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Quality of Big Data in health care	[ "Data handling", "Big Data analytics", "Data quality", "Health care analytics", "Health information technology", "Health care claims" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Today, Big Data's key dimensions of volume, velocity and variety (Laney, 2001) are driving the development of scalable storage infrastructure, algorithms, software tools and newer models for analytics. From enterprise practice, value and veracity are emerging as two additional key dimensions of Big Data (Manyika et al., 2011; Liu, 2014). Value refers to the cost-benefit to the decision maker through the ability to take meaningful action based on insights derived from data. Veracity is defined (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2006) as \"conformity with truth or fact.\" In the context of Big Data, this refers to any source that influences accuracy and/or introduces uncertainty in the inference from data such as inconsistencies, missing data, ambiguities, deception, fraud, duplication, spam and latency. In that sense, data quality is subsumed under the definition of veracity. These five Vs (volume, velocity, variety, veracity and value) of Big Data are all inter-related. The link between data veracity and value is direct and clear, i.e., GIGO (Garbage In! Garbage Out!). With the other Vs, the relationships may be subtle and less obvious. For instance, volume can mask bad quality of data, velocity can rapidly propagate poor quality and variety can create data-context ambiguities. The challenges that arise from the above Vs are being addressed in different forums and working groups (BIG, 2015; BDSSG, 2015).\nSources, consequences and remedies: An assessment of data quality in health care has to consider: first, problems arising from errors and inaccuracies in the data itself; second, the source(s) and the pedigree of the data; and third, how the underlying purpose of data collection impact the analytic processing and knowledge expected to be derived. A consideration of errors and inaccuracies in the data would include data entry errors, missing data field or entire records, and errors arising from transformations in the extracting and transforming process for analytics (Svolba, 2014). An examination of the source(s) of the data can reveal limitations and concerns as to its appropriateness to the type of analysis being performed (e.g. use of financial data for evaluation of treatments), variations due to data merged from two different business models, variations due to entity and identity disambiguation (or a lack thereof) and variations due to constantly evolving business models. Additionally, data veracity issues can arise from attempts to preserve privacy where de-identifying/disguising data is intentional such as following the guidelines of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) law in the USA.\nRoad map for health data quality assurance: Thus far, the different sources of errors along with their consequences in the health data lifecycle were discussed. Although the primary sources of data quality issues are data collection and integration interfaces, the solution for better quality assurance in health care analytics relies on organizational support for technological innovations and quality management (Arts et al., 2002). Toward that end, we provide a road map in Figure 2 as a systematic approach to data quality assurance for health care enterprises willing to embrace Big Data technologies - where the business impact and value derived from the use of analytics are going to be the primary determinants of investment in data quality (Loshin, 2010).\nConclusions and recommendations: The paper discussed major sources of data quality errors in health care, the potential consequences of quality issues in the insights and interpretations drawn based on the analytics, and best practices and tools that address these issues. These discussions lead to the following conclusions and recommendations. It is to be noted that the sources of errors discussed in this paper are not exhaustive. Other potential sources of data quality problems that may be more technical and domain specific were considered beyond the scope of this paper:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The current trend in Big Data analytics and in particular health information technology is toward building sophisticated models, methods and tools for business, operational and clinical intelligence. However, the critical issue of data quality required for these models is not getting the attention it deserves. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issues of data quality in the context of Big Data health care analytics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The insights presented in this paper are the results of analytics work that was done in different organizations on a variety of health data sets. The data sets include Medicare and Medicaid claims, provider enrollment data sets from both public and private sources, electronic health records from regional health centers accessed through partnerships with health care claims processing entities under health privacy protected guidelines.\nFindings: Assessment of data quality in health care has to consider: first, the entire lifecycle of health data; second, problems arising from errors and inaccuracies in the data itself; third, the source(s) and the pedigree of the data; and fourth, how the underlying purpose of data collection impact the analytic processing and knowledge expected to be derived. Automation in the form of data handling, storage, entry and processing technologies is to be viewed as a double-edged sword. At one level, automation can be a good solution, while at another level it can create a different set of data quality issues. Implementation of health care analytics with Big Data is enabled by a road map that addresses the organizational and technological aspects of data quality assurance.\nPractical implications: The value derived from the use of analytics should be the primary determinant of data quality. Based on this premise, health care enterprises embracing Big Data should have a road map for a systematic approach to data quality. Health care data quality problems can be so very specific that organizations might have to build their own custom software or data quality rule engines.\nOriginality/value: Today, data quality issues are diagnosed and addressed in a piece-meal fashion. The authors recommend a data lifecycle approach and provide a road map, that is more appropriate with the dimensions of Big Data and fits different stages in the analytical workflow.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relevance behaviour in TREC	[ "Relevance behaviour", "TREC", "Test collections" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Relevance assessment is a core area of interest for information science. Assessing a document as relevant to an information need can be a complex decision that may be affected by the searcher's knowledge, the task being conducted, the collection being searched, the retrieval results and properties of the document itself (Barry and Schamber, 1998; Harter, 1996; Ruthven, 2005; Saracevic, 2007a, b; Spink et al., 1998; Vakkari and Hakala, 2000; Voorhees, 2001). Analysing relevance assessments can help us understand how people make judgements about relevance, how people solve information problems and, through collection of assessments within test collections, help us evaluate the performance of retrieval systems.\n2. Related work: In his seminal paper, Saracevic described \"manifestations of relevance\", a series of five relationships which might be used to describe relevance (Saracevic, 1996). These include relations between the goals, motivations and situations of a searcher and the texts with which they are interacting. Importantly, Saracevic claimed that these manifestations were a series of interdependent and dynamic system of relevance judgement rather than a discrete, uniform process of assessment. That is, context can change assessments and the effects of context can be observed within the types of relevance decision being made.\n3. Case studies: In this section we present three case studies to illustrate how various sources of TREC data may be used to understand relevance. We have chosen a case study approach to illustrate what is possible with TREC assessments rather than to answer the question \"What is relevance behaviour in TREC\". Such a question is too large and would force a generalisation over too many variables, track designs and assessment tasks. Rather we hope to show, in three different studies, that different types of available TREC data can be used creatively to investigate useful relevance questions.\n4. Discussion: As Saracevic noted in his 2007 article, \"Relevance is timeless. Concerns about relevance will always be timely\" (Saracevic, 2007a), information seeking and IR have taken divergent interests in relevance. IR, with its perennial concerns over evaluation and evaluation methodology, has concentrated on what Saracevic referred to as \"the effects of relevance\" (Saracevic, 2007a) or how relevance, in the form of relevance judgements can impact on the evaluation of retrieval systems. Information seeking has tended to focus on the \"the behavior of relevance\" (Saracevic, 2007a) to better understand the human process of making relevance judgements and the factors that may affect these judgements.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how various types of TREC data can be used to better understand relevance and serve as test-bed for exploring relevance. The author proposes that there are many interesting studies that can be performed on the TREC data collections that are not directly related to evaluating systems but to learning more about human judgements of information and relevance and that these studies can provide useful research questions for other types of investigation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through several case studies the author shows how existing data from TREC can be used to learn more about the factors that may affect relevance judgements and interactive search decisions and answer new research questions for exploring relevance.\nFindings: The paper uncovers factors, such as familiarity, interest and strictness of relevance criteria, that affect the nature of relevance assessments within TREC, contrasting these against findings from user studies of relevance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research only considers certain uses of TREC data and assessment given by professional relevance assessors but motivates further exploration of the TREC data so that the research community can further exploit the effort involved in the construction of TREC test collections.\nOriginality/value: The paper presents an original viewpoint on relevance investigations and TREC itself by motivating TREC as a source of inspiration on understanding relevance rather than purely as a source of evaluation material.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Financial development dynamic thresholds of financial globalization: Evidence from Africa	[ "Development", "Banking", "Financial integration", "International investment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Recent advances in the theoretical and empirical literatures indicate that the benefits of financial integration may be questionable until greater domestic financial and institutional developments have taken place. A new framework for analyzing financial globalization highlights the tension between the indirect benefits of financial integration and the potential risks if a country opens up to capital flows without the right initial conditions in place (Kose et al., 2011). From a practical perspective, a reasonable evaluation of the cost-benefit trade-off requires a better insight into what these initial conditions are and how exactly they matter. This is an essential component of an analytical framework that can take account of country-specific features and initial conditions in designing a pragmatic approach to capital account liberalization at the advent of globalization (Prasad and Rajan, 2008).\n2 Conflicts in the literature: The decision to move from a closed account regime (where capital may not move freely in and out of the country) and liberalize capital accounts (in which capital can enter and leave at will) is not without controversy. From a broad perspective, there are two starkly different views about the wisdom of capital account liberalization as a policy choice for developing countries.\n3 Positioning of the current paper: Before the Asian financial crisis of 1997 hit the headlines, there was an emerging consensus among leading macroeconomists that it was time for developing countries to embrace the liberalization of their capital accounts (Rodrik and Subramanian, 2009). In a famous speech during the IMF's Annual Meetings in 1997, Stanley Fischer (1997) presented the case for financial globalization and advocated an amendment to IMF's articles, the object of which would allow the fund to promote the orderly liberalization of capital movements. There were risks associated with opening-up to capital accounts but Fischer was of the opinion that these could be offset by the potential benefits. Dornbusch (1996) who had advocated the usefulness of financial transactions taxes[6] before Fischer (1997), declared capital controls \"an idea whose time is past\" and posited \"the correct answer to the question of capital mobility is that it ought to be unrestricted\" (Dornbusch, 1998, p. 20). After Fischer's prophesy, there has been an explosion in empirical works on the consequences of financial globalization. However, far from clinching the case for capital account liberalization, these studies paint quite a paradoxical and mixed picture (Rodrik and Subramanian, 2009). Perhaps, the most detailed review of the literature conclude that, the cross-country evidence on the growth benefits of capital-account openness is inconclusive and lacks robustness (Kose et al., 2006).\n4 Data and methodology: 4.1 Data\n5 Empirical analysis: 5.1 Summary of findings\n6 Conclusion: The issue of which financial initial conditions are necessary to materialize the benefits of financial globalization remains open to debate in the literature. With the recent financial crisis, developing countries are facing the difficult choices of whether and how to liberalize their capital accounts further. In response to the pressing policy questions about the potential benefits to be gained from financial integration, this paper has contributed to existing literature by putting some empirical structure on the concept of financial threshold conditions in order to give policymakers guidance on the Kose et al. (2011) and Henry (2007) hypotheses.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The issue of which financial initial conditions are necessary to materialize the benefits of financial globalization remains open to debate in the literature. In this paper, the author tries to put some empirical structure on the concept of financial threshold conditions in order to give policymakers guidance on the Kose et al. and Henry hypothesis. Its object is to assess whether financial benefits of financial globalization are questionable until greater domestic financial development has taken place in African countries. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In framing the financial dimension in a more concrete and tractable manner, the author examines the concerns of how domestic financial initial dynamics of depth (economic and financial systems), efficiency (banking and financial systems), activity (banking and financial systems) and size, play out in the financial development benefits of financial globalization. The estimation approach consists of assessing the impact of financial globalization through out the conditional distributions of domestic financial development dynamics.\nFindings: The introduction of previously missing financial dimensions into the debate generates a number of important findings. Only financial initial (threshold) conditions of size are necessary to materialize the benefits of financial globalization. While financial depth only partially validates the hypothesis, dynamics of efficiency and activity (credit) do not confirm the hypothesis.\nPractical implications: Addressing the issue of surplus liquidity in African financial institutions could improve the benefits of financial size and potentially reverse the trends of financial efficiency and activity. Depending on the context of sampled countries, the appropriate role of policy has always been either to stem the tide of capital flows or encourage them. Policymakers who have been viewing their challenges exclusively from the latter perspective for benefits in growth (finance) might be getting the financial dynamics badly wrong.\nOriginality/value: Blanket financial development policies may not reap the financial benefits of financial globalization until domestic financial dynamics of depth, efficiency, activity and size are critically considered. The introduction of the last three previously missing components in the literature sheds more light on the globalization-development nexus.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Internships at Greek universities: an exploratory study	[ "Career development", "Greece", "Universities", "Students", "Unemployment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Unemployment among college graduates is a main issue within the Greek economy and society. If students are to meet the skill requirements of an ever-changing labour market, adequate resources need to be invested in appropriate forms of work experience and in building up transferable skills. On the demand side, Greek firms are faced with the challenges posed by an increasingly competitive market environment within the European Monetary Union (Spanos et al., 2001). Due to intense competition from the EMU membership, Greece has had to shift from its traditional small proprietor's patron model of management to one of modern style of management (Makridakis et al., 1997). This has forced companies to now rely heavily on attracting and retaining college graduates with the right skills (Papalexandris and Chalikias, 2002).It has been only very recently that the Greek government and universities alike have turned to co-operative education programmes to prepare undergraduates for the complex world of labour. Placing students in Greek firms via internships can enhance active labour market policy by improving graduates' prospects in the labour market. In fact, taking advantage of systematic funding from the European Union, the Greek Ministy of Education has launched a co-operative education programme aimed at assisting undergraduates in developing employment skills as well as attaining career related work experience. This national, centrally funded project started in 1997 and is now running its second phase seeking to enhance employability of university students by fostering partnerships between universities and firms ranging from two to six months.Within this framework, the University of Macedonia, School of Economic and Social Sciences, located in northern Greece, offers students who major mostly in business administration, economics, finance and applied informatics, work placements in various local companies. Participating employers are not required to pay their interns, but they must meet university requirements. For instance, the university tries to provide senior accounting majors with hands-on, professional accounting experience, not simple clerical work, although career office personnel understand that these tasks may be necessary in any job. In any case, interns can turn to a university faculty member who supervises his/her progress, in order to resolve any dispute that may arise between a working student and an employer.This paper considers the experience of placing fourth year business students in various enterprises, both well-established corporations and small-sized firms. The survey, based on in-depth interviews with 11 interns provides an evaluation of a typical work-based academic driven internship that has been running over the last few years at Greek universities and has been co-funded by the EU and the Greek Ministry of Education.The article begins by discussing the role of university internships. It then outlines the explorative case study methodology that was carried out. In the findings section, the paper tries to assess the nature and value of the on-going co-operative programme based on the analysis of the case and background information available from the interviews. The policy implications are discussed in the conclusion.\nThe role of university internships: Academic driven internships organize and promote the placement of students in private enterprises and other organizations to foster the work experience so that students will attain the necessary skills to supplement their theoretical training. While students are still at university, internships can help them develop a core of global market skills that are now considered requirements, such as communication and time management skills, better self-confidence and better self-motivation (Gill and Lashine, 2003; Dennis, 1996). Work experience through co-operative programmes provides credible means for softening the reality shock of transitioning from the world of academics to the working world. (Garavan and Murphy, 2001; Collin and Tynjalla, 2003). In fact, internships improve job opportunities for students since it allows them to hone their job skills and work values, focus on their career choices, directly access job sources, even to impress potential employers. As a result, students who have internships tend to find jobs more quickly upon graduation than students who did not have internships (Knouse et al., 1999).Participating firms gain from student employment as well. Student placements represent flexible, high quality labour as supplementary human resources to a growing service sector across the advanced economies (Curtis and Lucas, 2001). Equally important, companies, especially small ones, are keen to offer internships as a credible means to ensure a steady stream of well-educated, talented employees (Ellis, 2000; Brindley and Ritchie, 2000; Callanan and Benzing, 2004). Hence, internship placements can assist partner companies in being more efficient in retaining qualified employees and enhancing their performance.In analyzing university internships, the general assumption is that the modern knowledge economy requires a leap in graduates' skills and educational institutions try to implement innovative reforms to provide their students with skills needed by \"high performance\" firms. This assumption used in the present study seems employable within the framework of wage labor relations. It might not be so useful if one extends his analysis beyond the realm of paid work. In fact, Livingstone (1998) analyzing work organization from a systemic point of view has criticized the skill scarcity thesis. Instead, he concluded that there is a surplus work-related knowledge and the underutilization of this knowledge is a systemic component of the dominant shareholder model of work organization that is confined only to paid work.\nAim of the study: Having mentioned above the dearth of information concerning the main dimensions of the co-operative education programme at Greek universities, the present study tries to provide some insights on the socialization process and the effectiveness of the current academic driven internships. Hence, the aim of this paper is to assess these work-based learning projects from the point of view of the interns. The following research questions were addressed:* How do students perceive and assess their learning experience in the workplace for their career development while attending university?* What do students expect in terms of skill acquisition prior to any engagement with a company, and what are their perceived relevant benefits at the conclusion of the work-based programme?* What are the main weaknesses of the current co-operative education programme as perceived by the interns, and consequently what are their suggestions for improvement?\nResearch method: In order to answer the research questions, an explorative case study methodology was chosen. This research method is preferred when \"why\" and \"how\" questions are being posed. In contrast to the quantitative approach, this study uses more subtle methods to uncover the detail of students' work experiences and provide insights into the dynamics and processes involved in work-based learning. After all, only qualitative analysis based on in-depth interviews with open-ended questions can capture the emotional experiences of undergraduates participating in internships (Greenbank, 2002; Garavan and Murphy, 2001). Indeed, this paper was based on a series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews that aimed to explore student perceptions of the effects of a current co-operative education programme. This programme was an internship project co-funded by the EU and the Greek Ministry of Education and launched by the career center of the University of Macedonia, placing students with firms located in the city of Thessaloniki.In order to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings drawn from the open discussion with participants, quantitative methods were limited to the issue of interns' skill acquisition (Shipper, 1999; Baruch and Leeming, 2001; Baruch and Peiperl, 2000). Hence, in the structured part of the questionnaire, using a Likert-type of scale (1 - not at all to 7 - extremely high), respondents were asked to assess their perceived level of certain skills before and after their internship.A total of 11 interns participated in face-to-face interviews following their engagement with the employing firms. The author was the supervisor of these students' internships appointed by the career center at the academic institution. The participants were all seniors in the Business Management course who worked in various firms, ranging from large-sized banks to micro-businesses. Students were all employed in service sector enterprises, working on a full-time basis during their term-time, and their internships lasted either two or three months. Students' payment was symbolic, ranging from EUR118 to EUR132 per month, funded solely by the academic institution. Employer participation in student payment was optional. Students 1(S1) and 2 (S2) were employed in two different banks, student 3 (S3) in an advertising company of eight employees, student 4 (S4) in an internet provider employing 12 people, student 5 (S5) in an internet cafe franchising company employing 75 people, student 6 (S6) in a coffee trading company employing 23 people, student 7 (S7) in a micro-business trading medical products and appliances. Students 8, 9 and 10 were placed with small-sized local corporate consulting firms. Finally, student 11 was placed in a relatively new small private bank distinct for its corporate culture and organizational practices that has set it apart from the two large state-owned banks participating in the co-operative education programme.The interviews were conducted in May 2004, lasting approximately 75 minutes, utilizing an interview protocol that addressed all research questions that underpinned this study. Hence, the interview protocol was divided into three sections. In the first section, entitled the work-based learning process, respondents were asked to assess their work experience throughout the different phases of their internship. In the second section, entitled skill acquisition and career prospects, interns were asked to explain whether and how the internship helped them to improve their academic, enterprise and personal skills. In the last section, entitled weaknesses and suggestions for improvement, students first were asked to pinpoint the main weaknesses of the internship and then to spell out the most appropriate potential measures for improving the on-going co-operative programme.Special care was taken to maintain the appropriate levels of confidentiality. This was accomplished by the use of pseudonyms and by limiting any information that could be used to identify the intern. The interview data were transcribed, codified and subsequently analysed. The result of this analysis is presented in the following section.\nFindings: The work-based learning process\nConclusion: The main aim of this paper was to investigate undergraduates' perceptions of the newly established institution of co-operative education programmes in enhancing students' employability as graduates in Greece. This empirical study was based on in-depth interviews with 11 students who completed their internships. This qualitative approach was the only method that would allow the researcher to analyse perceptions, insights and feelings of the students, the protagonists of this work-based learning process.An important dimension to this study was to explore the students' driving motive to engage in internships during term-time. The students' need to enter the world of work and operate in practical environments was assessed as the main priority of the interviewees. They acknowledged that this co-operative education programme was a valuable way to acquire a broad competence where theoretical studies with practical knowledge support and fuse with each other. The uniqueness of the work experience as the driving force behind doing the internship gains strength from the fact that the financial benefits of the internship in most cases were minimal, almost symbolic.The first research issue of this study was to assess this co-operative programme as a work-based learning experience. Towards this purpose the students' expectations in terms of skill acquisition were compared to what were the relevant benefits at the conclusion of their internships. The survey findings suggest that the participants, in their vast majority, perceive key skills such as time management, communication skills, teamwork, ability to prioritize tasks and specialist knowledge as having been greatly enhanced by their work experience. In that respect, the benefits of work-based learning exceeded expectations by far.The second research issue of this paper was to provide an overall assessment of the current internship programme. Even though students reported a lack of information concerning employing firms during the contact phase, they acknowledged that the entry phase, including socialization and training, was relatively smooth and productive. Besides building up employability skills beyond expectations, the main weaknesses of the co-operative programme surfaced. Limited to a three month work time period, low pay, coupled with long working hours were among the main obstacles encountered by all the interns. But ultimately, the most important result of the college internship should be better job opportunities for participating students. Interns' comments on their prospects in the graduate labour market were very encouraging. Nine of the 11 respondents interviewed felt that practical field experience made them more marketable as \"ready to work\" employees. Most importantly, students' positive feelings and perceptions were backed up by measurable employability enhancement. Indeed, in seven out of nine internships in the private sector there have been reported job openings upon graduation by the host organizations.Overall, the current co-operative education programme appears to have been successful. Structural weaknesses of the programme related to limited length of time, low student pay, and long working hours can be adjusted to students' needs to combine studies with paid work. Students valued greatly the prospect of a modified internship program lasting six to nine months, an increase in payment up to the low-minimum wage level, and work on a part-time basis. The Greek universities can achieve these adjustments only with approval and consensus from the central government. If this is not possible, the best alternative option could lie in an accreditation of degree coursework to encounter the discouraging time dimensions of the programme. Expanding the length of the internship would provide incentives to the host companies to raise pay given interns' accelerating productivity after the first few months.In addition, the programme could become more attractive among undergraduates if universities participate as employing organizations themselves adopting similar practices of North American colleges (Mihail, 2005; Mihail and Karaliopoulou, 2005). Indeed, academic departments and other university services that are successful in securing a funded internship programme could actively choose among the most capable students as a supplementary workforce in improving services.There are some limitations of the present study. Given the lack of empirical research on Greek university internships, this paper was primarily exploratory for the Greek case. Any further conclusions drawn from this research must be considered tentative as it was based on a small, self-selecting, sample of interns taken solely from a business degree programme at one university. There may be important differences between business and non-business undergraduates, and different universities. It is important for future research to incorporate a wider range of undergraduates and academic institutions to ascertain that the favourable outcomes of internships found in this study apply to a more heterogeneous student population. The subjects in this study were strictly students. Further research should include more information on other stakeholders in this process, namely employing companies and university career office managers. These additional insights seem crucial if government, universities and participating companies are to adjust the current internship programmes to better meet the work-based learning and career management needs of Greek students.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Greece has the highest youth unemployment rate in the European Union. Even though it is clear that persistent unemployment requires bold measures so as to engage young educated Greeks in the labour market, there is no coherent policy at present targeting that population group, especially university students. This paper explores university student internship as a new labour market institution that has the potential of enhancing youth employability in Greece.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In order to answer the main research questions, an explorative case study methodology was chosen. This paper was based on a series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews whose aim was to explore student perceptions of the effects of a current co-operative education programme launched by the University of Macedonia in Greece.\nFindings: - The findings of the empirical research indicate that co-operative education can be used as a vehicle for linking theoretical knowledge and practice, and enhancing student employability upon graduation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This is an exploratory study that seeks to analyse a limited number of internships within a university. A large-scale national survey involving students from various academic disciplines and other universities would result in a more comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of internships in Greece.\nPractical implications: - This study has shown that a work-study programme promoting work opportunities for Greek youth seems to have great value for student employability.\nOriginality/value: - Given the dearth of empirical research on youth unemployment in Greece, this study contributes to debates in the wider academic community on the issue of how to formulate and implement active labour market policies for young, well-educated Greeks.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between classification research and information retrieval research, 1952 to 1970	[ "Information retrieval", "History", "Classification", "Citation analysis", "Center for Documentation and Communication Research", "Classification Research Group" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nPart I context and conceptual framework: Part I of this paper presents an analysis of the historical literature produced by and written about the two groups being examined. Part II presents the findings and analysis of an author co-citation of a number of select members of both groups.\nIntroduction: C.P. Snow (1959), novelist and professor of physical chemistry, gave his famous Rede lecture on the \"two cultures\" with the intent of bringing to light the gulf that existed between two different \"polar groups\" - literary intellectuals at one pole and physical scientists at the other (p. 3). His examination was of separate disciplines, each with its own separate goals and methodologies that \"[...] had almost ceased to communicate [with each other] at all\" (p. 2). While the delineation between these two groups is extreme and easy to distinguish - hard science vs literary studies - it is not as easy to distinguish between specialties within one discipline, especially when considering the intersection and direction of ideas and research within the specialties themselves and their overall scholarly communication. This paper examines two subfields of library and information science (LIS): classification research (CR) and information retrieval (IR) research during the 18-year period from 1952 to 1970. Most scholars consider these subfields as separate without much in the way of interrelationship. There has been no systematic analysis of either how or why this perception developed. This study characterizes and analyzes the relationship between these two subfields through the use of author co-citation analysis (ACA) and content analysis of a well-known group of researchers from each sub-field.\nBackground: The late 1950s were highly active where publication and consumption of scientific information was concerned. Farkas-Conn (1990) described how \"The momentum of wartime research and development activities led to a continuing exploration of new concepts in science and technology\" (p. 123). The Sputnik satellite was launched in 1957, spurring the USA to improve upon and surpass the Soviet's technical and scientific achievements. For the established field of library science and the growing field of information science (then called \"documentation\"), the challenge was to develop systems and methods for keeping up with the pace of the publications. Helen Brownson, then Program Director at the National Science Foundation's Office of Scientific Information and later a co-founder of Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, wrote of this time during which the Soviets were demonstrating technical achievements:[...] 1958 became the busiest year in my recollection. The President and his Science Advisory Committee, headed by Dr James R. Killian, took an interest in the science information problem, The Committee named a special subcommittee, headed by Dr W.O. Baker, Vice-President for Research of Bell Telephone Laboratories, to look at the problem of improving access to scientific literature(Brownson, 2017).\nConceptual framework and methodology: The CR and IR researchers were selected through an examination of published papers, reports, bulletins, pamphlets, internal and external correspondence, minutes, and conference proceedings from both the CRG and the CDCR. A citation analysis was employed to identify the clusters of authors via the level of co-citation between authors (number of times two or more authors are cited together). Part II of this paper details the results of the ACA and a discussion of the findings. Second, the clusters were characterized to determine where the work of the two groups either came together or diverged on a conceptual level as pertains to both the techniques and systems used to organize both scientific and non-scientific literature, as well as how the conceptual similarities and differences may have changed during the 18-year time period in question. Part I of this study focuses on the conceptual framework and review of literature.\nReview of literature: As a whole, the literature reviewed involved examining both primary literature produced by members of the CRG and CDCR during the period in question and secondary literature written about the activities of the two groups as subjects of discussion. What follows is a discussion of the secondary literature intended to form the context surrounding the research questions guiding the study.\nSummary of Part I: A review of the literature about the CRG and the CDCR shows that the CRG were more thoroughly researched and documented then the CDCR. The CRG began their work under the contention that the general classification schemes at the time were inadequate for the developing IR mechanisms. Despite a severe lack of funding, they produced a vast amount of research and developed specialized classification schemes that could theoretically be used in the new computerized systems being developed. The CDCR, too, rejected the classification schemes of the times and focused on developing punch card mechanisms and processes that were generously funded by both US Government and corporate funding. While the CRG tended to look for fundamental principles that would aid classification and retrieval of information, the CDCR were more inclined to develop practical, or pragmatic, methods of retrieval without benefit of good theoretical foundations.\nPart II citation analysis and findings: Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to examine more accurately the nature of the relationship between library CR and IR research during the 18-year period from 1952 to 1970. An ACA allowed me to examine the relationship between the CRG and the members of the CDCR members' published works. The ACA employed a trio of multivariate analyses to cluster the authors and I then characterized those clusters of authors according to conceptual similarities or differences via a content analysis of their published works. Finally, I applied the theory of normative behavior to explain how these similarities and differences manifested.\nMethodology: A complete account of the methodology is detailed in Miksa (2002), which in turn followed the technical specifications as given in McCain (1990), as well as personal consultation with McCain. The following provides a brief overview of methods used for data collection and analysis as well as any strengths and weaknesses that warrant mention. Citation analysis techniques have been very effective in illuminating the network of papers in specific research areas or fronts. Price (1965) likened these networks to knitting in that the rows or strips of stitches \"represent objectively defined subjects whose description may vary materially from year to year\" and that working out the nature of such strips \"might lead to a method for delineating the topography of current scientific literature\" (p. 515).\nFindings: A total of 43 authors were identified from both CRG and the CDCR groups combined. However, it was not possible to identify data for every author as either they did not publish as first authors during those years or they published in journals not covered by the two indices. Researchers with no citation data were immediately discarded leaving only 34 authors (see Figure 1). Citation data for each were collected into a master spreadsheet containing 952 cites. This was then further refined by removing any papers citing only one author, leaving 181 cites with co-citations ranging from 11 authors to 2 authors. This final master spreadsheet, considering the raw data matrix, was used in the construction of a correlation matrix to be used in the multivariate analysis.\nFactor analysis: The factor analysis results (Figure 5) are fairly aligned with the cluster and multidimensional scaling results. Setting the eigenvalue to a minimum of 1, the correlation matrix data were reduced to four factors. White and Griffith (1982) wrote \"[...] author citations are themselves interpretable as a kind of subject indexing\" (p. 262). With this in mind, the factors are labeled with my interpretations of their main subject matter as indicated by the authors included on each factor, as well as taking into account the cluster characterization detailed above.\nInterpretation and validation: Application of concepts taken from the theory of normative behavior\nConclusions: Based on the review of historical literature on both groups, I have found that the CRG and CDCR members had professional knowledge of each other and, for the most part, they regarded each other's work as important to the LIS field in general. They shared a common belief that the current classification systems were inadequate for the information demands of the time and each looked hopefully on emerging computer technologies for solutions to these problems. There was some interaction at international conferences in the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as a few interspersed visitations by members of the CRG to the CDCR in Cleveland, Ohio. As the years progressed, however, there appeared to be a lessening of interaction due to changes in membership and research trends. In the mid-1960s, the CRG turned from its development of specialized classification systems back to developing one general, or universal, scheme and the CDCR had re-focused its research to encompass a system-oriented approach to IR system evaluation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the initial relationship between the Classification Research Group (CRG) and the Center for Documentation and Communication Research (CDCR) and how this relationship changed between 1952 and 1970. The theory of normative behavior and its concepts of worldviews, social norms, social types, and information behavior are used to characterize the relationship between the small worlds of the two groups with the intent of understanding the gap between early classification research and information retrieval (IR) research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is a mixed method analysis of two groups as evidenced in published artifacts by and about their work. A thorough review of historical literature about the groups as well as their own published works was employed and an author co-citation analysis was used to characterize the conceptual similarities and differences of the two groups of researchers.\nFindings: The CRG focused on fundamental principles to aid classification and retrieval of information. The CDCR were more inclined to develop practical methods of retrieval without benefit of good theoretical foundations. The CRG began it work under the contention that the general classification schemes at the time were inadequate for the developing IR mechanisms. The CDCR rejected the classification schemes of the times and focused on developing punch card mechanisms and processes that were generously funded by both government and corporate funding.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a unique historical analysis of two groups of influential researchers in the field of library and information science.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The path to mall patronage intentions is paved with 4E-based experiential value for Indian consumers	[ "Retailing", "Patronage intention", "Experience economy", "4Es", "Experiential value", "Indian malls" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organized retail in India refers to Western-style brick-and-mortar retail formats such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, and malls that are ubiquitous in developed countries (Gupta et al., 2011; Mann and Byun, 2011). It is projected that organized retail in India will produce US $220 billion in gross revenue by 2020 (Retailers Association of India, 2014). As per AT Kearney's Global Retail Development Index, India has become the top retail investment destination (The Economic Times, 2017). Favorable demographic patterns, a surge in disposable income, the impact of globalization, positive indicators of the economy, and the changing mind set of Indian consumers are some of the factors driving organized retail growth (Basu et al., 2014; Bhatnagar and Verma, 2016; McKinsey Global Institute, 2007; Sinha, 2011). As part of the growth of organized retail, there has been a monumental increase in the number of malls in the last two decades. In 1999, there were three malls open in India; that number grew to 220 malls in 2006 and reached 570 malls in 2013 (Kuruvilla and Joshi, 2010; The Times of India, 2013), and it was expected to reach 750 by the end of 2017 (Agrawal and Gupta, 2017; Kaur and Kaur, 2015).\nLiterature review: Experience economy perspective\nMethod: Sample and procedure\nResults: Preliminary analysis\nDiscussion: Present study explored the nature of the mall experience from an experience economy perspective (Pine and Gilmore, 1999) to test relationships between the 4Es, perceived experiential value, and patronage intention toward the mall. Results (see Table III) indicate that all of the 4Es contributed significantly to experiential value associated with merchandise retailers; only entertainment and esthetic experiences contributed to experiential value associated with service retailers. Moreover, entertainment experiences had the largest impact on the experiential value associated with both merchandise retailers and service retailers in the mall. Whereas experiential value associated with both merchandise retailers and service retailers positively influenced mall patronage intentions, experiential value associated with merchandise retailers had a larger impact on mall patronage intentions than did the experiential value associated with service retailers (b=0.67 vs 0.18, respectively). These results support Oh et al.'s (2007) conclusion that the constellation of 4Es important to develop for consumers is likely dependent upon the business type or tourism venue.\nManagerial implications: To increase patronage of Indian consumers, the mall should emphasize experiential value, not only in service retailers, but in merchandise retailers as well. This collective experiential value may occur from partaking in interactive, entertaining, and elaborately designed retail environments. Such retail environments could include stimulating emotional value through delighters (e.g. augmented reality, beacons), fostering social value through offering prestigious brands and exclusive events (e.g. pop-up shops in the mall), and offering sensory appeal value through enhanced ambience (e.g. temperature control, music, and lighting) as well as frequent updates to design elements (e.g. landscaping, mall decor, window displays, and layout). Mall stakeholders such as mall owners, managers, and mall retailers should consider implementing these marketing strategies (e.g. incorporation of product/service delighters, promotion of exciting events in the mall, and branding the mall as a unique place in tune with customer lifestyles) to not only improve the consumer shopping experience, but also potentially improve profitability and growth in the competitive retailing arena.\nLimitations and future research: The mall intercept interviews were conducted in two malls positioned as high-end retail malls located in an urban area of Northern India. Therefore, generalization of the findings to malls positioned differently or in other regions of India is tenuous. Furthermore, although we have used a frequentist SEM approach appropriately in this context to analyze the data, future studies may use a Bayesian approach to better represent the population and improve the generalization of the study. Also, the study was limited in its sampling time frame of six weeks. Future studies may consider administering the mall intercept survey during other times of the year, which would reduce the timeframe bias. Many of the measurement scales used in the present study were originally developed for Western consumers. The items were adapted to capture responses from non-Western consumers, assuming the items would have the same meaning for Indian consumers. For example, the 4E constructs (Oh et al., 2007) were used in the Indian context for the first time. Hence, further validation is required through cross-cultural analysis of the scales and further use in studies on Indian consumers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether experiential offerings from two types of retailers play a significant role in consumer responses toward Indian malls. Specifically, this study examined the relationships between consumer perceptions of experience economy 4E constructs (i.e. educational, entertainment, escapist, and esthetic experiences) and experiential value associated with merchandise retailers and service retailers in Indian shopping malls, and between perceived experiential value and mall patronage intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mall intercept survey conducted in two shopping malls in India resulted in 552 useable responses. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.\nFindings: Experience economy constructs (i.e. entertainment, escapist, and esthetic experiences) contributed to the experiential value associated with merchandise retailers and/or service retailers in the mall. Experiential value associated with both merchandise retailers and service retailers in the mall positively influenced mall patronage intention.\nPractical implications: The results have practical implications for mall retailers, mall managers, and mall developers; particular experiential strategies for both merchandise retailers and service retailers may improve patronage intentions toward the mall, which includes a measure of purchase intentions.\nOriginality/value: Although academic articles support the idea that retailers can obtain benefits by offering experiences to consumers, this is the first study to empirically validate the role of specific consumer experiences, the 4Es, resulting from both merchandise retailers and service retailers, in a non-Western mall context on value creation for shoppers and the consequent influence on patronage intentions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The ethics application	[ "Ethics", "Ethics application", "Ethics committee", "Applications", "Committees" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe ethics application: There's a Bible story that comes from long ago\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This poem aims to reflect on the process of preparing a successful ethics application and likens it to facing a giant.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is a poem reflecting on factors that hinder and aid a successful ethics application and emotions that applicants may experience during the process.\nFindings: - Achieving a successful ethics application requires attention to detail, knowledge of the process and persistence. Accountability falls heavily on the applicant while the committee wants to minimise risk for the university. One can experience a range of emotions during the application process.\nResearch limitations/implications: - While the findings reflect the author's experience they are nevertheless often privately discussed amongst academics.\nOriginality/value: - The paper brings to light issues that ethics applicants experience that are seldom publicly discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"Us foreigners": intersectionality in a scientific organization	[ "Intersectionality", "Difference", "Foreign-born workers", "Intersectional netting", "Intersectional pairs", "Scientific work" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Immigration is a hot topic in the USA and Western Europe. The so-called \"border crisis\" regularly captures media attention and has people on all sides of the issue calling for action. Consequently, public discourse about immigration largely equates it with undocumented workers. Yet, the presence of documented, highly skilled foreign-born workers and their \"value\" is also a subject passionately undertaken. In the USA, some argue that foreign-born workers are \"stealing\" jobs from US citizens, whereas others argue that such workers help make up for a shortage of citizens qualified to do highly specialized work. Stakeholders on both sides of the issue have statistics, testimony, and pathos-driven appeals to back their positions (e.g. Peri, 2010; Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century, 2006). While these debates have provided substantial data (and, at times, inaccurate fodder) regarding the perceived effects of foreign-born workers in the USA, they have regularly failed to capture the inconsistent treatment of and experience for such workers in the workplace. To address this failing and in the tradition of intersectional research (e.g. Essers et al., 2010; Adib and Guerrier, 2003), we examine the interactions and lived experience of highly skilled foreign-born scientists in a US scientific organization in order to explore how national identity plays a driving role in daily interactions and communication.\nIntersectionality, nationality, and science workers: Interest in intersectionality as a theoretical and methodological lens has both diversified and intensified, as it has been taken up for study across a variety of research disciplines and sites. Early intersectional research tended toward structuralist approaches that sought to expose and problematize \"the overlapping structures of subordination\" (Cho et al., 2013, p. 797) that, in particular, fostered the invisibility of black women in legal considerations of violence against women (Crenshaw, 1991). As such, scholarship in this vein has demonstrated how individuals positioned as part of multiple marginalized groups may face economic and status disenfranchisement (Collins, 1998) as well as communicative marginalization (Adib and Guerrier, 2003). The field of intersectionality studies has grown somewhat uneasily, however, with scholars debating the structurationist underpinnings and incorporating discursive, post-structuralist analyses of identity (see McKibbin et al., 2015). In this latter approach, attention is paid to \"the processes and mechanisms by which subjects mobilize (or choose not to mobilize) particular aspects of their identities in particular circumstances\" (Nash, 2008, p. 11). As identity scholars, we align with this latter approach, though we would contend that intersectionality is more than a general theory of multiple, colliding identities (Nash, 2008) and that it necessitates a critical understanding of dynamics of (in)equality as they are played out in everyday assumptions and interactions (Acker, 2012).\nMethods: Scholars debate how to study intersectionality because of the difficulties in capturing the multiplicity of subjectivities (Cho et al., 2013; Nash, 2008), and because recognition of the methodological tensions inherent in intersectionality theory has paradoxically also limited methodological approaches (McCall, 2005). Our study responds to this debate by articulating our philosophical approach to intersectionality and, subsequently, providing heuristic insight into our methods. We align with scholarship that seeks to understand intersectionality as the construction and experience of negotiating and accomplishing identity, which is necessarily informed by a variety of discursive identity scripts.\nScientific work through the lens of intersectional pairs: To develop our understandings and generate implications, we organized the clusters around what we refer to as \"interactional pairs\" of participant/co-worker communication, and we present a series of vignettes to help illuminate the in situ accomplishment of these pairs. By using the term \"interactional pairs\" we mean to highlight how emergent and immediate moments of interaction involve the negotiation and (re)production of difference as dialectical (i.e. inextricably entwined), seemingly fleeting, and sometimes paradoxical. The three pairs that we discuss are: talking for/being silenced; \"Giving\" permission/asserting voice; and inviting inclusion/collaborating strategically.