States	[ "Garment industry", "Imports", "Wholesaling", "Census", "Intermediaries", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Economic globalization has changed the nature and content of firm operations across the globe (Narula and Dunning, 2000), resulting in a business environment where developed countries tend to focus on knowledge-based, service-oriented, and technology-intensive activities, and firms in developing countries tend to engage in manual skill-based, manufacturing-oriented, and labor-intensive activities (Dicken, 2003). Under this scenario, many products are designed in developed countries, manufactured in less developed countries, and shipped back to developed countries for consumption. In the case of the US apparel industry, over 90 per cent of apparel products distributed by leading apparel firms today are foreign-made, and thus imported, with only a fraction of apparel products being made within US borders (American Apparel & Footwear Association, 2007; Baughman, 2004). Despite this global shift in business, relatively little is known about the changed nature and content of firm operations in regards to the apparel firms that have survived economic globalization and have become major players in facilitating the recent high level of importation of apparel products into the USA.While firms facilitating apparel import transactions have brought a flood of imported goods into the US apparel market, benefiting consumers with low prices and a wide range of apparel products produced all over the world, the US apparel industry has simultaneously suffered. It has lost domestic jobs due to the off-shoring of many manufacturing processes, has been unable to sustain competitive advantages in the US textiles and apparel industries, and has experienced increasing foreign trade deficits that may threaten economic independence in a global economy (Kunz and Garner, 2006). Unfortunately, mass media and industry analysts have tended to focus on the emotional and negative side of the apparel industry's globalization, taking attention away from the changed nature of the apparel industry, the new growth of some industry members, and the reconfiguration of firm responsibilities that has accompanied economic globalization. For example, little attention has been paid to the significant proportion of importing firms that are using different approaches to their traditional business activities and assuming new responsibilities from the middlemen of the past (Ha-Brookshire and Dyer, 2008).The lack of attention to firm changes within the apparel industry mirrors the lack of attention to firm changes in the broader scope of business, which may explain why the government descriptions of business have remained relatively unchanged. Currently, the US Census Bureau categorizes business firms using three discrete classifications:1. manufacturer;2. wholesaler; and3. retailer (US Census Bureau, 2007).In 1810, the manufacturing trade became the first business category for which the US Census collected economic data. Over 120 years later, in 1930, both the retail and wholesale trade categories were added as identifiable, separate business classifications (US Census Bureau, 2002). However, despite sweeping changes in domestic business and global trade, the US Census Bureau business classification descriptions have changed little in the past 80 years. This has led to confusion among firms over how to describe and/or classify their business types, and consequently possible distortions in Economic Census data, particularly in regard to manufacturers and wholesalers within the US apparel industry (see more in Ha-Brookshire and Dyer, 2008).Recently, Ha-Brookshire and Dyer (2008) and Dyer and Ha-Brookshire (2008) described the changed environment of the US apparel industry and argued that there is great need for an updated assessment of the status of US apparel import firms because of industry changes that have taken place, as well as the critical issues of identity confusion and data distortion that may exist as a result of out-of-date government business classification descriptions. The authors introduced the term \"apparel import intermediary\" (AII), a domestic apparel service firm that links domestic wholesalers/retailers and foreign distributors/manufacturers to facilitate import transactions in the global apparel supply chain, as a first step toward accurately describing import firms in a transformed US apparel industry. Following up on these concerns, this study sought to achieve two specific objectives:1. to support empirically the existence of a US AII identity crisis; and2. to develop a descriptive profile of these firms.In presenting the research conclusions, the study first discusses the changed environment of the global apparel industry, the confusions surrounding the government business classifications, especially the term \"wholesaler\", and the dilemma among apparel import intermediaries concerning firm identity. It then addresses research methodology and data collection procedures, followed by data analysis with detailed descriptions of US AIIs. Finally, the study presents important implications resulting from an identity and data crisis in the US apparel industry.