\nToward a further understanding of intersectionality: These vignettes point to the co-production of intersectionality among the participants, coworkers, and researcher. The notion of \"intersectional pairs\" highlights the complexities of navigating difference, as assumptions about and experiences with difference dialectically inform (inter)actions. In our case studies, moreover, national origin and alignment with western modes of organizing and communication were more salient in constructing workplace privilege and inequalities than characteristics such as education, occupational tenure, and/or gender. Thus, at least one implication of our research is that it challenges gender and race as the most salient facets of difference in (USA/western) organizing. In the following discussion, we first unpack national difference as a driving discourse. Second, we forward the notion of intersectional netting as a metaphor for examining how language, practices, and the body come together in a comprehensive and complex way.\nConclusion: By way of concluding, we posit what we see as vital directions for research. Because our research design was necessarily limited in scope, scholars studying intersectionality, difference, and social identity in organization studies need, first and foremost, to continue to foster empirical work examining national difference, particularly within the context of intense attention to immigration. This work is already being done (e.g. Essers et al., 2010), and additional exploration must nuance national difference as an ongoing and varied accomplishment. This work can aid discussions of immigration reform in the USA by putting an \"experiential face\" on what tends to be debated as primarily a policy issue. For the most part, the gridlock that the government is experiencing regarding immigration focusses on the right to live within US borders (Gutierrez and Matos, 2015). Scholarship that illustrates the experience of this life can assist decision makers, managers, students, and others by challenging commonly constructed straw-person images of immigrants, and showing the \"human side\" of immigration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore intersectionality as accomplished in interaction, and particularly national difference as a component of intersectionality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use ethnographic, shadowing methods to examine intersectionality in-depth and developed vignettes to illuminate the experience of intersectionality.\nFindings: National difference mitigated the common assumption in scientific work that tenure and education are the most important markers of acceptance and collegiality. Moreover, national difference was a more prominent driving occupational discourse in scientific work than gender.\nResearch limitations/implications: The data were limited in scope, though the authors see this as a necessity for generating in-depth intersectional data. Implications question the prominence of gender and (domestic) race/gender as \"the\" driving discourses of difference in much scholarship and offer a new view into how organizing around identity happens. Specifically, the authors develop \"intersectional pairs\" to understand the paradoxes of intersectionality, and as comprising a larger, woven experience of \"intersectional netting.\"\nSocial implications: This research draws critical attention to how assumptions regarding national difference shape workplace experiences, in an era of intensified global migration and immigration debates.\nOriginality/value: The study foregrounds the negotiation of national difference in US workplaces, and focusses on how organization around said difference happens interactively in communication.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The quest for quality: translation of a mythical idea	[ "Organizational change", "Myths", "Quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Why do some failures of change programs introduced by management seem to touch something more than the object of the initiated change? We have encountered two cases of change programs aimed at quality enhancement that ended up as serious failures even though the initial effects looked promising. Change programs where quality plays a central role have been described as an instance of translation of an idea susceptible to the justification of the new knowledge (Giroux and Taylor, 2002). The introduction of a quality program (TQM) was shown to increase control over work processes, however, there remain some areas where the staff can exercise resistance (Knights and McCabe, 2000). Change processes such as TQM are embedded in power relations within organizations and the relational character of power relations makes it possible for employees to resist (Knights and McCabe, 1999). According to Boje and Winsor (1993) TQM can be seen as the neo-modern kind of Taylorism, offering the employees an illusion of empowerment. Quality programs are based on discursive knowledge that has power effects which are embraced or resisted by employees (Knights and McCabe, 2001). Resistance to such programs through language is particularly effective (Kelemen, 2000)[1].\nMythical aspects of organization: Recently, mythical aspects of organization are gaining increasing attention among academics (Boje, 2001; Bowles, 1989; Sievers, 1994; Gherardi, 1995; Hatch et al., 2005; Kostera, 2005). This may be due to the \"cultural turn\" in organization studies, which has \"revived managerial interest in exploring the sacred dimension of organizations and drew attention to the religious potential in management\" (Bell and Taylor, 2003, p. 339). Culture management in its various guises has led to the emphasis on values and beliefs in work organizations. Important value systems and crucial beliefs are connected with the mythical dimension of cultures.Myths origin in the sacred realm of experience many people consider them as belonging to the spiritual sphere of human life[2]. Work organizations are usually seen as profane. However, when referring to key values, people engaging in these organizations often tap into the spiritual realm of shared experience and express them in mythical terms. Such is often the case with stories of creation of a business or about the struggle for central values (Hatch et al., 2005).Myths communicate on an experience level: they enable people to participate in the narrated events, through a symbolical immobilizing of time (Kolakowski, 1967). Myth provides a set of ideas which enable humans to answer the most vital questions, socializes the individual, and guides him or her towards maturation (Bowles, 1989, after Campbell, 1976). According to Cassirer (1946), people are able to engage with mythological consciousness through myths. Mythological consciousness lies at the core of humanity and offers people another way of being in the world.Some of the values and ideas of the contemporary business organizations have become, or perhaps have always been, of this ontological magnitude for the involved actors. Such is the case of the idea of leadership in modern management. The interviews with celebrated CEOs published in HBR revealed the complex morality of contemporary business culture, its values, as well as the myths of famous business leaders (Hatch et al., 2005). But there are also local key ideas of this kind. Through a prolonged field study that one of us has conducted in two European locations of a global corporation, Mercury Corporation, we have identified one such mythical value: quality. It is the leitmotif of a modern version of a quest myth, with managers and workers in the place of the traditional warriors and knights searching for the grail[3].\nTranslating a myth: the story of Gemini Poland and UK: Quality is an idea that has been traveling globally for many years (Deming, 1989; Crosby, 1979). Globalization resulted in the attempts of international companies to transfer quality to different locations and cultures. Car manufacture was one of the leading fields for the international transfer of quality. A quest for quality in car manufacturing has traveled along various management tools and production models since 1911 when Ford attempted to introduce his concepts in the UK (Tolliday, 1998). Despite the failure of this endeavor, Americans pursued the translation of their car manufacturing ideas abroad and succeeded when their concept of quality found its way to Japan in 1930s. Soon, American car producers dominated the Japanese market but local firms, such as Toyota and Nissan, were carefully developing and adapting American methods to the local Japanese conditions (Tolliday, 1998). This led to the development of the concept of the built-in quality by the Japanese, which became a hallmark of the Japanese car industry. By the 1970s, Japanese car manufacturers became highly competitive exporters of their products and introduced their plants in North America (Abo, 1998; Adler et al., 1998). The Japanese concept of quality was then further translated to Western Europe (Dankbar, 1998; Jurgens, 1998). After 1989 the idea of the built-in quality traveled further and arrived in Eastern Europe. This process was particularly interesting and dramatic in car manufacture, which was relatively underdeveloped in quality standards (Kozminski, 1993). The journey of quality in car manufacture continued. We explored two instances of its journey using ethnographic methods.Methodology\nHow myths travel: translation in mythical realms: The idea of quality was in both locations one of utmost importance for the employees. The interviewees use terms such as \"evangelical\" to describe the approach to the value system and quality occupies a central role throughout the entire field study. Quality was also the main value in the change program introduced at both locations. It was an idea of mythical proportions in the plants. Management believed in it and pointed to it as to a guiding vision and mission. Yet no one seemed to be able to define it. Instead, people told us stories to illustrate it. Myth holds a narrative potential (more on myths as narratives in Boje, 2001). The narrative structure[4] underpinning can be, according to Gabriel's (2000) typology, best described as the epic story: the protagonist is heroic, he or she sets out for a quest to achieve success or victory. The reader feels nostalgia, admiration or jealousy. The story narrates the road to reach the desired end, the trials and tribulations faced by the protagonist. In stories where the end is impossible to reach, the questing becomes the main theme, even though the unreachable end remains the guiding light or the vision bringing together all similarly minded heroes. The knights of the round table and the quest for the holy grail is an excellent example of a questing story that at the same time is a well-known myth[5]. Empirical data collected in both Gemini locations of the Mercury Corporation strongly suggest that the quest for quality served as a myth, which also provided a narrative framework for \"quality management\" as an organizational quest, and that a sudden change announced by top management had been perceived by the employees as a betrayal of co-questing employees.The quest can be carried out differently by different people in different places. The Polish knights were used to lonely questing and wanted to establish which paths and roads were most suited for travel. The quality built in the processes in the Polish plant reminds of such a questing road. By following the path, you are a questing quality knight. In the UK people strived to achieve the desired end by working in their old teams which they trusted. The British quality knights were working together and in the team's loyalty able to approach the final goal.After the failure of the program morale fell in both plants and loyalty towards the plant was eroded. According to a management consultant we spoke to, the situation in the Polish plant caused ripples in the region and perhaps the whole country, contributing to a deterioration of trust in Western values. The decline of the British plant's culture is an illustration of what happens when an important myth is betrayed: the old teams were eroded by management[6] and this caused a deterioration of output, which is understandable, as the old teams were important for the local translation of the myth of quality. A burnout of the employees followed. Finally, after the closure of the plant the whole region began to deteriorate.The failure of a change program based on a mythical idea is harder to take than usual. The reasons are due to the fact that myths are related to the spiritual domain. The spiritual side of the human psyche is powerful and transformative, innovative, transgressive, but it is also quite vulnerable (Kostera, 2005). People who feel deceived in their faith can be hurt very badly psychologically. The magnitude of the burnout may be somewhat lesser in business organizations, that are, after all, not directly concerned with the transcendental, but nonetheless a serious matter. It is visible in the studied plants. The other reason why a failed change based on myths can have severe consequences is due to the way that mythical ideas are translated. We would like to propose the following model (Figure 2) of such translation, based on Czarniawska's and Sevon's (1996) original model.In our model the translated myths are more complex than standard ideas and many actions are required to translate them. They become translated into multiple objects. They included things such as documents outlining quality standards and product specifications, manuals describing procedures for standardized work, prevention of problems through Andon system or continuous improvement and innovation through Kaizen. In addition to this documentation related to the built-in quality, there were also more complex objects such as technical equipment enabling the execution of quality standards and procedures. Here, we can identify objects which were previously unknown in the Polish car manufacture, for example, Andon facilities installed on the production line.The final product is not a social institution but a value system. For example, in the case of the Polish plant, the process can be described with the model shown in Figure 3.On the level of artifacts and actions the western myth of quality is translated via procedures, manuals and technology into training and socialization systems, such as hand-on management and continuous improvement. Furthermore, this process reaches the cultural and spiritual level of the organization. It results in a philosophy, an underlying value system, and so a fundamental part of the organization's culture[7]. In the Polish plant it became a no blame culture combined with professional pride, producing intensive energy for aspiration towards what the company considered as excellent quality in order to gain a stronger international position. The idea of quality brought by Mercury Corporation generated new collective sense of purpose, meaning and identity (Knights and McCabe, 2002) in Gemini Poland. In Gemini UK the employees secured their organizational purpose and identity through resisting newly introduced quality ideas rather than adopting them. This should not be surprising, considering that quality programs (such as TQM), are embedded in the organization's power and identity relations. This means that there are constant opportunities for resistance (Knights and McCabe, 1999). Employees respond in ways that cannot be predicted or controlled by management, often using ambiguity as their own instance of translation (Kelemen, 2000). This has not been acknowledged or respected by the Gemini UK management, and neither had the fact that quality had been an important value to the employees even before the planned change program was launched. Also in the Polish plant there was a professional pride among the employees connected to quality. Even though their quality related beliefs were supported by management, who to a certain degree recognized the workers' subjectivity and the own translations which, being acts of resistance, did not pose a challenge to the management (Knights and McCabe, 2000). People were encouraged to be creative and experiment with their previous notions, quality being one of them. However, close involvement of the company's leaders ensured that the final result was that of Gemini's notion of quality enriched by the local input rather than vice-versa. This process was further stimulated by the willingness of the local staff to succeed on the Gemini's international arena and management's rationalization rhetoric used as an ultimate justification for the decisions that could evoke too much resistance, such as redundancy of 200 workers in 2002. This collided with what the employees perceived as their achievements in the area of quality development. Despite a strong quality culture in the plant and a belief in the Gemini as a \"caring company,\" people felt that they were let down and their beliefs were betrayed by the corporation in the end.The idea of quality that was at the heart of the change program happened to coincide with a mythical idea already existing in the affected organizations, but the corporation failed to sustain the local translations. As Giroux and Taylor (2002) have shown, it is important how new beliefs are justified. The managerial final justifications in the Gemini plants did not reward creative quality quests but invoked poor results to validate downsizing in Poland and liquidation in the UK.A failed change process based on myth translation touches not one but a whole host of cultural meanings, actions and artifacts - the complex fabric of culture itself. Culture is renewed by the ongoing process of changing ideas. The mythical ideas are more than others directly linked to the cultural context and its potential for renewal. The myth of quality can provide a very powerful but also vulnerable platform for the organizational change program. If translated successfully it can lead to a cultural renewal in the region[8]. However, if the process fails the devastating implications can reach beyond the organization itself.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present the model of the translation of particularly important ideas for the organization and its context, called mythical ideas.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study is based on ethnographic research.\nFindings: - It is found that change processes based on mythical ideas are especially dynamic but also very vulnerable. The consequences of failure can be vital for the organization and its environment.\nOriginality/value: - The paper explores the outcomes to which the translation of a mythical idea can lead. The findings are of value for people involved in organizational change processes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Work as a recovery factor after earthquake: a mixed-method study on female workers	[ "Earthquake", "Recovery", "Work", "Focus group", "Gender", "L’Aquila", "T-Lab" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: On April 6th, 2009 L'Aquila, a city in Central Italy, was destroyed by a violent earthquake, measuring up to 5.9 MI on the Richter scale, which killed 309 people and injured about 1,600 individuals (Galluccio, 2014). About 90 percent of the residents of L'Aquila were evacuated from their homes (Di Pietro and Mora, 2015); some of them directed to tent camps and others in tourist accommodations in hotels on the Adriatic coast, waiting for the CASE project[1] (Fois and Forino, 2014).\nJob insecurity from a psychosocial perspective: The phenomenon of job insecurity has been the topic of numerous studies in research literature. All these studies aimed to give a definition of job insecurity through the explanation of the features and the factors associated with it. Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt (1984, p. 483) defined job insecurity as the impotence that is perceived in maintaining the desired continuity in a potentially threatening situation, while Heaney et al. (1994) described it as the perception of a potential threat to the continuity of current work. More recently, Piccoli et al. (2017) emphasized the importance of not recognizing the value of work as the key element that delineates the construct itself, highlighting the psychological dimensions of this experience.\nWork, gender and disaster: An increasing number of studies have recognized that gender may play a large part in the roles people have in preparation, response, recovery and reconstruction in disaster events.\nMethod: The sample consisted of women who are current residents or were former residents in the affected area, in the province of L'Aquila. We have carried out a series of focus group discussions; in detail the groups were formed following a logic of group composition numerical-variable (Cortini, 2005) and homogeneous by type of participant, identified by type of work contract (temporary, public employees, workers in training, socio-sanitary professionals, managers, private employees). A non-directive conduction was chosen (Cortini, 2005), with two moderators (an Academic Researcher and a Counselor of Equity participated as moderators in each focus group). By \"non-directive conduction\" we mean that the role of the moderator is that of being a facilitator rather than a leader of the discussion. A non-directive moderation allows the spontaneity of conversation and promotes group interactions (Barbour and Morgan, 2017).\nContent analysis of the text material collected through the focus groups: To complete the analysis of the text material collected through the focus groups, we decided to return a mapping of the characterizing themes, through the automatic analysis of the contents with the help of T-Lab software (Lancia, 2012; Cortini and Tria, 2014).\nDiscussion and conclusions: The analysis of the focus groups with L'Aquila women workers has shown the value that work assumes during post disaster.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reaction of female workers to the earthquake event that shocked the city of L'Aquila in April 2009, with a specific focus on work as a recovery factor.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The selected sample consists of current or former resident women in the affected province of L'Aquila, who participated in a series of focus group discussions on the ability to reconstruct their own professional identity after the earthquake. The focus group seemed to be the perfect instrument for this research, because of its ability to generate a true discussion among a group of people on the research topic of this study. The collected data were analyzed both in terms of metaphors, as well as linguistic agentivity and by automatic content analysis.\nFindings: From the analysis of the data, emerges the value that adds to the sense of identity continuity for the women in the sample, together with interesting differences between employed and self-employed workers that are characterized by distinct challenges and assurances. In regards to the effects of gender in response to disaster events, the results make a peculiar echo to the studies on public-private space dichotomy developed by Fordham, according to which, during a disaster, women are not allowed to develop work-related desires. For the group of women that the authors interviewed, the challenge to have family focused or work focused desires was clearly evident; they seem predetermined to the above-mentioned dichotomy, valid in both directions: the women who invested in work and have become entrepreneurs seem to have no chance of a private life and, on the contrary, the women who were focused on more traditional family roles seem to have no chance in terms of job opportunities.\nOriginality/value: Based on the authors' knowledge this is the first time that focus groups are used to assess the value that work had in supporting individual recovery for women in the aftermath of the L'Aquila earthquake.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Research data management and research data literacy in Slovenian science	[ "Slovenia", "Researchers", "Research data management", "Data literacy", "International studies", "Research data literacy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and literature survey: In the context of the efforts for Open Science, there is increasing importance of research data management (RDM) for researchers, their institutions as well as supporting research infrastructure (libraries, technological support, IT, etc.). Data-intensive science (Hey and Hey, 2006; Lynch, 2009) poses raising demands on making studies robust and reproducible (Smalheiser, 2017). This presents certain requirements on the data being produced and used in research, such as data quality, activities with this data, accompanied by the required competences, such as data citation, data management, data curation, data literacy, etc. (Koltay, 2015a, b, 2016a, b). Adequate management of data resulting from research work is becoming key precondition for effective data exchange within certain scientific community as well as publication beyond the project group (Sesartic and Towe, 2016). Consequently, this improves the visibility of scientific work, citations, etc. (Piwowar and Vision, 2013; Piwowar et al., 2007), as well as verification and transparency. For these reasons, we now see initiatives and demands of, e.g., scientific publishers for publication of data together with or even before the publication of research papers (Briney et al., 2017). Besides effective data interchange there are also issues of effective long-term preservation, which has to be based on good metadata to ensure long-term viability, renderability and interpretability of data.\nResearch: Methodology\nResults and discussion: Rather many researchers (approximately 161) did not continue to answer the survey in the content part. We only took the complete answers into the analysis. First, we present descriptive characteristics of data. To investigate the differences between SDs, we used analysis of variance. To seek explanations of statistically significant findings our main type of analysis was K-means cluster analysis. Those results are presented in the second part.\nConclusions: According to Koltay (2016b), Research 2.0 is a new approach to doing research. This development requires more attention to activities, such as data management and data curation that focus more on data citation and the quality of data. Second important area is RDL, that is, competences of researchers (and possibly also of other stakeholders) that will help realize the goal of good and shareable research data from the other side. As more and more academic journals and project funders require access to raw research data, our results offer first insights into the RDM and RDL of Slovenian researchers, and into the situation of RDM in Slovenia. From our findings in this initial study, which should definitely be expanded and upgraded on a wider sample, include other stakeholders and also use qualitative research methods, we see that the situation needs improving in many areas, possibly starting at institutional (or even national) level and involving efforts in policies, awareness raising, organization, infrastructure, staffing and education of all involved parties. Policy/Decision makers, universities and institutes will need to dedicate more attention to RDM and RDL by preparing policies and plans, organizing information campaigns, providing infrastructure and education opportunities for researchers and other experts, technical and administrative workers as well as decision makers involved in the process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the differences between scientific disciplines (SDs) in Slovenia in research data literacy (RDL) and research data management (RDM) to form recommendations regarding how to move things forward on the institutional and national level.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Purposive sample of active researchers was used from widest possible range of SD. Data were collected from April 21 to August 7, 2017, using 24-question online survey (5 demographic, 19 content questions (single/multiple choice and Likert scale type). Bivariate (ANOVA) and multivariate methods (clustering) were used.\nFindings: The authors identified three perception-related and four behavior-related connections; this gave three clusters per area. First, perceptions - skeptical group, mainly social (SocS) and natural sciences (NatS): no clear RDM and ethical issues standpoints, do not agree that every university needs a data management plan (DMP). Careful group, again including mainly SocS and NatS: RDM is problematic and linked to ethical dilemmas, positive toward institutional DMPs. Convinced group, mainly from humanities (HUM), NatS, engineering (ENG) and medicine and health sciences (MedHeS): no problems regarding RDM, agrees this is an ethical question, is positive toward institutional DMP's. Second, behaviors - sparse group, mainly from MedHeS, NatS and HUM, some agricultural scientists (AgS), and some SocS and ENG: do not tag data sets with metadata, do not use file-naming conventions/standards. Frequent group - many ENG, SocS, moderate numbers of NatS, very few AgS and only a few MedHeS and HUM: often use file-naming conventions/standards, version-control systems, have experience with public-domain data, are reluctant to use metadata with their RD. Slender group, mainly from AgS and NatS, moderate numbers of ENG, SocS and HUM, but no MedHeS: often use public-domain data, other three activities are rare.\nResearch limitations/implications: Research could be expanded to a wider population, include other stakeholders and use qualitative methods.\nPractical implications: Results are useful for international comparisons but also give foundations and recommendations on institutional and national RDM and RDL policies, implementations, and how to bring academic libraries into the picture. Identified differences suggest that different educational, awareness-raising and participatory approaches are needed for each group.\nOriginality/value: The findings offer valuable insight into RDM and RDL of Slovenian scientists, which have not yet been investigated in Slovenia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Assessing the gender gap in labour market index: volatility of results and reliability	[ "Gender gap", "Uncertainty", "Comparative advantage", "Non-compensatory methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past few years, the construction and use of composite indicators has increased considerably because they permit the comparison and ranking of countries with respect to complex phenomena of global importance. Indeed, through complex statistical methodologies, composite indicators allow different variables representing the manifold aspects of a complex phenomenon to be synthesised into a single element. Moreover, these methodologies take into account the hierarchical structure that links indicators to each other. Together with their development and diffusion, composite indicators are increasingly being used by the media and policy makers to communicate information on the conditions of multiple countries or regions in various policy fields. Consequently, there has been a major discussion on their legitimacy, and many studies have been developed with the aim of analysing and improving the statistical methodology on which they are based. The main criticism of composite indicators is that different subjective choices occurring in the various steps of construction strongly influence their results.\n2. The gender gap in the European labour market and the GGLMI: Closing the gender gap is one of the main goals of European Union, as stated in the Lisbon Agenda, and many policies inspired by principles of equality have been proposed in each European country. Some of these policies have been applied effectively, while others have not yet improved the conditions for women in the labour market, or have yet to be transformed into concrete actions. The gender gap involves many factors, and manifests itself in various ways according to the different socio-cultural roles that men and women play in society. Components of the gender gap in the labour market are manifold, and the interaction between them and with a country's specific economic framework contributes to these differences. The main aspects concern participation in the labour market, the situation in terms of unemployment, the types of contracts, segregation and wage differentials. Furthermore, the educational level attained by employees contributes to their human capital accumulation and thus to how they are differentially treated.\n3. Methodological aspects of constructing robust ranks: Once a composite indicator theoretical framework has been identified that refers to the aspects of the phenomenon assumed to be significant for the analysis, and the indicators chosen to measure it, the steps involved in composite indicator construction that could lead to subjective choices are essentially the following:\n4. Main results: 4.1. The influence of variable characteristics on the composite indicator\n5. Conclusions: Gender equality is a fundamental right and a policy priority for the European Union. In the last few years, this topic has stimulated new strategies and efforts to guarantee equal treatment for women and men, mainly in terms of equal pay. Different degrees of gender inequality still persist in European countries, highlighting the quite different scenarios in which gender inequality can emerge. Thus, it is not easy to rank countries with reference to their degree of gender inequality in the labour market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The construction and use of composite indicators has recently increased considerably because such indicators permit the comparison and ranking of countries with respect to complex phenomena of global importance. Together with the diffusion of these composite indicators, a major debate has emerged over their real capacity to produce objective and reliable results. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this paper, an analysis of the results of the Gender Gap Labour Market Index (GGLMI) - an ad hoc composite indicator constructed by the authors to analyse the gender gap in European labour markets - is proposed, in order to identify the most appropriate choices in the construction of composite indicators, to obtain reliable results. This is a sensible approach, especially when various aspects (some of them controversial) have to be synthesised.\nFindings: In addition to highlighting the greater robustness of non-compensatory methods, this analysis confirms the variability of countries' rankings on graded positional lists, and suggests the need to use a procedure based on a set of alternative methods conveniently combined in each step of the composite indicator construction.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research identifies the weak steps in composite indicator construction and the data characteristics which increase the volatility. Only an approach based on various alternative paths can control for it.\nPractical implications: It offers some reflections on the extent to which gender disparities in labour market still persist in European countries and the different ways in which it manifests.\nSocial implications: The analysis of characteristics and policies activated in countries at the top of the ranking can suggest initiatives to promote gender equality.\nOriginality/value: Besides of testing the robustness of results, an effort in order to identify the best way to obtain a synthetic and reliable single rank is made. Further, the results produced by the GGLMI for the year 2011 are presented and discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Readiness factors for lean implementation in healthcare settings - a literature review	[ "Readiness factors", "Healthcare operations", "Lean principles" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Globally, healthcare organizations are contending with the pressures of aging population, longer-term care for lifestyle diseases such as cancer and diabetes, and reduced government spending on public services (World Health Organization, 2008; Waring and Bishop, 2010). Public demand for increased quality coupled with the pressure to do more with less has led healthcare organization management teams to reevaluate their operations strategy (Balle and Regnier, 2007; Carpenter, 2011). Healthcare settings such as hospitals these days operate under a barrage of improvement programs as a result, often adding to the pressures of operations rather than dealing with the problems in the existing systems (Fillingham, 2007).\nThe definition of lean and lean in healthcare: Lean, also called \"Lean Thinking\" and the \"Toyota Production System\" is a process reengineering philosophy composed of strategic guiding principles and a set of tools at the operational level exemplified by the best practices of Toyota Corporation (Sugimori et al., 1977; Ohno, 1988; Womack et al., 1990; Cho, 1995; Papadopoulos et al., 2011). Womack et al. (1990) maintain that one cannot define lean as existing without its principles first being readily understood.\nMethodology: Readiness factors are defined as any practice or characteristic that aids an organizational transformation by eliminating or nullifying possible inhibitors for success, or providing the knowledge and capabilities required to succeed in establishing change (Armenakis et al., 1993; Clark et al., 1997; Rich and Bateman, 2003; Abdolvand et al., 2008; Weiner, 2009).\nResults and discussion: Initial search results for articles on lean in general returned over 380 references. After filtering these articles for content-specific according to the inclusion criteria described above, the number of articles reduced to 170 articles. This included some additional references identified through citation analysis, including books, workshop materials, and conference papers.\nConclusions: Based on a review of articles relating to \"lean\" and \"lean in healthcare,\" this paper has identified and discussed the readiness factors for implementing lean in healthcare. Peer-reviewed, English language, publications up until January 2012 were assessed pertaining to lean health, lean readiness, healthcare change management, and process redesign in healthcare. The readiness factors for implementing lean in healthcare discussed in the previous section are summarized as follows:\nImplications for practice and future research: The divergent definitions of lean found in the lean literature and literature specific to the application of lean in healthcare explain why there is some dissonance as to whether or not all of the readiness factors must be established before implementation in order to apply lean successfully (Womack et al., 1990; Wysocki, 2004; de Souza, 2009; Vest and Gamm, 2009). The results of this review have three important implications for launching a successful lean project in a healthcare setting. First, the readiness factors derived above can serve as a checklist for healthcare practitioners for assessing the preparedness of their organization as they begin their lean journeys. Second, recent experiences from the public sector show that sustainability of lean initiatives could be at stake if these readiness factors are not addressed appropriately. Third, understanding of the readiness factors identified above will enable a healthcare organization to implement lean more effectively. This will generate the benefits that are possible in the sense that the organization will be more efficient and effective in its operations. Collectively, this will enable healthcare organizations to deal with the pressure of being able to do more with less.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the readiness factors that are critical to the application and success of lean operating principles in healthcare organizations through a review of relevant literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A comprehensive review of literature focussing on lean and lean healthcare was conducted.\nFindings: Leadership, organizational culture, communication, training, measurement, and reward systems are all commonly attributed readiness factors throughout general change management and lean literature. However, directly related to the successful implementation of lean in healthcare is that a setting is able to authorize a decentralized management style and undertake an end-to-end process view. These can be particularly difficult initiatives for complex organizations such as healthcare settings.\nResearch limitations/implications: The readiness factors identified are based on a review of the published literature. The external validity of the findings could be enhanced if tested using an empirical study.\nPractical implications: The readiness factors identified will enable healthcare practitioners to be better prepared as they begin their lean journeys. Sustainability of the lean initiative will be at stake if these readiness factors are not addressed.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the knowledge, this is the first paper that provides a consolidated list of key lean readiness factors that can guide practice, as well as future theory and empirical research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Coloplast employees learn the secrets of Olympic success: Sport boosts the performance of marketing people	[ "Employees development", "Employee commitment", "Internal communications", "Benefits", "Sports" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Former Olympic athletes Steve Backley and Roger Black hosted a two-day team-building sports event for 112 sales and marketing staff at UK medical-device company Coloplast.\nThe team functions more smoothly and is more highly skilled: \"As a result of the course the team now functions more smoothly and is more highly skilled. Team members have aspirations for moving up in the company. We believe in preparing our staff for their current and future roles, so it is great to see that the training has given them the confidence to look to what they want to do next. Some members of the team have already shown an interest in studying the NVQ at level 3, while new staff have now signed up for level 2.\"Human-resource director Sam Sedwill commented: \"We were delighted by the response from members of the distribution team when we offered to support them through the NVQ. The feedback from the training provider has been excellent and we are very proud of what they have achieved. Initially this was a one-off training program but it has been such a success that we are going to continue to offer this level of support.\"Coloplast worked with training-provider Intec Business Colleges and, following the success of the NVQ training, will continue to work with it on future training programs.Ruth Dix, contracts manager for Intec Business Colleges, said: \"The program was a huge success with employees successfully achieving their qualifications. All the staff involved showed a great deal of commitment to the program and produced a variety of evidence for their assessment, showcasing their own individual range of competence and skills.\"Sam Sedwill said: \"It is vital that all staff realize the importance of their individual contribution and the work of their team. As well as leading to a more highly skilled distribution team, the NVQ training also gave them a better understanding of how the company works. This motivates them and enables them to build their future in Coloplast.\"The company is also providing English lessons for more than a dozen members of its distribution team for whom English is a second language. The 12-week course is being funded entirely by the company.In addition, Coloplast has sent more than 100 company car drivers on a one-to-one, half-day driving-skills course.\nEmphasis on good internal communications: Placed at 99 in the latest Sunday Times top 100 best companies to work for, Coloplast was marked out particularly for its emphasis on good internal communications.Sue Kernahan, general manager, has created a number of ways for employees to air their views on company issues. They include question-and-answer sessions at firm meetings, a new employee forum and one-to-one meetings with her. Other senior managers follow her lead.Employee benefits include profit-related pay, flexible hours, a share-option scheme, free private health-care and a contributory pension scheme. The three annual winners of the company's employee of the year competition are awarded an all-expenses-paid holiday abroad. Brazil has been one destination in the past.Sue Kernahan regularly updates employees on company performance, targets and successes, to build motivation and celebrate the contribution of employees.The company's people strategy promises employees that they will:* help to make a difference for people with intimate health-care needs;* always work with an ambitious agenda;* be challenged and expected to do their best;* receive strong leadership and all relevant resources and tools to help them to realize their potential; and* be rewarded according to their potential and performance.Such initiatives help to ensure that Coloplast employees - who liaise closely with patients using the company's dressing, catheters and other devices - feel proud to work for the business.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe the policies that have helped UK medical-device company Coloplast to earn a place in the Sunday Times list of the top 100 companies to work for.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper explains the reasons for the policies, the form they take and the results they are achieving.\nFindings: - The paper details a two-day team-building sports event for 112 sales and marketing staff; National Vocational Qualification training for distribution-center employees; and policies on internal communications and benefits.\nPractical implications: - The paper reveals how, taken together, these policies have created a committed, loyal and happy workforce.\nSocial implications: - The paper highlights initiatives that help to ensure that Coloplast employees - who liaise closely with patients using the company's dressing, catheters and other devices - feel proud to work for the business.\nOriginality/value: - The paper reveals a number of successful human-resource management initiatives at a medium-size company.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An investigation of Toyota's social-technical systems in production leveling	[ "Production", "Planning and control", "Production scheduling", "Lean production" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The concept of production levelling is not new and has been studied and practiced by the industrial engineering community for well over 60 years (Baumol, 1951; Beckman, 1961; Elmaleh and Eilon, 1974). According to Maynard's Industrial Engineering Handbook, production levelling is the process where, in mixed-model production lines, product units are properly arranged, rather than manufactured in a random order, to minimize the variations in parts consumption and workload at the workstations (Zandin, 2001). Thus, production levelling has been used to optimally sequence various product models (or product variants) during manufacturing so that the peaks and valleys in demand for products are smoothed out across the planning period to enable overall cost reductions and improved efficiencies.Conventionally, production levelling is seen as an activity solely of concern to and solely executed by the manufacturing department. For most companies, departments outside of manufacturing are not directly responsible for meeting the production plan. Industrial engineers calculate production schedules based on information from sales and capabilities in manufacturing. Changes in resources are adjusted across sections and negotiated through management. Work groups in manufacturing that struggle to balance resources, such as labor and material, staff for peak demand periods and build high inventories. Although, this scenario would have a smoothing effect on internal operations the amount of resources to sustain this unequal balance of resources would be extremely costly.Toyota's approach to manufacturing excellence, the Toyota Production System (TPS), sometimes referred to as lean manufacturing, has been widely imitated, copied and benchmarked. Numerous studies have explored Toyota's production systems, their manufacturing achievements and most importantly methods for emulating Toyota's system. However, despite the extensive literature, many attempts to copy Toyota's method have fallen short either during implementation or more commonly in the attempt to sustain an implementation. One of the major problems is the belief that production levelling can solved inside the walls of manufacturing.For example, most companies who attempt production levelling fail to realize that the various techniques adopted by Toyota are all interdependent and their application is coordinated across the entire company; therefore, none can be applied in isolation to benefit as much as Toyota has. The same applies to production levelling where Toyota has extended the focus beyond the manufacturing function, to consider the organizational structure and interdependencies between various departments to increase the benefits of its application and effectiveness as a means to manage the impact of demand fluctuations. When demand fluctuations affect manufacturing, coordination with other departments is essential to minimize the impacts of such variations. Then, how does Toyota integrate these departmental functions outside manufacturing that promote manufacturing consistency?Another major difficulty often underestimated or overlooked in emulating Toyota's unique approaches is how management is integrated to support production levelling. Unfortunately, most outsiders treat TPS as a technical system that can exist without the human system (Hall, 2006). This perception of Toyota's practices is common and convenient as most organizations look for quick results without changing how the organization is led or managed. It is noteworthy that, at Toyota, managers are trained, encouraged and rewarded for cooperating even when their own department may be impacted negatively. In many companies, especially those that rate managers only on how their department performs in isolation, one department manager is not inclined to help another unless there is a clear benefit to the former. Then, how does Toyota get departments outside manufacturing willing to help in production levelling?This work uses a case study at one of Toyota's automotive plants to examine the social and technical systems of production levelling. In this study, various departments are studied through field observation and interviews to inductively develop a set of insights about organizational influences on production levelling. The goal of this study is to demonstrate the need to:1. focus beyond just the manufacturing department; and2. integrate the technical systems with the management systems for successful production levelling, based on a comprehensive review of practices used by Toyota.This work will also summarize several of the more well-known aspects and least-known aspects of Toyota's production levelling criteria to fully evaluate it as a social-technical system. The expected outcome of this work is to bring new insight on how Toyota achieves production levelling by considering a more holistic and social-technical approach. Practitioners who plan to implement production levelling will be informed on the various interdependencies between departments and the human system that allows such technical structures to survive and flourish within the company.\n2 Literature review of production levelling: While conventionally known as a method to sequence different products for mixed-model production to minimize the variations in parts consumption and level the workload at the workstations (Zandin, 2001), various descriptions and definitions have been given to the term production levelling. In most interpretations, production levelling has been broadly defined as an approach to maximize efficiency (Xiaobo et al., 1996), reduce inventory (Coleman and Vaghefi, 1994), make to stock (Swanson, 2008), eliminate spikes in production (Andel, 1999), prevent over burden jobs (Rinehart, 1997), raise capacity (Yano and Rachamadugu, 1991) and smooth work demands throughout the supply chain (Monden, 1993). The common theme is the exclusive focus on the production system and the manufacturing process.The technical aspects of the production levelling problem have been widely explored and many approaches using computer models and numerical calculations have been presented. For example, research in this area has focused on developing heuristics (Okamura and Yamashima, 1979; Miltenburg and Sinnamon, 1992), algorithms (Monden, 1998), dynamic programming (Yano and Rachamadugu, 1991; Xiaobo et al., 1996), computational analysis (Kovalyov et al., 2001) and simulations (Huttmeir et al., 2009). The main goal in all of this work is the determination of model sequence (i.e. ABCDABE, etc.) on a paced, mixed-model assembly line so production can be spread out over a period.Toyota's approach to production levelling has been widely benchmarked as the foundation for flow and pulls systems that allow the concept of just in time (JIT) to be achieved (Liker, 2004). Ohno (1988) described that once a company adopts the JIT philosophy the entire production system has to be overhauled along with its management systems. Consequently, divisions generally tend to focus on their own interest which makes activities such as production levelling difficult to achieve. For managers to cooperate they need to overcome their individual focus and secure solutions that serve the company's larger interest (Shimokawa and Fujimoto, 2009).Toyota's approach to production levelling appears to be much broader than the mere application of an algorithm or heuristic to determine the optimal production sequence. In that respect, there are many unanswered questions about how production levelling can be extended beyond an optimal model sequence to increase a company's ability to minimize the effect of demand fluctuation. No literature can be found that discusses these broader aspects of production levelling.\n3 Research questions: This study will conduct fieldwork that evaluates Toyota's technical and management systems used in achieving production levelling. This work will examine how departments are organized to support activities outside their department and the parameters used in production levelling that influence manufacturing's ability to produce consistently. The work will consider a holistic view of Toyota's operations and study various departments inside and outside of manufacturing.The research questions for examining Toyota's technical systems in production levelling are:RQ1. How do departments outside manufacturing contribute to production levelling?RQ2. What are the departmental interdependencies in production levelling?RQ3. What functions inside manufacturing achieve production levelling?This study will also evaluate Toyota's management systems that are critical in promoting departmental cooperation. This analysis will focus on specific management practices that prevent social factors from weakening production levelling. Other critical elements will also be explored in understanding how the management systems play a vital role, if not sometimes more significant than the technical systems in the development of production levelling.The research questions for examining Toyota's management systems in production levelling are:RQ4. How does Toyota get its managers to be open to interdepartmental activities?RQ5. How does Toyota build incentives to reward managers to contribute to company-wide goals?RQ6. How does Toyota develop its managers in learning how to implement production levelling?\n4 Research method: This study will rely on interviews, semi-formal sessions and extended communications accompanying shop floor observations. At the plant permission was received to talk with vehicle operations including, team members, team leaders, group leaders, assistant managers, departmental managers, assistant general managers and general managers, to observe work processes and to gather relevant information. The primary criteria for choosing which departments to consult were:* support for the project from plant-level management;* readily observable production levelling activity within departments; and* a reasonable high level of incidence for departmental interaction for production levelling.The research method used in this work to evaluate Toyota's technical and social structures for production levelling was boundary analysis. Boundary analysis is a graphical tool that can assist in visualizing the structure of a system (Stasinopoulos, 2009). Boundary analysis allows a system to be studied as whole while recognizing its complexities (Rouse and Sage, 2009). Boundary analysis is a form of graph theory that is used to examine interactions from a topologic point of view without concerning quantitative relations or feedback that is often associated with other forms of system engineering tools (Panagiotis, 2009). Boundary analysis will be used to identify Toyota's technical criteria and management activities by analyzing the interactions of each department.\n5 Fieldwork activity: The research site for this study was a Toyota automobile plant producing passenger vehicles. The study spans over three years from 2007 to 2010 including 12 plant visits. This particular site was chosen as most appropriate due to its vehicle variety and market fluctuation. Background information of the site is presented in Table I. While most outsiders view that the automotive industry contains a relatively low number of possible vehicle combinations, Toyota's three vehicles exceed over 250,000 buildable combinations total. These combinations are added because each vehicle is assembled on the same line simultaneously in sequential production. This estimate is conservative because it represents the customer's vehicle specifications and not the component part permutations. Averages for US- and Japanese-owned plants in North America are also included for benchmarking purposes to compare similar original equipment manufacturers in terms of productivity and overall capability.\n6 Results: Results are shown in Figure 1 and Tables II and III for Toyota's social-technical production levelling system. The discussion of this paper will be divided into two sections; the technical and management systems of production levelling.