\nLiterature review: Changed environment of the US apparel industry\nResearch method: Sample and response rates\nResults: Identifying AIIs\nConclusions: In recent years, sweeping changes have taken place in the global apparel market, and the literature has indicated the possibility of confusion over apparel importing firm classifications and the consequent unreliability of reported apparel industry data in the USA. In response to these concerns, this study sought to confirm the existence of a US AII identity crisis and to provide the first detailed descriptive profile of AIIs based on data from a national survey of US apparel firms. The study findings confirmed the existence of an identity crisis by successfully differentiating AIIs (those firms primarily engaged in apparel importing activities, from apparel manufacturers and apparel retailers) and finding that over 93 percent of the study respondents were engaged in pure intermediary (or wholesaling in US Census terms) activities, while 45 percent misclassified themselves as either apparel manufacturers (35 percent) or \"other\" (10 percent) when providing their firm business types. The study data also presented the first available detailed profile of apparel AIIs.The confirmation of an identity crisis among AII firms is the study's first important contribution, and it links to a misclassification of intermediary firms by the US government in its data collection process. This misclassification impacts the apparel industry at two levels, i.e. aggregately (industry) and individually (firm). First, a misclassification of intermediary firms and the resulting distorted data would suggest that approximately 35 percent of the US apparel manufacturing sector data expressed by the US Economic Census has been overestimated, with the US apparel wholesale trade most likely underestimated. If this is the case, it would mean that the US apparel manufacturing sector may have declined at a faster rate and the US apparel wholesaling sector may have increased at a greater rate than previously thought, creating a false picture of the US international trade standing relative to import/export. Most notably at the industry level, the existence and general acceptance of unreliable trade data has far-reaching implications for both trade policy and legislation.A second concern associated with the misclassification of firms in the collection of US government trade data moves beyond the aggregate impact on an industry to the individual impact on the daily functioning of the firm itself. A primary purpose served by Economic Census data is the provision of basic statistical frames and benchmarks which individual firms can use for key business planning, such as determining the best locations for various business facilities, measuring potential markets, laying out sales territories, or guiding trade associations to assist their members and readers (Dodds, 1998). Thus, a misclassification of firms that results in incomplete or incorrect statistical government data can potentially distort firms' strategy-planning activities and, consequently, the daily operations that flow from strategic decisions. Likewise, the global impact of incorrect data on policy and legislation - and the resulting regulations - will filter down to everyday decisions and actions carried out by each firm.Just as the shift to a more consumer-oriented society in the USA following the First World War led to the addition of the retail and wholesale trades to the US Economic Census business classifications in 1930, the shifting of the US economy from an export to an import profile, in and of itself, suggests the need to rethink the business classifications being used by the US government for the collection of trade data (Micarelli, 1998). This study confirms that need. Yet, changing the current government tracking procedures, presents challenges. In reviewing the history of the US Economic Census since 1810, Micarelli (1998) describes in a detail how the US Economic Census has modified which business classifications to track, include, and exclude in response to changes in business activities over time. The addition of the retail and wholesale trades to the US Economic Census in 1930 is one example (Micarelli, 1998). These business classification changes, however, have tended to lag their need significantly and have followed a significant period of political upheaval and discussion by a wide population before change has occurred. By drawing attention to the identity crisis of firms within the US apparel industry, an industry highly impacted by the US shift toward importing, this study disseminates critical information. This information has the potential to act as a catalyst for meaningful discussion that may lead to changes in the US Economic Census tracking procedures in regards to the import area - not just for the welfare of apparel import firms, but for all US firms engaged in or associated with import activities.The provision of a detailed profile of AII firms is the study's second important contribution, filling a gap in our understanding of import activities and of the apparel industry. The study's national survey study indicated that most US AIIs imported over 90 percent of their products and have been engaged in import operations for fewer than 30 years, suggesting that these firms are a relatively young population of companies. The findings also suggest that the transformation of the apparel industry has brought many new firms into the intermediary part of the apparel supply chain as well as converting some firms from manufacturers to importers. Firms representing 16 states responded to the survey, with greatest concentrations of participating firms in the Northeastern and Southeastern USA. Not surprisingly, New York appeared to be the primary location for AIIs. In terms of AII business partners, three fourths of US AIIs imported from fewer than nine different foreign countries with fewer than four suppliers from each country on average. On the domestic side, a little over two thirds of US AIIs sold products to at least ten different domestic clients, with some selling to over 25. Over half of US AIIs had fewer than 50 employees, with some portion of overseas staffing, and their annual sales figures were less than $US50 million. Finally, US AIIs handled various types of products from women's to children's, to men's and even to fur and leather products. These results provide a descriptive profile not previously available of the very basic nature of US AII business operations.Intermediary: a new term\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to confirm empirically the existence of a US apparel import intermediary (AII) identity crisis, and to provide a detailed descriptive profile of AIIs, differentiating them from apparel firms not primarily engaged in importing activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey study was conducted using a national sample of US AIIs. Based on these firms' executives' responses, a firm identity issue was analyzed and a detailed profile of these firms' business characteristics was developed, using frequency comparisons.\nFindings: - The study confirmed that US AIIs are currently experiencing an identity crisis, as nearly half of the study respondents misclassified themselves as apparel manufacturers or other business types, suggesting a significant distortion in US Economic Census data. The study also provided a descriptive profile of US AIIs, including geographic location and other business operation characteristics.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Three fourths of the survey respondents were located in the state of New York. Whether most US AIIs truly reside in New York cannot be known with certainty. Generalization of the study findings to a greater population should be cautious.\nPractical implications: - Confirmation of an AII identity crisis suggests both aggregate and individual firm-level impacts on import activities. The study offers a new term, \"intermediary\", to replace the US Census Bureau term \"wholesaler\" to accurately reflect the industry's transformation.\nOriginality/value: - The study provides the first empirical support for a US AII identity crisis. The detailed profile of US AIIs offers industry data not available prior to this study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
High school managements resources allocation in an era of reforms	[ "Principals", "Decision making", "Non-financial resources", "Reform implementation", "High school principals", "Institutional approach" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Policy makers, educational researchers and the public all agree that the world's education systems are in a state of crisis due to a list of socio-economic variables (Hanushek, 2003; Park and Jeong, 2013; Taub, 2015; Vennebo and Ottesen, 2014). This crisis has engendered two patterns of change, well documented in the literature on education from the end of the nineteenth century: first - change of the entire education system in the form of a top-down \"reform\" (Hallinger and Lee, 2013). Second, a second-order change aimed at changing the basic structure of the individual school unit, a \"grass-roots\" change based on empirical experimentation (Oplatka and Arar, 2017; Chen 2006).\nMethodology: In order to examine decisions relating to allocation of supplementary resources in an era of reform, a qualitative research paradigm was chosen to elicit data on the studied phenomenon in its natural environment, including the meaning given to the phenomenon by those who experience it. According to this paradigm, understanding of the studied phenomenon increases insofar as the distance of the research processes from the phenomenon decreases (Cohen et al., 2011). This is based on the assumption that it is essential to maintain the connection between a complex of decision-making components of and the context in which they exist in order to explain and interpret the phenomenon (Cohen et al., 2011). This approach permits a deep understanding of the management teams' decision making in allocating extra pedagogical resources for small groups teaching.\nFindings: Three main themes were identified in the data analysis representing three patterns of decision making: hasty decisions; conservative decisions and path-breaking decisions. Analysis of these decision-making patterns relied on two main characteristics identified from the interviews: Who did the management want to please? Were the decisions directed into the school or toward the surrounding environment? What was the source of the idea that reached the decision-makers' table? The reason for the focus on these two characteristics stemmed from the fact that almost all the interviewees mentioned that the management needed to respond to the expectations of the establishment (Ministry of Education and its superintendents) and of the community (parents, the local government education office and the students). This was expressed overtly and also in hints. The focus on decision-making patterns stemmed from the fact that theories on decision making relate to the number of alternatives and quality of their examination by decision-makers and note that the decision-making process can be understood by identifying the decision-makers' motives (Kahneman, 2003; Kahneman and Tversky, 1996).\nConcluding remarks: The three themes that emerged from the research represented three types of patterns used to make decisions concerning the utilization of new resources, in an era of educational reform. The \"path-breaking\" approach differed from the other two approaches because it involved the introduction of something new that had not existed before in the school. The \"hasty\" approach seemed to represent a sense of panic, while the \"conservative\" approach reflected caution and the \"path-breaking\" approach was accompanied by vivacity and optimism.