\n7 Discussion: Figure 1 shows Toyota's social-technical production levelling system using boundary analysis. Results indicate that the production levelling system is includes both the design and production stage which makes the complete product realization cycle. Tables II and III illustrate the type of interactions and criteria used by Toyota to achieve production levelling both from a management and operational point of view. While this analysis is not exhaustive, it does represent the fundamental agreements and work practices adopted jointly between work groups and managers in implementing production levelling.The technical system of production is shown to include five departments, namely sales, design, production engineering (PE), production control (PC) and manufacturing. The main aspect of Toyota's technical system is concerned with eliminating and reducing variation due to market fluctuation. By eliminating various forms of various throughout Toyota's product realization process, the loading of the plant can be more easily managed. But to eliminate manufacturing variation it requires the total effort of the company through various stages of product development. Figure 1 shows how Toyota views each department for limiting, reducing or reorganizing internal variation due to market fluctuation. Toyota views sales as the only department that can actually limit and exclude market fluctuation. In the product design stage, PE and design are shown to eliminate and reduce variation. Interestingly, Toyota views that PC and manufacturing are the only departments that can reorganize operations to lessens the disruptive effect due to market variation. Suppliers are also shown in Figure 1, but their interaction can only restrict an organizations ability to respond to market fluctuation in the general case.7.1 Sales\n8 Conclusion: The goal of this work was to investigate the structures and systems of Toyota's production levelling approach. This paper demonstrated that Toyota uses two very different systems in achieving manufacturing consistency. In one case, this work illustrated a technical system that is defined by the production functions of the organization. The technical system was composed of criteria, agreements and a network of relationships that go much broader than one department. The social system or management system described various approaches and practices used by management to enhance the technical aspects of production levelling. The management system focused on getting managers to look outside their own work areas, and to be thoroughly committed in achieving company-wide goals and targets. This paper proposes that Toyota achieves production levelling by utilizing a heavily integrated and embedded social-technical system. A system that has the ability to react to market fluctuation and improve overtime. While Toyota's technical networks are widely admired and credited for their success, this work claims that it is the software or human systems that create an environment where managers feel free to make mistakes in learning how to apply production levelling.There is still much work to be completed to more fully understand Toyota's social-technical structures. There is a need to develop more rigorous research methodologies and approaches that can quantitatively explore Toyota's unique systems. Consequently, such techniques need to be used over many years to understand the positional and evolutionary trends in production levelling. It is speculated that Toyota's management systems take time to implement correctly. As Toyota grows, there are fewer mentors to coach and teach the Toyota way to new managers. While these highly integrated practices have been proven to work in mature systems, it is speculated that undeveloped systems or a fast-growing Toyota can keep up developments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyze Toyota's production levelling process in an attempt to understand the various social and technical factors required to produce to a changing market. Unfortunately, most outsiders who explore production levelling do not realize that it involves various departments outside of manufacturing. Consequently, due to the dynamic nature of production levelling many unintended social and management factors between departments makes cooperation difficult.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper conducts a case study at one of Toyota's automobile plants to examine the level of departmental and social integration that is applied when implementing production levelling. Based on observations, the problems of production levelling are analyzed and, accordingly, possible solutions are explored.\nFindings: - The findings of this work show that Toyota achieves production levelling because it is viewed as a company-wide activity that cuts across many departments in promoting manufacturing consistency. Production levelling criteria include both the design and manufacturing aspects which brings evidence that manufacturing is limited in its ability to eliminate and reduce market fluctuation. The work also illustrates that Toyota reinforces departmental cooperation through its human resources policies, and many other unique management mechanisms.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides new insight on how Toyota achieves production levelling by considering a more holistic and social-technical approach. In particular, interdepartmental activities are emphasized in achieving company-wide goals that impact how departments agree to operate.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service convenience and social servicescape: retail vs hedonic setting	[ "Service convenience", "Social servicescape", "Perceived service quality", "Retail environment", "Hedonic service consumption", "Customer services quality", "Retailing" ]	[ { "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: Service convenience is defined as a customer's perception of the time and effort required to buy or use a service (Berry, Seiders, and Grewal, 2002). In the original work by Berry, Seiders and Grewal (2002), the authors argue that service convenience is essential for the service provider in developing service delivery to consumers. The researchers propose a relationship between service convenience and service quality, customer satisfaction and fairness. Their call for research in the area of service convenience is particularly relevant due to an increasingly dynamic and complicated business environment (Rust et al., 2004). In particular, with the advent of advanced technologies, new service offerings are created on a daily basis (Bitner et al., 2000; Meuter et al., 2000; Rust, 2006). Consequently, consumer experience and perception of service quality changes over time and across different contexts, and inevitably becomes a complex phenomenon (Anton et al., 2007; Namasivayam, 2004). Therefore, to maintain a competitive edge, marketers must ensure that they are on track in understanding and maintaining high levels of service convenience to address ever-changing customer expectations.Service convenience is appreciated differently by customers in various service settings. Berry, Seiders and Grewal (2002) agree that the various characteristics of service settings should have an impact on ways that consumers perceive service quality. In other words, service convenience in a retail environment would be valued differently than service convenience in a hedonic service experience, such as sporting or musical events (Hightower et al., 2002; Pons et al., 2006). While there is a wealth of literature in consumer perception of service design different retail settings (Bearden et al., 1998; Eroglu et al., 2005; Eroglu et al., 2003), surprisingly, little research exists to investigate the differences in service quality perceptions between hedonic and retail settings.Hedonic services consist of patrons of leisure services such as sporting events, movie theaters, and museums. Hedonic services can be either consumed individually or en masse by large groups of people (Ng et al., 2007) In contrast, retail service are not usually consumed by large of groups people rather by individuals or small groups of individuals. Retail services typically consists of patrons of services that are of more utilitarian value (e.g. dry cleaning, banking) (Hill et al., 2004).Hedonic service consumption has attracted a considerable amount of attention in consumer behavior research (Arnould and Price, 1993; Arnould et al., 1999; Celsi et al., 1993; Moisio and Arnould, 2005). However, in the services marketing literature, particularly as it relates to key service constructs such as customer service satisfaction, the servicescape, service quality, and service recovery, little is known (Hightower et al., 2002). A vast body of literature exists in the realm of the servicespace, including examinations of the physical service environment and social service environments (Arnould et al., 1998; Aubert-Gamet and Cova, 1999; Baker and Cameron, 1996; Baker et al., 2002; Bitner, 1992; Hoffman, 2003; Tombs and McColl-Kennedy, 2002). However, with the exception of a few studies, the social aspect of the service environment is not well understood. In particular, in the context of a retail setting or hedonic service consumption, it is natural for the presence of other customers sharing the same physical service environment to play a role in customer perceptions of service quality. Adopting the concept of the social factor from Brady and Cronin (2002), coupled with the concept of a social servicescape defined by Eroglu et al. (2005), Hightower et al. (2002), and Tombs and McColl-Kennedy (2003), it is proposed that the social servicescape has an impact on customer perceptions of service quality, with different effects in retail and hedonic service settings.While there is a significant amount of research in service quality, there is a paucity of research that focuses on the moderating roles of service convenience and social servicescape on consumer's perception of service quality in a hedonic setting versus a retail setting. In other words, we argue that consumer plays different emphasis on the role of service convenience and social servicescape in different settings. For example, the audience at a cinema would consider service quality as the process that facilitates and maximizes their experience during the movie. Hence the social servicescape would me more important than service convenience. At a grocery store, the customer would perceive service quality as logical product displayed, or efficient queuing system. Therefore, the service convenience is more important to the customer at a grocery store, and the ambience is more important to the audience at the cinema. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the consumer places different emphasis on service quality in both hedonic and retail settings in terms of service convenience and social service servicescape. The service quality concept is measured by three conventional dimensions: environment - interaction - and outcome).\nConceptual framework: As shown in Figure 1, consistent with the research of Berry, Seiders and Grewal (2002) and Seiders et al. (2005), it is argued that a moderating relationship exists between service convenience and customer perceived service quality. This study posits that service convenience, interacting with the three dimensions of perceived service quality, will impact customer perceptions of service quality. In addition, it is proposed that customer perceived service quality varies depending on what customers expect as the outcome of a service (Parasuraman et al., 1988). For example, in a retail environment, service convenience tends to be more important to customers as it facilitates the service process, and would eventuate in customers enjoying the benefits that expected from the service (Berry et al., 1988; Bitner, 1992; Zeithaml and Zeithaml, 1984). In contrast, in hedonic services, such as going to a sporting event or a concert, the ultimate outcome of such consumption is the total experience of the game and the quality of the performance (Ali et al., 2006; Berry, Carbone, and Haeckel, 2002; Hightower et al., 2002; Pons et al., 2006). To that extent, one would wonder whether service convenience plays the same critical role in perceptions of service quality across all contexts. Would service convenience play an important role in shaping customer perceived service quality in both retail and hedonic service consumption? Lastly, social servicescape is added to our proposed model. This concept is defined as the presence of other customers, the density of crowds and the interactions between customers (Hightower et al., 2002; Pons et al., 2006; Tombs and McColl-Kennedy, 2003). It is argued that the social servicescape has dissimilar moderating effects with the three dimensions of service quality. Furthermore, it is proposed that these effects are different in retail and hedonic service consumption. A conceptual model of these proposed relationships is depicted in Figure 1.\nHypothesis development: The aim of this study is to investigate the moderating effects of service convenience and social servicescape on the relationship between interaction quality, environment quality, outcome quality and overall perceived service quality. This study draws on Berry, Seiders and Grewal (2002) model of service convenience to hypothesize the relationship between service convenience and service quality. In addition, the model extends the social servicescape research by testing the moderating effects of social servicescape on each dimension of Brady and Cronin's (2001). The key argument we attempt to address throughout the hypotheses development process is that the moderating effects of service convenience and the social servicescape are different on the three dimensions of perceived service quality. In addition, it is proposed that these effects are different across retail and hedonic settings, with possible reversed or non-significant relationships. Therefore, following Seiders et al.'s (2005) approach for hypotheses development, this study uses both alternative and null hypotheses where appropriate[1].This section is organized as follows. We first hypothesize the moderating effects of service convenience and perceived service quality. We will then hypothesize the moderating effects of social servicescape and service quality. The key argument for our hypotheses is that we believe that in a retail setting, outcome quality is the primary dimension of customer perceived service quality[2]. Thus, service convenience and the social servicescape are more likely to have significant moderating effects on the outcome dimension than on the interaction or service environment dimension. Alternatively, in a hedonic service setting, interaction and service environment should have a greater impact on the customer's total experience and hence on customer perceived service quality. Consequently, service convenience and social servicescape are more likely to have significant moderating effects on these dimensions than on the outcome dimension of service quality.Service convenience\nResearch method: A mail survey was used to collect the data from customers who had visited a retail showroom and customers who had attended a concert. The data collection and sample recruiting process are reported below.Sample and data collection\nAnalysis and results: A series of regressions were conducted to test the model. Two separate analyses were undertaken for each study condition (retail or hedonic service setting) to test the study hypotheses:1. service convenience; and2. social servicescape.In all three equations, the models produced respectable R2. Specifically, the modeling of service convenience as a moderator yielded an R2 of 0.62 in the retail sample, and 0.60 in the hedonic service consumption sample. The social servicescape moderating model produced an R2 of 0.62 in the retail sample, and 0.57 in the hedonic service consumption sample.Service convenience\nDiscussion: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of service convenience and the social service servicescape on service quality in both hedonic and retail settings. We found supporting results for the majority of the hypotheses.Customer perceptions of service quality are proposed to be a function of interaction quality, service environment quality, and the quality of the service outcome (Brady and Cronin, 2001). This manuscript demonstrates that service convenience and social servicescape have a differential impact on customer perceptions of service quality. In addition, the results indicate that this influence is dependent on whether the service is delivered in a retail context or in a hedonic service setting.Moderating effects of service convenience\nManagerial implications: Dissimilar moderating effects were found for service convenience and social servicescape in retail and hedonic service contexts. Theoretically, our research contributes to a rich body of service quality literature. This study found that customers assign different levels of importance to service quality dimensions, depending on the context in which the service is delivered. Although it was not the focus of this study, this finding provides interesting insights and potential fruitful future research directions. The primary focus of this study is to examine the differential effects of service convenience and social servicescape in retail and hedonic service settings. In extending Berry, Seiders and Grewal's (2002) service convenience model, this study found that service convenience is not always valued by consumers in different service settings. These findings are consistent with the researchers' suggestion that service convenience may have dissimilar effects in across industries.The social servicescape is of critical importance in both retail and hedonic consumption settings. However, this study indicates that the moderating effects of the social servicescape is likely to differ between hedonic and retail settings. Specifically, the results suggest that a positive social servicescape enhances the perceived outcome quality in a retail environment, but not during hedonic experiences at a concert. Moreover, the social servicescape was found to enhance perceived service quality only under conditions when it co-occurs with service convenience and interaction quality in hedonic service consumption.Managerially, the results of this study suggest that retail stores should spend human and financial resources to enhance customer perceptions of the overall service outcome, while also considering what constitutes the service outcome in the consumer's mind. The service outcome in a retail environment can be reflected in reasonable waiting times, adequate staffing, and attention to the consumer when in the store. In addition, the results of this study suggest that size and composition of the group of other customers in the retail environment may serve as a cue considered by customers in formulating their overall assessment of service quality. Retailers may benefit by researching their target markets to identify the characteristics that their market segments identify with when shopping in their outlets. In turn, targeted marketing strategies can then be created to develop a more homogenous customer base that helps to reinforce customer identification with their particular shopping cohort. On the other hand, in hedonic service settings, the social servicescape appears to play its most dominant role when combined with the effects of service convenience. Management of venues where hedonic service consumption events occur, such as a sports stadium, musical theater or luxury resort should be mindful of the impact that the various dimensions of service convenience and social servicescape have on customer perceptions of interaction quality. Given the theoretical foundations of both service convenience and interaction quality, it is not unreasonable to expect that enhanced service convenience and social servicescape will result in higher levels of perceived interaction quality. Therefore, operators should mindful of decision, access, transaction, benefit and post-benefit convenience when developing service standards.A summary of the managerial importance of each service quality factor for retail and hedonic settings is shown in Table V. The rating of very important indicates the significant role a factor such as service convenience or social servicescape plays in consumer's perception of quality. The factor could negate of enhance their experience. A rating of somewhat important indicates that role a factor such as service convenience or social servicescape plays in consumer's perception of quality could vary depending on a particular service setting. Finally a rating of not important indicates that the role a factor such as service convenience or social servicescape plays in consumer's perception of quality is not significant. Thus we can see that to achieve positive service quality perceptions in retail, the service aspect important to manage is service convenience. Whereas in a hedonic setting, marketers need to manage the social servicescape to achieve positive service quality. This is consistent with the proposition of Ng et al. (2007) who indicate the importance of surrounding people, e.g. crowds for mass hedonic services.\nConclusion: This current research makes two contributions. First, while there have been numerous studies on the antecedents and consequences of service quality, there has been little investigation of the moderators of service quality. This paper has demonstrated the effects of two moderators; service convenience and the social servicescape in both retail and hedonic settings. The findings highlight the importance of contextual influences on service quality.The second contribution is the managerial insights provided by the study. The findings suggest that managers need to use different service management tactics used in retail and hedonic service settings. Specifically managers in retail settings need to pay more attention to service convenience to achieve service quality and managers in hedonic settings should concentrate on the social servicescape.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - While there have been numerous studies on the antecedents and consequences of service quality, there has been little investigation of the moderators of service quality. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effects of two moderators: service convenience and the social servicescape. The moderating effects are tested in two service settings: retail and hedonic (concert).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey of 270 customers at kitchen display showrooms and 320 concert-goers was undertaken. The results were analysed using regression analysis.\nFindings: - The results show support for ten of the 12 hypotheses. Service convenience moderated the relationships between perceived service quality and its three sub-dimensions (interaction, environment, and outcome quality), differently in different settings (retail vs hedonic). This supports the authors' general argument that the outcome dimension tends to be more important to customers in a retail setting, while interaction and environment quality dimensions tend to be more important in hedonic service consumption.\nPractical implications: - These findings suggest that managers need to use different service management tactics in retail and hedonic service settings. Specifically managers in retail settings need to pay more attention to service convenience to achieve service quality and managers in hedonic settings should concentrate on the social servicescape.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is the first to test the moderating factors of service convenience and social servicescape on service quality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigating the readiness of people in manufacturing SMEs to embark on Lean Six Sigma projects: An empirical study in the German manufacturing sector	[ "Six Sigma", "SMEs", "Human resources management", "Manufacturing strategy", "Lean Six Sigma", "Key success factors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organisations of different sizes and in a variety of sectors are constantly being faced with a growing competitive environment as well as relentless pressure from customers to maximise value in both products and services (e.g. Felsted and Smith, 2015). Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a business improvement strategy that has flourished over the last decade because of its promise of enhanced business performance and market capability. LSS has evolved through the combination of Lean and Six Sigma, both recognised as leading total quality management (TQM) tools for performance improvement in organisations with a proper infrastructure built on leadership and change culture (Dora and Gellynck, 2015; Assarlind et al., 2013; Wang and Chen, 2012; Choi et al., 2012; Hilton and Sohal, 2012; Atmaca and Girenes, 2013; Lee et al., 2011; Delgado et al., 2010; Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 2006; McAdam and Lafferty, 2004). LSS is now regarded as one of the most effective and disciplined business transformation initiatives available in strategic operations management as well as an effective top-down methodology for improving quality in both the manufacturing and service small- and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) and their larger counterparts (Kanpp, 2015; Isa and Usmen, 2015, Bhat et al., 2014, Algassem et al., 2014; Biranvand and Khasseh, 2013).\n2. LSS in manufacturing SMEs: It is evident from the literature that LSS is a process improvement strategy in which people play an important role. Their personal competence, vision and culture influence the readiness for embarking on LSS in manufacturing SMEs and therefore must be related to top management commitment as well as organisational resistance (Antony, 2014; Albliwi et al., 2014). The goal of LSS, similar to Six Sigma, is to focus on low hanging fruits and eliminate waste factors known as defects by accomplishing a near perfect quality level through the systematic removal of causes of the defects (Dora and Gellynck, 2015; Choi et al., 2012). LSS benefits from both Six Sigma and Lean by incorporating a focus on cost, process cycle time, delivery value and efficiency from Lean and Kaizen and sustainable and incremental process improvement and profitability from Six Sigma (Bamford et al., 2015; Holmes et al., 2015; Worley and Doolen, 2015; Atmaca and Girenes, 2013; Sarkar et al., 2013; Womack and Jones, 2005). At an operational level within the manufacturing sector, the LSS model aims to clarify the process of identifying opportunities, as well as reduce variability and improve the quality of the manufacturing process (Holmes et al., 2015; Thomas et al., 2009).\n3. Hypothesis development: 3.1. Core personal competence and readiness for LSS\n4. Research methodology: This section provides detailed insight into data collection, sampling and the data analysis techniques used within our research. All targeted German SMEs were from the manufacturing sector. The sampling method was purposive sampling where there was no sampling frame, but a specific sector or case study is targeted (Saunders et al., 2012). In this study seven German manufacturing SMEs were randomly selected from the Amadeus Database based on the criteria that they should have between 40 and 100 employees, sit within a substantial supply chain such as food, automotive or aerospace, have a relative longevity and be willing to participate in the study. There was also a necessity to cluster the organisations to make travel to them relatively easy. After careful consideration the research team identified two clusters, one in the north-west of Germany where three SMEs in the food manufacturing supply chain were selected and a further cluster of four SMEs in the south west of Germany where there was heavy manufacturing for the automotive and aerospace supply chain. Food manufacturing sector was selected to represent as perishable, low margin and high volume product (Bamford et al., 2015) in one side of the spectrome, whilst heavy automotive and aerospace manufacturing represents the opposite side of the spectrome. Each SME was initially contacted by the UK researchers to assess suitability for the study and then a visit to the companies was arranged. At the visit the research was explained to the senior team and the methodology and ethical consideration for data collection within their organisation was detailed. This involved a structured questionnaire (Appendix 1) to be given to all personnel within all seven organisations. The targeted population included directors, deputy directors, line managers, department managers, consultants and all employees from different departments including sales and marketing, purchasing, production, design, logistics and finance.\n5. Finding and analysis: Having circulated the survey to all 485 managers and employees of seven manufacturing SMEs in Germany by manual distribution, 121 responses were received. After an initial review of the returned questionnaires, nine were dismissed due to incompleteness. This left 112 valid questionnaires, representing 23 per cent of total workforce in these organisations. Figure 2 represents some descriptive statistics about departments, positions and experience of the respondents. It was observed that around 38 per cent of respondents were from production departments, while 11 per cent of the respondents were the senior executive managers. The rationale for having five years' experience intervals within the survey instrument relates to economic problems that challenged the industry and the EU five years ago. The majority of these organisations have tended to employ permanent labour with a small percentage using seasonal or temporary staff. Within the survey it was also found that only 13 per cent of the personnel had a higher education qualification, whilst 67 per cent of them had been educated below diploma level. These lesser qualified staff were mainly production personnel. The internal consistency and reliability amongst variables in each construct needed to be tested by calculating Cronbach's a (Calvo-Mora et al., 2014; McDermott and Prajogo, 2012). The result of the Cronbach's a analysis for all constructs of three human-related enabling factors was between 0.793 and 0.898 and therefore acceptable (more than 0.70).\n6. Research and practical implications: This research study has been undertaken through rigorous primary data collection in German manufacturing SMEs and has responded to the call for more empirical work to be done within the LSS implementation area of the literature (Shokri et al., 2014; Thomas et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2012; Antony, 2012). The results presented in this paper have concurred with theoretical research found in the literature that the most important LSS success and failure factors are top management commitment and resistance to change (Shokri et al., 2014; Thomas et al., 2014; Assarlind et al., 2013; Antony, 2012; Delgado et al., 2010; Desai et al., 2012; Choi et al., 2012; Jayaraman et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2011). In fact, this research study has emphasised the human behavioural-related aspects of these factors and more importantly revealed key human resource elements to support LSS implementation. This research is also congruent with the study of Bamber et al. (2014), Albliwi et al. (2014) and Tanik and Sen (2012) whose conclusions about the significant impact of culture, educational level and knowledge of statistics on the success of Six Sigma projects is seen as equally important in German SMEs.\n7. Concluding remarks and future work: This research study has been conducted through systematic empirical data collection which has investigated the human and behavioural factors identified as being critical when commencing LSS in manufacturing SMEs. This study has empirically demonstrated that human and behavioural factors are highly important when implementing LSS in manufacturing SMEs. Although some theoretical aspects of the LSS literature is confirmed, it is important to recognise that this study has taken this work further. In analysing the CSFs of implementing LSS within the context of German manufacturing SMEs it has moved beyond the technical and methodological focus to a highly challenging area of \"softer\" factors which many researchers would prefer to avoid investigating. This study has found that managers and their staff, with diverse quality and waste reduction visions, can be ready to embark upon an LSS implementation since our results show no relationship between people's vision and readiness for LSS. However, in the German sample it can be seen that it is necessary to enhance core personal competencies and the organisational culture of the business before even beginning to promote any LSS programme. Core values such as dignity, trust, goodness, loyalty, honesty, justice and respect cannot be ignored and addressing these aspects of culture must be prioritised in order to enable top management commitment and combat resistance to change. Nevertheless identifying these values is just the beginning and further detailed analysis of each individual element of core values (e.g. dignity, trust.) could be considered for future research studies. It is also essential that any preparatory work on LSS readiness is underpinned with an eagerness to work with statistical data that in many cases will only be achieved through education.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on three fundamental human-related behaviour factors associated with Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects in German manufacturing small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the readiness of people (managers and their staff) to commence LSS projects. These are core personal competence, strategic vision of the people and the organisational culture of the specific organisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a thorough review of the academic literature a set of hypotheses were constructed to examine the level of association between people's competence, vision and culture with LSS readiness within SMEs. This was done using correlation and regression analysis. Data collection were carried out in seven different German manufacturing SMEs involved in aerospace supply and agro-food manufacturing using a survey instrument.\nFindings: It was found that there is a strong positive association between the core competence of people and organisational culture with readiness for commencing LSS in the manufacturing SMEs studied. The core values of people, education level and the vision of making continuous quality improvement were identified as key variables in promoting LSS readiness in these manufacturing SMEs. This study indicates that these \"softer\" variables can be essential to successful LSS implementation and need to be explored further before undertaking the process.\nPractical implications: From the perspective of the implementers of LSS the results of this research could be of interest to different manufacturing SMEs intending to embark upon an LSS journey as it highlights the significance of human-related behavioural factors in the process. SME organisations may consider carrying out development or training with their managers and employees around personal and organisational values, addressing core competence and strengthening organisational culture in order to facilitate LSS readiness and enhance the prospect of its success.\nOriginality/value: It would appear that this LSS research has not been carried out within the German manufacturing SME context before and although discrete in nature has surfaced the \"softer\" variables of core competence of staff and organisational culture as important readiness issues to address when undertaking LSS. This integrated approach of human behavioural factors, organisational culture, LSS and manufacturing SMEs demonstrates the originality of the research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Continuous improvement: role of organisational learning mechanisms	[ "Continuous improvement", "Workplace training", "Performance measures", "Quality management", "Customer satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Quality management has become recognised as one of the key strategies for organizations to improve their productivity and international competitiveness and thereby meet the demands of customers (Chenall, 1997; Czuchry et al., 1997; Evans and Lindsay, 1996; Lee and Walden, 1998; Sambrook and Stewart, 2000; Spong, 1994). However, the literature reports mixed success of quality management programs and it is suggested that 60 percent to 80 percent of attempted implementations failed to meet their objectives (Lau and Anderson, 1998, p. 85). This high level of reported failure would be of concern to stakeholders given the considerable amount of resources that are invested in quality initiatives (Srinidhi, 1998). One of the biggest causes of failed quality initiatives has been a lack of management and employee commitment. Perhaps the greatest cost for an organization as a result of failure is the loss of morale or an increase in cynicism among employees (Dooley and O'Sullivan, 1999). Lau and Anderson (1998) suggest that for a quality program to be successful an organization needs to have: a strategy that guides the quality initiative; an infrastructure, such as a performance measurement and evaluation system, to monitor and control quality programs; and the necessary cues to encourage organizational learning.The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a survey of managers of Australian organizations certified to quality standard ISO9000. The survey was structured to seek the perceptions of managers on a range of issues in relation to their organization's quality initiatives. In particular, the focus was on the investigation of the role of organizational learning to support continuous improvement, and to identify the organizational attributes, in particular organizational learning mechanisms, for those organizations where management view the quality program as successful. The mixed success of quality programs as reported in the literature provides the motivation for this study.The paper is organized as follows: The next section provides a discussion of the quality management and organizational learning and associated links. This is followed by a discussion of the role of the performance measurement system to support continuous improvement. In the next section an outline of the research method is detailed. Then the survey results are discussed and are then followed by some concluding comments.Literature review\nThe research questions: Deming (1993) proposed a \"theory of profound knowledge\" and a key aspect of this theory is that the success of quality management efforts depends on the effective integration of various management sub-systems (Waldman, 1994, p. 33). Therefore, the maximum effectiveness of TQM may be dependent on whether the performance management sub-systems are consistent and integrated with continuous improvement sub-systems. Organization's seeking advancement must have a set of metrics to quantify both the efficiency and effectiveness of actions.It is argued that for a continuous improvement philosophy to be successful the organization must have in place both the commitment to learning and the control systems that are flexible enough to meet the changing needs of the business environment. The absence of such attributes may account for the lack of success of some quality programs. It is important for management to recognise the need to create the environment, which will encourage learning to achieve continuous improvement, and to have the MCS act as an organizational learning mechanism. As noted by Berling (2000) \"the task is not only to start the improvement process, but also to sustain it and to incorporate it into the normal part of everyday work\".The decision to apply a continuous improvement philosophy to all activities within the organization in itself implies a learning approach, as the organization would be focused on improving the way it currently operates its business. However, the learning must be nurtured and encouraged by the practices adopted within the organization. OLMs will be instrumental in developing the learning culture, and the form and extent of the adoption of OLMs will be a determinant of the level of success achieved by an organization in its continuous improvement endeavours. Therefore, the research questions emanating from this general proposition are:RQ1. What is the motivation for an organization to adopt a quality approach to its operations?RQ2. What are the characteristics of the organizational learning mechanisms used by quality-focused organizations to support continuous improvement?RQ3. What are the characteristics of the organizational learning mechanisms favoured by organizations with a more successful quality program?\nMethodology: The empirical research will focus on organizations that have adopted a quality focus as it would be expected that such organizations are more likely to have an operating philosophy of continuous improvement (Abraham et al., 1997; Terziovski et al., 2000). Organizations that have ISO 9000 certification were selected as such certification provides an independent third-party assessment that the organization has implemented a quality approach to its operations, at least in terms of the requirements of the quality standard; and the use of such organizations is seen in the research of others (Claver et al., 2002; Hendricks and Singhal, 1997; Llopis and Tari, 2001). Quality managers and finance managers were considered to be the most appropriate respondents as their work responsibilities would expose them to their organization's operating practices in relation to quality management and the use of control systems.Potential respondents were sourced from the publicly available on-line Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) database of certified organizations. A random sample, from each state of Australia, was selected comprising 500 organizations.Surveys were posted to both the Quality Manager and Finance Manager of each organization representing a mail out to 1,000 managers, and a follow-up mail out was undertaken two months later. A total of 16 questionnaires were received marked \"return to sender\" which left the potential for nine hundred and eighty four managers to respond. In all, three hundred and three responses were received representing a 30.6 percent response rate, and of these two hundred and seventy seven represented usable responses, resulting in a usable response rate of 28.2 percent. A usable survey was deemed to be one in which the respondent answered all but a few questions. To test for non-response bias an independent sample t-test was conducted comparing early and late respondents. The null hypothesis was posed that the samples came from the same population and for all characteristics, expect gender; the null hypothesis is not rejected at the 0.05 percent level of confidence. Further examination of this result shows that in the second mail out fewer males responded. However, this was not considered significant because of the high percentage of female responses overall.\nDiscussion: Profile of respondents\nDiscussion: The objective of this study was to identify the role of organizational learning mechanisms to support continuous improvement. In particular, a focus was given to the performance measurement system. The findings suggest that for a quality program to be successful the organization must have in place the commitment to learning and adopt supportive control systems flexible enough to meet the changing needs of the business environment. The absence of such attributes may account for the lack of success of some quality programs. As noted by Berling (2000):[...] the task is not only to start the improvement process, but also to sustain it and to incorporate it into the normal part of everyday work.In line with Evans and Lindsay (1996), Kaye and Dyason (1995), Kossoff (1993), Lillrank et al. (2001), Melan (1993), the findings indicate that quality has been embraced by respondents' organizations as a key competitive weapon to enable survival in the competitive market place. As noted by Butz (1995), Ehrenberg and Stupak (1994), and Bessant and Francis (1999) continuous improvement must be embodied within the strategy if it is to achieve the desired outcomes. Respondents identified that their organizations have focused their strategy on meeting customer needs and improving business processes, both of which suggest a strategy built on continuous improvement. This will be particularly important for a number of respondents' organizations, especially for the 42.3 percent of respondents who consider their organization's product/service is similar or inferior to competitors. This indicates that an opportunity exists for such organizations to improve their operations and close the performance gap thereby improving their position in the market place.The findings suggest that the quality program has assisted organizations in meeting the strategic objectives. For the majority of respondents (82.7 percent) performance has improved, with 75.8 percent of respondents noting an overall improvement in their organization's competitive position in the market. The majority of respondents (80.8 percent) did not consider that the quality program has had an adverse affect on profitability.Those organizations that have achieved or exceeded the desired quality outcomes have embedded quality into the organization's culture. This has been assisted by management ensuring that all employees are made aware of what quality means to the organization and by showing their own commitment to the quality initiative. It is interesting to note that respondents who rate their organization's quality initiative as less successful (\"fell short of expectations\") comment on the lack of employee commitment to the quality program. As noted in the literature, the loss of morale or an increase in cynicism among employees is a major factor in TQM failures (Beck and Yeager, 1996; Dooley and O'Sullivan, 1999).Therefore, respondents who perceive their organization's quality program as more successful consider that their organization has a culture that encourages both continuous improvement and learning. The learning environment is supported by a performance measurement system that assists in building the shared vision which is necessary for the learning organization (Senge, 1990). Performance measures are clear and consistent and support the strategic objectives of customer satisfaction. The relevance of the performance goals is strengthened by employee involvement in the goal setting process. Performance goals play an important role in assessing operational activities and employee performance. It could be argued that such organizations have become a learning community, whereby, as the individuals learn, the organization learns its way forward.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to explore the use of the performance measurement system as an organizational learning mechanism to support continuous improvement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper reports the results of a survey of Australian organizations certified to quality standard ISO 9000.\nFindings: - For those respondents who consider their organization's quality program to be successful, the findings indicate that such organizations have embedded quality into the culture of the organization, and have developed performance measurement systems as an organizational learning mechanism to support the continuous improvement initiatives.\nPractical implications: - The paper highlights the need for management to ensure that the organization's management control systems are structured to support continuous improvement initiatives.\nOriginality/value: - The paper explores the links between continuous improvement and organizational learning.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Debt risk analysis of non-financial corporates using two-tier networks	[ "Non-financial corporation", "Two-tier networks", "Risk contagion" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Forestalling and defusing major risks, keeping the bottom line of systematic financial risks without occurring is one of the focuses of government regulatory agency. In recent years, China's macro leverage ratio has been rising rapidly. Although there has been a steady state in 2018, as of December 2018, China's macro leverage was still above 250 percent. Accurately measuring China's current macro leverage ratio and its internal structure, targeted risk prevention and resolution have important and urgent significance.Non-financial corporate debt mainly includes bank credit and credit bonds. In recent years, the Chinese bond market has developed rapidly, and the balance of credit bonds has grown from 1.2 trillion a decade ago to about 21 trillion in the beginning of 2019. It is worth noting that while the size of the Chinese bond market is expanding, the number and amount of bond defaults are also growing rapidly. In 2018 alone, the number and amount of defaulted bonds have exceeded twice that of 2017. Compared with traditional bank credit, bond issuers need to comply with certain information disclosure regulations, which makes the market risk of credit bonds have strong linkage, especially the credit risk arising from default events is highly contagious (Edirisinghe et al., 2015). The threat of systematic risk to the financial system lies in its strong contagiousness. The harm to the national economy lies in the possible impact on the real economy. From this perspective, the risk of the credit bond market can be spread in the financial system through the mutual/joint guarantee between the issuers and the information transfer mechanism of the bond market. Since issuers of credit bonds are industrial enterprises, the financial risks in this market will directly impact the real economic activities. Therefore, focusing on the research and prevention and control of non-financial corporate debt risks will help to better prevent the risk of the real economy debt, and thus help maintain the stability and security of the financial market.The issuers of the credit bond, as the main market participants, forms a huge network with other companies through equity, debt, transaction, and guarantee relationships. If we study such a network from the perspective of risk contagion mechanism, the guarantee relationship between enterprises is an extremely important risk contagion path. At present, the external guarantee behavior of China's bond issuers has two characteristics.First, the average external guarantee ratio of credit bond issuers is at a high level. Higher external guarantee ratios expose companies to greater risk and weaken their ability to withstand sudden credit events. Second, bond issuers have formed a guarantee network with a large number of external companies through mutual guarantee or joint guarantee. Mutual guarantee or joint guarantee means that in the process of issuing bonds, each issuer adds mutual guarantee to each other's bonds to increase their credit ranking.When a crisis occurs, it is necessary to quickly and accurately identify the source of risk, the path of risk contagion, and key risk contagion nodes within the system to minimize potential losses. Previously, the academic community mainly used the interbank market as the object of systematic risk research. This is because banks dominate the financial system in China, and the banking system has a wide micro-transaction structure as the basic path of risk contagion. Local crises can easily be transmitted and amplified through this system and become systematic risks. However, research on the risk contagion model based on the interconnection network of the guarantee circle in the credit bond market is not sufficient. The framework proposed in this article has strong theoretical significance.The rest of the article is organized into the following parts. Section 2 introduces relevant literature on financial risk contagion and risk contagion network. Section 3 constructed the two-tier risk contagion networks model. Section 4 comprises the empirical analysis part. Section 5 summarizes the relative findings of the article and provides the conclusions.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Financial risk contagion\n3. Construction of the two-tier counterparty risk contagion networks model: This article uses complex networks to analyze the risk associated with debt in a non-financial corporation. 3.1 Definition of two-tier counterparty risk contagion networks\n4. Empirical study on non-financial corporate debt risk contagion: From the debt risk analysis of the government, residents, and non-financial corporation, it can be seen that the non-financial corporation debt accounts for 60 percent of China's total real economy debt, and the leverage ratio is 151.82 percent, much higher than the other two departments. The large repayment pressure makes the half of the new credit bond issuance funds used for repayment of interest in the current year. Therefore, this article will focus on the debt risk of the non-financial corporate sector and analyze the potential systematic risk issues in the non-financial corporate sector by using a regional sample. 4.1 Sample area\n5. Conclusion: The credit bond market not only has the individual risk of a single bond but is also a potential source of systematic risk. Specifically, bond issuers have mutual guarantees and joint guarantees for each other's debt; there are equity relations and transaction relationships between issuers; companies in the same geographical region and same industry are clearly relevant in the credit level and so on. When issuers form a guarantee circle through those guaranty relationship, local risks can spread through this network and become a potential source of systematic risk.The empirical evidence in this article supplements the existing literature in the following aspects. First, when researching inter-agency risk-contagion networks, the maximum entropy method is often used to estimate the real inter-institutional risk-contagion path. This article uses the real financial transactions between enterprises, including guarantees, debts, and equity relationships. This article also innovatively adds mutual insurance and information spillover risks to the network construction. Second, this article constructs a first-tier risk-infected network that only includes financial funds and a second-tier risk-infected network that includes information spillover risks separately. Later, it was found that the information spillover effect could change the risk infection network structure, thereby changing the micro-mechanism of risk contagion and accelerating the transmission of risk. Third, existing research often uses structural hole theory when identifying systematic financial institutions based on complex networks. This method uses metrics to rank the relative importance of the financial institutions directly, and only the network topology attributes are considered. However, after adding ERE to the relative ranking of the importance of the institutions, the results would be more reasonable and effective.Based on the above theoretical and empirical research, we have the following four points of recommendations in managing and controlling the risk correlation of non-financial corporation: (1) The expansion of the regional guarantee circle network should be controlled. External guarantees should be supervised more prudentially than the internal guarantees within the group. Unlike many risk contagion channels within a group, external guarantee is an important way to make the cross-industry and cross-regional risk contagion. (2) When identifying and supervising key nodes in risk contagion network, the regulatory authorities should comprehensively consider the indicators of the two dimensions including ERE and external relevance. (3) When the government plans to intervene and control the regional risks of non-financial corporation, they should pay more attention to those key nodes, such as the group's investment and financing platform. Theoretical analysis shows that the regional credit bond issuers' guarantee circle is an important contagion path for potential regional systematic risk outbreaks, but external liquidity support can help the system to restore equilibrium. The government can resolve risk spread as soon as possible by coordinating with financial institutions to provide external assistance. The existing guarantee network has the topological characteristics of the scale-free network, and the connection degree of some nodes far beyond general nodes. Therefore, assistance to the above key nodes can effectively prevent the risk spreading in the system. (4) Supervising prudently the disorderly external guarantees of small and medium-sized issuers. The empirical analysis shows that the key nodes in the network are often the connection hub between one sub-network and another sub-network. It is more effective to rescue the key nodes when regional risk events occur. Once such a risk-contagion network with scale-free attributes evolves into a random network, the contagion mechanism will be more diverse and the efficiency of external assistance will drop significantly. Previous study show that the small-world bank network structure with the same number of nodes has the weakest stability in the face of external impact, while the scale-free network structure has the strongest stability. Therefore, it is necessary to prudently supervise the disorderly external guarantees of small and medium-sized issuers (non-key nodes with less connectivity within the system), preventing the existing guarantee circle from evolving into a random network structure.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Non-financial corporate debt is one of the important sources of systematic risk in the real economy. Assessing a measure of systematic risk in corporation debt is currently a key challenge. In this regard, we propose a two-tier risk contagion networks model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Assessing a measure of systematic risk in corporation debt is currently a key challenge. In this regard, we propose a two-tier risk contagion networks model based on four dimensions: concept definition, data structure, risk contagion network construction, and risk measurement indicators construction. We take the Jiangsu bond issuer guarantee network as a sample area.\nFindings: Taking the Jiangsu bond issuer guarantee network as a sample area, we find that there is a strong correlation between the debts of non-financial corporation in China, and it is easy to become a potential regional systematic risk source. In addition, our empirical research also reveals that external risk exposure and node degree of network are two key indicators when identifying key risk-contagion enterprises.\nOriginality/value: The main contributions of this study are two-fold. First, this article proposes a two-tier risk contagion networks model to measure systematic risk in non-financial corporation. Second, this article describes the structure of the corporate risk contagion network.