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine considerations employed in decision-making processes by Israeli high school leaders, when implementing the \"Courage to Change\" reform. The reform gave schools large supplementary resources in the form of \"weekly instruction time\" and they decided how to exploit these additional hours.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative analysis focused on data from interviews with staff from 19 high schools.\nFindings: The research identified three types of consideration adopted by managerial staffs: \"Hasty,\" \"Conservative\" and \"Path-breaking.\" Findings contribute to theory concerning incremental decisions in schools concerning the allocation of resources, in line with the institutional approach, and also inform other schools coping with similar tasks.\nOriginality/value: The research is original both in its topic and context. Further conclusions and implications are discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Travel destination choice: does perception of food safety risk matter?	[ "Structural equation modelling", "Risk perception", "Food safety risk", "Risk characteristics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Food is an important part of a tourist's travels, yet food can be the cause of illnesses that could ruin a vacation. The infection of some food-borne illness can be fatal, for example a recent case of E. coli contamination in Egypt caused the deaths of a British couple (BBC News, 2018). People are likely to eliminate the destination with food risk outbreaks from their choice list because it would be perceived to be risky (Crompton, 1992; Sonmez and Graefe, 1998a). As such, when a food crisis breaks out at a destination, the destination will be perceived to be unsafe to visit (MacLaurin, 2003). It appears that a food risk alert discourages people from travelling to a destination where a food risk has occurred.\nLiterature review: Risk characteristics\nResearch methods: To test the hypotheses, Macau was chosen for the study based on the fact that visitor arrivals in Macau increased by 4 per cent year-on-year on average, reaching 3.034m arrivals in July of 2018 (MGTO, 2018). Indeed, a surge of inbound tourists to Macau brings food safety concerns in the area of insufficient staff with knowledge and experience in food safety management, lack of facilities and so forth. It would result in causing food poisoning problems such as TD. Another reason for choosing Macau is that its government and tourism industry attempt to promote Macau as \"Gourmet Capital\" of Traditional Chinese Cuisine. Apart from taking a proactive step to avoid any food poisoning incidents before anything goes wrong that causes foodborne illness, they also have to understand how food risk affects individual perception and the effect on future travel intention. The purpose of the paper is to explore the impact of food poisoning incident in terms of its characteristics of risk on food safety risk perception and, subsequently, on travel intention even for a destination which is without any notable foodborne illness, that is, Macau.\nResults and discussions: Of a total of 715 individuals who participated in the survey, 45.2 per cent of participants were male, and 49.2 per cent under 36 years of age. The majority of participants (76.3 per cent) were non-Asian and 69.7 per cent were degree holders (Table I).\nConclusion: This study confirms that perception of food safety risk plays an important role in travel destination choice. It also extends our understanding of the impact of food risk perception on travel intention by integrating social science research and marketing perspective. By doing so, a comprehensive empirical model of risk perception is developed linking risk characteristics, risk perception incorporating loss components into each of the two dimensions, namely, likelihood and consequence, and travel intention. It makes several distinct contributions to perception of food safety risk in travel. First, as proposed by marketing theory, this study evaluates the influence of food risk perception on future travel intention to a destination even without a notable food risk. Besides its contribution to food safety risk, the findings of the study demonstrate that food risk perception can be measured in two dimensions individually, namely, the likelihood and the consequence of occurrence. Though a correlation between the two dimensions of risk perception was suggested in previous research, tourists are able to distinguish the two dimensions of risk perception, and able to assess the different influence of each dimension on travel intention. This indicates that a separation of the two dimensions is needed in risk research. As informed by perceived risk theory, this study also sought to develop a complex set of multiple components, such as physical loss, performance loss, social loss and time loss, to measure each dimension of food risk perception. Similarly, tourists are able to distinguish individual components to measure each dimension. The findings of this study bridge the research gap by confirming the difference between the likelihood dimension and the consequence dimension of risk perception, and each dimension can be measured by different component losses. For instance, in the case of a destination without a notable food risk, social loss is the main component attached to the two dimensions of risk perception, while physical loss is important to \"likelihood\" dimension, and time loss is important to \"consequence\" dimension. The finding of this study offers insight into the distinct effects between the two dimensions, namely, likelihood and consequence of risk perception. Each dimension consists of different components and has different effects on travel intention.