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An exploratory study of factors affecting undergraduate employability	[ "Employability", "University graduates", "Soft skills", "Problem solving skills", "Pre‐graduate experience", "Functional skills", "Academic reputation", "Employment", "Undergraduates" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: In the past 60 years, participation in post-secondary education has increased dramatically. Prior to the Second World War, post-secondary education was constrained to the societal elite that possessed the required economic capacity (Sutherland, 2008). However, following the Second World War, a combination of public policy and demographic shifts saw post-secondary education expand considerably in developed countries. For example, the number of degree granting post-secondary institutions in Canada expanded from 28 to 87 between 1918 and 2009 (Harris, 1976; Scott, 2006). Recently in Canada, undergraduate student enrolment has increased at a rate of approximately 3.1 per cent per annum, while graduate student enrolment has seen an even faster rate of growth (approximately 5 per cent since 2000; Statistics Canada, 2009). This increased enrolment has resulted in a significant increase in the number of credentials granted by these post-secondary institutions. By 2009, over 60 per cent of the working-age population in Canada held post-secondary education qualifications (Canadian Council on Learning, 2009).Despite the increasing participation rate in post-secondary education, not all university graduates obtain jobs that fully harness their skills and credentials. In fact, evidence suggests that one out of every five university graduates is overqualified for their job, working in a position that only requires a high school education (Li et al., 2006). In addition, labour market surveys indicate that the proportion of overqualified university-educated workers has been increasing over time (Li et al., 2006).One primary way to improve labour market outcomes for new university graduates is to ensure they have employability skills. Indeed, Wickramasinghe and Perera (2010) contend that these employability skills are critical for economic and social development. Moreover, from an employer's perspective, an educated and skilled workforce is vital to sustain a competitive advantage in the market (Lin et al., 2012; Batra, 2010; Hitt et al., 2001).Increasing our understanding of factors that influence undergraduate university students' successful transition into the labour market is critical, both to reduce the proportion of new graduates who are overqualified for their jobs, and to ensure that employers can recruit graduates who have the skills their organisations need to succeed in the twenty-first century knowledge-based economy. In a recent survey by McKinsey, 40 per cent of employers indicated that there is a significant skills gap between graduates and entry-level requirements. McKinsey concluded that \"there is an issue with education systems that fail to produce future workers with the kinds of skills required by today's organisations - let alone those of tomorrow\" (McKinsey and Company, 2012, p. 23).The relationship between education and employability[1] has been examined from a range of stakeholder perspectives, including university recruiters (Moy, 2006); faculty members (Aistrich et al., 2006); and employers (Finch et al., 2012). In addition, some researchers have focused on comparing perceptions of employability across stakeholder groups (Culkin and Mallick, 2011; Wickramasinghe and Perera, 2010; Nicholson and Cushman, 2000). For instance, studies have considered how employability is influenced by specific factors such as age (Van der Heijden et al., 2009b), pre-graduate experience (Gault et al., 2010; Gabris and Mitchell, 1989) and academic reputation and brand (Tas and Ergin, 2012; Alessandri et al., 2006). Generally speaking, employability is examined from one of two perspectives: the organisational perspective is concerned with the ideal organisational structures and processes that will contribute to an organisation's competitive advantage (De Vos et al., 2011; Nauta et al., 2009); in contrast, the individual perspective considers the factors that are required for individual success in the labour market (Van der Heijden et al., 2009a).Despite the attention paid to the relation between education and employability, researchers have argued that much of the research into employability factors is theoretical and prescriptive, and that there is a lack of empirical evidence supporting these theoretical propositions (Wickramasinghe and Perera, 2010). In addition, there has been a heavy reliance on case studies, which typically suffer from a lack of generalisability (Wickramasinghe and Perera, 2010). As a result, it is difficult to extrapolate or compare findings. Ultimately, scholars have identified a need for additional research that examines the transition of new graduates to the workforce (Holden and Hamblett, 2007). In this context, the current study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on the employability of new graduates from the individual perspective by empirically examining the relative importance of factors that recruiters evaluate when assessing new graduates.This paper is structured as follow: first, we review the existing literature on factors that influence undergraduate university students' successful transition from the classroom to the workforce. Next, we use the literature review as the basis for conducting a qualitative study that identifies the key factors considered by employers when evaluating new graduates. Following this, we extend the qualitative findings by conducting an empirical study that explores the relative importance that employers place on these employability factors, examining 17 factors individually and at a composite level of five categories. Finally, we present our contributions, limitations, and implications for future research and practice.\nLiterature review: Employability is a multi-dimensional construct that includes: the ability to secure first employment; the ability for an individual to transfer between positions at the same employer; and the ability to secure employment from a new organisation (Hillage and Pollard, 1998). De Vos et al. (2011) contend that employability incorporates both objective and subjective elements. In the current study, we identify employers' subjective perceptions regarding the factors that are important to the employability of new graduates.Previous research findings suggest that employability factors may be analysed at two levels (Bhaerman and Spill, 1988; Longest, 1973). The first level considers specific employability factors (e.g. listening skills, writing skills, academic performance). The second level condenses these factors into higher-order categories (e.g. soft-skills, functional skills). For instance, Finch et al. (2012) measured 46 individual employability factors relevant to 253 marketing practitioners and found that the 46 factors loaded onto seven higher-order composite categories. In Finch et al.'s (2012) study, the higher-order category \"meta-skills\" contained specific employability factors such as listening skills, professionalism, and interpersonal skills. These findings are similar to those suggested by Bhaerman and Spill (1988), who proposed three higher-order categories consistent with the US Department of Labour's Job Training Partnership Act: first, pre-employment and work maturity skills (i.e. labour market knowledge, initiative, professionalism); second, basic education skills (i.e. communications, analysis, and reasoning); and finally, job-specific skills (i.e. entry-level or advance functional skills of a field). While individual employability factors (e.g. writing skills) are important, there are benefits associated with grouping categories of related employability factors into higher-order categories. These categories are consistent with the approach taken by previous researchers, and they provide a parsimonious classification system for both employers and university educators who have a vested interest in increasing employability among university graduates.Next, we review the breadth of literature associated with employability. This section is structured based on five proposed higher-order categories soft-skills; problem-solving skills; job-specific functional skills; pre-graduate experience; and academic reputation. Within these higher-order categories, we review literature on 17 individual factors (indicated by italics).Soft-skills\nOperationalising employability factors: Phase One: qualitative interview study\nDiscussion: This exploratory study considers employers' views of the factors that are important for new graduates who are seeking employment. Based on qualitative and quantitative findings, we identified 17 individual employability factors that can be clustered into five composite employability categories. These findings contribute to the existing literature on employability by empirically examining how the extensive list of employability factors can be aggregated in a way that is both theoretically and practically meaningful. In addition, we examined how employers prioritise employability factors. Ultimately, these findings can be used to enhance the employability of new graduates, and should be considered by researchers and educators alike when reflecting on employers' hiring practices and preferences. In what follows, we address our key findings and practical implications as they pertain to the five employability categories identified in our results.Soft-skills: our results support a growing body of research that identifies soft-skills as one of the most important competencies employers look for when hiring new graduates (Finch et al., 2012; Chamorro-Premuzic et al., 2010). Indeed, of the 17 individual employability factors measured, five of the six highest ranked factors were from the category of soft-skills. This suggests that new graduates who demonstrate soft-skills (e.g. effective communication and interpersonal skills) will be more competitive in the marketplace than those who do not.These findings suggest that learning outcomes linked to soft-skills development should take priority in the development of both academic programmes (e.g. degrees or majors) and specific courses within these programmes. On the one hand, evidence suggests that, when it comes to soft-skills, there is an increasing gap between the content and skills taught in educational institutions and the needs of industry (Finch et al., 2012). These findings call into question the perceived value of traditional undergraduate education among these employers. On the other hand, soft-skills are a central learning outcome in many post-secondary programmes and disciplines. Taken together, this suggests that an employer's view of the competencies needed in new graduates is changing faster than academic programmes can adapt. Recall that the prioritisation of soft-skills in new graduates often transcends disciplines and working environments (Chamorro-Premuzic et al., 2010). Therefore, our findings suggest that, to be competitive, universities must emphasise the development of soft-skills within all of their programmes. This will ensure that graduates enter the workforce with the number one skill that employers want: soft-skills.Problem-solving skills: consistent with past research (e.g. Reid and Anderson, 2012; Stiwne and Jungert, 2010; Wellman, 2010; Fallows and Steven, 2000), in the current study employers identified problem-solving skills (e.g. critical thinking skills) as an important factor when assessing new graduates' employability. Second only to soft-skills, problem solving was considered a key skill employers assess when hiring new graduates. The current findings provide additional support for the notion that problem-solving skills are important across disciplines (Wellman, 2010), perhaps due to their strong predictive validity when it comes to job performance (Schmidt and Hunter, 2004, 1998). Taken together, the relatively high importance placed on soft-skills and problem-solving skills suggests that employers value skills that transcend specific roles and occupations, and place relatively less value on job-specific functional skills.Pre-graduate experience: the third most important category of factors, as identified by employers, is pre-graduate experience. Importantly, findings from both the qualitative and quantitative phases of the current study illustrate that employers view the learning opportunities inherent in co-op and internship placements as highly valuable for graduate job-seekers and their prospective employers. This finding replicates and extends previous literature demonstrating the importance of work experience for graduate employability (Gault et al., 2010; Callanan and Benzing, 2004).Job-specific functional skills: the next category identified as an important employability factor is job-specific functional skills. Within this category, three individual factors were measured: job-specific competencies, job-specific technical skills, and knowledge of software. Results demonstrated that these skills are not as important to employers as the previous three categories identified. To be a successful job applicant as a new graduate, technical skills are important but ranked intermediate to the other categories. Employers who have technical requirements understand that they may have unique software and/or technical processes that graduates may not have been exposed to in their studies. However, by selecting graduates with strong problem-solving skills, employers can ensure that it will be easy for their employees to learn these job-specific functional skills through training or on-the-job experience.Academic reputation: the final category examined in the current study was academic reputation (i.e. academic performance, programme reputation, and institutional reputation). Our results illustrate that, compared to the above-mentioned categories, employers place the least importance on academic reputation when hiring new graduates. In fact, of the four lowest ranked individual employability factors, three were measures of academic reputation. That said, these factors were still ranked above the mid-point on the scale, suggesting that employers do place some importance on them. These findings contribute to the relatively small body of literature on the relationship between academic reputation and employability. Interestingly, it appears that there may be a disconnect between the importance students place on academic reputation when choosing their post-secondary institution (Capobianco, 2009) and the relative lack of importance employers place on academic reputation when hiring graduates.Directions for future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The current study was conducted to increase our understanding of factors that influence the employability of university graduates. Through the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the paper explores the relative importance of 17 factors that influence new graduate employability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An extensive review of the existing literature was used to identify 17 factors that affect new graduate employability. A two-phase, mixed-methods study was conducted to examine: Phase One, whether these 17 factors could be combined into five categories; and Phase Two, the relative importance that employers place on these factors. Phase One involved interviewing 30 employers, and Phase Two consisted of an empirical examination with an additional 115 employers.\nFindings: - Results from both the qualitative and quantitative phases of the current study demonstrated that 17 employability factors can be clustered into five higher-order composite categories. In addition, findings illustrate that, when hiring new graduates, employers place the highest importance on soft-skills and the lowest importance on academic reputation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The sectors in which employers operated were not completely representative of their geographical region.\nPractical implications: - The findings suggest that, in order to increase new graduates' employability, university programmes and courses should focus on learning outcomes linked to the development of soft-skills. In addition, when applying for jobs, university graduates should highlight their soft-skills and problem-solving skills.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the employability of university graduates by empirically examining the relative importance of five categories of employability factors that recruiters evaluate when selecting new graduates.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
One reputation or many? Comparing stakeholders' perceptions of corporate reputation	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Stakeholder analysis", "Germany" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: \"If stakeholders are to feel and act positively towards a company, it will be in reciprocation for that company making a contribution to their lives\" (Lewis, 2001, p. 35). The combination of social and economic contributions that a firm makes to its different stakeholders is captured in its corporate reputation which often has been interpreted as a competitive advantage (Fombrun, 1996; Balmer and Greyser, 2003) and an important intangible asset of the firm (Hall, 1993; Dowling, 1994). The widespread interest taken in corporate reputation has led to a profusion of different conceptualisations (Dowling, 1988; Lewis, 2001; Wartick, 2002). As yet, no consensus has been achieved concerning the core meaning and the building-blocks of corporate reputation. However, there is agreement about the importance and variety of positive effects that result from a favourable reputation. For instance, customers are expected to become more loyal and less price conscious, highly skilled job applicants join the firm, investors provide capital more readily (Fombrun, 1996; Gardberg, 2001). These diverse resources contribute to the formation of one of the most complex and auspicious assets of a company that Low and Kalafut (2002, p. 109) claim to be \"the ultimate intangible. It's literally nothing more than how the organization is perceived by a variety of people\".De facto, all of the positive effects attributed to reputation are triggered by perceptions and attitudes of individuals and therefore originate from stakeholders' decision making and subsequent behaviour. Reputation is rooted in the aggregated perceptions of the firm's stakeholders (Bromley, 2002; Fombrun et al., 2000). Whether all types of stakeholders base their perceptions of reputation on the same fundamental set of dimensions is open to significant debate (Bromley, 2002; Fombrun et al., 2000; Gatewood et al., 1993). Broaching this issue leads to the question \"Do firms have one reputation or many?\" (Fombrun and Shanley, 1990, p. 254). The present paper aims at empirically investigating whether individuals who belong to different stakeholder groups use the same set of criteria when evaluating a specific firm's reputation.The paper is composed of five sections. In the following section, the major streams in the literature on defining and measuring reputation from a stakeholder perspective are presented. According to the context of the paper, corporate reputation is defined as a collective, albeit perceptional construct. Followed by the section that outlines the methodology. The empirical design of the studies which were conducted within three stakeholder groups, the results of interviews, and the conceptualisation of the reputation construct are presented. Major findings on the stakeholder relatedness of reputation are presented in the section \"Findings of the studies\" research implications and practical consequences for reputation measurement and management are discussed in the penultimate section. Finally, limitations of the present study and future research opportunities are dealt with in the last section.\nDefining and measuring stakeholder perceptions of corporate reputation: Corporate reputation defined from a stakeholder perspective\nMethodology: Design\nFindings of the studies: In a first step, it will be investigated whether perceptions of individuals belonging to different stakeholder groups vary concerning the overall reputation of the firm. Therefore, the ratings of the stakeholders on the single-item measure will be compared and tested for significant differences between the groups.A comparison of the stakeholders' perceptions of overall reputation is shown in Figure 2. It depicts the frequency distribution of ratings across the three stakeholder groups. Fombrun and Wiedmann (2001) suggest that employees rate reputation more positively than any other stakeholder group because of their comparatively high commitment and dependency on their employer, as well as their more detailed knowledge of the firm. This could in part be confirmed in the study. Employees hold a more positive view of reputation than consumers, but the highest ratings come from the group of private investors. The significance of these differences can be tested by a single-factor ANOVA. The hypothesis whether the variable \"reputation\" has the same means within the different stakeholder groups is tested (Hair et al., 2006). Variance analysis shows a significant result (F=38.1; p<0.001). The Duncan-test leads to three homogeneous subgroups that correspond with the three stakeholder groups. This means that the three stakeholder groups significantly differ in evaluating the overall reputation of the firm.In a second step, a similar procedure can be used to test for differences in the perception of the multiple facets of reputation. First, the formative measurement models are investigated to see which indicators are most important in determining stakeholders' view of reputation. Additionally, we investigate whether respondents belonging to different stakeholder groups vary in the number of reputation characteristics they evaluate in the survey. Finally, a cluster analysis is used to find out whether respondents' stakeholder status can be correctly identified by their ratings of reputation indicators.An evaluation of a formative measurement model is based on the weights and t-values of the indicators (Chin, 1998)[1]. In Table II, the resulting values are listed. Weights and t-values that are not significant at p<0.05 are marked in italics type. Although no stakeholder-related differences in the creation of reputation became evident during the qualitative studies, the quantitative study reveals some noteworthy discrepancies. In each sample, some indicators have weights below 0.1, five in the consumer and investor samples, four indicators in the employee sample. These findings might suggest scale purification. It has to be noted though, that the literature is inconsistent concerning the elimination of formative indicators (Bollen and Lennox, 1991; Rossiter, 2002; Helm, 2005). While circumventing comparability of stakeholder group results, scale purification leads to stakeholder-specific insights and parsimonious models.Concerning the consumer sample, scale purification would lead to a reputation model that includes the items \"quality of products\" \"value for money of products\" \"commitment for protecting the environment\" \"customer orientation\" and \"credibility of advertising claims\". Considering the main interests and expectations of consumers, these might well be the most important determinants in building a firm's reputation (Page and Fearn, 2005). Respondents were asked to rate the firm's general reputation, though, and not to take into account specific roles of the firm (for example, as producer of goods; Meffert and Bierwirth, 2002).In the employee sample, \"commitment for protecting the environment\" \"corporate success\" \"treatment of employees\" \"commitment for charitable and social issues\" and \"qualification of management\" are - in a statistical sense - the most important reputational attributes. Surprisingly, \"quality of products\" is not among these. On an absolute scale, this indicator is rated most favourably in each stakeholder group and, in reality, the firm's main mission is the unparalleled quality of all its offerings. The results of the study might suggest that employees doubt that product quality (still) is the stronghold of the firm.In the investor sample, \"quality of products\" \"value for money of products\" \"corporate success\" \"commitment for charitable and social issues\" \"qualification of management\" and \"credibility of advertising claims\" feature significant weights. Interestingly, \"financial performance\" was not amongst the sufficiently weighted indicators. Although this attribute is certainly of prominent interest to shareholders, the respondents might not have interpreted it as important in determining a firm's general reputation.Some stakeholders may have a more profound knowledge of a firm's reputation than others. Consumers, for instance, usually do not have detailed knowledge about numerous characteristics of a firm, leading to a rather narrow view of reputational attributes (Page and Fearn, 2005), whereas employees are better informed and consider more details when evaluating a company's reputation. This issue has also been investigated by Gardberg (2001). The author tests whether stakeholder group affiliation determines the kind and/or number of reputational attributes answered by screening answering patterns. The same procedure can be applied to the study at hand. Table III lists the percentages of items answered per individual in each stakeholder group (the items below average are marked in italics type). For example, the item \"treatment of employees\" has been rated by 470 of the consumers (61.7 percent), the rest chose the \"don't know\"-answer option. These observations stress that individual stakeholders base their evaluation of a firm's reputation on more or less complex and subjective schemata (Gardberg, 2001), which can at least partly explain the differences in indicator weights noted above. The most complex schemata were applied by employees, the most limited ones by consumers.Gardberg (2001, p. 31) also claims that \"The greater the number of stakeholder groups to which an individual belongs to, the greater his/her schema complexity\". In the study at hand, participants in the consumer, employee, and investor samples were asked whether they have multiple affiliations to the consumer goods producer and can therefore be characterised as \"hybrid stakeholders\". Among the consumers, there were nearly no (former) employees or shareholders. In the investor sample, 25.8 percent of respondents were also (former) employees. Within the employee study, 65.8 percent of respondents were also shareholders of their employer. As both, employees and shareholders, can be assumed to use the company's products, no separate investigation of possible overlap was conducted. However, it was analysed whether \"investoyees\" perceived the reputation of the company differently in comparison to those participants who were only affiliated to the company as employees or investors. An ANOVA showed no significant differences in the evaluation of the overall reputation or multi-faceted measure of reputation. Hence, there is no sufficient evidence to support the assumption that hybrid stakeholders have a more or less favourable impression of the company's reputation than \"pure\" employees or investors.In a next step, it was tested whether the three stakeholder groups may be distinguished as individual clusters, applying Ward's clustering method (Hair et al., 2006). Taking into account the information on all respondents' ratings concerning the ten indicators, a three-cluster solution results. Of the valid cases, 90.5 percent are correctly classified by a discriminant analysis (Hair et al., 2006). Subsequent cross-tabulation of the three clusters and stakeholder group affiliation shows significant, but weak correlation (contingency coefficient = 0.178). This means that the three clusters cannot be identified on the basis of stakeholder group affiliation to a statistically significant extent.The three stakeholder groups rate the ten reputational characteristics rather homogeneously. Summarising, these results do not provide sufficient evidence for differences in stakeholders' perception of reputational building-blocks. Stakeholder group affiliation does not sufficiently explain the notable, but insignificant, differences in reputation ratings shown in Figure 3.In a last step, an explanation is sought for the seemingly inconsistent finding that the single-item measure is rated heterogeneously by the three stakeholder samples, whereas the multiple-item measure does not show significant differences. This evident discrepancy might result because the construct of reputation is not totally explained by the ten indicators. The relationship between the single-item and the multi-faceted measures can be investigated in more detail (Figure 4). The R2 lies between 0.38 (employee sample) and 0.46 (consumer sample), which are acceptable values within the scope of PLS-modelling (Falk and Miller, 1992; Chin, 1998). Still, these values imply that there are additional determinants (or facets) explaining overall reputation that remained outside the scope of this study - in spite of the thorough scale development process. In that case, divergent findings concerning the ratings of single-item and multi-faceted measure are not inconsistent.\nDiscussion and implications: Discussion of major findings\nLimitations and future research: To date, cross-sectional studies of multiple stakeholder groups' perceptions of reputation have rarely been published but would of course, be necessary to gain further insights into stakeholder-specificity of reputational perceptions. Considerable effort is necessary, though, to determine and survey representatives of a variety of stakeholder groups within a cross-sectional design. As long as not all stakeholder groups are represented among respondents, the study results are biased and do not validly represent the collective construct of corporate reputation.As yet, most attempts to build reputation measures seem to focus on multi-faceted measures. The development of better measures calls for more research on the aggregation process that combines individual perceptions to form the collective construct of corporate reputation. Also, the weighting system behind the aggregation processes needs further attention to antagonise Wartick's (2002, p. 379) view that \"A weighting system really does little more than raise new issues relating to the weightings themselves\". Future projects should also aim at developing and validating single-item and multiple-item measures of overall reputation.The findings of the study imply that there are stakeholder-specific priorities in evaluating reputational criteria. Neither the stakeholder-specific evolution of reputation, nor the implications of possibly harmonic or conflicting reputations have been dealt with in detail in the literature yet (Davies et al., 2001). Therefore, it might be investigated whether divergent ratings between stakeholder groups do occur frequently, and to identify the reasons, and outcomes concerning reputational strength. Such focused research endeavours could indicate what a weak general reputation or variance between stakeholder-specific reputations mean for the achievement of the firm's goals, corporate performance, and its communicative functions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The firm's reputation is one of its most valued intangible assets. Scientific and managerial interest in corporate reputation grows steadily. Reputation management - one of the cornerstones of corporate communications - seeks to align communication with stakeholder groups as to prevent a fragmented reputation. As yet, little is known about the perception of corporate reputation amongst the different stakeholders of a firm. Comparative empirical evidence has remained scarce. The aim of this paper is therefore to raise fundamental questions about reputation: how it may or may not differ between stakeholder groups and how firms can take these differences into account when measuring and managing corporate reputation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A single-case, but very substantial, quantitative empirical study among German consumers, employees, and private investors of a consumer goods producer. Methods of data analysis include cluster analysis, ANOVA, and structural equation modelling using partial least squares.\nFindings: - The data analysis shows that the criteria applied by individuals belonging to different stakeholder groups in assessing corporate reputation are rather similar. Differentiation emerges in relation to actual perceptions of various reputational facets.\nPractical implications: - The findings have implications for building and interpreting the results of stakeholder-related measures of corporate reputation and for reputation management.\nOriginality/value: - The paper integrates different stakeholders' perceptions of corporate reputation within one empirical design and delivers insights into the relevance of adapting reputation measures to specific stakeholder groups.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of quality management tools and techniques: Case of Namibian municipal water distributors	[ "Quality management", "Tools", "Municipality", "Maintenance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Municipalities always find themselves with a challenge to deal with the maintenance of water supply infrastructure. Pipe breaks result in physical water losses which contributes to the generation of non-revenue water (NRW). Calculations suggest that more than US$14 billion is lost every year by water utilities around the world due to NRW (Kingdom et al., 2006). The World Bank recommends that NRW should be less than 25 percent of the total water produced. In many countries, NRW is up to 60 percent (Pearson and Trow, 2005). High levels of NRW are detrimental to the financial viability of water utilities and pose an extra burden on paying customers. Municipalities are therefore constantly sourcing for cost-effective and reliable maintenance methods. Literature advocates that the application of quality management (QM) tools has proven to be useful. QM tools are generally used to facilitate positive change and improvement (Goetsch and Davis, 1994). According to Quality America, Inc., there are close to 100 QM tools and they come in various forms, such as check lists, charts and graphs, diagrams and other analysis tools (ReVelle, 2003). According to Samson and Terziovski (1999), QM principles, techniques, processes and best practices have been proven effective in improving maintenance. However, past studies tend to focus mainly on the use of QM tools in production plants, e.g. Ford Motor Company, Phillips Semiconductor, SGL Carbon and Motorola (Gilbert, 1992). This study will investigate the extent to which QM tools are used in the maintenance of Namibian municipal water distribution infrastructure.\nLiterature review: Maintenance management\nResearch methodology: Interviewing is one of the many methods used for data collection in a study (Barath and Cannell, 1976). Kahn (1979) describes an interview as a purposeful discussion between two or more people that can help gather valid and reliable data relevant to the research objectives. According to Barath and Cannell (1976), structured interviews and in-depth interviews are two types of interviews which can be administered in a study. A carefully worded questionnaire is administered with structured interviews while in-depth interviews do not follow a rigid form. In the former, the emphasis is on obtaining answers to carefully phrased questions. Lincoln and Guba (1985) add, with structured interviews, the interviewers can deviate only minimally from the question wording to ensure the uniformity of interview administration, while in the latter, the interviewers seek to encourage free and open responses. Patton (2002) adds that in-depth interviews encourage capturing respondents' perceptions in their own words and are a very desirable strategy in qualitative data collection.\nFindings: Three municipal employees were interviewed from each of the 18 municipalities, distributed through three levels with:\nConclusions and recommendations: Based on the findings of the research, it is concluded that the application of QM tools in the maintenance function of Namibian water distribution infrastructure helps in reducing the generation of NRW and statistical literacy is synonymous with the use of QM tools.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding on the impact of quality management (QM) tools and techniques in water supply infrastructure maintenance and the generation of non-revenue water (NRW) by Namibian Municipal Water Distributors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews were selected as the primary data collection method, while secondary data were collected using document review and observations. In-depth interviews as primary method provided rich data and details on the subject matter from the respondents. Document review and observations provided a holistic perspective and understanding of the context within which the maintenance projects are handled by municipal water distributors.\nFindings: The study found that as the number of QM tools employed to analyze maintenance data increases, the generation of NRW by the municipality decreases. However, for the tools to be effective, they should cover applications such as problem identification, data analysis, process analysis, decision making, planning, quality control and statistical process control, this helped Namibian municipalities to produce low volumes of NRW. In contrast, municipalities using QM tools arbitrarily lead to high quantities of NRW generation.\nOriginality/value: The World Bank recommends that NRW should be less than 25 percent of the total water produced, while in many countries NRW is up to 60 percent. Developed economies have made efforts to reduce NRW but efforts are still at nascent stage in emerging economies. This is the first study providing evidences of QM tools application in maintenance process and effect on NRW.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Threshold concepts in entrepreneurship - the entrepreneurs' perspective	[ "Delphi", "Threshold concepts", "Entrepreneurship education", "Entrepreneur", "Pedagogical approach", "Practitioner perspective" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Entrepreneurship is an important factor in economic growth according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Entrepreneurship Policy Framework and Implementation Guidance, 2012), and higher education is regarded by the UK Government at least as an appropriate place for the development of entrepreneurship (QAA, 2012). Most higher education institutions now offer some sort of entrepreneurship classes ranging from extracurricular activities, to specialised optional and modules, as well as entire degree programmes. However, there is scant evidence of consensus regarding how best to educate students for entrepreneurship in higher education (Pittaway and Cope, 2007) or indeed what educating students for entrepreneurship really means. A general lack of research-grounded discussion on the quality of entrepreneurship education initiatives has also been highlighted (Bechard and Gregoire, 2007), particularly in relation to what makes pedagogical innovations effective.\nThreshold concepts: Threshold concepts may be described as \"conceptual gateways\" or \"portals\" that lead to previously inaccessible ways of thinking about something - particularly in the context of academic disciplines (Meyer and Land, 2005). These conceptual gateways may be recognised by their transformative, irreversible and integrative characteristics. In transforming the learner, they change the learner's perceptions, subjectivities and world view. There is a \"repositioning of the self\" (Meyer and Land, 2005), an ontological as well as a conceptual shift. This can often be uncomfortable and is sometimes resisted, so a threshold concept may also be characterised as troublesome. Mastery of a threshold concept simultaneously changes an individual's idea of what they know and who they are (Cousin, 2009). Such changes are likely to be irreversible, and are unlikely to be forgotten or unlearned. They are integrative in that they expose how other things can be related to each other. When individuals master threshold concepts, they can see the relationships between other important concepts in the subject discipline. Examples of threshold concepts have included precedent in law, depreciation in accounting, pain in physiology, irony in literary studies and entropy in physics (Meyer and Land, 2005).\nEntrepreneurship: Theories of entrepreneurship are full of paradox and uncertainty and necessitate a level of improvisation (Schumpeter, 1934). To add to the complexity, \"There are many entrepreneurships in terms of focus, definitions, scopes and paradigms\" (Murphy et al., 2006). However, if entrepreneurship is to be taught and curricula are to be developed which enable students to understand what it means to think like an entrepreneur, then it would be useful, to say the least, to identify a knowledge base for entrepreneurship.\nEntrepreneurship in higher education: Entrepreneurship education, the transformation of universities into entrepreneurial universities and the establishment of corresponding entrepreneurship education ecosystems are widely seen as a primary facilitator and catalyst of university collaborations with industry and government, and the source of development frameworks supporting knowledge spillovers boosting startup activity (Belitski and Heron, 2017).\nThe Delphi method: It is argued that a shared understanding of threshold concepts is critical and therefore a level of consensus, such as that achieved by the Delphi method, is invaluable to the identification of threshold concepts in any field or discipline (Barradell, 2013). The term \"Delphi\" has been extended over the years to cover a wide variety of types of group interaction (Linstone and Turoff, 1975). Most involve a group where the goal of the exercise is information (i.e. the exercise is an inquiry), the information being sought is uncertain the minds of the group and some pre-formulated systematic procedure is followed to obtaining a group output.\nThe approach for this study: This research adopts a constructivist paradigm where many realities are constructed from social and experiential bases that are local and specific in nature. The aim of this inquiry, adapted from Guba and Lincoln (1994), therefore is to understand and reconstruct concepts that are critical to thinking as an entrepreneur regarding reality as relative and socially constructed.\nFindings: An initial set of nine candidate threshold concepts was developed from the 17 interviews conducted (Table I).\nEntrepreneurship threshold concepts: Self-Efficacy - \"I can create value\"\nConclusions: In this paper, ways in which entrepreneurs think have been explored and, using thematic coding and a Delphi-style method with a panel of expert entrepreneurs, five threshold concepts have been identified that could be distinctive to entrepreneurship: self-efficacy, opportunity, risk, focus and impact. It remains to be seen if they are bounded and distinct, and not simply a list of activities entrepreneurs (and others) may engage in, or competencies that entrepreneurs (and others) demonstrate.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present research into the entrepreneurs' perspective of concepts critical to thinking as an entrepreneur, in order to inform enterprise and entrepreneurship course design in higher education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Taking a social constructivist approach, using a Delphi-style method, semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs were conducted, transcribed, thematically coded and analysed, and a list of candidate threshold concepts was drawn up. Two rounds of Delphi were conducted with the entrepreneur panel and consensus was reached on a final collection of threshold concepts in entrepreneurship.\nFindings: The threshold concepts identified are \"I can create value\" (or self-efficacy), \"I see opportunities\" (or opportunity), \"I can manage risk\" (or risk), \"I know what's important\" (or focus) and \"I take action\" (or impact).\nResearch limitations/implications: Entrepreneurship is generally regarded as an important factor in economic growth, and higher education is an appropriate place for the development of entrepreneurship. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding how best to educate students for entrepreneurship in higher education or indeed what educating students for entrepreneurship really means. Identifying threshold concepts in entrepreneurship using the lived experience of entrepreneurs is likely to open up new and more effective approaches to teaching this multidisciplinary subject area.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the call for more research-grounded discussion on the quality of entrepreneurship education initiatives, particularly in relation to what makes pedagogical innovations effective by suggesting five entrepreneurship threshold concepts. These entrepreneurship threshold concepts can be used to set out a structure for the design and (re)development of enterprise and entrepreneurship curricula, as well as enabling more constructively aligned assessments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Prospects for economic governance: resilient pro-poor growth	[ "Economics", "Africa", "Economic growth", "Forward planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Good governance has been emphasized as a prerequisite for sustainable economic development. It gives the highest priority to poverty reduction, human development, productive employment, social integration and environmental regeneration. The economic costs of poor economic governance are immense. The global financial crisis commencing in 2008 was triggered by subprime risk as a result of a failure of regulatory and professional governance. Projecting to 20 years from now, one of the major problems African economies may face is the creation of a conducive economic environment for resilient pro-poor growth. Although this seems to be a formidable challenge, future desired outcomes will depend on current actions through a careful examination of alternative scenarios and paradigms of economic governance. This paper elucidates possibilities of policy application to effectively govern the continent through the minimization of shocks as a means of attaining resilient pro-poor growth.\n2. Alternative scenarios shaping Africa's economic governance: History informs the future, which commences today. Today's actions will shape Africa in 2030 depending on how individual African countries view current challenges (short, medium or long term). Given the civil strife, political and economic instability, disease and poverty in several African countries, performance will be differentiated under these devastating burdens. To achieve equitable economic growth, sub-Saharan Africa countries will increasingly have to face paradigm shifts in their approaches to economic governance, trade and investment.A multitude of forces will help shape Africa's economic governance in the next 20 years: Indo-Chinese-Africa relations; China and India's role in Africa's economic governance; foreign aid; rates of economic growth; demographic changes; the role of the diaspora; conflict; the role of private sector and democracy.2.1 Trade\n3. The impact of alternative futures on pro-poor growth: Many governance measures can effectively promote resilient pro-poor growth, thus leading to improved human development and reduced poverty. First and foremost, good governance will promote peace, which is the foundation of growth. But other measures significantly include social empowerment and political participation; improving the provision of energy (see Figure 1); and promoting science and technology. Today's world also requires attention to the demands of adapting to climate change.3.1 Social empowerment/access to energy\n4. Potential responses: pro poor options: Rather than trying to engineer African societies to fit into foreign political models, new paradigms are needed that are better suited Africa. While promoting democracy domestically, it will be critical for African countries to develop conflict management techniques and practices so that initiatives to end civil strife come from African countries themselves. If peace is to prevail in Africa over the next 20 years, African countries must first ensure that they have properly functioning police and military establishments. Given Western sensibilities, the initiatives in this area must come from African countries themselves. African countries must also develop the ideas and initiatives to address civil conflict across the continent. Although external assistance will still be required, an Africa that can take firm initiatives in peacekeeping and conflict resolution will be in a position to ensure that the continent is relatively peaceful by 2030.Streamlining customs formalities and reducing registration costs will also reduce the cost of doing business and facilitate investment. Simplified labour legislation will encourage investment in highly labour-intensive sectors such as food processing, manufacturing activities and services. Such initiatives should be pursued and followed by all African countries as they all have the capacity and the room to considerably improve their business climate.By a large margin, public resources are insufficient to meet the enormous investment needs of the African continent. The development work of African governments and their development partners should therefore be focused on increasing private investment in regional and rural infrastructure. The World Bank, together with the African Development Bank, the Africa Infrastructure Consortium and the European Investment Bank, are working with other partners to raise Africa's energy access from the current 25-35 per cent by 2015 to 47 per cent by 2030. The Maputo objectives state that agriculture budgets should be raised to 10 per cent of public expenditure so as to increase the profitability of the sector (APF, 2007).Diversifying investment options for domestic and foreign investors calls for support for the development of capital markets - particularly at the regional level -- which will also contribute to macroeconomic stabilization and help to increase the accessibility of financing for the local economy. Alongside this, the financing of SMEs, women entrepreneurs, the poor and artisans requires more flexible access to commercial bank credit and a wider range of products and specific micro-financing initiatives. A number of African firms and banks are already accessing not only regional markets, but also international capital markets in order to refinance themselves. For example, one Nigerian bank successfully took out Eurobonds worth US$521 million in a single day, which was US$221 million more than it had hoped to raise when it launched the operation (APF, 2007).African countries must also empower women if they are to solve the demographic and health challenges they face. Rectifying gender inequality is essential for the acceleration of poverty reduction in Africa. Education offers an important example of lost opportunity. Gender empowerment can also spur greater competitiveness and productivity. Educated women delay marriage and tend to have lower fertility than those who are not. Women provide 70 to 80 per cent of household food production in sub-Saharan Africa (Brown and Kaiser, 2007). While farm plots run by women have been found to have 20- 40 per cent lower yields than those run by men when women receive the same levels of education experience and farm inputs as men they can increase the yields of some crops by 22 per cent (IFPRI, 2000). The education of women has powerful effects on nearly every dimension of development, from lowering fertility rates, to raising productivity and to improving environmental management (World Bank, 1996).The path to long-term and sustainable reduction in poverty lies with a vibrant private sector. In recognition of the key role the informal sector plays in sustaining economic growth, African governments should pay more than lip service to the establishment of an enabling environment for private sector activity, including targeted support to women managing small and micro enterprises that will enable them to expand and diversify output and graduate to the formal sector. One concrete action taken to demonstrate the will of African policy organs to develop the private sector is the decision by the Heads of State and Government of the African Union at the 2005 Abuja Summit to institutionalize the African Private Sector Forum (AU and UN, 2008. To achieve pro-poor growth in Africa the most important aspect of the private sector that receives greater attention should be the peasantry.Resilient pro-poor growth requires movement away from dependence on only a limited number of products, especially if those are unrefined raw materials. Specialization in one product can be a source of volatility and great instability to any economy. Diversification contributes to increasing the productivity of factors, stabilizing export revenues and strengthening investment. A study by Karingi et al. (2006) shows that the high growth achieved by countries like Mauritius, Morocco, Tunisia and South Africa is due to deepening diversification, leading to improvements in total factor productivity among other determinants\n5. Alternative dimensions: achievable and equitable future: Success in meeting the objectives of development and poverty eradication depends on good governance within each country. The lack of accountability \"undermines public faith in national institutions and leadership resulting to economic stagnation, political instability and social decay\" (Githongo, 2000). The expenditure tracking survey undertaken in Uganda in the mid 1990s provides a good example of a success story in improving public finance management through mechanisms designed to enhance accountability. It revealed that only around 15 per cent of the annual grant for capital expenditure was reaching primary schools between 1991 and 1995. Upon receipt of these results, the Government of Uganda launched a major campaign to publicize financial flows, including posting local allocation amounts on community bulletin boards. One result of this campaign was a 500-fold increase in the amount of the funds that reached primary schools: from the earlier low of 15 per cent to nearly 80 per cent of the grants that actually made it to their destination.Decentralization has the potential to enhance accountability by bringing government closer to the population it serves. While it has been famously observed that people in the village are just as dishonest as people in the city, a smaller community does often provide greater constraints on and sanctions against corruption. People may be in a better position to monitor the activities of politicians and local officials as well as the quality - even the existence - of publicly-provided goods and services. Alaska's \"bridge to nowhere\" is a recent well-publicized example. Slum improvement programmes in Bangladesh have benefited from public participation, with women especially benefiting. For both Africa and development partners (UN, 2006), good governance should entail actions at local, national and international levels with real commitment, on the one hand, and reliable support for implementing that commitment, on the other. Figure 3 illustrates comprehensively the link between governance and forces of economic growth giving strategies on the way forward.5.1 Work towards sustainable pro-poor growth\n6. Conclusion: In conclusion, it must be acknowledged that economic governance benefits - peace, innovation, prosperity, efficiency, choice and individual opportunity - issues we should all value and demand. But managing a prosperous economy involves pragmatic judgements about what more can be done to enable markets to deliver, and where exactly the roles and responsibilities of governments lie. Africa will not achieve sustainable economic growth without effective governance. The global evidence is clear that we can empower our people, address inequality, and achieve fairness and opportunity in our societies without compromising our openness and our long-term economic competitiveness. The challenge facing all African countries is to create a system of economic governance that promotes a process of decision making that directly or indirectly affects a country's economic activities or its relationship with other economies especially in a globalizing world. African countries will have to strive to reduce, if not eliminate altogether, the subversive impact of corruption in its economic activities, establish strong institutional frameworks and strengthen the administrative and technical capacities of its public administrators to achieve sustainable socioeconomic development. Governments need to look beyond the next election and promote integration into the global economy to stimulate trade and investment and spur private sector activity.Additional empirical research is necessary in order to develop and support some of the recommended alternative dimensions. We must demonstrate afresh that Africa can and will prosper if we recognize our strengths, plan our future, and provide for the upturn that will follow the current downturn in our economic and global fortunes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential of the present drivers of economic governance, trade and investment, and also to envision their intersections and cross-cutting impacts on poverty and human development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A general review is employed to highlight scenarios shaping Africa's economic governance and the magnitude of their impact on pro-poor growth. Potential responses are identified to address African vulnerabilities to poor governance and alternative dimensions to achievable equitable future are recommended for implementing those measures as a way forward.\nFindings: - The paper observes that changes to the policy environment should include reform in Africa's governance and policy processes by supporting participation by a variety of actors including the poor rural farmers and women among others.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A broader literature review to support some of the recommended alternative dimensions is needed.\nPractical implications: - The existing economic governance structure in Africa does not include stakeholders. Changes to the policy environment should include reform in Africa's economic governance and policy processes by supporting participation by a variety of actors including the poor rural actors (farmers and women) among other underrepresented groups.\nOriginality/value: - The paper uses foresight and futures in discussing alternative scenarios for economic governance as relatives to poverty reductions and human development.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Insights for luxury retailers to reach customers globally	[ "Fashion luxury consumption", "Corporate image", "Signalling theory", "Luxury retailers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, fashion luxury consumption has rapidly grown (Shukla, 2010, 2012). Fashion luxury retailers cater for the luxury needs of consumers. Gucci, Hermes, Rolex, Prada and Chanel are some of the prestigious fashion luxury retail stores that sell luxury goods and brands. These fashion luxury retailers do not operate their physical stores in all countries or states in geographically large countries. In such circumstances, they normally sell their branded merchandise through other retailers (Moore et al., 2010). However, the emergence of Internet technology has transformed retailing and distribution channels (Pentina et al., 2018). Due to the development of information technology, online shopping has become an important part of shopping for today's society (Beuckels and Hudders, 2016). In line with this trend, fashion luxury retailers also have widely adopted online selling (D'Arpizio et al., 2015).The main advantage of online selling is that fashion luxury retailers can now reach customers in other countries and regions where they do not operate physical stores under their retail store brand names. Two strategies that luxury fashion retailers may adopt to reach far away regions are enhancing their corporate image and opening showrooms. When customers purchase items online, since there are no face-to-face interactions between retailers and customers, they choose to trust the more reputable retailers; this influences their intention to purchase from online stores (Caruana and Ewing, 2010; Shankar et al., 2020). Corporate image is important for luxury retailers to reach customers through online stores, especially when the retailers do not have their own physical stores under their store brand name in the region where their customers live. However, it has not yet been investigated whether customers' intentions to buy fashion luxury products online vary depending on the degree of corporate image of the fashion luxury retailers (i.e. between the low and high levels of corporate image), particularly when the retailers do not operate their own storefronts in the region where customers live. This is a gap in the literature, which is investigated in Study 1.As indicated above, opening showrooms can also enhance the online purchase of fashion luxury items. Showrooming is a practice where consumers visit a physical store set-up to evaluate products firsthand and use other channels (mainly online channels) for potential purchases (Rapp et al., 2015). Therefore, showrooming operates hand-in-hand with online selling. In the context of fashion luxury consumption, consumers who buy luxury products and brands try to avert risk through their \"touch and feel\" experience, which they cannot fully recreate online (Hennings et al., 2012). Showrooming strategy allows luxury retailers to reach customers far beyond the geographical location of their origin (Eneh, 2015). However, it has not yet been studied whether customers' intention to buy fashion luxury products from the online stores of fashion luxury retailers increase when luxury retailers without storefronts in the region open a showroom there. It has also not yet been studied whether the purchase intentions described in this context vary depending on the corporate image of the retailer. The second study has been designed to investigate these gaps.This research paper has academic and practical significance. In terms of academic significance, online consumption behaviour towards fashion luxury retailers has not yet been investigated in the context where retailers do not have physical stores under their store brand name within customers' reach. Similarly, customer responses to the showrooming strategy of luxury retailers have not been sufficiently investigated. Our study suggests how luxury retailers could effectively use both online retailing and showrooming to reach customers in faraway regions. It is also important to note that our study applies the signalling theory in the context of online fashion luxury retailing, and articulates that fashion luxury retailers can use the corporate image and showrooms as signals to reduce customers' uncertainties. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on online fashion luxury consumption and multichannel retailing.Practically, the findings of this study are useful to fashion luxury retailers in terms of reaching customers in faraway regions. In recent years, the Western fashion market has almost reached a saturation point, and hence Western-based luxury fashion retailers are intensively targeting emerging markets. Such retailers can use the findings of this study to better understand how they can use emerging distribution channels, such as online retailing and showrooming strategies, to reach those customers.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Luxury retailers and online selling\n3. Method, analysis, and findings: Two scenario-based between-subject experimental studies were conducted. The first study examined H1 and the next examined H2, H3a and H3b. These studies are explained below. 3.1 Study 1\n4. General discussion and academic implications: Luxury retailers can reach customers in faraway regions through online stores. This study examines the effects of two strategies - enhancing their corporate image and opening showrooms - on enhancing customer intention to purchase from their online stores. Accordingly, two studies were designed and Study 1 showed that when fashion luxury retailers do not have stores in their store brand name in the region customers live, they have stronger intention to purchase from highly reputable and well-known retailers than low reputable retailers.Study 2 showed that when fashion luxury retailers open a showroom in the region customers live, customers form greater intentions to order the items from their online stores. However, low corporate image retailers gain more from opening showrooms than high-image retailers. Low corporate image fashion luxury retailers, such as those operating in a few countries in Europe (e.g. Patek Philippe and Kenzo), are not well known around the world. Hence, when these retailers open showrooms in regions where the under-tapped customers live, customers become aware of the retailer, gain trust in them and order from their online stores. However, the difference in the intention to order from the online stores of high-image fashion luxury retailers does not vary significantly between the conditions of operating or not operating showrooms. This might be because customers are already aware of the retailer, and hence they might have been previously exposed to their products and marketing offerings.Our findings contribute to the literature. Research on the purchase behaviour of online luxury consumption is still at a nascent stage (Liu et al., 2013). Very few studies have investigated the luxury consumption behaviour in online environments (Liu et al., 2013); such studies have been limited to comparing luxury consumption between online and offline environments or focussing on value co-creation in the online luxury consumption context (Quach and Thaichon, 2017). Online consumption behaviour towards luxury retailers has not yet been investigated in the context where the retailers do not have physical stores within the geographical regions of customers' reach. We proposed two strategies to facilitate luxury retailers in reaching more customers around the world, particularly the wealthy and elite classes of customers in developing countries: building their corporate image and opening showrooms. We examined these strategies using two scenario-based experimental studies. The findings have shown that both strategies are effective in enhancing the intention to purchase luxury items from retailers' online stores; however, opening showrooms is more useful to less reputable luxury retailers. These findings contribute to the literature on online luxury consumption behaviour and multichannel retailing.Our study also contributes to deepening the current understanding of signalling theory in the context of online luxury consumption. This theory posits that customers use some signals to evaluate the attributes of marketers, service providers and retailers (Heinberg et al., 2018). When luxury retailers, especially those based in Western countries, target luxury customers in faraway regions, such as those in developing countries, they may use their corporate image and showrooms as signals to their customers. Specifically, when retailers do not have stores widely available in the region where customers live, they can use their corporate image and showrooms as signals to reduce customer reluctance and uncertainties.\n5. Practical implications: We have suggested two strategies to luxury retailers that can enhance customer intention to purchase items from their online stores, namely, building their corporate image and operating showrooms when the retailers do not have a wider store network or physical presence in the region or city where customers live. Both strategies are capital-intensive; therefore, retailers need to carefully invest in the strategies that are most effective for them.The findings showed intention to purchase from the online stores of high corporate image fashion luxury retailers will not significantly increase by opening showrooms in the region or city that customers live; hence, it is advisable for the retailers to build their corporate image, rather than opening showrooms in the region. They should consider allocating more resources to building their corporate image. For example, they may contribute to CSR activities, such as community empowerment programs and environmental protection measures. They can also organise publicity campaigns; more specifically, they may organise these campaigns and programs in the region or city where their target customer group lives.However, the findings showed that the intention to purchase from low-image luxury retailers' online stores significantly increases when the retailers open showrooms in the region or city where customers live. This finding indicates that for low-image stores, opening showrooms is a more effective strategy than building corporate image; hence, they should consider allocating more resources to opening showrooms.\n6. Limitations and future research directions: The findings of the study are subject to a few limitations that future researchers may resolve. First, this study has been carried out in India. Hence, the proposed study should be replicated in other countries for better generalisation. Next, the sample was limited to an online consumer panel supplied by a marketing research company; however, administering the survey through other means, such as shopping mall intercept, might be useful in increasing the external validity of the results.This study opens avenues for further research. First, future researchers can carry out the current study for multiple products aside from watches, which will enhance the generalisability of the findings. Next, the literature shows customers' acculturation to Western culture affects their responses to Western fashion items and Western fashion marketers and retailers (Zupan et al., 2015). This suggests that future studies could consider acculturation to Western culture, a psychographic moderator variable.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether customer intention to purchase luxury products from the online stores of fashion luxury retailers varies depending on their degree of corporate image and showrooming strategy, when the retailers do not have a wider store network in the region where customers live.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two scenario-based, between-subject experimental studies were conducted to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: Findings showed that both building corporate image and showrooms are effective in enhancing customer intention to purchase from online stores, without widely increasing the number of stores; however, building corporate image is more useful to high corporate-image retailers and showrooms are more appealing to low corporate-image retailers.\nPractical implications: The findings are useful to fashion luxury retailers, particularly those based in Western countries who seek to target customers in other regions, particularly those in developing countries.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature on online fashion luxury consumption and multichannel retailing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Community participation in rural Ecuador's school feeding programme: A health promoting school perspective	[ "Developing countries", "Rural areas", "Health promoting schools", "Participation", "Nutrition", "Community" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Persistent malnutrition and the increase in overweight and obesity are a source of concern in rural areas of Ecuador, where the poverty rate reaches 43 per cent (INEC, 2015). Schools are considered an important site for interventions addressing these issues, and also a site where children can learn about health in general and healthy eating in particular. The global WHO's health promoting school (HPS) initiative (World Health Organization, 1998) has shown promising results when it comes to capitalizing on synergies between health and education with a view to improving both health and education outcomes (Langford et al., 2014; Macnab et al., 2014b; Wang and Stewart, 2013). The HPS initiative is based on a theory which defines health promotion as a dynamic and inextricably interconnected interplay between healthy public policy and health education (Green and Tones, 2010). A HPS is determined as a school that combines health education curriculum, whole-school environment (e.g. school's policy, psycho-social and physical environment and values) and community action to improve health status as well as health-related learning and competence development of students. Within this paradigm, the school feeding programme (SFP), which is in the focus of this study, can be seen as an important policy with a potential to contribute to health promotion and health education at school.\nStudy design and methods: This study is part of a wider research on school-based health education and promotion in connection with the SFP, in three farming hamlets of Ecuador with high poverty and malnutrition levels. These hamlets are mainly dedicated to agriculture; they belong to parishes of maximum 5,451 inhabitants, with 58.2 to 85.4 per cent living below the poverty line (INEC, 2010). No household has potable water, which is one of the main basic needs variable which is used as a measure of poverty in Ecuador (Feres and Mancero, 2001).\nFindings and discussion: The three communities which took part in the study are similar in size and number of households, but are moderately different in their poverty level and school organization. Table I presents the basic information about the communities and the schools involved in the study. (To guarantee anonymity, communities are labelled as Community H, S or M, and, accordingly, schools are also labelled as School H, S or M.)\nConcluding reflections: The findings show that although the concept of participation could be criticized for not fully acknowledging either the complexities of internal community imbalances or focussing on shared visions beyond the school, the meaningful participation of the parents and community members can be linked to a school's empowered stance towards the SFP so that it is better tuned to local conditions, priorities and systems of meaning. The study further shows that the school headmaster or sometimes even a single teacher plays an important role in promoting or hindering community and parent participation in the shaping of the school health promotion and education practices. However, when participating is not valued or prioritized by the community, even a motivated teacher or headmaster may not be able to single-handedly encourage members to become engaged. The findings also point to the relevance of the geographical space, the socio-economic composition of the community, and the existence of non-governmental associations and organizations for the establishment of a culture of community participation, ownership and engagement with the school work. It seems that the closer the community works together on wider issues of common concern, the more likely its members will be willing to be engaged with school health and education practices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate concerning community participation in school-based health education and health promotion, with regard to food and nutrition.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on empirical data generated over the course of one year of fieldwork in three rural communities and schools in Ecuador, the study examines community participation related to the implementation of the school feeding programme (SFP) in rural schools in Ecuador. The conceptual framework for the study is shaped by the concepts of student and community participation within the health promoting school (HPS) paradigm.\nFindings: The findings help identify and portray different forms of community participation, ranging from a total absence of meaningful participation, though very limited, to consequential participation determined as community influence on the SFP practices to meet the community needs, priorities and systems of meanings.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study shows that the meaningful participation of the parents and community members in small rural schools in a low- to middle-income country such as Ecuador can be linked to an empowered stance towards the SFP so that it is better tuned to local conditions, priorities and systems of meaning. School leadership, geographical characteristics and internal community organization seem to influence how participation is valued and enacted. Challenges remain in the interpretations of community participation, including counter- and non-participation of members.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to an understanding of policy implementation and the implications of a HPS approach to health education and health promotion in small rural schools.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of anti-consumption lifestyle on consumer's attitude and purchase intention toward commercial sharing systems	[ "Environmental protection", "Sharing economy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In countries that have sustained economic development at a certain level, most consumers lead a consumption-oriented lifestyle and pursue happiness through consumption (Lee and Ahn, 2016). However, consumers have recently begun to exhibit consumption trends such as minimalism (cultural flow pursuing simplicity and brevity) and small luxury (Hwang, 2014; Ahn et al., 2016). The minimalism consumption trend can be seen as a type of anti-consumption in which one voluntarily simplifies their lifestyle and consumption habits with personal and social motivations. Small luxury is a consumer behavior that involves pursuing satisfaction through small-scale consumption in an economically constrained lifestyle, but it also refers to the phenomenon of purchasing an expensive product or service in order to obtain satisfaction or enjoyment under a non-severe economic burden (Hwang, 2014).\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 The types of anti-consumption lifestyle\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Samples and procedures\n4. Results: 4.1 Reliability and validity\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Summary and discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study describes anti-consumption lifestyles and the effects of such lifestyles on the acceptance of commercial sharing systems (CSS). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the different types of anti-consumption lifestyles and their influence on consumer's attitudes and purchase intentions toward CSS, and to verify the moderating effect of the variety-seeking tendency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Structural equation modeling is used with data collected from 537 consumers. The chosen types of CSS are the corporations of Socar (a car sharing service in Korea) and Airbnb (a global accommodation sharing service).\nFindings: The results indicate that the anti-consumption lifestyles consist of frugality, voluntary simplicity, environmental protection, small luxury and tightwadism; anti-consumption lifestyles affect the acceptance of CSS; and the effects differed according to the variety-seeking tendency. These results suggest that anti-consumption lifestyles differently influence consumer's behaviors toward using CSS, and there is a moderating effect partially depending upon the variety-seeking tendency.\nOriginality/value: The contribution of this study is that it verifies the different types of anti-consumption lifestyles and their effects on consumer's attitudes and purchase intentions toward CSS, which is an area that has remained unexamined in the literature. Marketers will be able to use the knowledge obtained herein on the various types of anti-consumption lifestyles to motivate consumers to use sharing services, and will also be able to establish a consumer strategy in sharing business practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Commemorating Chandler through the lens of his revisionists	[ "Business history", "Management roles", "Management history" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Professional historians tend to be ambivalent about one of the prime historical phenomena of our time: the desire to commemorate [...] Commemorative self-exploration is a confrontation with what we don't like to be confronted with: the fact that occasionally we behave in utter contradiction to what we regard as our identity (Runia, 2007, p. 313).The most significant event in the history of any discipline is its founding (Perkins, 1989; Schwartz, 2001). In our collective representation of the history of management-and-business, one of the key founders of our discipline is Alfred D. Chandler (John, 1997). His studies are commonly viewed as the decisive and crucial events that established the foundations and later shaped the rise of our discipline (McCraw, 1988). By ascribing the founding significance to the work of Chandler, we categorize his studies as the originating events that have contributed to making our management past meaningful (Spiegel, 2007). These originating studies have become recognized as seminal contributions and they have become reference points to the current shared understanding of our discipline (Lazonick, 1991). In addition, they have become reference points for our commemorations, which are the \"evaluative acts of chronicling that celebrate and safeguard the ideal\" (Schwartz, 2001, p. 377).To most of us who follow the evolution of management history, the iconography and content of Chandler's studies embody our collective understanding of The Visible Hand explanation for the rise of modern multidivisional enterprises during the industrialization of the US economy. But when commemorating Chandler and marking the significance of his works, we refer not only to the brilliance of his content contributions but also to the context of Chandler commemorations. While Chandler and the content of his works belong to the past, our motives for their commemorations resonate with the context of our present disciplinary concerns, such as how to treat revisions of Chandler's work. In the context of commemorating Chandler through the lens of his revisionists reviewed in this paper, we focus on those aspects of Chandler's originating studies that are less conducive to consensus among some management and business historians of our generation (Kleinberg, 2007).The purpose of this paper is to commemorate Chandler through the lens of his revisionists. First, we review the history-and-theory literature to provide the essential conceptual underpinnings for commemoration of Chandler and revisions of his works. Second, we use this conceptualization to develop a guiding framework to classify key Chandler revisionists. In conclusion, we discuss some implications of these disparate revisionists' views for commemorating \"Chandler in a larger frame\" (Langlois, 2004, p. 355).\nConceptual foundations for commemoration of management historians and revision of their works: Commemoration is the complement of the burial [...] by burying the dead we create, not our future, but our past (Runia, 2007, p. 325).Management history reflects not only collective memory of all management disciplines, but also collective memory of itself as a sub-discipline. In general, our collective memory is a collective representation of the past, but it \"only manifests itself in the actions of individuals\" (Kansteiner, 2002, p. 180). When we individually attempt to historicize our shared memory about Chandler and his works, we are building connections with our own selves, our fellow management historians, and our past. The event that has the power to foster and aggregate these individual agencies is a commemoration event, which brings about the meaning of the past. The fostering effect of commemoration as shared collective memory is strong because it is best communicated at the level of profession. Through commemoration, our shared memory acquires collective relevance for our professional community of management students and management historians.Commemoration can be likened to the resettlement of Mnemosyne (the goddess of memory) to the home of her daughter Clio (the goddess of history). When fostering the need for this resettlement of memory to history, we as management historians should sometimes demythologize the past to extract the meaning of the historical work for the future. One way to demythologize the past is to normalize history through revisionist practice. As revisionists, historians act not only as historiographers but also as memorialists that reenact, reconstruct, and recreate management traditions as constructors of collective memory. Typically, revisionist management historians promote new ways of viewing the past - the ways that question the established orthodox perspectives. These new ways focus not only on \"what happened in the past\" but also \"how it is transferred and narrated in the present\" (Antoniou, 2007, p. 102).How we engage in the revision of Chandler's works is a historiographical choice. For skeptical revisionists, making a choice is more deconstructive, while for critical revisionists it is a more constructive interpretation of the established \"facts\" about Chandler's findings. Here, it should be noted that historiographical choices are the interpretive choices of individual revisionists rather than the \"historiographically recovered past\" (Gorman, 2007). Some of these choices become, over time, established as central to certain historical traditions, as they offer new interpretations (Hughes-Warrangton, 2007). Such revisions of the accepted choices of findings and/or interpretations reflect the \"contingent entanglement between historiography as influential and as merely factual\" (Gorman, 2007, p. 24). In the following section, we develop a classifying framework for choices of Chandler's revisionists.\nClassification of Chandler's revisionists: While Chandler's champions have creatively elaborated on his stage model and explanatory scheme, his critics have fixed the spotlight on anomalies in his account. Some of these critics have been recent Ph.D's intrigued by the disjunction between certain features of Chandler's analysis and their own research. Others were established historians troubled with normative implications of Chandler's findings. A few contended that Chandler understated the significance of the managerial revolution; others that he exaggerated its import. All agreed that there were important phenomena that Chandler's analysis failed to explain. Their task in short has been basically one of revision (John, 1997, p. 180).Our classifying framework for choices of Chandler's revisionists is shown in Figure 1. The horizontal dimension is the revisionists' view of the firm - managerial/Chandlerian or entrepreneurial/Penrosian. In the managerial (Chandlerian) view of the firm, the focus is on the use of productive resources within the control of the firm. In the entrepreneurial (Penrosian) view of the firm, the focus is on the development of productive resources (Lazonick, 2002).The vertical dimension reflects the extent to which Chandler's findings should be reinterpreted. Those who suggest an incremental reinterpretation of Chandler's works are champions who point to deficiencies in Chandler's method or critics who point to the anomalies between Chandler's framework and their research. Those who suggest a significant reinterpretation are skeptics that question Chandler's fundamental assumptions or opponents who reject Chandler's findings (John, 1997).These dimensions of categorizing revisionists and analyzing their claims profile the four foci of revisionists' choices (champions, critics, skeptics, and opponents), shown in Figure 1. To each of these four foci of Chandler revisionists' lens, we have allocated the most representative works of Chandler's revisionists.Focus 1\nImplications and limitations: Commemoration is a phenomenon of historicizing the \"dead\" past to separate it from the \"living\" tradition (Runia, 2007, p. 314).Historical sources of management ideas and practices are the intellectual mirrors that reflect what we know about the effective management of organizations. Frequently, these reflections take the form of seminal works that are the monuments and pillars of management history, which along with their authors we desire to commemorate. Specifically, in this paper, we have attempted to commemorate Chandler and his seminal works through the lens of his critics and revisionists.Our analysis of the Chandler revisionists' lens indicates that all of the four foci (champions, critics, skeptics, and opponents) contribute both history and memory facets to our desire to commemorate the great contributions of Chandler (Nora, 1997). The revisionists' collective memory of Chandler's works can be considered \"live\" because it is embedded in the current understanding of how management, strategy, structure, and capabilities develop and evolve. However, the actual history of Chandler's works is \"dead\" because both we and the Chandler revisionists can only imagine and hypothesize how organizations were truly managed many decades ago. Therefore, by blending both our own and the revisionists' memory and history of Chandler's works, we are in a way commemorating and constructing the past of our discipline. The main implication is that we can reflect how our shared memory of Chandler's works is sometimes subject to revisionist interpretation, while the actual history of Chandler's works is what is always perpetuated about them.The main limitation of our analysis of the Chandler revisionists' lens is that it is focused only on the functional perspective. To include the critical perspective, we need to use a broader framework such as the one proposed by Rowlinson et al. (2007), which includes more ideological \"managerialism/anti-managerialism\" and \"mainstream/radical\" dimensions. With the use of this critical framework our commemoration of Chandler and his works through the lens of revisionists, who are critical and skeptical of Chandler's findings, would be very atypical for the mainstream management history perspective. Namely, most management historians would expect any commemoration of Chandler's works to take the form of glorification, celebration, and affirmation. In other words, the mainstream commemorations are typically biased and focused on the things of which we are proud and neglect the things that may benefit from updating and revision. But critical management historians would claim that not all of us are proud of Chandler's The Visible Hand because we have not addressed Cooke's (2003) question of whether we are concerned with Chandler's (and our) silence about management during the slavery period in the USA. This is an uneasy question to respond to because \"to the extent we don't like to face behavior that is at odds with our identity, commemoration tends to get stuck in a state of mind in which we, as commemorators, consider ourselves as being slightly but fundamentally, different from the ones who did the things we commemorate\" (Runia, 2007, p. 317). However, critical management historians are right that we need to address this question and attempt to develop an understanding about why it has been avoided fro so long. Perhaps, the best way to face this question is to view Cooke's revision of Chandler as an inclusive part of commemorating Chandler's works and legacy.One approach to this inclusion is to examine critical revisionists of Chandler's work - particularly those who research management ideology. Management ideology is a rationalization of managerial authority that entitles manages with the discretion to pursue practices that they deem appropriate for the success of an organization (Barley and Kunda, 1992; Gantman, 2005). A critical approach to management ideology is based on an assumption that the role of management in an organization is based primarily on the logic perpetuating the wider societal ideology rather than on logic of economizing on organizational resources and activities that is espoused by Chandler (Czarniawska-Joerges, 1988). The proponents of critical management ideology, which claim that, on ideological grounds, Chandler downplayed the role of labor in organizations, include Jacoby (1985), who argues that workers do significantly shape managerial policy in Chandlerian industries, and Lazonick (2002), who emphasizes the historical transformation of the labor process. These critical revisionists indicate that revisions of Chandler's works should be derived not only from Chandler's \"commissions of history\" but also from his \"omissions of history.\"\nConclusion: Truth is daughter of time (Acar et al., 2003, p. 1247).In this paper, we have commemorated Chandler by putting him analytically in the larger frame of his revisionists. We have performed this analytical act by taking both functional and critical perspectives. In this way, we have revealed Chandler's \"commissions and omissions of history\" as meaningful and constitutive parts of the past of our discipline.By commemorating not only Chandler's historical contributions but also his historical commissions and omissions, we the living management historians thus re-experience our discipline's past through the imprint that Chandler's legacy has left as our professional heritage. One part of this legacy and heritage are Chandler's outstanding studies that we will always remember and treasure. The other part of this legacy and heritage are the revisions of Chandler's works. These revsions have certainly added much to our understanding of management. They have been instrumental in facilitating both our understanding of and the subsequent development of those ideas first suggested by Chandler.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to commemorate Alfred Chandler, a truly outstanding business historian, through the unique lens of his revisionists.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - By developing a classifying framework, Chandler's revisionists is analyzed based on the extent to which they critique Chandler's interpretation of the role of managers in large organizations.\nFindings: - The revisionist critiques of Chandler's works is traced and examine how they can contribute to the intent of commemorating Chandler and his works.\nPractical implications: - The most relevant revisionists of Chandler's works are highlighted in a manner that might be valuable for the understanding of how Chandler's revisionists can be interpreted within both functional and critical paradigms.\nOriginality/value: - The unique contributions of this study is its focus on providing a specific form of commemoration through the lens of Chandler's revisionists and thus putting \"Chandler in a larger frame\" of management history.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A four quadrant strategy for improving government performance in Ras Al Khaimah	[ "Government", "Strategy", "Continuous improvement", "Integration", "Excellence", "Quality awards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Quality award models such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the USA, the European Quality Award in Europe, and the Deming Prize in Japan provide an effective framework to evaluate quality programs and improve performance (Zhang et al., 2000). Most excellence models (EMs) and national quality awards (NQAs) help promote quality awareness (Mavroidis et al., 2007) and measure the level of organizational excellence (Talwar, 2009). A UNECE (2004) report mentioned that quality awards (EMs/NQAs) are being used in 77 countries. A COER (2010) report lists 96 countries where excellence awards are used. The awards are mostly based on the MMBQA and the EFQM models (Gouthier et al., 2012; Tan et al., 2003). Loffler (2001) states quality awards have become an important benchmarking instrument for public and private sector organizations. Jacobs and Sucking, 2007, Al Makahleh (2011) and George et al. (2003) indicate that the EFQM model is commonly used for self-assessment in local governments.\nMethodology: The methodology of this paper is unusual as it mixes the experience of the authors with theory and literature. The first and second authors are, respectively, the senior consultant and the director general of SSPGE. The authors hereby present the integrated strategy developed and implemented by SSPGE in order to improve government performance in RAK. This paper first presents this improvement strategy along with the relevant literature, and then it outlines the results of its implementation.\nImprovement strategy: It is part of the mission of SPPGE to enable government departments to implement international standards of excellence. A four quadrant strategy was developed in order to pursue this mission (refer to Figure 1), and to translate concepts of quality and excellence into actions.\nAward categories: The award categories are used to provide individual and collective guidance and motivation for performance improvement. The categories support and complement one another. The framework for the award categories is shown in Figure 2.\nExcellence projects and initiatives: A number of excellence project and initiatives were implemented in order to support the implementation of the award criteria. These projects and initiatives include documenting, timing and improving processes, conducting surveys on employee satisfaction, service quality and transformational leadership styles, mystery shopping, restructuring, service quality agreements, performance contracts, organizational performance system, and monitoring performance online. The employee performance and reward system was probably the most effective initiatives undertaken by SSPGE. Thiagaragan et al. (2001) and Beatham et al. (2005) suggest that linking of performance management with EFQM excellence model usage would be a key issue in improving the integration of the EFQM excellence model into an organization. Reward and due recognition for improved performance by any individual, section, team, or department is an important element of a quality improvement program (Dale, 1999). Das et al. (2008) and Brown et al. (1994). indicate that companies must develop formal compensation systems to encourage, evaluate, reward and recognize the individual or team effort for quality enhancement and improved customer satisfaction. Though, collective incentives positively influence effectiveness and productivity (Bullock and Lawler, 1984; Trent, 2004), Shaw and Schneier (1995) found that organizations that rated themselves as very successful did not eliminate, nor dwarf, individual rewards in favor of collective rewards. In fact, team motivation methods in business still tend to work best when the reward recognizes individual contributions (Heneman and von Hippel, 1995).\nTraining and coaching: Training is one of the most important factors for successful TQM implementation (Das et al., 2008; Bowen and Lawler, 1992; Ishikawa, 1985; Powell, 1995). It is found to be a TQM key success factor by a number of authors (Jabnoun and Sedrani, 2005; Huarng and Chen, 2002; Eng and Yusof, 2003; Bayo-Moriones and de Cerio, 2001; Bou and Beltran, 2005). The EFQM model considers people to be the most important asset of the organization. Indeed, people development and involvement is one of the eight concepts of the EFQM model. SSPGE provides training programs to all government departments. Key players in the quality journey were the main targets of the training programs. Management development programs were organized for top and senior managers. Special training programs and coaching sessions were also organized for quality coordinators, leaders of the criteria of excellence, and human resource coordinators who led the implementation of the employee performance and reward system. Members of the quality teams and particularly quality coordinators were given courses on training for trainers so that they can train their colleagues. They were also given training to be internal assessors. SSPGE encouraged government department to organize their own training programs and helped them select the best training proposals.\nConsultations and continuous monitoring: Consulting services are highly important for economic success in general and for the success of quality implementation in particular (Craciun, 2013). The effectiveness of some consulting experiences has, however, been questionable (McLachlin, 2000); Shapiro et al. (1993) suggested that consultants create a truly interactive process with the clients, and accept more responsibility rather than side step it. SSPGE recognizes the importance of consulting services in insuring the success of government departments in implementing the criteria of excellence and their supporting projects and initiatives. Training programs were therefore followed up with consultation services. In order to increase consulting responsibility, excellence experts form SSPGE were assigned as internal consultants in the various government departments. These internal consultants were advised to maximize their interactions with the leaders of the government departments. The senior consultant also provides consulting services at SSPGE facilities and during site visits to the various departments. Recognizing the importance of monitoring improvements, regular meetings with quality coordinators, criteria leaders, and HR coordinators were also organized, and progress reports were demanded by SSPGE. An online system also was used to monitor performance. SSPGE also helped government departments select other providers of consulting services.\nResults: The average total score of the self-assessment conducted in 2007 was 154. There was an initial plan to have another self-assessment in 2008. The projected average score for 2008 was 204. This projection assumes a fifty point increase as a result of the action improvement plans that were developed based on the self-assessment. The four quadrant strategy described above was intended to speed up the pace of improvement. The average total score for the 2008 government excellence award was 311.0. This indicates a huge improvement from the self-assessment score in 2007. It was also 106 points higher than the initially projected score of self-assessment for 2008. This is particularly interesting because self-assessment scores may have been inflated while the assessment of the submissions was more objective because it was conducted by external EFQM certified assessors. The average score for 2012 was 414 indicating a 33 percent improvement in four years. This shows that the four quadrant strategy succeeded in bringing about significant performance improvements. This success is further highlighted by the fact that government departments that performed better in the excellence initiatives such as transformational leadership styles, service quality, performance contracts, had higher EFQM scores.\nConclusion: Quality awards are expected to improve performance and competitiveness (Tan, 2002). The EFQM excellence model is widely used by NQA's (Tan et al., 2003). This model is widely recognized and a valid measure of excellence (Talwar, 2009) and an effective framework for improving quality (Pakdil, 2010). Little work has been done on the strategy of government excellence programs. This case presents a four quadrant strategy that was successfully implemented by SSPGE. This strategy is based on the basic concepts of EFQM excellence model. The four quadrants of this strategy are: first, award categories, supporting projects and initiatives, second, supporting training and coaching, and third, consulting and monitoring. This strategy helped government departments in the Emirate of RAK improve their performance significantly. The 2012 average score of government departments was 414 which is within the range of the EFQM four star rating of organizations recognized for excellence[2]. This demonstrates that the four quadrant strategy resulted in a relatively fast and huge improvement particularly that the average result of self-assessment was 154 in 2007. This paper provides a case for integrating theory and practice, as the award categories were based on the quality literature and the EFQM concepts in particular. This paper provides some guidance to government awards that can be adapted for achieving performance improvement. It can also be adopted by large organization in their pursuit of excellence. Future research may consider an empirical investigation of the relationship between the various components of the strategy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Quality awards played an important role in improving quality in private and public organizations. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated four quadrant strategy adopted by Sheikh Saqr Program for Government Excellence (SSPGE) for improving government performance in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaima (RAK) in the United Arab Emirates.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology of this case is unusual as it mixes the experience of the authors with theory and literature. The first and second authors are, respectively, the senior consultant and the director general of SSPGE. The authors hereby present the integrated strategy developed and implemented by SSPGE in order to improve government performance in RAK. This paper first presents this improvement strategy along with the relevant literature, and then it outlines the results of its implementation.\nFindings: The use of the four quadrant strategy helped government organizations in RAK achieve as successful launching of the government department award based on the EFQM excellence model. The average total score for all government departments was 311.0 in 2008. This indicates a huge improvement from the self-assessment score in 2007. It was also 106 points higher than the initially projected score for self-assessment in 2008. The average score consistently increased and reached 414 in 2012 indicating a 33 percent increase from 2008.\nPractical implications: This paper outlines a four quadrant strategy that was successfully implemented by a government excellence program. This strategy can be used in other government excellence programs. It may also be adapted for use in large public and private organizations.\nOriginality/value: Most researchers focus on excellence strategies in organizations while this case addresses the strategy of an excellence program. This case also shows the importance of integration between the various awards categories, projects, and activities organized by the program. It also presents a successful case of linking activities of the program to the theoretical concepts of quality and excellence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of additive manufacturing on aircraft supply chain performance: A system dynamics approach	[ "Performance measurement", "Simulation", "Additive manufacturing", "Supply chains", "Aerospace industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The additive manufacturing (AM) approach has captured the interest of both academia and industry in the last few years (Gao et al., 2015; Schniederjans, 2017; Long et al., 2017). It is estimated that the AM industry will reach $21 billion by 2020 (Forbes, 2015). AM is expected to revolutionise manufacturing enabling the reconfiguration of supply chains (SCs) towards more localised processes (Baumers et al., 2016; Bogers et al., 2016). AM, a digital technology, uses CAD files to create three-dimensional (3D) components with intricate geometries, by joining material layer upon layer (Gebler et al., 2014). This layered manufacturing principle and the absence of tooling requirements enables the replacement of several conventional manufactured parts and sub-assemblies with a single integral part. The complexity of traditionally manufactured parts is directly interrelated with the costs associated with the production and value-adding activities such as packaging, labelling and warehousing (Lindemann et al., 2012). The freedom of design AM offers facilitates the production of both highly customised and optimised products, assisting companies to adapt to changing trends in technology (Atzeni and Salmi, 2012). While many believe that AM adoption could provide a higher degree of SC performance compared to conventional manufacturing (CM), the extant literature lacks robust evidence. There is an evident lack of studies on implementing AM technologies and on industry characteristics especially favourable to AM (Khorram Niaki and Nonino, 2017a).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 AM\n3. Research methodology: To explore the impact of AM implementation on aircraft spare parts inventory management, the research conducts a thorough review of the existing literature in the context of both aircraft spare parts inventory management and AM implementation. The literature review supports identifying current inventory management problems in the aircraft SC. To study the impact of AM on SC performance, a comparative study follows an SD modelling approach. SD models for CM and AM implemented spare parts inventory management systems are developed and compared. The secondary data required for developing SD models were collected from the academic literature and publically available aircraft company reports as shown in Table AI.\n4. Analysis and findings: 4.1 Scenario development\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Conclusion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of additive manufacturing (AM) implementation on aircraft supply chain (SC) networks. Additive and conventional manufacturing spare part inventory control systems are studied and compared, revealing insights into SC performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A leading global commercial airline's SC network data are used to model the research problem. A system dynamics simulation approach is followed, drawing out insights for managers.\nFindings: A significant improvement in SC efficiency is observed through the implementation of AM, rendering it a worthwhile investment for global SCs. AM helps to balance inventory levels, and increase responsiveness while decreasing disruptions and carbon emissions in the supply networks.\nPractical implications: The paper offers guidance on the adaption of AM in aircraft SCs and AM's impact on spare part inventory systems.\nOriginality/value: The study provides robust evidence for making critical managerial decisions on SC re-design driven by a new and disruptive technology. Next-generation SC and logistics will replace the current demand for fulfilling material products by AM machines.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hiring discrimination against transgender job applicants - considerations when designing a study	[ "Transgender", "LGBT", "Field experiments", "Audit study", "Correspondence study", "Experiment design", "Hiring discrimination", "Resume experiment", "Student cohorts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Transgender issues have never been under so much scrutiny. The transgender community, which has always been relatively small (Flores et al., 2016), has in recent years faced unprecedented attention, both positive and negative, by politicians, the media and workplaces. Trump's ban on transgender service members serving in the military, and multiple states' proposed \"bathroom bills\" (which attempt to block transgender people from using bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity) have garnered much media attention, and both criticism and praise from many advocacy groups. Workplaces, often in response to their LGBT employee networks or to external NGOs, are more frequently drafting and enacting transitioning policies and transgender-specific inclusion practices. Newspapers, magazines and websites dedicate many pages to celebrities with transgender, genderqueer, and nonbinary identities, styles, children or causes.However, despite all this attention, academia - or at least certain domains within academia - has lagged behind. The business, management and economics literatures have barely broached the subject of transgender people; little research has been conducted on the careers and workplace experiences of transgender employees (Collins et al., 2015; McFadden and Crowley-Henry, 2016; Pepper and Lorah, 2008), and issues relating to transgender employees are in many cases subsumed (and therefore often minimized or ignored) under the broader LGBTQ grouping (McFadden, 2015). Quantitative research in particular is lacking (Law et al., 2011; McFadden and Crowley-Henry, 2016). With more people between 18 and 24 years old identifying as trans than in any other age group (Flores et al., 2016), organizations will be increasingly tasked in forthcoming years with ensuring that their workplaces are inclusive recruiters and employers. To do that, however, they must first be able to access evidence-based, empirical research that paints a true picture of the transgender employee's experience. Allowing the narrative to be constructed, reconstructed, twisted and wrought by popular media and politicians is therefore problematic.In addition, there are multiple issues that are unique to the transgender community that do not affect cisgender (non-transgender) lesbian, gay or bisexual people, such as physically transitioning, socially transitioning and the aforementioned bathroom issues. Transgender people also face higher homelessness and unemployment rates than cisgender people (Drydakis, 2017). While discrimination is a problem faced by each subgroup of the LGBTQ community, the exact type of discrimination differs from group to group. Hiring discrimination, the focus of this paper, is a topic that has recently been studied in relation to lesbian and gay job applicants, in a number of different geographic, cultural and organizational contexts (e.g. Ahmed et al., 2013; Drydakis, 2009; Tilcsik, 2011; Weichselbaumer, 2003). Experiences of hiring discrimination have been recorded in many surveys of transgender participants (e.g. Badgett et al., 2007; Grant et al., 2011; McNeil et al., 2013; FRA, 2014; James et al., 2016, Leppel, 2016; Valfort, 2017), but only a very limited number of empirical studies, with mostly small sample sizes, have been conducted to quantitatively measure the level of discrimination against transgender job applicants (e.g. Bardales, 2013; Make the Road New York, 2010; Rainey and Imse, 2015; Winter et al., 2018). In his review of research on sexual orientation labor market outcomes, Drydakis (2019) highlights the need for more research on labor market outcomes for transgender people.Part of the reticence to study transgender hiring discrimination may come from the relatively tiny size of the population and its associated perceived importance in comparison to other marginalized groups; in other words, it may not appear as pressing an issue as, for example, discrimination against females or ethnic minorities. Another reason, however, could be due to the complexity of the scenarios one must try to parse when conducting studies of this type; in effect, it appears to be too difficult a subject to even try broach. The very concept of \"transgender\" is, for many societies and many individuals within those societies, a relatively new or novel consideration, despite the long history of non-cisgender identities within multiple geographical, cultural and religious arenas.This article attempts to serve as a response to both of these possible misgivings, and as a research agenda, to hopefully fuel future research in this area. In relation to the complexity of the topic, the paper endeavors to break the process of measuring hiring discrimination against transgender job applicants into its most fundamental parts, and in this way to act as an introduction to experiments of this type for relative neophytes, while also providing detail specific to this under-researched population for both new and experienced scholars alike. In relation to the possible perceived insignificance of this topic relative to similar research with larger marginalized populations, the fundamental importance of studying this vulnerable population, and in particular measuring discrimination against them with an aim to address it more comprehensively, is discussed. This paper is thus part review and part research agenda, bringing together the extant relevant literature on transgender and other minority populations from previous years in order to outline what can and must be done in the forthcoming years.The rest of the paper is structured as follows. Firstly, the methods by which one may conduct research on this topic (including correspondence tests, in-person studies and recruitment experiments using student cohorts) are discussed. Then, the paper follows a macro-/meso-/micro-categorization to explore the various factors that should be considered when designing a study exploring this topic; at the macro-level, the legal climates in which a study may be situated; at the meso-level, various relevant aspects of the industry and roles focused upon; and at the micro-level, factors specific to the transgender population and to the individual job applicant that should be considered in a test on hiring discrimination. Figure 1 depicts this framework and structure. The structure used in this paper therefore follows the experiment design process itself - from initial conception and larger choice of method to the particular tweaks and customizations a researcher wishes to add to their study. Where appropriate, reference is made to existing studies that measure hiring discrimination, to provide exemplars that can help guide understanding of the experimental design process. Lastly, the conclusion summarizes the article's main points and discusses the implications for future researchers and for practice.Before that, a note on terminology. As well as being a descriptive label in itself, the term transgender is often seen as an \"umbrella\" term that includes any identities that do not conform to traditional characterizations of gender, including genderqueer, non-binary and agender (Collins et al., 2015). For simplicity, however, this paper uses transgender to refer only to transmen and transwomen, but it is hoped that the paper will also be of use those studying identities with the broader trans umbrella group. In addition, while it more acceptable, inclusive and common to simply refer to transgender people in relation to their gender identity (i.e. man or woman), for the purposes of differentiating between cisgender and transgender job applicants in an experiment design, the terms trans male/trans man and trans female/trans woman, along with cis male/cis man and cis female/cis woman, will be used in this paper.As shown in Figure 1, attention is paid first to the initial choice one may take in the design of a study on transgender hiring discrimination - the choice of experiment design.\n2. Types of experiments: As mentioned above, there are a number of methods one might use when seeking to measure hiring discrimination. Below, three popular designs are described, each of which has at least one known study concerning transgender job applicants. These designs are discussed with reference to transgender population-specific considerations that may warrant an adaptation of these designs. Reflections and proposals for such adaptations are discussed. 2.1 Correspondence tests\n3. Mediating factors: As we have seen above, there are a number of different experiment designs one may use to measure transgender hiring discrimination, and each design lends its own strengths, weaknesses and particular focus. However, once a method has been chosen, there remains an equally complex process in designing the experiment itself. The following sections discuss the various factors that a researcher must be cognizant of in order to carry out a viable and effective study on this topic. 3.1 Legal factors\n4. Conclusion: 4.1 Designing a study to measure transgender hiring discrimination\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper discusses the factors to consider when designing studies to measure hiring discrimination against transgender job applicants.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper builds on academic literature related to hiring discrimination and transgender employment to build a detailed discussion of the numerous factors and issues inherent in hiring discrimination against transgender job applicants. By isolating and describing a number of relevant considerations, the paper aims to act as a guide for future studies to build upon.\nFindings: Three types of hiring discrimination studies are discussed: correspondence tests, in-person experiments and student cohort experiments. Three main categories of factors relevant to an experiment's design are then discussed: the legal context, industry/role factors and transgender population-specific factors. A flow-chart detailing the research design decision-making process is provided.\nResearch limitations/implications: The discussion within this paper will act as a reference and a guide for researchers seeking to address the dearth of empirical studies in the literature. The list is not exhaustive; while a number of factors relevant to transgender-specific studies are identified, there may be more that could affect an experiment's design.\nOriginality/value: Hiring discrimination against transgender people has been recorded in many surveys, but there is little empirical measurement of this discrimination. To the author's knowledge, this paper is the first to examine the experimental design decisions related to transgender hiring discrimination. In doing so, it provides contributions for two primary audiences: those researching transgender employment issues but who have never conducted a study measuring hiring discrimination; and those who have previously conducted studies on hiring discrimination, but have not done so with reference to transgender job applicants.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The willingness of undergraduate students to volunteer for NGO work: a Ghanaian case study	[ "Students", "Ghana", "Volunteerism", "Non-governmental organization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In many developing countries today, the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in community development has become inevitable as the governments continue to demonstrate their inability to adequately meet the needs of the people. Accordingly, Ghana has a considerable number of NGOs, which are seen to be playing an increasingly important role in development (Issa, 2005). Anecdotal evidence suggests that there are about 3,000 NGOs registered in Ghana, contributing to various sectors of development such as provision of clean drinking water, health services and facilities, education, shelter, credit facilities, environment protection and extension services (Edusei, 1997; Bob-Milliar, 2005). The estimation is that these NGOs provide between 45 and 50 per cent of the country's healthcare services and over 50 per cent of all family planning services (Danquah, 2011). It is not surprising that Holloway (2001) describes NGOs as organisations formed to complement, supplement and offer alternatives to government development efforts. Similarly, and in a broader sense, Fisher (2006) describes NGOs as non-state, voluntary and non-profit-oriented groups who pursue issues of public interest.