\nManagerial implications: The study yields implications for the government and travel industry. The study shows that future travel intention is indeed influenced by perception of food safety risk even if it happens to a destination without a notable food risk. Precaution of food risk should be taken by the government and travel industry in all destinations. In addition, as the two dimensions of risk perception are distinct in relation with food safety risk, the government and travel industry should take action to prevent the occurrence of food risk and to reduce the severity consequence of the risk when it occurs. Proactive strategies to improve and regulate food hygiene standard should be established and made transparent to tourists of what have been done. As Macau's government and tourism industry attempt to promote Macau as \"Gourmet Capital\" of traditional Chinese cuisine, they should take a proactive step to avoid any adverse effects of food poisoning incidents on travellers by understanding how food risk affects individual perception. Better understanding of the differences between the two dimensions of consequences and occurrence helps them to develop corresponding strategies to address these two dimensions of risk perception. They should also take note of risk components perceived by tourists and develop correspondent strategies. Legislation, one of the identified risk characteristics, increases perception of food safety risk that refers to the inadequacy of local regulation to control the risk. This indicates that specific legislation to monitor local food standard and putting rules into practice are essential to provide tourists' confidence of food safety. Certainly, additional information provided by the government and travel industry of how to regulate the safety standard of local restaurants would be helpful to reduce travellers' perception of food safety risk. Segregating markets is one of the options due to different perspective on food safety risk in travel among groups. It is apparent that alternative strategies should be designed for targeted markets, such as silver hair tourism market. The silver hair market is growing fast, but as they have higher perception of food safety risk, it is critical to reduce their perceived food risk in order to take the golden opportunity for their business and patronage.\nSuggestions for future research: While generating both theoretical and managerial implications, this study has directed future research. It is one of the few studies generating new insight into perception of food safety risk in travel from the social science and marketing perspective. The separation between the two dimensions of risk perception offers a deeper understanding of food safety risk in international tourism. This study has developed a comprehensive empirical model linking food risk characteristics, perception of food safety risk and future travel intention. Legislation is one of the important antecedences of perception of food safety risk and social loss is the main perceived loss measured risk perception. This study confirms that perception of food safety risk inversely influences future travel intention to a destination even without a notable food risk. The influence is supposed to be greater in a region/destination with a high risk of food safety; however, the extent of influence may need further investigation. Further research in the context of other countries could offer opportunities to identify and evaluate additional risk characteristics that influence future travel intention as nationality can affect tourist behaviour (Pizam and Sussmann, 1995). Given that legislation is one of the important antecedents increasing perception of food safety risk, monitoring local food standard is of high importance. Future study to investigate how local regulation can provide positive perception of food safety risk; in particular, how it facilitates communication to tourists. Further research may also include factors that reduce food risk perception and facilitate future travel intention. Using convenience sampling may cause sampling bias to appear, such as the contrast proportion between non-Asian and Asia-Pacific group; random sampling or quota sampling is suggested for future study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between risk characteristics, risk perception and future travel intention in the context of food safety risk.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research used a structured questionnaire administered to a convenience sample of 715 participants. By using structural equation modelling method, a travel intention framework was successfully developed to test the impact of characteristics of food safety risk on perception of risk, and subsequently on travel intention. In addition, the framework was also tested and compared with different demographic groups.\nFindings: The research confirms that the characteristics of risk have impact on the two dimensions of perception of risk, namely, likelihood of occurrence and consequence of occurrence in turn travel intention. Furthermore, characteristics of risk affect demographic groups differently.\nResearch limitations/implications: The finding of this study offers insight into the distinct effects between the two dimensions, namely, likelihood and consequence of risk perception and each dimension consists of different loss components and has different effect on travel intention.\nPractical implications: The framework provides insight to the government and travel industry that risk perception is a paramount issue for travellers when making destination decision. As such, the government and travel industry should take action to prevent the occurrence of food risk and to reduce the severity consequence of the risk when it occurs.\nOriginality/value: This research is one of the few studies generating new insights into perception of food safety risk in international tourism from the social science and marketing perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Comparing the implementation consequences of the immunisation and emergency department health targets in New Zealand: A tale of two targets	[ "Performance measurement", "Performance management", "Targets", "Policy", "Implementation", "Performance monitoring" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the last decade there has been considerable debate about the merits of targets as policy instruments - much of it fuelled by reflections on their use in England's National Health Service (NHS) in the early 2000s (Bevan and Hood, 2006; Mays, 2006; Barber, 2008). Advocates claim that targets stimulate innovation and system improvement and strengthen accountability. Critics counter that targets generate adverse consequences such as fostering myopia and counterproductive behaviours (Smith, 1995; Mannion and Braithwaite, 2012; Mason et al., 2012). In this paper, we examine and compare the key implementation consequences of two health targets that were cornerstones of New Zealand health policy between 2009 and 2012 - immunisation rates for two-year-olds, and time to treatment, discharge or admission in hospital emergency departments (EDs).\nDebates about the implementation consequences of health targets: Targets are part of a broader repertoire of performance measurement instruments, and have long had a place in the policy repertoire of governments (Hood, 2006a, b; Le Grand, 2007). The effects and implications of targets largely depend on the way in which the performance information is used by governments or by other policy actors (Radnor, 2008). Targets can be used to give account, to steer and control or to learn (van Dooren et al., 2010).\nBackground to the New Zealand health targets: New Zealand has an NHS-type health system in which most hospital services are provided by public sector organisations, whereas the majority of community-based health services are provided by for-profit and non-profit private providers (Ashton, 2013). The responsibility for most publicly funded health services lies with 20 District Health Boards (DHBs). All public hospitals are governed by DHBs, which are accountable to the Minister of Health for the implementation of nationally determined health policy (Ashton and Tenbensel, 2010). Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) are non-government organisations consisting of primary health care practitioners (Gauld, 2008). DHBs are responsible for contracting with PHOs and other community-based health services.\nResearching the process consequences of health targets: Much of the literature on the consequences of health targets is either general and theoretical, or tightly focused on one specific target. Few if any studies have taken a comparative approach to the consequences of target implementation. Our starting point is that the process consequences of targets identified by advocates and critics of targets in the above review map out the \"universe of possibilities\". However, different targets may fuel different combinations of positive and negative consequences.\nConsequences of the immunisation target: Almost all immunisation activity in New Zealand occurs within primary care settings and DHBs needed to work with their local PHOs to create change within their local systems and process for immunisation. To facilitate implementation, the Ministry of Health required each DHB to identify an immunisation champion within their organisation who was directly responsible for the health target. Over time, immunisation champions were identified within local PHOs and primary care providers. This ensured that child immunisation was elevated as a priority in all relevant organisations (Willing, 2014).\nConsequences of the ED target: The ED target provided a clear impetus for each DHB and its staff to focus attention to the problems that the target was intended to address. These included issues within the hospital regarding flows of patients, and delays in admission, transfer and discharge. Immediately after its introduction, there was a very clear focus on achieving the target. This focus was most apparent within EDs, but also permeated the work of clinicians and managers throughout the hospital (Chalmers, 2014).\nComparing the \"balance of consequences\": In Table II we summarise and synthesise our findings. In working iteratively between our review of health target literature and the summaries of target experiences, we devised a set of seven criteria that was both comprehensive and parsimonious. We then devised summary interpretations of each target against the seven criteria in the form of a \"balance of process consequences\".\nDiscussion: We have established that two targets with very similar degrees of success when judged in terms of the target measures themselves can exhibit very different patterns of \"process consequences\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Over the last decade there has been considerable debate about the merits of targets as a policy instrument. The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of two health targets that were cornerstones of New Zealand health policy between 2009 and 2012: immunisation rates for two-year-olds, and time to treatment, discharge or admission in hospital emergency departments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: For each policy target, the authors selected four case-study districts and conducted two waves of key-informant interviews (113 in total) with clinical and management staff involved in target implementation.