\nMethodology: The case study adopted a descriptive survey to gain insight into the current status of a phenomenon as supported in the literature (Gay, 1987; Kerlinger, 1979). This requires that a sample of respondents is carefully selected and the information they provide is used to describe the phenomenon - willingness of tertiary students in Ghana to volunteer for NGO work. To achieve the research objectives, data from regular undergraduate students of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) were used. The UCC had over 80 per cent (14,748) of its students at the time of data collection (February, 2012) in undergraduate programmes including education, social sciences, business, physical sciences, biological sciences, arts, agriculture and medical sciences, under schools/faculties.\nFindings: Characteristics of respondents\nConclusions and implications: To manage the increasing resource constraints for NGO work in developing countries, NGOs in these countries would have to take advantage of available volunteers within their reach. With a majority of the students showing willingness to volunteer for NGO work, it can be concluded from the case study that there is an untapped volunteer human resource available for NGOs in Ghana. This implied that with a proper institutionalisation of volunteerism in tertiary education, students' volunteer orientation programmes, and proactive volunteer recruitment drive by NGOs, a new avenue for human resource would be made available for NGOs and the service sector in Ghana. The institutionalisation should be based on a clear understanding of its role within the context of socio-political and cultural norms, given that volunteerism is based on the principles of choice and free will, and the ways it is expressed may vary in different contexts. Recognising this fact will be the first step towards harnessing this vast resource of volunteers in Ghana.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Despite the increasing awareness on students' volunteerism globally, and its potential benefit to national development, there is limited research information on the subject in developing countries including Ghana. The purpose of this paper is to assess the willingness of university undergraduate students in Ghana to volunteer for non-governmental organisation (NGO) work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research used a quantitative research approach using a descriptive survey design. The data were drawn from a survey of 678 students from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.\nFindings: The study shows high willingness of university undergraduate students to volunteer for NGO work. The motives relate more to students' search for understanding of people and their context, values and career enhancement, than for their social, protection and recognition needs. The students are more likely to engage in NGO activities relating to peer education, counselling and environmental protection, than in administrative duties, relief and advocacy.\nPractical implications: The study suggests that there is a great potential for students' volunteerism in Ghana, and recommends that Ghanaian universities should integrate volunteerism into their curricula to prepare and link students to volunteer opportunities in NGO and the service sectors.\nOriginality/value: The case study provides new thought and suggestions on students' volunteerism to developing countries and Ghana in particular. The evidence and context of likelihood to volunteer among tertiary students are lessons for developing countries with similar context to Ghana.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Optimal maintenance level of equipment with multiple components	[ "Optimal maintenance", "Preventive maintenance", "Sea water pump", "Weibull parameters" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Maintenance optimization is a well-researched topic and there are many works available in the literature that has brought to light various types of maintenance-related decision-making problems. Earlier models on maintenance optimization mostly focussed on optimizing the preventive maintenance (PM) intervals, but as the research work progressed many other aspects of maintenance functions were also analyzed. Models that focussed on repair of k-out-of-n components, imperfect repair, condition-based maintenance, repair or replacement problems, etc. are few such examples. References from Barlow and Hunter (1960), Mine and Kawai (1974), Nakagawa (1977), Park (1988), Gertsbakh (1977), Pintelon et al. (2006), Verma et al. (2012), Rana (2013), Samaranayake and Kiridena (2012), Turan et al. (2011), Lazakis et al. (2010), Golmakani and Morteza (2014) and Robson et al. (2013) are few examples of research work on maintenance. There have also been reviews and surveys of the work available in the literature. Dekker (1995, 1996), Sharma et al. (2011), Scarf (1997) and Van Horenbeek et al. (2010) have collectively surveyed more than 300 works on the subject. Wang (2002) provided a thorough review of time based PM approaches in the literature. Blischke and Murthy (2003) provided a broader view of many of the maintenance policies available in practice and provided a hierarchy structure of these polices. Mann et al., 1995 provided a review of time based PM models and condition-based models These surveys bring out a fact that the maintenance-related problems faced in the field are diverse and there may not be straight jacket solutions for all types of maintenance-related problems faced by the engineers. One such unique problem discussed in the paper is selection of correct hierarchical or indenture level of maintenance of equipment which has not been addressed in the above papers.\n2. Equipment or component-level repair?: It is common practice by a maintenance engineer to replace the entire equipment on its failure. An example could be a high-pressure air reducer of a compressed air system, or a hydraulically operated hull valve. While for other equipment the engineer would prefer carrying out a repair by dis-assembling the equipment and replacing only its failed components. Example of this kind of repair could be found in repair of a diesel powered generator or a high-pressure air compressor. Figure 1 shows downtime and cost of maintenance action incurred for replacement of an equipment vis a vis replacement of only the faulty components of the equipment. The graph is based on the equation shown below for equipment-level repair. For component-level repairs, Equations (6) and (7) are relevant after inputting the age accumulated for the working components to \"zero\":\n3. Equipment with multiple failing components: Consider an equipment made of n components. At time \"0\" the equipment is new and all its components are new. The equipment can fail when either of its component n=1,2,3, ..., fail. The choice for a maintenance engineer, given available redundancy and a repair crew, is between replacement of the entire equipment or only the failed component. If the maintainer opts for replacing only the faulty component then the age of the replaced component is \"0\" but the other components have higher component ages which are counted from the time the whole equipment was brought into service. To understand the implications of making a decision whether to replace an equipment or the individual components, it is important that the following equation be looked at which helps simplify the calculations involved. It may be noted that, here it is assumed that all the components have the same ages. This assumption is however dropped in Equations (6) and (7):\n4. Expected cost of equipment and component-level repairs: If it is assumed that the none of the components fail more than once, then the expected cost of the equipment-level repair within a time horizon of \"Th\" can be given by LHS of Equation (3). If however the above assumption of only one failure of equipment within the time horizon \"Th\" is dropped, then the time horizon needs to be discretized and the expected cost in each small discrete time interval of Dt should be calculated. This method only increases the computational effort and does not bring any significant improvement in estimation of the expected costs.\n5. Evaluation of average maintenance cost and downtime: Components - assuming failure of each individual component:\n6. Example of maintenance of a sea water pump: Data belonging to a type of sea water pump (without the motor) was taken for analysis. Three components which caused approximately 85 percent of failures of the pump were identified to be the mechanical seal, wear rings and pump bearing. The cost of whole pump equipment was 175,000rs whereas individual cost of components were Rs 2,000, 1,250, 1,050, respectively. Equations for calculation of the expected costs are shown in Equations (6)-(9). Figure 3 shows the expected cost as a function of time. Weibull and other parameters used are : scale =(465, 380, 400); shape=(1.3, 1.05, 2.2); manpower required for equipment replacement=4, manpower required for replacement for components=(3, 4, 1). Repair time for equipment and for all individual components=1 each. Cost of opportunity=0; cost of repair=1,200/per man/per day.\n7. Assumptions: The following assumptions were made:\n8. Result: Figure 3 shows two curves for expected cost with equipment replacement policy. One, that assumes that there is only one failure of the equipment within the time horizon under consideration \"Th\" and the other that assumes that there is no limit to number of failures of the equipment. If we decide to replace the whole equipment every time it fails due to failure of any of the three main components, we see that the expected cost of equipment replacement remains low till about 90 days of \"Th.\" However, if we drop this assumption, then the expected cost under component replacement policy rises above the expected cost under equipment replacement policy only after 108 days. It may be noted that the expected downtime under the \"component replacement policy\" will always be higher than that under the \"equipment replacement policy\" and it is therefore purposely been excluded from the above figure. With the auxiliary equipment generally having higher redundancies, a higher downtime for replacement of component may not be a matter of concern, anyway.\n9. Conclusion: The paper investigated a problem often faced by maintenance engineers onboard a ship: whether to go for a component-level repair or an equipment-level repair. It is easy to choose an option for major equipment such as main propulsion gas turbines, diesel engines, steam turbines, etc. where, the cost of equipment-level repair is clearly very high and therefore component-level repair policy is the best choice. Equally so, it is easy to choose an option for minor equipment such as system valves, compressed air reducers, etc. where an equipment-level repair policy is attractive because of its low cost. However, when it comes to moderate cost auxiliary equipment; the answer to the problem cannot be found easily. The model presented in the paper helps in taking decision on maintenance of such equipment thereby providing monetary savings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to provide a method for selection of an optimum level of repair by replacement of an equipment based on its cost. In a ship where the engineer has a vast variety of equipment and systems to operate and maintain within limited time frames and availability of human resources, it is often difficult to disassemble a whole equipment to replace a faulty component. It is instead a lot easier to just replace the faulty equipment with whole new equipment. However, such a decision comes at an enormous capital cost. Therefore, the key question is, can we have a model to help us arrive at a decision on the correct level of carrying out repairs?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a model based on cost and convolution of failure distributions of critical sub-components of an equipment. Necessary assumptions based on real life experience have been incorporated in the model.\nFindings: The paper used an example of a particular type of motor driven sea water centrifugal pump which was commonly used in main engine sea water system, firefighting system, air conditioning system, etc. The pump had one of the highest failure rates in the ship (approximately one failure per 150 days) and the engineers found it cost and time effective to replace the entire pump on failure rather than carrying out replacement of the failed components. The model analyzed that the engineer's hunch was not off the mark.\nResearch limitations/implications: The implication of the work presented in the paper will be savings in maintenance cost and downtime due to optimal level of repairs on a multi-component equipment. The limitations of the work are assumption of independence of failures of components. This may not be true in all the cases. Further, opportunity based maintenance has also not been considered.\nOriginality/value: The originality of the paper lies in the presentation of a method for selection of an optimum level of maintenance for a multi-component equipment\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the impact of sleep-related impairments on the perceived general health and retention intent of an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) sample	[ "Emergency services", "Personal health", "Retention", "Medical personnel", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: People's lives can depend on the competent and quick reaction of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel. These individuals deal with a broad array of client/patient incidents, including heart attacks, falls, driving accidents, and firearm wounds (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010). Emergency Medical Services is defined as health care for patients with real or perceived emergencies from the time of initial request (often \"911\" notification) until transfer of patient care to a hospital or other facility (Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the US Health System, 2007). EMS is present in virtually every community in the United States at some capacity. The federal government spends approximately $3 billion dollars per year (Medicare and Medicaid) on EMS care provided by an estimated 18,000 EMS agencies and 750,000 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT- Basics) and Paramedics in the United States (Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in US Health System, 2007).\nSleep issues and work outcomes for health care professionals: While an exact amount of sleep needed for healthy adults has not been determined (at least six hours of sleep/night is recommended - Hughes, 2008), the impairing effects of insufficient sleep or being sleepy/tired on general decision making, integration of information, planning and plan execution, and vigilance have been well documented (Harrison and Horne, 2000). In terms of impact on general health, sleep deprivation or being sleepy/tired has been linked to obesity, increased diabetes risk, and lowered immune system functioning (Rogers, 2008).Research has studied the relationships of sleep-related issues to various outcomes for different samples of health care professionals. For example, excessive work hours for nurses and physicians has been positively linked to increased risk of medical errors affecting patient safety, as well as reduced personal health and increased risk of driving accidents (Hughes and Rogers, 2004; Rogers, 2008; Steele et al., 1999; Weinger and Ancoli-Israel, 2002). Trouble sleeping at night (answered Yes/No) was significantly linked to increased chances of burnout for a sample of emergency physicians (Goldberg et al., 1996).A literature search indicated little prior research linking sleep-related problems to outcomes specifically for EMS personnel. Using a sample of EMS personnel in the USA, Studnek and Fernandez (2008) found that 14.9 percent of EMS professionals who reported having sleep problems were involved in an ambulance crash, compared to 7.5 percent of those who did not have sleep problems. Sleep problem was asked as a Yes/No question and not further defined.What is meant by a \"sleep problem\"? A common problem for many, regardless of occupation can be waking up and/or difficulty going back to sleep if awakened (Partinen et al., 1984), and such sleeping difficulties often increase with age (Haimov et al., 2008). Beyond these sleeping difficulties, one can have sleep impairments. A sleep impairment is when a sleep problem affects one's daily activities. For example, one sleep impairment can be dozing off or falling asleep during normal waking hours (Johns, 1991). Working for an extended period of time, e.g. a longer shift, can lead to increased sleepiness and dozing behavior (Spurgeon et al., 1997). Since EMS personnel often have irregular as well as extended work hours, this may lead to sleeping-related impairments\nHealth and retention intent for EMS personnel: Looking at general health-related issues for EMS personnel, a study of Japanese EMTs indicated that two-thirds of the EMTs reported lower back problems compared to one-third of the general working population (Okada et al., 2005). Using a sample of ambulance workers from the United Kingdom, Johnson et al. (2005) found a higher reported incidence of physical health issues (e.g. gastrointestinal disturbances, back pain) versus the general working population. As noted in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (2010) EMS personnel are required to do a great deal of bending, kneeling and heavy lifting, and risk a higher incidence of back injuries than workers in other occupations.Research has also shown that EMS professionals can face other work-related hazards such as assault from combative patients as well as exposure to such diseases as hepatitis-B and AIDS (Grange and Corbett, 2002; Sterud et al., 2006).Studying retention intent as an outcome for EMS personnel, Blau et al. (2009) found that perceived health, job satisfaction, affective occupational commitment, and limited alternatives occupational commitment each had a significant negative relationship to intent to leave the EMS profession. Blau et al. (2009) used a cross-sectional research design and did not measure sleep-related impairments. A second cross-sectional study by Chapman et al. (2009) found that extrinsic satisfaction was significantly negatively related to intent to leave the profession for both EMT-Basics and Paramedics, but only intrinsic satisfaction was significantly negatively related to intent to leave the profession for Paramedics. Again sleep-related impairments were not studied.The goal of this study is to further explore the impact of sleep-related impairments on perceived general health and retention intent for a sample of EMS personnel. A time lagged research design was used to better assess the impact of sleep-related impairments on these work-related outcomes. Sleep-related impairments were measured using either a validated scale or a multi-item measure so scale reliability could be assessed. Background and work-related variables were also measured to allow for initially testing and controlling their impact on general health and retention intent. There were two general study hypotheses tested:H1. The sleep-related impairment variable set will significantly impact on the perceived general health of EMS personnel beyond controlled for background variable and work-related variable sets.H2. The sleep-related impairment variable set and perceived health variable set will each significantly impact on the retention intent of EMS personnel beyond controlled for background variable and work- related variable sets.\nMethod: Participants and setting\nResults: General\nDiscussion: Examining some basic study findings, first it was found that as average time to fall asleep increased, perceived health decreased. This is consistent with prior general research (Carskadon, 2004). Also, as job satisfaction increased, perceived health increased, which agrees with the meta-analysis study by Faragher et al. (2005). Prior research has shown a negative relationship between general sleeping problems and job satisfaction (Scott and Judge, 2006), which this study found for EMS workers. Job satisfaction has been shown to have a significant negative relationship to intent to leave the EMS profession (Blau et al., 2009). The consistencies between some of this study's more basic findings and prior research can help to bolster one's confidence in the validity of findings for variable relationships not tested in prior research.To the author's knowledge, this is the first study to explore the impact of specific sleep-related impairments on the perceived health of EMS personnel. Prior research (Studnek and Fernandez, 2008) used a general question about sleeping problems (Yes/No response) to test its relationship to ambulance accident rates. Present study results, although modest for explaining perceived health, are encouraging, and suggest that follow-up research should be done. For example, it would be interesting to compare the potential differential impact of each of these three sleeping issues on accident rates (Studnek and Fernandez, 2008). Using the previously validated Epworth Sleepiness Scale (Johns, 1991, 1992), sleepiness had a significant impact on 2007 but not 2006 perceived health. One reason for the inconsistent relationship found for dozing behavior, as well as the modest overall results, was due to the health measure utilized. Although it exhibited good internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities, the two-item health measure focused only on general physical health. Future research could include more specific self-reported mental health measures such as burnout, depression, or anxiety (Faragher et al., 2005; Goldberg et al., 1996). In addition, physical health could be more comprehensively measured (Bartone et al., 1989).Short study-specific measures of relationship difficulty due to sleepiness (two-items) and general activity difficulty due to sleepiness (three-items) were used. These items were developed by the LEADS project research panel, which included EMS professionals. The relationship difficulty measure had a good reliability (0.87), but the general activity difficulty measure reliability was marginal (0.63). The heterogeneous item content of the general activity measure, i.e. finishing a meal, being active, and remembering EMS protocols, certainly contributed to this less-than-desired alpha. Despite this lower reliability, the general activity difficulty due to sleepiness had a consistent negative impact on both health measures over time. Future research measuring general activities could focus on separating out work activities (EMS protocols) versus non-work activities (finishing a meal). Using a common frequency-based response scale for all sleeping issue measures should be considered. These measurement issues contributed to the modest results found for explaining intent to leave the EMS profession.In addition, the average time to fall asleep at night item had a significant negative impact on subsequent perceived health, despite its somewhat restricted response range. This item was theorized to be a control variable rather than a sleep impairment scale. The sleep impairment scales were multi-item and affected one's daily activities. The significant finding with this item suggests that future research could combine this item with an \"average time to fall asleep after waking up\" item, thus creating a more general \"average time to fall asleep\" scale (Rogers, 2008). Such a scale may be able to explain additional health, retention intent and other work outcome varianceAlthough the repeat response rate across all three-survey variables was very low, the complete data sample was found to be demographically representative of the incomplete data sample. Getting repeat-respondent participation across survey years can be very challenging (Fowler, 1993). Future efforts to increase the repeat-respondent survey participation rate could consider follow-up email and snail mail reminders as well as a lottery prize incentive (Fowler, 1993). It is also important to note that the study results were consistent when comparing EMT Basics and Paramedics.Despite all the above-noted study limitations, the sleep-impairment variable set had a significant impact on subsequent perceived health and intent to leave EMS. Why? As noted in the Introduction, prior research has shown that EMS professionals can face such work-related stresses as irregular work hours and extended shifts, assault from combative patients, exposure to such diseases as hepatitis-B and AIDS, and injuries due to lifting or moving patients (Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the US Health System, 2007; Grange and Corbett, 2002; Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010; Sterud et al., 2006). Only limited measures of hours worked/week, shift length, and being allowed to sleep on one's shift were collected. Being allowed to sleep on one's shift did negatively impact or lower one's professional turnover intent. Unfortunately, other work-related stress data could not be collected for this study. However, prior theoretical \"stress-strain\" models have suggested that such work stresses can lead to the \"strains\" of sleep problems, poor health and turnover intentions (Cooper, 1998; Ivancevich and Ganster, 1987).Ideally, a future research design will comprehensively measure work stresses and strains over time. Such a time-lagged study would be able to further test the idea that work stresses progressively increase their impact on strains. One study result supportive of this perspective was finding that the variance explained by the sleep impairment variable set increased from 4 percent for 2006 perceived health to 7 percent for 2007 perceived health.Career, organizational and societal recommendations for consideration\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Little research has been done in studying the impact of sleep-related impairments on the perceived health and retention intent of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers. This paper aims to fill some of the gaps.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study used a time-lagged research design to test the impact of three sleep impairments measured in 2005, i.e. sleepiness, relationship difficulty due to sleepiness, and general activity difficulty due to sleepiness, on perceived general health measured in 2006 and 2007, and 2007 intent to leave the EMS profession. Background and work-related variables, also measured in 2005, were controlled for. A total of 288 complete data EMS repeat-respondents constituted the study sample across the three years. Although this was only a very small percentage of the total number of respondents, this sample was found to be demographically representative of the incomplete data respondents.\nFindings: - The three-sleep impairment variable set had a collective significant additional impact for explaining both years of subsequent perceived health and retention intent, beyond the controlled-for background and work-related variable sets. The perceived general health variable set explained a small but unique amount of additional variance in retention intent beyond the controlled for background, work-related and sleep impairment variable sets.\nOriginality/value: - People's lives can depend on the quick and efficient reactions of EMS workers. There has been little prior research studying the impact of sleep impairments on health and retention outcomes using an EMS sample. The results seem promising enough to suggest continued study of the impact of sleep-related impairments on work outcomes for EMS personnel, and other samples sharing common work stresses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer demographics, store attributes, and retail format choice in the US grocery market	[ "Retailing", "Retail trade", "Demographics", "Store ambience", "Consumer behaviour", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Competition in US grocery retailing has reached an unprecedented level of intensity. A recent series of consolidations and mergers, coupled with the emergence of new retail formats (e.g. supercenters and internet-only grocers) has radically modified the competitive landscape of the sector (US Department of Commerce/International Trade Administration, 2000). Much to the dismay of traditional supermarket retailers, full and/or partial lines of grocery products can now be found at supercenters such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target, as well as in other retail formats (e.g. specialty grocers, internet retailers, drug stores). Grocery products are also being offered online, although growth in this format is considerably slower. Supermarket retailers believe that consumer cross-shopping among these formats poses a serious threat to traditional grocery stores (Gose, 2002; Progressive Grocer Report of the Grocery Industry, 1999; Taylor, 2003).Supercenters possess several key competitive advantages in comparison to traditional supermarkets, including the ability to sell items at lower prices and the ability to offer consumers the convenience of one-stop shopping. Likewise, specialty grocers are using strategies such as product assortment differentiation and customer relationship management to create and serve niche markets (Hansen and Solgaard, 2004). In response to these competitive threats, traditional grocery retailers in the US are increasing the number of private-label products offered, providing more prepared meal options, expanding their produce, deli, and meat departments, and creating customer loyalty programs. However, according to recent trade reports, supercenters are consistently outperforming supermarkets (Berner et al., 2004; Taylor, 2003; US Department of Commerce/International Trade Administration, 2000; Coleman, 1997).In light of the competitive shifts in the industry, it is crucial for retailers to gain a better understanding of the grocery consumer. Although there is a considerable body of literature that examines marketing issues in the grocery context, few recent studies have attempted to characterize the US market in terms of consumers' channel and/or format choice and the reasons for their choice (i.e. store attributes). Instead, researchers have focused upon topics such as location modeling (Roy, 1994), product purchase patterns (Kim and Park, 1997), business potential at retail sites (Smith and Sanchez, 2003), and customer satisfaction and loyalty programs (Magi, 2003).The purpose of this research is to provide a general understanding of grocery consumers' retail format choice in the US marketplace. To accomplish this purpose, we use demographics as a framework for examination of consumer format choice across five major retail formats in the domestic retail industry: specialty grocers, traditional supermarkets, supercenters, warehouse clubs and the emerging internet format. In addition, we investigate the desired store attributes of consumer groups who frequent each format. By identifying the demographic characteristics and desired store attributes of US grocery shoppers and linking these variables to format choice, we provide a starting point for understanding the nature of patronage behavior in the dynamic US grocery market. This research provides grocery retailers that operate within the US specific knowledge of the attributes that consumers consider to be most important when making format choices, and identifies the demographic characteristics of these consumers. As competition in the sector continues to evolve and consumer demographics change within the US market, understanding the consumer-format choice linkage will be critical to retailer performance in the industry.\nLiterature review: Consumer demographics and retail format choice\nMethodology: Sampling method\nResults: Sample characteristics\nConclusions and discussion: Examination of the demographic variables for their effect on the specialty grocery format indicated income as the only significant predictor of patronage. The stepwise regression model indicated that respondents with higher incomes were more likely to shop in specialty grocery stores. There was no indication among the data that the other demographics predicted or indicated a propensity to patronize this format. The top five store attributes for the small sample of frequent shoppers among the specialty grocery format (N=14) are cleanliness, product selection, courtesy of personnel, crowding and price competitiveness. Though price competitiveness was ranked lowest by the frequent specialty store shopper, it remained one of the top five store attributes sought. Though the respondents indicated that product assortment and courteous personnel were most important, price competitiveness remains an influential factor within this context. Rankings for the specialty format were slightly different for respondents among the occasional shopper group (N=64) which indicated cleanliness, product selection, ease of access, courtesy of personnel and crowding as the top five store attributes. As a whole, these results appear logical and agree with a typical specialty grocery strategy with high service levels in terms of customer service and physical facilities.Analysis of the demographic variables suggests that household size is a significant predictor of patronage within the traditional supermarket category. The negative b estimate indicates that as household size decreases, supermarket patronage increases. Given the importance of accessibility motivations like crowding, parking facilities, and ease of access, it appears that this format may appeal to the convenience oriented shopper. The regression model's indication that household size decreases as patronage increases could be interpreted to suggest that smaller households tend to patronize traditional neighborhood markets rather than traveling to larger grocery shopping venues such as supercenters or warehouse clubs. The highest ranked store attributes among frequent shoppers in the traditional supermarket format (N=454) are cleanliness, product selection, price competitiveness, crowding and courtesy of personnel. The rankings of these attributes among occasional shoppers are the same with the exception of the fourth and fifth most important, which are parking facilities and ease of access.The regression model indicated that education, income and household size predict patronage within the supercenter format. This finding appears to be consistent with conventional wisdom: as income and education decrease, the likelihood of shopping in the supercenter format increases. Likewise, as household size increases, the likelihood of shopping in this format increases. The ANOVA model indicated significant differences among racial affiliation and supercenter patronage. Focused contrasts suggest that this difference occurs specifically between the Caucasian and African American respondents in the sample. The African American respondents indicated a significantly higher likelihood of shopping within this format as compared to Caucasians. Further, the t-test for gender indicated that females were significantly more likely to patronize supercenters as compared to males. The findings related to supercenter patronage appear to agree with popular logic for the most part: supercenters attract price oriented patrons with larger households. In addition, based upon our sample these formats attract female and African American consumers in greater numbers.Cleanliness, price competitiveness, product selection, courtesy of personnel and security are the top five store attributes among frequent shoppers (N=194) in the supercenter format. Interestingly, the occasional shoppers (N=111) among this format ranked cleanliness, product selection, ease of access, courtesy of personnel and security as the top five attributes. Price competitiveness was not ranked among the occasional shoppers' top attributes, indicating that these shoppers may be more concerned with product assortment.Attention to deep inventory, price control and operational efficiency are already an important operational component within the supercenter format type and should continue to be emphasized. In addition, the importance of catering to diverse consumer groups remains important in the supercenter format which attracts a diverse customer base compared to traditional neighborhood markets that tend to draw on more homogenous local and regional customer bases. Supercenters should consider diversity in staffing, product assortment and customer service. Given the growth of diverse family oriented consumer groups in the USA such as Hispanics, diversity management could be an important competitive advantage for grocery formats in the coming decade.The regression model and its related b estimates for income and education indicated that as each of these demographic variables increased, patronage in the warehouse format increased. Further, the t-tests for gender differences in format choice suggested that women were more likely to choose the warehouse club format to shop for groceries compared to men. Additional investigation indicated that female respondents represented significantly larger households compared to male respondents suggesting that these consumers are likely carrying out household shopping duties. Cleanliness, product selection, price competitiveness, courtesy of personnel and ease of access were the top five store attributes among frequent patrons in this format. Occasional shoppers indicated a similar ranking of attributes: cleanliness, product selection, courtesy of personnel, and ease of access. The findings associated with the warehouse club format suggest that consumers seek product variety and easy access as major motivations. Further, it appears that higher income consumers frequent this venue and likely expect a higher level of service compared to the supercenter customer. Warehouse clubs should focus on ease of access and service related to aiding consumers in the logistics of their shopping experience particularly given the fact that females appear to be more likely to choose this format. They may also consider integrating upscale products and services into their offer given their higher income consumer.Overall, the results provide interesting insights into the US consumer's choice of grocery format. With regard to store attributes, the fact that cleanliness was the most important attribute regardless of format was not surprising. The price competitiveness attribute appeared to be most important among shoppers in the traditional supermarket format and the supercenter format. Surprisingly, price competitiveness did not rank among the top five attributes for occasional shoppers in the supercenter format or the specialty grocery format and ranked only fifth among these shoppers for the warehouse format. While many assert that the grocery industry is strongly driven by price competitiveness (Taylor, 2003), our results suggest that product selection and courtesy of personnel are also very important in determining format choice.\nLimitations and future research: The results included in this research were gathered and reported on an individual format basis. In order to capture consumer choices across a range of grocery retail formats, forcing respondents to compare formats was not initiated. Though we can make general observations and predictions about the demographic variables and store attributes that influence format choice, we cannot suggest the factors that influence consumer to choose one format over another. A useful addition to this area of research would be to examine the situations under which consumers patronize different grocery formats such as extensive shopping trips versus short shopping trips or the accessibility of format types. Considering the constant evolution of retail formats, longitudinal studies could also be particularly helpful in this highly competitive arena.The findings associated with format choice suggest that different shopping needs likely influence format choice. For example, the largest group of respondents indicated frequent or occasional patronage in the traditional supermarket format. Among this group, frequency of patronage rose as household size decreased. Under what circumstances do smaller households frequent formats outside of their neighborhood or regional markets? Do they plan for special shopping trips outside of their locale or do they choose not to patronize supercenters or warehouse clubs based upon household size alone?We did not collect data pertaining to whether consumers had access to each and every type of format in the study. For instance, we understand that Internet-based grocers operate in very few markets in the USA and are diffusing very slowly. Therefore, low response to the questions related to the internet channel was not surprising. However, we do not know whether all respondents had access to each of the format types which ultimately limits the applicability of our findings beyond the general trends that were indicated by the data. Examination of how dimensions of consumer access limit or expand retail patronage behavior could also be highly beneficial to grocery retailers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To provide a general understanding of grocery consumers' retail format choice in the US marketplace.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A random sample of US grocery consumers (N=454) was surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques (regression, ANOVA) were used to evaluate the data.\nFindings: - Identifies demographic groups who frequent specific formats (specialty grocers, traditional supermarkets, supercenters, warehouse clubs, internet grocers) and examines store attributes (e.g. price competitiveness, product selection, and atmosphere) as drivers of format choice.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The results included in this research were gathered and reported on an individual format basis. In order to capture consumer choices across a range of grocery retail formats, forcing respondents to compare formats was not initiated. In addition, data pertaining to whether consumers had access to each and every type of format in the study were not collected. Examination of how dimensions of consumer access limit or expand retail patronage behavior could also be highly beneficial to grocery retailers.\nPractical implications: - This research provides grocery retailers that operate within the USA specific knowledge of the attributes that consumers consider to be most important when making format choices (e.g. cleanliness, price competitiveness, product assortment, courtesy of personnel), and identifies the demographic characteristics of these consumers. The results suggest marketing strategy implications for grocery retailers that operate in the US market. As competition in the sector continues to evolve and consumer demographics change within the US market, understanding the consumer-format choice linkage will be critical to retailer performance in the industry.\nOriginality/value: - This exploratory study uses demographics and store attributes as a framework for profiling consumers by their ultimate retail format choice. The paper is unique because there are few similar empirical studies focused on the US grocery sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Incorporating visual methods in longitudinal transformative service research	[ "Transformative service research", "Longitudinal", "Visual methods", "Healthcare services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Positive service experiences can transform lives through service provision that enhances the well-being of individuals (Anderson and Ostrom, 2015). Therefore, understanding the transformational nature of consumer service experiences has important implications for service academics and providers in terms of service delivery, service interactions and service practice and policy. However, studying consumer experiences in complex service contexts such as healthcare is challenging because of the intangible and ephemeral nature of service provision (Plewa et al., 2015). Furthermore, exploring consumer value and value co-creation processes within these (or any) contexts is particularly challenging, due to the conceptual ambiguity and the nebulous nature of the concepts (Gallarza et al., 2011; Sanchez-Fernandez and Iniesta-Bonillo, 2007). Innovative research techniques are required to address some of these challenges and to enable the field of service research to develop further.\nTSR: TSR is an important and emerging area in service research that has been championed as a research priority (Blocker and Barrios, 2015) but which requires new and original research methods to ensure its future development and advancement (Anderson et al., 2013; Anderson and Ostrom, 2015; Ostrom et al., 2015). To date, much of the research on TSR is either conceptual or utilises traditional research methods, such as interviews, surveys and observation (Anderson and Ostrom, 2015). Essentially, TSR is concerned with research that contributes to and promotes human well-being (Rosenbaum et al., 2011), and is defined as \"the integration of consumer and service research that centres on creating uplifting changes and improvements in the well-being of consumer entities: individuals (consumers and employees), communities and the ecosystem\" (Anderson et al., 2011, p. 3). There is now an increasing stream of literature devoted to TSR, particularly relating to healthcare services (Danaher and Gallan, 2016; Sharma and Conduit, 2016; Zheng et al., 2016).\nVisual research methods: The use of visual methods and visual analysis is well established in anthropology and sociology and their use is increasingly growing in other social science disciplines as researchers look to enhance their methodological repertoire (Banks and Zeitlyn, 2015). There is no formal definition of \"visual research methods\" per se; however, the emphasis of visual methods is on the use of visual materials (photographs, film, pictures, drawings, digital images, etc.) in a research enquiry, as part of several tools that a researcher implements (Banks and Zeitlyn, 2015; Rose, 2016). Visual research methods can include a variety of data collection techniques such as photo-elicitation, photo-documentation, photography, image collection and digital methods (Rose, 2016). What visual methods offer researchers is the opportunity to gather \"appealing and pertinent data\" that otherwise would be difficult to obtain (Brace-Govan, 2007, p. 735).\nMethodology: To address the gap in service methodology, an innovative three-phase QLR protocol was developed, incorporating visual techniques, to explore consumer value and value co-creation in a TSR and healthcare service context. What is different about this research method is the combination of visual methods and QLR. Most QLR utilise multiple interviews and in some instances observations (Lloyd et al., 2017). Due to the complex, intangible and temporal nature of healthcare services, it was expected that the combination would provide important data that would be difficult to obtain through a series of interviews (Rose, 2016). It was supposed that the visual elicitation phase would help a participant unravel ideas that are hard to articulate since visual images provoke unconscious thoughts and feelings providing powerful insights into a person's psyche (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995).\nData analysis: The formal process of data analysis was iterative, following the general approach advocated by Miles and Huberman (1994). Data analysis involved thematic analysis and incorporated both the data-driven inductive approach and the deductive approach using pre-determined codes from the theoretical framework on consumer value and value co-creation (Fereday and Muir-Cochrane, 2006). Systematic coding was undertaken to ensure that all the transcribed content was coded, not just words or terms that could be extracted from the texts. Analysis started with an open coding process which began with close interpretative readings of each interview (starting with case 1, in phase 1) making initial responses to the transcriptions via annotations in the margin (Smith and Osborn, 2007). These initial notes were translated into open codes and emergent themes, which were then also recorded in the margins. The first phase interview transcripts were also analysed and coded using broad a priori literature themes of consumer value (Holbrook, 1999) and co-creation themes relating to practitioner-client relationships and consumer value co-creation activities (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2012; Sweeney et al., 2015). In subsequent iterations, an open coding process continued, where data-driven consumer value sub-themes and themes emerged and were coded/re-coded.\nDiscussion: This study combines a longitudinal three-phase research approach with a qualitative methodology which incorporated visual techniques. This facilitated valuable insights into how consumer value and value co-creation was experienced in CAM healthcare service encounters. Incorporating visual techniques with QLR provided an innovative approach to understanding the lived experience of the CAM consumer in ways that other longitudinal research methods used in service research have not (Thomson and McLeod, 2015; Rose, 2016). QLR is suited to understanding how people explain the relationship between their individual choices and actions and the conditions under which they make these (Millar, 2007), which was fundamental to this research on how consumers co-create value in a TSR context. The QLR approach aided the unfolding of the CAM consumer's experience to reveal the underlying transformation that the CAM healthcare service facilitated. In addition, the ZMET technique provided a powerful tool to uncover both unconscious and latent thoughts and feelings that would be difficult to articulate in discursive interviews (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995).\nContribution and implications for service research: This research makes an important contribution to methodology in service research by reporting the development and implementation of a qualitative longitudinal three-phase process that utilised a multi-method approach using in-depth interviews and a visual elicitation technique (ZMET). A review of the literature suggests that this methodology is the first to combine QLR and visual methods in TSR and research on value co-creation in a service context, which offers benefits beyond what either longitudinal or visual methods alone can provide. This unique methodology proved to be worthwhile in terms of understanding consumer experiences of CAM healthcare services and uncovering deeper meaning of consumer value and value co-creation, enhancing understanding of these concepts. The three-phase process also enabled triangulation of the data contributing to the robustness of the findings enabling a solid foundation for theory building on consumer value and value co-creation in healthcare services. Furthermore, this research addresses concerns of the subjectivity of visual methods (Basil, 2011) by providing a robust research process that includes verbal and visual approaches; such protocols confirm the benefits of visual methods (Pain, 2012). Hence, implementing a three-phase process enabled a scaffolding effect whereby each phase built on the other. The success of the methodology, in particular the visual elicitation phase, is attributed to five key factors.\nPractical implications: The research methodology reported in this paper is uniquely suited to TSR contexts, such as healthcare, due to its ability to observe change, deal with complex settings and draw out sensitive information. It is also suited to contexts where understanding how people explain the relationship between their individual choices and actions, and the conditions under which they make these, is critical to their transformation (Millar, 2007). The methodology is well suited to other TSR contexts where consumption occurs and develops over an extended time period, such as financial services, educational institutions, government agencies, charities, not-for-profit organisations and social marketing initiatives. Due to the longitudinal approach, this methodology is not ideal for ephemeral transactions in service contexts, such as sometimes occur in retail, hospitality and tourism. Finally, the reported protocol is more appropriate to researching individuals (patients, customers, consumers, clients, students, etc.), and the impacts of service on an individual's well-being. Although the method could be used to study service practice and service provision from a provider's perspective (e.g. practitioners, nurses, social workers, financial advisors, teachers, etc.), difficulties with implementation are to be anticipated due to the time commitments required.\nLimitations: Despite the benefits of the reported methodology, there are a number of limitations: the three-phase longitudinal protocol is time consuming and can lead to participant attrition. In our study, 16 participants completed the first interview, 14 completed the photo-elicitation interview in phase 2 and 13 completed the final interview in phase 3. Reasons for dropping out included ill health, lack of time and non-responsiveness. One issue with healthcare research is that often participants are not well and therefore a research process that is too onerous becomes unmanageable. Having time-consuming and cognitively taxing aspects to a research protocol, such as participant-generated visuals, is potentially problematic for any research in healthcare services, where people may have chronic health conditions that prevent them continuing with research or that make it difficult for them to complete research exercises.\nConclusions and future research: This study provides evidence that a longitudinal multi-method approach using in-depth interviews and visual methods is a powerful tool that qualitative consumer and TSR researchers should consider, particularly for sensitive contexts such as healthcare, and when studying intangible and difficult to articulate concepts such as consumer value and value co-creation. The three-phase research method proved to be a worthwhile research protocol to study consumer experiences of CAM healthcare services. The use of the visual elicitation technique ZMET was particularly invaluable in terms of uncovering deeper unconscious thoughts, feelings and meaning of the CAM healthcare experience and hence ideas about consumer value and value co-creation. Significantly, this research highlights the importance of visual methods in understanding consumer experiences of transformational services such as healthcare services.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Consumer experiences of healthcare services are challenging for researchers to study because of the complex, intangible and temporal nature of service provision. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel longitudinal three-phase research protocol, which combines iterative interviewing with visual techniques. This approach is utilised to study consumer service experiences, dimensions of consumer value and consumer value co-creation in a transformational service setting: complementary and alternative medicine healthcare.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research employed a three-phase qualitative longitudinal research protocol, which incorporated: an initial in-depth interview, implementation of the visual elicitation technique Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique and a final interview to gain participant feedback on the analysis of data collected in the first two phases.\nFindings: Four key benefits derived from using the three-phase protocol are reported: confirmation and elaboration of consumer value themes, emergence of underreported themes, evidence of transformation and refinement of themes, ensuring dependability of data and subsequent theory development.\nOriginality/value: The study provides evidence that a longitudinal multi-method approach using in-depth interviews and visual methods is a powerful tool that service researchers should consider, particularly for transformative service research settings with sensitive contexts, such as healthcare, and when studying difficult to articulate concepts, such as consumer value and value co-creation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How customers respond to the assistive intent of an E-retailer?	[ "Assistive intent", "E-retailer", "Web site attitudes", "Web site involvement", "Web site patronage intentions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As a result of the constant increase in the number of E-retailers and their variety of products, e-shoppers find it more and more difficult to find relevant information and make optimal purchase decisions (Breugelmans et al., 2012). Accordingly, customers consistently seek effective tools to help them deal with the online information overload (Aksoy et al., 2006; Lurie, 2004). In response to this need, many E-retailers have implemented features that provide better customer support, such as assistive tools that help clients explore, classify, and filter their numerous options (Qiu and Benbasat, 2005). Several types of such assistive systems have been suggested in the literature, including recommendation agents, comparison matrices, and ordering and ranking tools. The vast \"shelfspace\" of E-retailers and the lack of physical interaction between customers and products or customers and the sales force, make these tools significantly valuable for online shoppers (Haubl and Trifts, 2000). Today, such decision-facilitative features have been widely provided by the web sites of famous brands such as Walmart, Costco, and Bank of America (Breugelmans et al., 2012).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Customer orientation\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: 4.1 Test of reliability and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)\n5. Discussion and implications: Providing high volumes of product information has become a method widely used by E-retailers in order to attract the customers (Lee and Lee, 2004). However, because of the excessive amount of available information online, finding relevant and timely information is becoming increasingly difficult for users. In such situation, an online retailer could express its assistive intent through offering tools that facilitate the choice for customers and help them in their information management tasks. The current research investigated how such an assistive orientation could impact the online shopping behaviour of customers. Previous research in this field has mostly focused on the impacts of assistive intent on trust, and has not much investigated its fundamental role in improving customers' patronage intentions. This paper attempted to fill this theoretical gap, and extended the literature on assistive intent by revealing the mechanism through which it impacts web site patronage intentions. We found that the assistive intent of a web site could improve patronage intentions of customers both directly and indirectly through two key constructs of e-shopping including web site involvement and attitude towards the web site. Our results confirm the findings of past studies that showed assistive intent in general could help to improve the loyalty intentions of customers (e.g. Jones et al., 2003; Dean, 2007; Ha and John, 2010). Indeed, the current study tried to validate this link in the e-shopping context. Previous research states that assistive intent of an E-retailer could play a significant role in enhancing customer trust towards the site (Gupta et al., 2009). Our study adds to this literature by revealing that assistive intent of an E-retailer could enhance certain additional and important variables such as web site involvement, web site attitude, and customers' loyalty intentions. The relationships between E-retailer's assistive intent and other variables of our model are all hypothesized for the first time. Another important theoretical contribution of this research, therefore, is the establishment of higher levels of validity for the newly developed construct of E-retailer's assistive intent.\n6. Limitations and future research: This study has a number of limitations that should be taken into consideration before applying its results. Primarily, the student sample used in this study might not be representative of the general population. In particular, students are usually familiar with internet technology and might feel less need for assistance during their online purchase activities. Therefore, one might find even stronger relationships between E-retailer's assistive intent and other variables of the model if a more general sample is used. Another shortcoming of this study might be attributed to its settings. Since the study conducted a survey on the respondents' most recent online shopping experiences, quality of the collected data are dependent on the amount and accuracy of the information that participants could retrieve from the memory. Running an experiment instead of a survey might lead to more accurate data, especially for measuring constructs that deal with internal states of the customers, such as their involvement in the E-retailer's web site.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how an E-retailer's assistive intent impacts the perceptions and behaviours of online shoppers. The paper introduces a model that explains and examines the process through which the perceived assistive intent of an E-retailer leads to improved patronage intentions towards the web site.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey on the most recent e-purchase experiences of more than 600 individuals in North America was conducted. Structural equation modelling based on EQS 6.1 was used to assess the measurement and structural models.\nFindings: Results indicated that customers' impressions of an E-retailer's assistive intent positively impact web site patronage intentions both directly and indirectly through two key constructs of e-shopping, including web site involvement and web site attitudes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The student sample is not representative of the population. Students are familiar with internet and feel less need for assistance online. Another shortcoming might be its settings. Since the survey was on the respondents' most recent online experiences, the data quality depends on the amount and accuracy of the information they could retrieve from memory.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that E-retailers would highly benefit from investing in the development of an assistive image. To do so, E-retailers should leverage the interactive nature of the web and provide supportive tools that facilitate the e-shopping task of clients.\nSocial implications: Developing impressions of the site's assistive intent is highly rewarding for E-retailers that are new to the business.\nOriginality/value: This paper represents the first effort to link the newly developed construct of E-retailer's assistive intent to two fundamental variables of online shopping, including web site involvement and web site attitudes. This work would also be an extension of the past studies that call for further investigation of the link between customer orientation and customer's loyalty intentions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