\nFindings: Despite almost identical levels of target achievement, the research reveals quite different mixes of positive and negative implementation consequences. The authors argue that the differences in implementation consequences are due to the characteristics of the performance measure; and the dynamics of the intra-organisational and inter-organisational implementation context.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is based on interviews with clinical and management staff involved in target implementation, and this approach does not address the issue of effort substitution.\nPractical implications: While literature on health targets pays attention to the attributes of target measures, the paper suggests that policymakers considering the use of targets pay more attention to broader implementation contexts, including the possible impact of, and effects on related services, organisations and staff.\nOriginality/value: The research focuses specifically on implementation consequences, as distinct from target success and/or changes in clinical and health outcomes. The paper also adopts a comparative approach to the study of target implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Roadmap for developing a national quality indicator set for general practice	[ "Ireland", "Evaluation", "Quality indicators", "Quality improvement", "Primary healthcare", "General practice", "Health systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Objective quality improvement activity measurement and improvement is more important than simple activity measures (Campbell et al., 2003). It is important to develop and use appropriate methods, tools and indicators that are relevant to primary care settings. Quality indicators, widely accepted as a measure, are defined by the European Working Party on Quality in Primary Care as:\nMethod: The Delphi method is a common group decision-making technique that uses structured questionnaires to explore consensus about a topic among a panel (Linstone and Turoff, 1975). It is used to develop indicators for measurement in areas where research evidence is lacking or contested (Campbell et al., 2003). Our key stakeholders were GPs, practice managers (PMs), practice nurses (PNs), patient representatives and health policy representatives. The Delphi method generally involves nominated experts as panellists, who are selected because they are interested or have a professional role in improving service quality. Additionally, we included a randomly selected GP cohort in the core stakeholder group in the development process, which has been shown to improve the indicators' relevance and to increase the likelihood that they will be adopted (Campbell et al., 2003; Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, 2005). Project oversight was provided by an Advisory Group (nine experts) drawn from the stakeholder groups, including two international experts in quality indicator development from the UK and Denmark. Ethical approval was obtained from the ICGP Research Ethics Committee.\nResults: Indicator working group\nDiscussion: We developed quality indicators for Irish general practice, where none previously existed, in an environment where a national quality and safety framework is being developed for healthcare.\nConclusions: It is important and relatively easy to customise existing quality indicators for particular settings. The volunteer practices in the road test embraced quality improvement and delivered real results. They were enthusiastic about the structures provided to enable them to undertake this work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a national, comprehensive quality indicator set to support delivering high-quality clinical care in Irish general practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Potential general practice quality indicators were identified through a literature review. A modified two-stage Delphi process was used to rationalise international indicators into an indicator set, involving both experts from key stakeholder groups (general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses, practice managers, patient and health policy representatives) and predominantly randomly selected GPs. An illustrative evaluation approach was used to road test the indicator set and supporting materials.\nFindings: In total, 80 panellists completed the two Delphi rounds and staff in 13 volunteer practices participated in the road test. The original 171 indicators was reduced to 147 during the Delphi process and further reduced to 68 indicators during the road test. The indicators were set out in 14 sub-domains across three areas (practice infrastructure, practice processes and procedures, and practice staff). Practice staff planned 77 quality improvement activities after their assessment against the indicators and 31 (40 per cent) were completed with 44 (57 per cent) ongoing and two (3 per cent) not advanced after a six-month road test. A General Practice Indicators of Quality indicator set and support materials were produced at the conclusion.\nPractical implications: It is important and relatively easy to customise existing quality indicators to a particular setting. The development process can be used to raise awareness, build capacity and drive quality improvement activity in general practices.\nOriginality/value: The authors describe in detail a method to develop general practice quality indicators for a regional or national population from existing validated indicators using consensus, action research and an illuminative evaluation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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