We live in a VUCA World: the importance of responsible leadership	[ "Leadership development", "Management development", "Engagement and learning", "VUCA world" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The ways in which we conduct or think about our businesses have substantially changed within a decade. The term VUCA - which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity - is a common phrase these days in the corporate world and was coined from the US Army. Rapid changes taking place in political, economic, social and technological fronts are making the organizational world increasingly VUCA.\nWhat kind of leader is needed to succeed in a VUCA world?: Normative leadership theories have focused on transactional leadership, transformational leadership, servant leadership and authentic leadership (Johnson, 2012). Recent literature on leadership, however, has started a discussion on what is termed responsible leadership. First, a brief overview of each form of leadership:\nAre responsible leaders born or made?: Responsible leadership is a combination of both innate and acquired traits of an individual. For instance, the ethical or moral standards of an individual get shaped, to a large extent, at an early age through parents, teachers and significant others.\nConclusion: Research on responsible leadership is still at a nascent stage. However, given its all-compassing approach toward ethicality, valuing others and inclusivity, it is certain that this type of leadership is the \"need of the hour\" for effectively addressing the requirements of a VUCA world. The foundation of responsible leadership is based on the following treatise: \"Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to describe the role of responsible leadership in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper explains how responsible leadership is aligned with the critical success factors necessary to thrive in a VUCA world.\nFindings: Critical success factors in the VUCA world are: sound business principles, a firm's agility to respond speedily, strong collaborative networks, innovation and ethical practices. These are aligned with a responsible leadership style, which is a combination of transformational, servant and authentic leadership.\nSocialimplications: This paper argues that responsible leadership embraces the broader societal issues and concerns based on ethical judgment.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides insights on how responsible leaders can meet the requirements of VUCA world.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relevant factors of innovation contests for SMEs	[ "New product development", "SMEs", "Case study", "Open innovation", "Innovation contest", "External knowledge search" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A fundamental question remains in the open innovation (OI) literature: why do some firms engage in OI to a greater extent than other firms, and how do these firms differ (Keupp and Gassmann, 2009)? It is unlikely that a management concept will have a positive effect in any situation, which means that the effectiveness of OI must be context dependent. There is not one single best approach to managing OI activities, since a firm's internal and external factors play a crucial role (Lichtenthaler and Lichtenthaler, 2009). To that end, a contingency approach that focuses on the context characteristics that determine OI effectiveness is needed (Elmquist et al., 2009). Research on the factors that are relevant in successfully implementing OI practices is very extensive, and our study focuses on two specific points. First, we examine how OI can be put into practice in SMEs, and second, we analyze a specific OI practice: innovation contests.\n2. Theoretical framework: Armisen and Majchrzak (2015) show that innovation contests are a critical mechanism for implementing OI strategies. In order to successfully manage innovation contests, a deeper understanding of how such contests affect a company and how they should be designed is required (Adamczyk et al., 2012). The outcome of innovation contests is influenced by various design elements (Piller and Walcher, 2006), and thus they must be designed carefully in order to support both the generation of ideas and the effective screening of those ideas (Yucesan, 2013). An initial list of ten design elements was proposed by Bullinger and Moslein (2010), and in a later work by Adamczyk et al. (2012) this list was extended to 15 design elements: media; organizer; task/topic specificity; degree of elaboration; target group; participation as an individual, a team or both; contest runtime; reward/motivation; community functionality; evaluation; attraction; facilitation; sponsorship; contest phases; and replication cycles. The effects that some of these design elements have on the outcome of innovation contest are one of the streams in the literature that have flourished in the last decade, and it has been shown that the effect of some design elements is in opposition to others.\n3. Methodology: Because this area of research is relatively novel, we decided to focus on collecting rich qualitative data through case study research. Our purpose, in line with Siggelkow (2007), was to provide a rich illustration of the phenomenon under analysis. In a previous study on the role of local subsidiaries in OI practices in multinational companies, we used a multiple case study methodology with seven SME suppliers for Volkswagen Navarra, a manufacturing subsidiary of the Volkswagen consortium in Spain. Of these seven SMEs, one in particular, Imeguisa, stood out for their success in implementing innovation contests as an OI practice for new product development (NPD). Therefore, we found that a deeper analysis of the company's experiences could shed light on the research question we posed in Section 1.\n4. The OI journey of Imeguisa: 4.1 Main characteristics of Imeguisa\n5. Findings: The theoretical framework that is described in Figure 1 shows that the literature on innovation contest has focused on the factors related to design in order to analyze how to use this practice as a managerial tool. Imeguisa's journey toward OI is highly appropriate for answering our research question and building a framework, not only in terms of design factors but also for the context factors that influence innovation contests as an OI practice that can be implemented in SMEs. In order to do this, first we show the context factors that we consider to be most relevant, followed by the design factors, use Figure 1 as a reference.\n6. Conclusions and managerial implications: As far as practical implications are concerned, we believe this paper provides managers of SMEs some interesting insights that can clarify when and why they should implement an innovation contest. It also provides guidance for how to design and implement it successfully, both in terms of results and in economic use of resources.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevant factors that influence the implementation of innovation contests, an open innovation (OI) practice that has been extensively reported in the literature as a managerial tool for external knowledge search. The authors focus the study on the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach is a retrospective case study. This methodology allows an in-depth view into a Spanish SME that successfully undertook two new product development processes thanks to the deployment of innovation contests.\nFindings: The main context factors influencing innovation contests as managerial tool are ambidexterity, technological and marketing turbulence and intermediaries, among others. Regarding design factors, this work highlights the role of attraction and facilitation. Additionally, the repetitive implementation of innovation contests creates a corporate culture that promotes OI activities.\nPractical implications: Managers will understand that they can use innovation contests as a managerial tool, and knowing the factors that need to be taken into account when implementing an innovation contest will help SMEs managers to make better use of this practice.\nOriginality/value: This case study enriches the literature of both innovation contests and topics relevant to SMEs. Based on a theoretical framework of the design factors that influence the implementation of innovation contests, the authors propose a research framework that incorporates those context factors in association with an SME.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating the effect of motivational dimensions on the construction project managers in Jordan	[ "Management", "Construction", "Questionaire survey" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recently, the focus in construction project management has shifted from the technical aspects of the career (i.e. planning, executing, scheduling, etc.) to people-oriented factors, such as motivation. There is a broad scope of areas where motivation research is applied in construction project management. Most of the research focused mainly on work motivation, how project manager can motivate the project team, or how motivation important for project success (Wiley, 1997; Dwivedula and Bredillet, 2010; Seiler et al., 2012). There were numerous surveys concentrated on how the employees can be motivated in their job and how managers can increase their teams' motivation (Schmid and Adams, 2008; Yeheyis et al., 2016). Successful project management does not only depend on working within predefined project management constructs and techniques but also depends on the characteristic of the project manager (Yetton et al., 2000; Fisher, 2011).\n2. Methodology: 2.1 Study sample and data collection\n3. Analysis and discussion: 3.1 Validity and reliability\n4. Discussion: The most important motivational dimension was the compensation. The results of the sub-dimension and the motivator's factors supported the results of the motivational dimension. Compensation, personal development, and team interaction-related aspects were the most important motivational factors. If a project manager was not satisfied with the compensation, then, his/her team had no personal growth and has no enough resources. This would unfortunately have a low work motivation. The motivation of construction project managers was highly dependent on external factors (e.g. compensation, team, and resources) and not only the result of a general ability of \"self-motivation.\" In Jordanian industry, companies' management could positively affect the motivation of project managers by improving the relevant factors, such as giving appropriate salaries (i.e. good wage level), incentives, and appreciate the work by thanks letter for the compensation factor.\n5. Conclusions: The study analyzed the effect of six motivational dimensions in terms of interpersonal interaction, task, general working conditions, empowerment, personal development, and compensation on construction project managers' motivation in Jordan. The construction project managers were more motivated by the compensation and personal development. The task became more motivational for project manager when the level of knowledge of construction project manager increased. However, the level of motivation of the certified project managers in Jordan increased by the empowerment, personal development, and compensation. Also, larger team size increased the level of motivation for the project manager for all the six dimensions in Jordan.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Construction organizations and companies are concerned with the motivational factors of the project managers that influence the project success. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to use a questionnaire based on five Likert-scales to identify and investigate the importance of the motivational dimensions on the construction project managers in Jordan\nDesign/methodology/approach: Therefore, this study aims at using a questionnaire based on five Likert-scales to identify and investigate the importance of the motivational dimensions on the construction project managers in Jordan. The six motivational dimensions were interpersonal interaction, task, general working conditions, empowerment, personal development, and compensation. Hypotheses testing were also developed to study the influence of both the characteristics of the project manager and the characteristic of the project on the motivational dimensions.\nFindings: The results showed that the construction project managers in Jordan were motivated more by compensation and personal development. Moreover, the level of education for the project manager was positively related to the motivation by task. It was also noticed that the project manager, who had higher experience, was motivated more by empowerment. The study is valuable in providing important information for the construction organizations in Jordan to actively influence the construction project managers' motivation.\nOriginality/value: The urgent needs for increasing project managers' motivation is the major concern for organizations and companies. Increasing the project managers' motivation has a major influence on increasing the project success rate and productivity. Construction sector is typically country's most important asset economically and socially. Currently, no studies were shown to investigate the construction project manager's motivation in Jordan. This study is, therefore, aims to evaluate the factors that influence the construction project manager's motivation in Jordan based on content and process motivational theories' perspectives. This research also utilizes the motivational factors instrument to test its validity in Jordan construction sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Attachment anxiety in mentoring: the role of commitment	[ "Commitment", "Protégé", "Mentoring", "Career development", "Attachment style", "Feedback" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Mentoring has been associated with a variety of positive outcomes across different contexts, such as in academia and the workplace (Eby et al., 2013). However, not all mentoring relationships are as effective as others, and researchers have sought to determine how various factors may influence the quality of these relationships. In response to calls for research examining the role of individual differences in mentoring (e.g. Turban and Lee, 2007), some scholars have started to investigate the influence of attachment styles (e.g. Allen et al., 2010; Germain, 2011; Goldner and Scharf, 2014; Scandura and Pellegrini, 2004; Wang et al., 2009). Results of these investigations have shown attachment style to be associated with important mentoring outcomes, such as willingness to mentor in the future (Wang et al., 2009) and feedback behaviors (Allen et al., 2010). However, additional research is needed to increase our understanding of the processes by which attachment styles may influence mentoring relationships (Chandler et al., 2011; Germain, 2011).\nTheory and hypothesis development: Brief introduction to attachment theory\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: Table I presents the means, standard deviations, correlations, and coefficient a's for the study variables. To test the mediation hypotheses, we used bootstrapping methods for testing indirect effects suggested by Preacher and Hayes (2004). Bootstrapping is a preferred method to the causal steps approach based on linear regression (Baron and Kenny, 1986) because it has significantly greater power to detect effects, allows for quantification of the indirect effect, and does not require assumptions of normality distributions for the indirect effect, allows for smaller sample sizes because of the lack of distributional assumptions, and has been shown to be more valid in simulation research (cf. Hayes, 2009; Williams et al., 2009).\nDiscussion: In this study, we sought to increase our understanding of the mechanism by which protege attachment anxiety relates to the feedback processes that occur within mentoring relationships. We accomplished this by examining the mediating role of commitment - a fundamental relationship property. Based on our results, it appears that mentor and protege perceptions of partner commitment as well as protege's own commitment play a role in the association between protege anxious attachment and feedback behaviors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of commitment in the relationship between proteges' anxious attachment styles and feedback behaviors of both mentors and proteges.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 100 academic protege-mentor dyads, and reports from both members of the mentoring relationships were used to test hypotheses.\nFindings: The results suggested that protege perceptions of mentor commitment and self-reported protege commitment mediated the relationships between protege anxious attachment style and protege feedback seeking and feedback acceptance. Additionally, mentor perceptions of protege commitment played an important role, mediating the relationships between protege anxious attachment and quality and quantity of mentor feedback.\nResearch limitations/implications: Taken together, the results reveal the important role of perceptions of partner commitment in high-quality mentoring behaviors.\nOriginality/value: This study was among the first to examine feedback and commitment in academic mentoring relationships, particularly taking into account commitment of each member of the dyad as well as their perceptions of the other person's commitment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Scenario planning with integrated quantification - managing uncertainty in corporate strategy building	[ "Strategy", "Decision making", "Forecasting", "Systems theory", "Scenario planning", "Uncertainty management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Informed knowledge about the future is the backbone of long-term oriented corporate decision-making. In order to include knowledge about potential future development and to enable corporations to deal with the uncertainty of what the future may hold, scenario processes have become a, if not the, key tool in corporate foresight over the last 30 years, and have been increasingly integrated into corporate decision-making. Notably, Shell Corporation is renown for implementing scenarios for strategic foresight (Godet, 2001, p. 84). Through the development of scenarios and other related approaches, foresight techniques add value to long-term planning by explicitly transferring the complexity and contingency of futures into commonly understood decision points, challenges and potentials. Yet their impact on mid-term decisions is in some, and perhaps even in many cases, remains limited as the connection between foresight activities and concrete action is often rather unstructured and therefore unsteady (Rohrbeck, 2010, p. 157). The transfer of insights from foresight activities to actions are predominantly realised through a change in the mind sets of key actors, which - in the best case - initiates further action that yields decisions in the near future. Hence, some companies excel in the integration of futures knowledge into actions, while other foresight processes do not ever go beyond \"being interesting\". It is in the later case that it is paramount to improve the usability and strategic impact of scenario planning.\nWhy quantified scenarios are needed: Many futurists recognise and experience limitations in using traditional qualitative scenario processes for corporate strategy and their ability to have a clear impact on strategic decisions. Foresight activities are often perceived as \"just another piece of information, without making clear the value for strategic management\" (Rohrbeck, 2010 p. 157). One limitation of scenario processes is that they are mostly conducted solely in a qualitative, descriptive nature. While the language of a scenario is comprised of possibilities, more often than not corporate planning prefers a language of \"facts\" - which in most cases means: numbers. Thus, strategic implications that stem from scenarios often undergo a long journey to implementation, as it is often difficult to link such scenarios to the numbers requested by strategic management. The management guru Peter Drucker's mantra, \"if you can't measure it, you can't manage it\", has not lost momentum in the corporate world. From our experience, purely qualitative scenarios are thus often judged as \"pure stories\", and have a risk of being ignored by numbers-oriented decision-makers (see Kopfmann et al. 1998).\nThe historical connection between quantification and foresight: Foresight and quantification have a long shared history. From the very beginning, scenario methodology used quantified models. Common to all quantification approaches is a pathway-approach of thinking with explicit action-reaction schemes, as well as a logic quantifier that limits reaction options. The methodology has its roots in strategic planning for the military, where gaming has been used as an analysis tool for alternative futures (Godet, 2001, p. 74, Kahn, 1962, 1965). These multi-agent models incorporated knowledge on game theory to anticipate reactions of various players (Bell, 2007, p. 283). The concept of gaming can be extended to a behavioural simulation of thousands of agents in order to grasp a complex behaviour system (Helbing et al. 2007). Besides gaming, optimisation models also serve as a foresight tool. Beginning with Leontief's economic model (Fontela, 2000a, Leontief, 1974), they show how systems approach different equilibrium states according to the target definition. Currently, optimisation models are used for global ecologic systems, such as the Potsdam Institut fur Klimaforschung (PIK) model on climate change mitigation strategies. However, the optimisation approach is very sensitive to variation in parameters and generally struggles with the validity of finding the absolute extreme. This shortcoming is partly addressed by heuristic optimisation such as genetic algorithms (Goldberg, 1989) to choose the best option under complex conditions.\nQuantification in corporate foresight today: Today, it seems that quantified scenarios (in our understanding of the term) are rarely implemented in corporate foresight. There are very few traces in the literature of numeric long-term models that include uncertainty that are applied in the corporate world of long-term planning. Scenarios are instead usually regarded as structured (qualitative) pictures of possible futures that influence decision-making by way of the mind-set of executives. Number-backed models that can project to a mid or long-term future are rare.\nOur approach on an operational level: The scenario building process as such is in line with the morphological analysis process (Bishop et al., 2007) as schematically shown in Figure 1 in the upper row. In practice this process is usually mainly qualitative and involves five consecutive steps: environmental scanning, key factor analysis, projection development, draft scenario selection and scenario construction. This process we will refer to as the qualitative scenario approach, and will not describe it in detail the following, but assume that this approach is well-known. In our approach, this qualitative stream is integrated with the development of a mathematical model. Both streams are considered equally important and are consolidated at every step to safeguard consistency. It is the ultimate goal of this dual approach to establish the causal relations between the influencing factors. This backbone of each scenario is referred to as driver logic.\nParticipative processes in corporate foresight and their realization for a combined qualitative-quantitative scenario process: The level of participation is crucial for gathering knowledge in foresight and for the transfer of insights to decision-making (Scapolo, 2005, p. 1059). A transparent and open scenario process facilitates acceptance and encourages participation. This becomes especially important when the scenarios are to be deployed widely within a company to align with the corporate strategy. Broad participation establishes a common understanding in the company and thus increases the \"support base\" for change resulting from these decisions, and it ensures that internal expertise is integrated. However, the reality of the corporate world dictates limits to participation, as participation costs valuable time and money, so that the process should optimally serve the company and make economic use of employees' time. Although a high involvement of many internal participants is desirable, the level of interaction must always be kept within reasonable limits.\nSystem dynamics as a quantitative tool: Before going into further detail on the foresight process, we introduce our main method that helps us to answer the question of how much and when. System dynamics is an ideally suited method to establish and analyse complex non-linear models. Importantly, the structure of a system dynamical model closely resembles an interaction diagram emerging from causal analysis. As a consequence, the qualitative and quantitative view directly correlate and can easily be refined in parallel. We have found that the transition from qualitative to quantitative and vice versa is seamless as the same topics will and can - with system dynamics for the model - play a role in the qualitative and quantitative side of the project and its outcomes.\nFrom managing complexity to managing uncertainty: Among futurists, it is common sense that the future is an option space. This contingency is the reason why we think in multiple futures. Predictions that simply extrapolate past developments into the future fail to recognise disruptions. Scenarios have proven to be a very effective instrument to organize the option space and include disruption. Quantifying, in turn, helps to understand the impact and quality of factors and disruptions within this system. This allows for discriminating between factors that will simply scale the size of the market while others will have the capability to change the quality of a relation, e.g. switching from one resource to a substitute. Therefore we recommend the quantification to be framed by qualitative scenario construction throughout the participative process. We saw that this brought many benefits and helped us to overcome several limitations of either purely qualitative scenarios or isolated numerical approaches.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper makes a case for the benefits of quantified scenarios as a foresight tool for strategic planning. First it aims to set the context of quantification approaches for strategic planning in foresight. Within world models, qualitative scenarios allow for a contingency perspective of the future, however their potential to be linked to strategic planning in corporate foresight is limited. In contrast to complex world models, forecasts on key indicators are easily applied to strategy processes, but lack the necessary capability to recognise uncertainty and decision points. The paper seeks to argue for a new participative and pragmatic approach in order to bridge the gap between the opposing approaches and aims to show how this quantification approach can be integrated with scenario construction on an operational level.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors discuss a quantitative scenario process and argue for its suitability to corporate foresight. They then describe a range of leanings from various foresight projects that have successfully applied quantified scenarios to strategic planning.\nFindings: Quantified scenarios can increase the impact foresight thinking has on corporate strategic planning.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper outlines the methods and tools of quantified corporate foresight, it does not include empirical evidence or concrete case studies.\nPractical implications: The approach outlined here can be used in corporate foresight projects in order to improve the use of scenario planning for strategy.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first one to outline a process for scenario quantification within corporate foresight.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Doctoring the ball: The political economy of tax incentives for investment in the Dominican Republic	[ "Political economy", "Tax incentives", "Interest groups" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Loopholes for some mean higher tax rates for everyone else.\n1. Introduction: The present paper presents a case study of tax incentives for investment in the Dominican Republic. Tax incentives are often used in developing countries to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and promote additional investment by domestic firms. While their effectiveness is questioned, developing countries make use of them as they often act as a substitute for a poor overall business climate (OECD, 2008). However, widespread preferential regimes weaken the tax structure by making the tax administration more complicated and preventing countries from raising their levels of taxation, creating the so-called fiscal termites (Tanzi, 2001). Once implemented, these systems generate significant benefits for the recipients who thus become powerful lobbyists, making their dismantling or modification extremely difficult. Even if benefits are meant to be temporary, there are strong vested interests to keep them indefinitely.\n2. A brief literature review of the political economy of tax incentives for investment: Tax incentives remain the most popular measure to promote investment in both developing and industrialised countries (Boadway and Shah, 1992; Tanzi and Zee, 2000; Tanzi et al., 2008). Moreover, Klemm (2009) suggests that granting tax incentives might be used to raise the physical capital stock when the tax system is an obstacle, or there are other hurdles that can be overcome by modifying the tax code.\n3. The political economy of tax incentives for investment in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic represents an interesting case study of the political economy of tax incentives in an emerging market economy. The country exhibits one the highest growth rates in Latin America over the past 20 years, both in per capita and overall terms, and has managed to experience less volatility than most countries in the region (Fanelli and Guzman, 2008; Comision Economica para America Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), 2014). While growth has been somewhat accompanied by a decline in the number of poor citizens, high levels of poverty, inequality and informality still persist, hindering a sustainable growth path. Limited fiscal space plays an important role in this (Fanelli and Guzman, 2008).\n4. Working from within: a comparative analysis of tax incentives for investment in the Dominican Republic: The four schemes are relatively similar and tend to be quite generous with the. If we assess the conditions that would justify granting tax breaks - activities should be viable following expiration of benefits; they should not be permanent; the targeting mechanism should be transparent and budgeted from the start; and targeted instruments should be preferred - we find that the country's record in this respect is poor, at best (Table II).\n5. Conclusions: Tax incentives for investment have been widely used in the Dominican Republic and other countries in Central America and the Caribbean. However, even if properly managed, these incentives cannot fully compensate for limitations in areas such as infrastructure, skills or institutional capacity, as argued also by Tanzi and Zee (2000) and OECD (2013). For the fiscal health of the economy and the improvement of the overall productivity and competitiveness, these issues should be addressed promptly.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Tax incentives can be a useful tool to stimulate investment in developing countries. However, interest groups often are able to exert considerable influence in its management, if not its design. The purpose of this paper is to use a power-based approach to the political economy of tax reform to analyse the case of tax incentives for investment in the Dominican Republic. Based on original interviews and a detailed analysis of regulations, the authors study how interest groups work within the institutional framework to seek outcomes that best fit their objectives. However, when unsuccessful, they become powerful advocates of change. These power dynamics have important implications for the design and management of tax incentives in the Dominican Republic and in other developing economies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Case study based on informed interviews with policy makers, lobbyists and researchers combined with statistical and administrative information to test the main hypotheses.\nFindings: While the role of influence groups in creating tax schemes has been widely studied, the authors show that these groups can also have an important role in the administration of the regime and making it more or less open to modifications. The paper shows that the capture of investment incentives has rendered the tax system rigid and unstable in the Dominican Republic, subjecting the public interest hostage to the gain of few.\nResearch limitations/implications: Therefore, there is a need to review and reform tax policy, not just from a technical viewpoint, but more importantly altering the political arrangements. More transparency in assessing the impact of these schemes, disclosing information of who has access to tax exemptions and budgeting the tax expenditures can also be tools to increase public control over these instruments. Also, making it more difficult to grant tax incentives, for example by asking for an ex-ante justification and quantification of the externalities supposedly being created would reduce the abuse by power groups of these instruments. Without more balanced and independent leadership, it would be extremely difficult to advance in these fields.\nOriginality/value: The literature on the political economy of tax incentives normally focuses on how key actors work around the institutional framework to solve conflict of interests. This paper addresses a complementary - and in the viewpoint equally relevant - aspect of the political economy of tax incentives: once enacted, vested interests have a particular motivation to keep the incentives in place, and therefore the authors should understand how key actors work from within the institutional framework to seek the outcomes that better suit their interests. The analysis focuses on Dominican Republic, based on official data and additional in-depth interviews with policy makers, entrepreneurs and consultants that assist firms with tax and regulation issues.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How do avatar attractiveness and customization impact online gamers' flow and loyalty?	[ "Electronic commerce", "Survey", "Customer loyalty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Online games are popular internet and electronic commerce applications (Vashisht and Sreejesh, 2017). When playing games, gamers adopt avatars (or gaming characters) as their digital self-representations (Fong and Mar, 2015) or visual representations (Lin et al., 2015). Issues concerning avatars have been widely examined in various contexts, including online games (Moon et al., 2013), exergames (Li and Lwin, 2016), video games (Li et al., 2013), online services (Etemad-Sajadi and Ghachem, 2015) and social networking sites (Westerman et al., 2015). The wide applications of avatars may be owing to avatars' strong impact on communication. Specifically, avatars impact user-perceived e-service quality (Etemad-Sajadi and Ghachem, 2015), which could enhance purchase intention in the e-commerce context (Liu et al., 2017), while the gaming context could induce play intention (Hamari, Hanner and Koivisto, 2017), which boosts spending on gaming contents (Hamari, Alha, Jarvela, Kivikangas, Koivisto and Paavilainen, 2017). Such importance justifies pursuing further electronic commerce research on avatars.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 Online gamer loyalty\n3. Methods: 3.1 Sample and data collection process\n4. Results: 4.1 Participant characteristics\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Main findings and contributions\n6. Conclusions: Overall, this study theoretically explains and empirically demonstrates that the links associated with avatar attractiveness and customization are important to instilling flow and loyalty in online gamers. Such findings contribute to the insight that electronic commerce managers could utilize avatars to effectively build a loyal customer base. As avatars can be characterized by numerous aspects, future works could explore how avatar design elements contribute to online gamers' flow and loyalty.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Avatars are known to be influential in gaming communication. However, little is known about how avatar attractiveness and customization impact online gamers' flow, i.e., the experience of total concentration with intrinsic enjoyment and loyalty. Grounded in social identity and flow theories, the purpose of this paper is to construct a model to explain how avatar attractiveness and customization can impact online gamers' flow and loyalty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The responses of 1,944 online gamers are collected. Structural equation modeling is used for analyses.\nFindings: The analytical results indicate that avatar attractiveness and customization are positively related to avatar identification, which is positively related to flow, and then to online gamer loyalty. In addition, avatar identification and flow are important process variables in the above relations.\nOriginality/value: This study is novel in being the first attempt to apply social identity and flow theories to explain how avatar attractiveness and customization contribute to online gamers' flow and loyalty.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning for and about sustainability in higher education - a regional perspective based on experiences from the Baltic and the Mediterranean	[ "Sustainable development", "Competence development", "Baltic University Programme", "MedUnNET", "Regional/international cooperation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Higher education institutions have been engaged since the early 1970's in efforts to better embed environmental education (EE) and sustainable development (SD) into their system including institutional framework, education, research, on-campus life experiences, assessment and reporting (Lozano et al., 2015). The contribution of universities' networks in the strengthening of professional development on education for sustainable development (ESD) across all sectors have been widely acknowledged and particularly highlighted in the Gothenburg Recommendations on ESD (2008) given their input in strengthening international and intercultural cooperation, knowledge exchange, global interaction and change and different ways of sharing and using resources.\nBackground of the Baltic University Network and Network of the Mediterranean Universities: Since the beginning of the international efforts for the protection of the environment (Stockholm, 1972), EE was considered as an important and efficient tool/prerequisite for the promotion and implementation of appropriate measures (Stockholm Declaration, 1972). The same spirit and similar references are found within the documents of UNEP concerning the Programme of the Regional Seas. Two most important for Europe are the Mediterranean and the Baltic. The Tbilisi Declaration (1977) enlarged the scope and concept of EE to include all forms and levels of learning, whereas in 1987, at the International Congress on EE, in Moscow, EE was recognised as an appropriate vehicle for enhancing international cooperation and peace (Scoullos, 1987).\nNature and scope of the networks: The BUP was initiated by rectors of universities in Sweden, Denmark and Finland and established at Uppsala University in Sweden as a programme and network in 1991. Since then, the programme and a secretariat is hosted by Uppsala University, with satellite centres in each participating country. According to the statutes of the network, the mission of the BUP network is to support SD in its full sense and to promote democracy and peaceful cooperation and international understanding in the Baltic Sea region. From the very beginning, BUP focused on a competence development scheme for university teachers which accompanied the production of new course materials. There was an apparent gap regarding learning materials on SD, especially materials with focus on this region. This is why great efforts were put on the production of learning materials, as well as meetings, workshops and trainings for teachers - and students - to implement the new materials and methods in the whole region. The development of the network, supported mostly by Nordic countries, was rapid and impressive. The BUP started with 36 higher education institutions and has grown to become one of the largest networks globally, with now more than 220 institutions. Figure 1 shows the present BUP-network on the map. To have a Baltic Sea-regional perspective, all written materials were produced in cooperation with researchers and teachers from all the countries participating in the network. The use of these materials was supported by televised discussions, space bridge discussions and case studies on video films. In the 1990s, four such large courses were produced. These multi-disciplinary courses, to be taught in English and with the use of new technologies, challenged both the teachers and their universities and stimulated advanced learning and performance. After 10 years, at the turn of the century and in line with the global trends in ESD, especially the Baltic Sea Region Strategy for ESD (2002) and later the UNECE Strategy for ESD (2005), the BUP teachers' trainings got an additional activity line with its focus on teaching and learning.\nImplementation strategies /activities of the networks focusing on ESD competences development (curriculum, methodology, policy): Baltic University Network\nOutcomes, impact and evaluation of the networks activities: Baltic University Network\nDiscussion/Lessons learnt: Institutional/policy level\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to present and compare collective efforts of higher education institutions working through regional networks in introducing and promoting education for sustainable development (ESD) and environmental education (EE) in two most significant EU boarder regions. Efforts to support EE/ESD in higher education are usually undertaken at individual universities and, in some cases, at national level, still remaining very fragmented; therefore, the examples of University networks in the Baltic and the Mediterranean regions are of particular interest and importance. Both regions have regional conventions, protocols and strategies for the relevant seas, bringing EU and neighbouring countries of the regions together for the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development (SD) within which EE and ESD are embedded.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents the driving forces for the establishment, evolution and design of relevant activities of these two networks, making also a few inter-comparisons and recommendations for further improvements.\nFindings: Both regions, the Baltic and the Mediterranean, have multiple needs and high potential for more efficient linking of SD with higher education. Early enough it was realised that regional networking could stimulate countries and universities towards this task. Two networks were set up: the Baltic University Programme (starting already in 1991) and the Mediterranean Universities Network for SD focusing on ESD (starting in 2007). The paper reviews main activities of the networks together with lessons learned and gives directions for their future operations.\nOriginality/value: This paper is one of the rare case studies related to higher education networking on ESD and demonstrates how networking on ESD, apart from enhancing professional development, supports also SD and promotes cooperation and peace in regions that have a history of frequently turbulent relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Fairness of the NPD partnership's financial distribution pie	[ "New product development", "Opportunism", "Automotive industry", "Distributive fairness", "Buyer-supplier partnerships", "Pie-sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The past decade has brought a considerable paradigm change in modern business competition. The idea that firms compete as independent economic agents shifted toward the more holistic approach of supply chain competition, in which supply chain partners mutually compete against external supply chains (Cheung et al., 2011). Concurrent with the above paradigm change in business competition, partnership theory also transformed from an arm's-length buyer-supplier management toward a mutual win-win emphasis of social exchange (Kim and Choi, 2015; Binder et al., 2008). Reasons for this shift are grounded in its theoretically highlighted economic advantages with the most potential for added value. Interorganizational partnerships theoretically enable firms to improve their performance and offer the potential to generate additional relational rents (Dyer and Singh, 1998; Lawson et al., 2009). However, industry practice shows that partners most often view each other as competitors of the mutually generated outcomes, resulting in zero-sum \"pie-sharing competition\" on the partnership's financial distribution of earnings (Jap, 2001; Wagner and Hoegl, 2007). The practice of fairness in sharing the partnership's pie becomes increasingly difficult, as its application lies at the crossroads between egoistically generating immediate results and ensuring a sustainable partnership performance. To establish high-performing supply chain networks, questions arise about how focal firms can ensure that adversarial competition is not carried out within their own supply chain, mainly caused by pie-sharing rivalry among partners (Cheung et al., 2011).\n2. Theory and hypotheses: 2.1 Fairness and social exchange in partnerships\n3. Research method: 3.1 Sampling and data collection\n4. Empirical results: Our hypotheses were tested using SEM with maximum likelihood estimation in SPSS AMOS 23.0 SEM results are depicted in Figure 2 and indicate good fit of the model to the data: kh2(308) = 407.25; kh2/df = 1.322; CFI = 0.961; TLI = 0.956; IFI = 0.962; RNI = 0.961; SRMR = 0.092; RMSEA = 0.047 with a 90 per cent confidence interval = [0.034; 0.059]. As exogenous variables are inter-related, we allowed correlations among these variables when estimating the full model. With the exception of hypothesis H1, which only is partially supported, the empirical results of our SEM provide support of all hypotheses.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: By placing fairness at the analytical center of our analysis, we offered a perspective on both the influential parameters and NPD consequences of pie-sharing fairness. The results of this research emphasize the importance of pie-sharing fairness within buyer-supplier NPD partnerships, which will be discussed in the following.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Industry practice shows that buyer-supplier partnerships are negatively influenced by zero-sum pie-sharing competition. Interfirm rivalry vis-a-vis a fair financial distribution of the mutually generated partnership pie is a growing source of concern for firms because fairness has a direct effect on the competitiveness of a partnership. This study aims to examine the consequences of fairness in pie-sharing within buyer-supplier new product development (NPD) partnerships on product-innovation, product-quality and product-cost, as well as the mediating role of opportunism.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical analyses are grounded on data from 147 NPD partnerships between Tier-1 suppliers and automotive manufacturers, using structural equation modeling with SPSS AMOS.\nFindings: Findings indicate that pie-sharing fairness significantly influences the partnership's ability to increase NPD effectiveness and efficiency. Moreover, unfairness in sharing the mutual pie showed to promote harmful opportunism, which negatively mediates the relationship between pie-sharing fairness and NPD performance. To control partners' fairness perception in the first place, the analysis revealed three factors that affect pie-sharing fairness significantly, i.e. relationship induced financial performance, behavioral tension and interfirm dependency.\nOriginality/value: Exchange relationships are built on economic and social components, both of which can be combined within the construct of pie-sharing fairness. Firms must take an interest in their exchange partner's equitable share of the mutually generated partnership pie, as pie-sharing fairness can be used to promote determinants of effectiveness and efficiency of their mutual NPD project. In a two-sided mutually contingent exchange behavior, the firm's own welfare must be regarded as an interorganizational overlap with the partner's, which can be optimized only by mutual efforts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Resilience in the modern career	[ "Personality", "Career satisfaction", "Boundaryless careers", "Career resilience", "Protean careers", "Psychological capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The modern career environment is turbulent and stressful. As traditional linear organizational careers continue to give way to modern careers that are self-directed, values-driven and boundaryless, career actors are increasingly expected to take responsibility for their own career development (Hall, 1996; Sullivan, 1999; Sweet and Meiksins, 2012). Rapidly changing technology, flattening organizational structures, globalization, the present global economic recession and a growing labor market skills gap make career management a daunting and unpredictable endeavor for individuals (Baruch and Bozionelos, 2010; Sweet and Meiksins, 2012). Despite the fact that the modern career model has been promoted as common and even desirable (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996), some have argued that the decline of the traditional organizational career pattern may result in the loss of psychological benefits such as job security, advancement potential, income security and job status (Fourie and Van Vuuren, 1998). In light of these increased pressures, it is more important than ever that career actors develop the psychological capital to remain adaptable and resilient in coping with career uncertainty (Bimrose and Hearne, 2012; Luthans et al., 2006; Van Vuuren and Fourie, et al., 2000).\nConceptual background: Psychological resilience\nTheoretical model: Because CR involves the development of coping strategies to overcome career obstacles (Bimrose and Hearne, 2012; Cardoso and Moreira, 2009), it is an important avenue of potential intervention by career counselors and HR practitioners. The creation of such interventions requires a better understanding of the antecedents and consequences of CR. Although there are myriad variables that might be theoretically related to CR, we focus here on three categories of antecedents supported by the extant literature. As shown in Figure 1, we extend Fourie and Van Vuuren's model by broadening the three factors and relating CR to: the full range of personality factors; career self-evaluation; and modern career orientation. We also examine the mediating role that CR plays between these factors and the outcome of CS.\nMethod: Participants\nResults: The means, standard deviations and correlations among the study variables are shown in Table I. We tested our hypotheses using structural equations modeling (SEM). The baseline SEM model, shown in Figure 1, is a partial mediation model, which includes paths between all independent variables and both the hypothesized mediator, CR and the dependent variable, CS, as well as the relationship between CR and CS. According to the criteria noted by Hooper et al. (2008), this model showed adequate fit, as shown in Table II: kh2=13.44, df=5, p=0.02; kh2/df=2.69; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.03; normed fit index (NFI)=0.998; and goodness of fit index (GFI)=0.999.\nDiscussion: The results of our study show that CR is an important mediator of the relationships between personality, career self-evaluation and modern career orientation and CS. Contrary to our expectations, external locus of control was negatively associated with CR, suggesting that people with an internal locus of control, who attribute their successes and failures to their own actions, are more resilient in their careers. These results led us to an interesting discovery. While psychological resilience has been shown to be associated with multiple personality factors (Campbell-Sills et al., 2006) and hypothesized to be associated with external locus of control (Bonanno, 2004; Luthans et al., 2006), we found CR to be predicted by internal locus of control, self-efficacy and emotional stability. These are three of the four components of core self-evaluations (the fourth is self-esteem), which represent the \"fundamental assessments that people make about their worthiness, competence, and capabilities\" (Judge et al., 2005, p. 257). This suggests that CR may function differently than general psychological resilience. Although further research is needed to assess the similarities and differences between general psychological resilience and CR, it is possible that in the career context, one cannot buffer oneself from the harmful effects of career adversity by attributing that adversity to the actions of others. Career adjustment requires more purposeful action and ownership of one's actions. Judge et al. (1998) argued that individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to perceive their ability to control situations and to have greater satisfaction with their careers. A person who merely blames others for his or her career adversity may not have the sense of agency necessary to accumulate the necessary human and social capital to move forward and achieve positive career outcomes. It is not surprising that self-directedness is also positively related to CR and satisfaction, as the individual who takes ownership of his career is more likely to perceive options at his disposal to restore career development and success in the face of temporary setbacks, rather than to fall victim to a fatalistic view of his employment prospects. Because resilience involves the development of coping strategies to overcome career obstacles (Bimrose and Hearne, 2012; Cardoso and Moreira, 2009), those individuals who perceive themselves to have the ability and the control to develop and enact such strategies will be more resilient in the face of career disruptions.\nLimitations and directions for future research: Although our study benefits from a large sample, it does have some limitations that should be addressed in future research. First, we relied on self-reporting data that were gathered on a single survey questionnaire. This makes the data susceptible to common method bias (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Second, our original hypotheses, which were based on extant theory and evidence concerning psychological resilience, did not incorporate the construct of core self-evaluations. We therefore did not include in our study a measure of self-esteem, which our results suggest is likely to be related to CR. Future research should include this construct as well as the direct measure of core self-evaluations developed by Judge et al. (2003). Third, our research relied on cross-sectional data, which is not ideal in studying adaptation processes. Future research should investigate the longitudinal effects of CR on the relationship between various career stressors (e.g. lay-offs, prolonged unemployment, failure to be promoted) and career success and satisfaction.\nConclusions: This study extended previous work concerning CR (Carson and Bedeian, 1994; Fourie and Van Vuuren, 1998; London, 1983), by examining the role of CR as a mediator between various psychological career factors and CS, a measure of subjective career success. Our findings indicate that people with a strong core self-evaluation toward their career competencies, indicated by emotional stability, self-efficacy and internal work locus of control, are more resilient and hence more satisfied with their progress toward career goals. People who are more self-directed in their careers, who demonstrate agency and personal accountability for career success, are also more resilient and more satisfied in their careers. This attribute of modern career development appears to be an important buffer against the uncertainty and dynamism of the modern career context. However, the other aspects of the modern career orientation, values-driven career goals, preference for organizational mobility and a boundaryless career mindset, appear to increase one's vulnerability to career adversity. For those individuals who demonstrate these career attitudes, it will be important to purposely develop their CR. Tugade and Fredrickson (2004) showed that positive emotionality helps to build resilience by broadening the individual's repertoire of thoughts and actions in the face of adversity. Thus, interventions such as cognitive behavior therapy, which focussed on altering cognitions in order to increase positive affect, may be helpful in building resistance to career adversity. Luthans et al. (2006) further argued that efforts directed at increasing self-enhancement (i.e. a bias toward self-confidence and overly positive self-image) and hardiness (i.e. self-feelings of commitment, control and rising to a challenge) are promising avenues for building resilience in the human resource context. Although the development of resilience-building tactics is a work in progress, the present study shows that such interventions are indeed needed in the modern career environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Career resilience (CR) is an increasingly important, but under-researched aspect of modern careers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of CR on the relationships between personality factors, career self-evaluations and modern career orientation and the outcome of career satisfaction (CS). The authors hypothesized that CR would be positively associated with the \"big-5\" personality factors, career self-evaluations (self-efficacy and external locus of control) and modern career orientations (protean and boundaryless orientations) and that CR would mediate those variables' relationships with CS.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The participants in the study were 1,988 employed managers and professionals. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships and mediation model.\nFindings: CR mediated the relationships between CS and emotional stability, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, internal work locus of control, career self-efficacy and protean career attitudes. Contrary to expectations, being values-driven was negatively associated with CR, producing a negative net indirect effect on CS.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study extends previous work concerning CR by examining the role of CR as a mediator between various psychological career factors and CS (i.e. subjective career success). An important issue is whether CR is a unique construct relative to psychological resilience. The results suggest that this may be the case, but direct comparison between the two constructs is required to answer the question definitively.\nPractical implications: Strengthening CR through career development interventions can have important impacts on CS, particularly for those individuals who are values-driven or have boundaryless mindsets and preferences for organizational mobility.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to examine the relationship between CR and \"new career\" attitudes (i.e. boundaryless and protean career orientations), which have been the topic of much research. The authors contribute to the career success research by linking CR and modern career orientation to CS and demonstrating that CR mediates the relationships between career-related psychological factors (personality, self-evaluation and modern career orientation) and CS.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
China: the next innovation hot spot for the world	[ "Innovation management", "Chinese national system of innovation", "Emerging countries", "International research and development", "Science and technology parks", "Technology creation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Never before has the world witnessed such fast development of a market as large as China. China's economy is climbing up the value curve, transitioning from the low-cost manufacturing of basic products to the assembly of high-tech products, and more recently to innovation-led growth. The following article gives an overview of this dynamic. We first give a succinct historical perspective, then describe the present situation; lastly we look at issues for the near future. We contend that Western firms cannot afford to be absent from the paradigm shift we describe. Foreign R&D in China no longer has emerging status. If you are not yet part of this move, you should hurry up!\nRoots of the present situation: China is known as the country of several major inventions such as gunpowder, the compass, paper and movable block printing. Which of these truly originated in China is the subject of some debate, but it is sure that China did not exploit these breakthroughs to the full. One possible reason is the origin of these advances in the milieu of artisans who enjoyed little esteem in society in those days. Another suggested reason is the cultural obstruction to the development of mathematics and the predominance of literary culture in recruiting empire officials, resulting in raised barriers to scientific experimentation (Needham, 1954).\nA brief look at the innovation scene in today's China: Since this change in attitude, several programs have succeeded. The Spark Program and the 863 Program were launched in 1986. The stated objective of the latter was to make China independent of foreign companies in various technological fields; this program is still in force and is funded by Beijing. In 1988, the Torch Program, launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology, aimed to accelerate the integration of advanced technologies in industrial manufacturing processes, new materials, biotechnology, electronics and information technology, integrating opto-mechanical electronics, new energy, and environmental protection.\nProspects for China as a major source of innovations for the world: The above statistics on inputs are impressive, although as we have already mentioned, in the realm of innovation, input quantity is less crucial than output quality. The latter is difficult to assess. Will China be able to develop the Apple of the future? This is an interesting question. Developing creativity in a culture where education is based primarily on learning by heart and repeating what the professor has said without criticizing him is a challenge. Innovators are always exploring alternative paths and are not afraid of failure. By definition, innovation does not fit into the mainstream: it requires confrontation, and this is not compatible with Confucian culture. It is significant to note that a Chinese scientist has never been awarded the Nobel Prize for science. In addition, policy tends to play against innovation. China is a society where people do not criticize institutions and political leaders. Innovation requires a climate of freedom that is not a characteristic of this regime. Nevertheless, based on the present situation, it is clear that China already has a vibrant innovation/R&D scene.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Nowadays, China's economy is climbing up the value curve, transitioning from the low-cost manufacturing of basic products to the assembly of high-tech products and more recently to innovation-led growth. This article gives an overview of this dynamic. The authors first give a succinct historical perspective, then describe the present situation; lastly they look at issues for the near future. The authors contend that Western firms cannot afford to be absent from the paradigm shift described in the paper. Foreign R&D in China no longer has emerging status.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The article builds on a review of the literature, statistical data and field experience in different Chinese technological hot spots (including Shanghai Zhangjiang, Beijing Zhongguancun, and Suzhou high-tech parks).\nFindings: The article highlights five areas where technical change has taken place in China. The assembled facts depict the constitution of a credible Chinese system of innovation. Examples of recent accomplishments in different industries argue for the sustainability of these advances.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper can be considered as an essay reflecting the authors' understanding of the Chinese situation; as such, it may be subjectively biased.\nPractical implications: The paper provides arguments for Western managers to convince decision makers of China's new role on the innovation and R&D map; Western managers should definitely be part of this move.\nOriginality/value: The paper highlights a major change: China is still a low-tech country; but it has developed world-class islands of knowledge for innovation and technology creation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tertiary students' acceptance of a game to teach information literacy	[ "Information literacy", "Behavioural intention", "Learning motivation", "Digital game-based learning", "Educational game", "Gameplay enjoyment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Digital games have been increasingly used in teaching, due to their ability to attract and engage people effectively (Braghirolli et al., 2016). In particular, digital game-based learning (DGBL) builds on the entertainment value of games to create instructionally sound learning experiences and facilitate sustained learning for a wide variety of users (Erhel and Jamet, 2013). One of the key characteristics of DGBL is the juxtaposition of learning and interactive entertainment. It offers the potential to transform academic learning to an easier, more learner-centered, more enjoyable, more interesting, and hence, more effective experience (All et al., 2015).\n2. IL games evaluation: Many academic libraries have utilized DGBL to teach IL skills. For example, Utah Valley University developed two games to introduce the library to students: Get a Clue and LibraryCraft (Smith and Baker, 2011). Get a Clue aims to introduce new students to the physical layout of the library building by playing the game. The game is built around a mystery with many clues. Players follow a detective to solve a crime and travel to different parts of the library. In the initial evaluation of Get a Clue, almost half of the participants were confused about the gameplay. The library revised the game, and evaluated it again with over 300 students using a short survey with four questions. Results indicated that most students found the revised game easy to follow, and the game reached students who had minimal exposure to the library. The other game, LibraryCraft, aims to familiarize students with the library's website and digital resources. A short survey was attached at the end of the game for evaluation purposes. Among the 52 students who completed LibraryCraft, a majority agreed that the game was fun, and they learnt something useful.\n3. Conceptual framework: The purpose of DGBL is to promote learning through enjoyable gameplay. Players will not be attracted to playing an educational game if there is too much learning and not enough fun, or vice versa. Therefore, both the pedagogical and gameplay characteristics of DGBL are important factors in determining user acceptance.\n4. Library escape: The game used for the study, Library Escape, is briefly introduced here. It is a role-playing game that aims to engage university students in learning IL. There are four characters: Tom the protagonist, Professor Senka the IL module instructor, Mr Babbage the librarian, and an evil ghost as antagonist. The backstory features the protagonist, Tom, only managed a D for his IL module. Tom consults with the IL module instructor, Professor Senka, to find out the reason and asks what he could do to improve his grade. Professor Senka leads Tom to the basement of a deserted library building, and shoves him in, saying that this is the place where he could get some IL education.\n5. Method: 5.1 Sampling and procedure\n6. Results: To reiterate, we proposed three hypotheses based on the review of literature. The first set of hypotheses (H1) was that motivation in terms of (a) attention (b) relevance (c) confidence, and (d) satisfaction, is positively associated with behavioral intention to play IL games. The second set of hypotheses (H2) was that enjoyment is positively associated with intention to play IL games, in terms of (a) affective enjoyment (b) cognitive enjoyment, and (c) behavioral enjoyment. The last hypothesis (H3) was that perceived usefulness is positively associated with intention to play IL games.\n7. Discussion: In terms of learning motivation, the results revealed statistically significant influences of attention and satisfaction on behavioral intention to play IL games, which is in line with previous findings from Maldonado et al. (2011), and Park et al. (2014). This demonstrated that the more participants were attentive and satisfied when playing educational games, the higher their behavioral intention was to use DGBL. Library Escape attracted participants' attention with its novel interface design and varying activities in different missions, thus increasing their satisfaction. Our participants found using DGBL an innovative way of learning, and typical comments included: \"I like the idea of teaching information literacy in a game,\" and \"This is a more interesting way to learn about information literacy. It can hold my attention better than the lectures.\"\n8. Conclusion: This study investigated the factors influencing participants' acceptance of IL games. In total, 150 tertiary students were recruited to play an IL game, Library Escape, and complete a survey questionnaire. Multiple linear regression results indicated that attention, satisfaction, affective enjoyment, and perceived usefulness were significant determinants for the behavioral intention to play IL games. However, relevance, confidence, cognitive enjoyment, and behavioral enjoyment were not found to predict their behavioral intention.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate tertiary students' acceptance of digital game-based learning (DGBL). Specifically, it investigated the influence of learning motivation, enjoyment, and perceived usefulness on students' behavioral intention to play an information literacy (IL) game.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 150 tertiary students were recruited to play an IL game, and fill in a survey questionnaire. Multiple linear regression was performed.\nFindings: Results indicated that attention, satisfaction, affective enjoyment, and perceived usefulness were significant determinants for the behavioral intention to play IL games. However, relevance, confidence, cognitive enjoyment, and behavioral enjoyment were not found to predict their behavioral intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors did not consider other factors in the hypotheses, such as the mediating effects of enjoyment on behavioral intention, and the influence of students' individual characters such as learning styles or personalities on their behavioral intention of using DGBL. Further, the IL game used in the study, Library Escape, may reduce generalizability of the results. The study used self-reported attitudinal data from survey questionnaires, while behavioral data were not considered.\nPractical implications: The results showed that pedagogical features, enjoyment factors, and perceived usefulness remain critical in the uptake of IL games by students. Further, the study demonstrated that instead of behavioral or cognitive dimensions of enjoyment, players are more concerned with affective enjoyment. Hence, developing DGBL with affective features should be pursued.\nOriginality/value: By taking into consideration both pedagogical and gameplay characteristics of DGBL to explain students' acceptance of IL games, this study integrates and extends previous studies in the context of IL games. Additionally, instead of using perceived enjoyment as a single dimensional construct, this study adopted a multifaceted, more nuanced perspective on the perceived enjoyment of DGBL.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating a tacit knowledge sharing initiative: a case study	[ "Tacit knowledge", "Individual factors", "Return on investment", "Knowledge management", "Knowledge conversion", "Organizational performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Turning knowledge into value is widely accepted as a key source of competitive advantage for organisations (Kankanhalli et al., 2007; Shih et al., 2010). Tacit knowledge is key in leveraging the overall quality of knowledge (Goffee and Jones, 2007). The traditional emphasis in knowledge management has been on knowledge that is recognized and already articulated in some form, known as explicit knowledge. However there is a growing body of literature that calls for a focus on the management of tacit knowledge (Ambrosini and Bowman, 2008; Cordeiro-Nilsson and Hawamdeh, 2011). Tacit knowledge is acquired through inner individual processes such as experience, reflection, internalisation and individual talent (Haldin-Herrgard, 2000). These characteristics make tacit knowledge a source of sustainable competitive advantage because it cannot be stored and transferred easily, and thus a firm's competitors find it is difficult to imitate and copy (Ambrosini and Bowman, 2008). However, because tacit knowledge is stored in a non-verbal form, employees are often unaware of the knowledge they possess, or are incapable of expressing something that for them is natural and obvious, irrespective of their qualifications (Haldin-Herrgard, 2000). Given these difficulties, organisations are increasingly intensifying their search for ways to learn how to share and transfer tacit knowledge between their employees and teams, and prevent the loss of this knowledge through employee turnover (Nonaka and Von Krogh, 2009). Because individuals are the fundamental repositories of tacit knowledge, they are key to the success of any knowledge management initiative (Tohidinia and Mosakhani, 2010).Organisations use both people and technology focused strategies to help the sharing of tacit knowledge. The main advantage of people-focused strategies is that they enable the sharing of more relevant tacit knowledge (Polanyi, 1983), such as employees' experiences, know-how, and other complementary expertise that is embedded in organisational practice and cannot be easily captured in documents. People focused strategies must effectively facilitate the conversion of tacit knowledge into more explicit formats where its value can be extracted and captured for use beyond a once off point-in-time social interaction between an individual or collective. To successfully optimize the way new knowledge is developed and existing knowledge is exploited, organisations need to facilitate the dynamic capabilities required for converting the knowledge available from the insights and competences of people into appropriate structures, processes, products and systems that allow the value to be exploited (McKenzie and Van Winkelen, 2004; KPMG, 2000). Thus there are two fundamental issues here; first gaining insight into the challenges associated with externalising individual's tacit knowledge and their internalising of it for application to a task; second, providing a more precise methodology as to how to measure this value and obtain some insight into the extent to which individuals competence will be impacted through sharing of tacit knowledge.The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory case study based on participant observation that investigated the challenges of externalising tacit knowledge and measuring its value to an organisation. The paper is structured as follows: First we discuss the challenges to tacit knowledge conversion and the issues involved in evaluating tacit knowledge management initiatives. The methodology utilised is then described in detail, followed by a description of the results. Finally, we discuss the implications of the study for the practice of training and development in organisations.\nTheoretical context: Challenges to tacit knowledge conversion\nMethodology: Study context\nThe study findings: We structure the findings of this experiment under three sub themes:Subtheme 1: tacit knowledge conversion and sharing: results for change in abilities of individuals\nDiscussion: The case study outlined in this paper provides a useful insight into the issues involved capturing in capturing tacit knowledge and its value to a business. Our study reveals a number of significant challenges involved in tacit knowledge conversion and sharing. On the issue of externalisation, it is recognising that codification and articulation of tacit knowledge is prone to challenges, errors and loss of knowledge but precise insights and potential causes of these challenges with which to inform solutions is limited.The specific challenges revealed in this case study include differences across individuals in their communication code preferences and information processing preferences. Previous research reveals that there is agreement that the basic steps used to process information are consistent but the skills, goals, prior knowledge and strategies used by individuals can vary significantly (Sojka and Giese, 1997). Some people rely more on images to learn while others learn better from verbal material and some are mixed processors whom can learn from either format (Ong and Milech, 2001). Thus while the process of codification is challenging to the extent of identifying codes that best represent the intended meaning, an additional challenge is to utilise codes that in tandem match the information processing preference of the individual whom is receiving the code. As revealed in this case, some steps of the task could not be codified in the form of words, symbols, code or images and efforts were made to use metaphor to articulate the intended meaning, for example \"wiggle\". Metaphors aim to fill gaps in our language and transfer meaning by utilizing a metaphor which fits the characteristics of the concept that the individual wishes to highlight (Oswick and Jones, 2006) or metaphors can add new meanings to both the source and target concepts (Cornelissen, 2004) and thus they can facilitate articulation of that which is less amenable to articulation such as higher levels of tacit knowledge on the Ambrosini and Bowman (2001) scale of tacitness. However, metaphors only generate partial \"truths\" as if they are taken literally or to an extreme they are distorted and false. Not every aspect of the metaphor in use transfers to every aspect of the concept being described and so metaphors hide some features of the concept they are applied to and highlight others (Goatly, 1997). Because metaphors are partial, several are needed to provide a richer description of a concept; each metaphor highlighting different features of the same concept (Short, 2001). Therefore, in the process of externalizing tacit knowledge in the form of documents in a manufacturing environment metaphors for all their advantages are equally prone to multiple interpretations and therefore error. Equally, if the response of both technicians is interpreted according to autopoietic epistemology and based on how they interpreted the codes provided based on their existing knowledge, it is possible that the different worldviews (electrical by comparison mechanical) of both inexperienced technicians (mechanical and electrical) and the expert (mechanical) will produce different responses to the instruction \"wiggle\" due to differing interpretations. Electronics tends to consist of small delicate objects by comparison to mechanics consists of large strong objects and thus they require a different level of psychomotor strength in response to an instruction \"wiggle\".Our case study illustrates that the knowledge provider experienced difficulties in determining the quantity of tacit knowledge to give the receiver so that he could understand the content and be in a position to apply it. Knowledge retention over time will be higher for those given system/general knowledge rather than those given procedural/task knowledge. However, the amount of knowledge increased over time for both those initially provided with task and those provided with general knowledge (Annett, 1989; Rose, 1989). However, the decision with regard to how much of his knowledge an expert should provide is also based on the prior knowledge and skills of the receiver of the knowledge and so some degree of customisation would be required to meet all the knowledge requirements of all receivers of tacit knowledge.The extent of prior knowledge and skills possessed by the inexperienced technicians also revealed some other internalisation challenges. There was a tendency for an inexperienced technician to reference his prior knowledge to help him conduct the task or conduct the task without reading the document. This behaviour, if interpreted through cognitivist epistemology, is suggestive of the inexperience technician gathering knowledge from the external environment and relating them to previously acquired frames of reference, to his cognitive map. In this case study, the inexperienced technician, on occasion incorrectly perceived his prior knowledge to be of the same model and therefore relevant to use in this task. Instructional design theory applied to real world tasks recommends training on tasks by sequentially increasing the complexity of the task while ensuring the knowledge and skill components of the tasks are the same or similar (Merrill, 2007). However, in this instance the machines appeared similar but the tasks were different thus requiring the technician to recognise this fact and then \"forget\" or unlearn previous methods, or in others words, devise a updated cognitive map. Equally, the inexperienced technician experienced some challenges utilising the experts know-how due to lack of prior knowledge and skills which were pertinent to the task, e.g. system understanding and keyboard skills. In this instance it suggests that he lacked a cognitive map with which to relate the new knowledge and so had to devise one.The difficulties of an information provider accessing his/her or being aware of his/her own subconscious tacit knowledge also emerged. Some tacit knowledge is articulable where the source is asked the right questions. Therefore in scenarios such as this it is possible that the involvement of an interviewer with significantly developing interviewing skills should be able to surface the tacit knowledge held in the subconscious.Our study findings highlight a number of important practice implications. The process of capturing tacit knowledge and ensuring its conversion is both complex and time consuming. Therefore organisations need to demonstrate a sense of realism concerning the types of knowledge that are amenable to the use of people focused as opposed to technology focused strategies. Our case study does reveal the potential to calculate ROI. Such a calculation requires the careful gathering of cost and benefit data and the need to convince senior management of the value of such tacit knowledge conversion and sharing initiatives. Effective tacit knowledge conversion may ultimately be best achieved through analogies, metaphors and stories. We highlight that these aspects are problematic in an expert knowledge sharing context, but that the ROI of such initiatives may be significant.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to present a case study illustrating the issues involved in the tacit knowledge conversion process and to determine whether such conversion delivers value to the organisation in terms of business value and return on investment (ROI).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A single-case multiple baseline participants experimental design, replicated across two participants, was utilised. Aaron's KM V-model of evaluation is utilised to determine the ROI of the initiative.\nFindings: - While the evaluation of the tacit knowledge conversion initiative suggests positive value to the business; analysis of the conversion process also reveals a number of individual level factors, which reinforce the challenges associated with efforts to access, capture and share expert tacit knowledge.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The results of this study may stimulate further research on tacit knowledge management processes, and specifically the influence of the individual in the success or failure of these initiatives.\nPractical implications: - The paper presents an actual case study situation that reveals the micro-level issues involved in converting tacit expert knowledge.\nOriginality/value: - The paper addresses three important areas; it makes an effort to focus on tacit rather than explicit knowledge management, it takes steps to evaluate a tacit knowledge management initiative in terms of its tangible business value, and it pays attention to the influence of the individual in knowledge management processes, which are inherently driven by the individual.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implementing BPM systems: the role of process orientation	[ "Business process re‐engineering", "Measurement, testing and instruments", "Organizational processes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Business process management systems (BPMS) may result in considerable rewards for the companies adopting them. Typical advantages are: reduced lead times, less hand-off errors, and more flexibility to change the structure of supported business processes. On the other hand, implementation of these types of systems can be a complex and time-consuming effort (Bowers et al., 1995). Different factors influence the ease of and the success - if any - of a BPMS implementation.One of the influential factors on implementation success that emerges from research, trade literature and practice is the level of process orientation within an organization (Parkes, 2002). BPMS's support the enactment of business processes that flow throughout the organization across departmental borders. Therefore, it may be essential that an organization's mindset is such that processes by themselves are deemed valuable to improve business performance. Otherwise, people may want to stay within their functional silo's, not care much about ongoing efforts of process discovery and mapping and altogether refrain from making a BPMS implementation a success. Using a similar argument, Davenport (1993) and Hammer and Champy (1993) have identified process orientation as an essential ingredient for successful process redesign and reengineering efforts within organizations.This paper presents a checklist that can be used to determine an organization's process orientation prior to a BPMS implementation. Its aim is to help predict the success of BPMS implementation on the basis of the identified process orientation level within an organization. The checklist has been developed in cooperation with one of Europe's leading BPMS vendors and validated using the results from three implementation projects at client sites. To protect the interests of these clients who prefer to remain unnamed, we will merely refer to the vendor organization in this paper as \"the BPMS vendor\".The organization of this paper is as follows. In the next section, we will present an overview on BPMS's, BPMS implementation factors, and the essence of process orientation. The overview is used to give the reader the necessary background for the remainder of the paper and explain its particular focus and assumptions. Then, we will explain our research methodology, followed by a presentation of the results and a discussion. The paper ends with our concluding remarks.\nBackground: BPM systems\nResearch methodology: Our research consisted of two phases:1. the development of a simple checklist to determine the level of process orientation within an organization; and2. a subsequent case study validation of the checklist's value to predict implementation success.The respective instruments of checklist and case study will be elaborated in the remainder of this section. As will become clear, the feedback group of ten professionals from the BPMS vendor we mentioned in the previous section also played an important role in the validation and augmentation of the instruments, in this way adding an important practical dimension to findings from literature.Checklist\nResults: In Table II, the scores are presented that were established with the process orientation checklist for the three case studies. For each organization, the individual scores of each of its employees and the involved BPMS vendor consultant are presented. Furthermore, the total process orientation scores are given as well.As noted, interviews took place immediately following the filling out of the checklist. The interviews with the people involved with the BPMS implementation at MSP revealed that the determined project timeline was slightly exceeded (10-15 per cent), as was the budget (less than 5 per cent). The main reasons were some drawbacks during system development, as well as the unplanned inclusion of additional features and functionalities considered \"nice to have\". User acceptance was more problematic, as end-users initially expressed to be seriously impaired by the BPMS. End-user acceptance grew when they became more involved in updates and improvements. With respect to the business case, the initial objectives and targets set out by MSP have been realized. In particular, the number of loyalty offerings that can be delivered within the same amount of time with the same number of resources as before is increased almost tenfold.At AMG, considerable problems occurred during the implementation of the BPMS. A poor fit of the BPMS within the existing architecture was recognized and integration with existing systems was found to pass with difficulty. Even now, technical problems are still being encountered, although on a much smaller scale. On a positive note, end-users were relatively satisfied with the system which they found easy to use. Budget and planning, however, were royally exceeded. The project was delayed with 9 months on an initial total of 12, and 30-40 per cent extra budget had to be allocated. Halfway the project, the systems integrator involved in the project was sent away and another party stepped in. From the business case perspective, the objectives to be able to route and send digital documents with more ease are fulfilled. It is expected that the used solution can be scaled up easily. A positive side-effect of the BPMS implementation is that four full-time equivalents of administrative processing work on these documents could be re-allocated to other processes within AMG.The realization of the BPMS at RtB did not experience or induce major technical problems. Quite at the start of the project, however, an extension of the project planning with two more months took place. The initial planning had proved to be too ambitious given the speed of the project. Owing to the transition of local to centralized fulfillment just preceding the implementation, it also turned out to be difficult to comprehensively define the new process models for the new situation. Also, the combined introduction of new work procedures with a new support system was considered by some end-users as too much of a change at one time. All business case objectives were realized at the end of the (extended) project, notably a total change of the effective work procedure being enforced by the BPMS. Substantial (but unspecified) efficiency gains are also established, which were seen as positive \"side-effects\".An overview of the results is given in Table III.\nDiscussion: In Figure 1, the process scores of the checklist from Table II have been ranked. It can be seen that the relative rankings of the process orientation scores within each category of professionals, quite accurately follows the relative rankings of the organizations as a whole. For example, AMG as a whole has the lowest process orientation score of all organizations and AMG's business manager's score is the lowest among the business manager's scores. Therefore, despite the limits of a retrospective approach, memories of officials at least seem consistent. It also seems to follow from this analysis that it does not matter much which type of official is asked to fill out a checklist, as long as the scores of the same category of officials are compared on a relative scale.Quite interestingly, the end-user seems to systematically rate the level of process orientation higher than any other professional. We tend to believe that this results from an end-user's necessarily very local view on an organization's process organization. In the cases we report on, end-users' perception on process orientation may be biased positively by the local BPMS implementation taking place locally.In two out of three cases, the BPMS vendor consultant is the one giving the lowest process orientation score, but in the case of AMG it is the IT architect/specialist. One could argue that the BPMS vendor consultant as an outsider has a limited view on an organization's process orientation. He or she may not see all process initiatives which are going on and ends up with too negative an opinion. In the case of AMG, the IT dimension of the implementation problems was so dominant, that it is not surprising the IT architect/specialist rates process orientation so low.As a following step, it is interesting to consider the process orientation scores and the implementation results as established from the interviews (Table III). At first sight, it seems that the level of process orientation score agrees with implementation success, be it with one particular aspect of it: the course of the implementation process (i.e. planning and budget issues). Delay and budget problems were serious at AMG, where the process orientation score was indeed established as \"red\". These kinds of problems were much less substantial at MSP and RtB were process orientation was \"yellow\". But despite the \"red\" and \"yellow\" scores of the three involved organizations, they all achieved their business case objectives. We may ask ourselves: Does not process orientation affect the level of this aspect of implementation success at all? We think the correct answer is subtle. It seems that for all three organizations the fulfillment of the business case objectives was more important than overrunning and overspending the project plan. Had the budgets and plannings be fixed, it seems unlikely that the business objectives in any of these cases were fulfilled. So, because the implementation's course and results are highly interrelated, we do believe to see clear signs process orientation and a broad interpretation of implementation success to be related.As a point of critique on the accuracy of the checklist, one could argue that that the \"yellow\" case study scores resulting from the process orientation checklist may be too negative considering the implementation success of the MSP and RtB projects. After all, who would not gladly agree at the start of a project with a future overspending of at most 5 per cent? Perhaps we should conclude here that process orientation must rise above a certain threshold in order not to obstruct implementation success. Success factors such as management commitment, end-user participation, and communication may positively tip the balance, even when process orientation is not on \"green\". The real value of the instrument then seems to lie in its ability to support relative comparisons between different organizations process orientation, so that critical values of process orientation may be detected early.\nConclusion: This study resulted in a checklist to determine process orientation, based on insights from literature augmented with the experience of one of the largest BPMS vendors in the world. Process orientation is increasingly recognized in theory and practice as a significant factor affecting the ease and success of implementing a BPMS. Three case studies were used to validate the instrument, as presented in this paper. For each organization, professionals with different backgrounds and an involved BPMS vendor consultant used the checklist to determine an ex post assessment of an organization's initial process orientation. In semi-structured interviews, these people explained the actual course of the implementation, the problems encountered, and the degree to which business case objectives were accomplished.On the basis of the results, we cautiously conclude that there is a relation between process orientation and BPMS implementation success. In particular, this study suggests that a lack of process orientation may be related to all kinds of problems that affect the speed and cost of a BPMS implementation. This is in line with findings from research where a lack of process orientation is seen as a major fail factor (Parkes, 2002), the trade press which warns for a lack of process awareness (Sinur and Thompson, 2003) and field experience with the involved BPMS vendor. Although in all three cases the business objectives were finally achieved, the relative degree of implementation problems across the organizations could be explained using a similar relative level of process orientation.Clearly, this is a preliminary study with a small number of cases to support the validity of the checklist. Furthermore, the checklist only focuses on process orientation as a fail factor, which restricts its use as a comprehensive instrument to predict implementation success. On the other hand, it is simple and easy to use and seems to be able to identify a critical lack of process orientation. Its major merit lies in its offering as a preliminary instrument to be used and developed further by BPMS vendors and organizations implementing BPM technology alike. Then, the aim would be to get a better understanding of the factors underlying the ease and success of BPMS implementation, currently most notably - but in the end merely encompassing - process orientation. The vendor organization that we cooperated with to develop it, will be using the checklist to assess the process orientation level prior to future implementations of their BPMS product. It is expected that particularly the relative scores of different organizations will be insightful to predict implementation problems and to take corrective measures accordingly. On the basis of a larger number of cases, it will become more comfortable to evaluate the link between process orientation and implementation success. We intend to report on this wider use when more data becomes available. Making the instrument available at this time is already thought to be beneficial to vendors, end-user organizations and researchers alike interested in the success of BPMS implementation.An open matter at this time is the correct scope of a checklist instrument such as the one we developed. For the given checklist, the scope is the entire organization, but this perspective may not be the right one for organizations with quite diverse process-related experiences and practices. Obviously, one can easily imagine different business units of the same organization to perform very differently implementing a BPMS. Indeed, this is the same problem that researchers worldwide face in developing a business process maturity model for organizations: should such a maturity level be determined and/or measured on a process level, a departmental level or at an organizational level? It is one of the issues that will require further research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The presentation and validation of a checklist that can be used to determine an organization's process orientation prior to a business process management systems (BPMS) implementation. Its aim is to help predict the success of BPMS implementation on the basis of the identified process awareness within an organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The checklist has been developed on the basis of relevant literature and augmented with practical experience from staff of one of the world's largest BPM system vendors. The study of three BPM System implementations at different client sites have been used to validate the checklist.\nFindings: - The study suggests that a lack of process orientation may be related to all kinds of problems that affect the speed and cost of a BPMS implementation. The checklist seems useful to predict those problems at sites where process orientation is insufficient.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The number of cases used (3) is quite small. Furthermore, the retrospective assessment of the situation prior to BPM system implementation limits the reliability of the findings. Current results seem a good basis for further refinement and validation.\nPractical implications: - A very practical, easy to use instrument that can directly be applied by organizations that are expected to be involved in multiple BPM system implementations (e.g. large banks, consultancies, system integrators, etc.).\nOriginality/value: - This paper presents an instrument that does not yet exist to measure a relation often hypothesized upon in existing research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the relationship between Australian university websites and international student enrolments	[ "Australian higher education sector", "ICTRT framework", "International student enrolments", "University websites", "Website marketing strategies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: International higher education is a major growth industry worldwide (Brown and Mazzarol, 2009). Universities and colleges are striving to increase their student recruitment and advertising campaigns to attract most eligible applicants to their campuses. International education is Australia's largest service export and third largest export. In 2016, on-shore international students represented 21.1% and domestic enrolments accounted for 78.8% of total enrolments in Australia [1]. In 2016, China had the highest number of overseas student enrolments 121,300 students (31%) of all overseas tertiary students; Asia 286,750 (73.3%); Europe; 7,749 (19.8%); Middle East and 8,946 (2.3%) and Americas 12,316 (3.1%).A study conducted by Harman (2001) assesses the impact of NPM (New Public Management) on the higher education sector in Australia and analyses reforms in the higher education sector since the mid-1980s. The study suggests ways in which NPM ideas have been transmitted to the higher education sector and translated into new policy frameworks and policy directions. Further, it assesses the extent to which the theoretical work of Ferlie et al. (1996) and Dunphy and Stace (1992) is useful in understanding the role of the Commonwealth Government in driving significant changes in national higher education policy and in the operation of individual universities.The main research question of the current study is, 'what is the nature of the relationship between institutional websites and international student enrolments?' Based on this research question, the findings of this study will be used to compare the similarities and differences of university website content based on the selected two groups of universities: university websites with positive international student enrolments and university websites with negative international student enrolments. Moreover, to assess the website attributes, this study used the information, communication, transaction, relationship and technical merit(ICTRT) framework, which is a theoretical framework used to assess the website attributes using the five dimensions.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Marketing strategies for international student recruitment\n3. Methodology: The current study uses a multiple case study methodology due to two reasons. First, this study focuses on the website content of the six selected universities, which is the case scenario. Multiple case studies have analysed website content (Rahnemai et al., 2015; Sabaruddin et al., 2012; Wang, 2009). Second, the current study explores the impact of institutional websites on recruiting international students in a detailed manner considering all the relevant website content. Creswell and Clark (2017) mentioned that case studies are considered as a technique in which the researcher explores a phenomenon in depth. 3.1 Data collection and sampling plan\n4. Results: This section consists of the level 1 and level 2 analysis that addresses the main research question of, 'what is the nature of the relationship between institutional websites and student enrolments?' The level 1 analysis consists of an overall analysis of the themes of the website content of universities with positive and negative international student enrolments. The level 2 analysis consists of ten maps. Five maps represent the five dimensions of the ICTRT framework for university websites with positive international student enrolments and five maps represent the framework dimensions for the university websites with negative international student enrolments. 4.1 Level 1 analysis\n5. Discussion and conclusion: The first major finding was that university websites with positive international student enrolments are more people focused and the university websites with negative international student enrolments are more system or technology focused. In the university websites with positive international student enrolments, the engagement of staff members was high. Most of the illustrative narrations listed the contact details of the different departments and of staff members. It has been found that people orientation is a major requirement for university websites aimed at enhancing the image of the university (Mentes and Turan, 2012). The second major finding is that university websites with positive international student enrolments are forward looking as the university websites focus more on future students. University websites with negative international student enrolments are more backward looking by focusing past and current students. The number of studies with a future focus website feature as a major finding in education literature is limited. Moreover, Internet or website strategies, as part of marketing strategies, are not well-explored in the literature relating to the university context. A synopsis of the overall findings of the university websites based on the level 2 analysis is provided in Table 22. 5.1 Forward looking vs backward looking\n6. Theoretical and practical implications: This study used ICTRT framework to evaluate the websites of Australian universities. Li and Wang (2011) proposed this framework for evaluating websites. Hotel, travel agency and destination marketing organization websites have been assessed using the ICTRT framework (Li and Wang, 2011; Pai et al., 2014; Sun et al., 2017). This model has not previously been used, however, to evaluate tertiary education websites. This study is among the first to examine the university websites using a theoretical framework employed in destination marketing organizations which is a major theoretical contribution. The major findings indicate that the website attributes, which are future focused and people oriented, are necessary for university websites with negative international student enrolments. Therefore, similar to university websites with positive international student enrolments, university websites with negative international student enrolments should also provide more contact details of staff members, should be more people oriented and also should provide information focused on future students rather than past and current students. These practical implications are useful for administrative bodies in Australian universities for increasing international student enrolments.\n7. Limitations and future research perspectives: This study has limitations due to the lack of well-defined structure and protocols as this is a cross sectional case study and not a longitudinal study (Yin, 1999). In this study, the researcher mitigated this limitation by using the conceptual framework of the ICTRT to collect and analyze the data that provides a proper structure. The relationship between the rate of website clicks and student enrolments is not considered in this study because this study used the ICTRT model as the conceptual framework and qualitative thematic data analysis method. The major two findings are derived from level 1 and level 2 analysis, that is, people-oriented vs system focused and forward-looking vs backward looking. These findings should be further investigated and should be analyzed to find out the impact of the relationship on international student enrolments and institutional websites.\n8. Conclusion: The university websites are the main source to learn more about the institutions of higher education. Therefore, it is considered as an essential element in a successful marketing practice (Carnevale, 2005). It is reported that more than 84% of students consider websites as a widespread marketing tool and widespread medium for student inquiries (NACAC, 2011).Therefore, this study explored the relationship between institutional websites on international student enrolments. This research fulfilled some of the existing gaps in the Australian Higher Education industry based on international students which are: few marketing research on international student recruitment strategies focused tertiary education institutes with less studies focusing the country Australia and none of the studies applied the ICTRT framework to assess the university websites. This is the first study, to apply this framework in the education context. The two significant findings were that university websites with positive international student enrolments are people focused (more interaction with staff) and website content is more future focused whereas university websites with negative international student enrolments are system or technology focused and content is not updated and backward looking.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper focuses on exploring the relationship between Australian university websites and international student enrolments. Few studies have investigated this relationship and, as such, this research addresses some of the existing knowledge gaps.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mono-method qualitative methodology was adopted for this study. Primary data collection was through the website content of selected Australian universities. Six Australian universities were selected; three universities with positive international student enrolments and three universities with negative international student enrolments. The website content of the selected six universities was analysed using the dimensions of the ICTRT framework (Li and Wang, 2011) to evaluate website effectiveness. The study results were based on two analysis levels, an overall thematic analysis (level 1) and an ICTRT framework-based analysis (level 2). The thematic analysis, based on the major themes and concepts, was conducted using Leximancer 4.5.\nFindings: Two major findings emerged. First, the websites of universities with positive international student enrolments tend to be more people focused whereas websites from universities with negative international student enrolments tend to be technology or system focused. Second, websites from universities with positive international student enrolments tend to be more visionary or forward focused whereas websites from universities with negative international student enrolments tend to be more backward focused. Additionally, the study findings indicate some important website marketing strategies for Australian universities with negative international student enrolments.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study used ICTRT framework to evaluate the websites of Australian universities. Li and Wang (2011) proposed this framework for evaluating websites. Hotel, travel agency and destination marketing organisation websites have been assessed using the ICTRT framework (Li and Wang, 2011; Pai et al., 2014; Sun et al., 2017). This model has not previously been used, however, to evaluate tertiary education websites. This study is among the first to examine the university websites using a theoretical framework employed in destination marketing organisations which is a major theoretical contribution.\nPractical implications: The major findings indicate that the website attributes, which are future focused and people oriented, are necessary for university websites with negative international student enrolments. Similar to university websites with positive international student enrolments, university websites with negative international student enrolments should also provide more contact details of staff members, should be more people oriented and should provide information focused on future students rather than past and current students. These practical implications are useful for administrative bodies in Australian universities for increasing international student enrolments.\nOriginality/value: This study is among the first to examine the university websites using a theoretical framework used in destination marketing organizations which is a major theoretical contribution. For example, this study has provided an illustrative example of how a research model of destination marketing organizations will be used in the universities or higher education context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Women-owned small and medium enterprises in England: Analysis of factors influencing the growth process	[ "Women", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Entrepreneurialism", "Business development", "England" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Women's economic activities, particularly in self-employment, empower them economically and enable them overall to contribute more to the development of their country (Sarri and Trihopoulou, 2004). Recent statistics confirm that women's economic activities play a crucial role in the growth of many of the world economies (Minniti et al., 2005). Recognising this value and its importance, many governments in the world are paying at least some attention in order to create an environment conducive for the establishment of women-owned enterprises.According to one of the studies conducted by the UK Small Business Service (Carter et al., 2001), women business owners contribute PS50-70 billion in gross value added to the UK economy each year. This figure does not include the contribution of women business owners in large businesses, women's unpaid contributions, such as caring or the contributions made in businesses where the owner is male but which is a partnership.The UK government is increasingly recognising the importance and contribution of women-owned enterprises to the national economy. Several initiatives have been taken in the recent past to raise the number of women entering into self-employment. As a result, the last two decades have seen a profound rise in the number of women becoming self-employed. The gap between male and female entrepreneurship in the UK has narrowed in the past few years, but not as much as the rise in the number of women joining the self-employment arena (Minniti et al., 2005). One of the reasons could be a higher failure rate of women-owned businesses as compared to male-owned businesses in the country (Brush et al., 2005). With an increasing number of women starting new businesses worldwide, the literature is replete with the issues and problems faced by women in pre-start-up and start-up stages and their possible solutions (Greene et al., 2003). A number of authors (Brush et al., 2004, 2005; Minniti et al., 2005) point out the absence of studies that can help to raise the understanding of factors influencing growth and suggest a need to investigate the problems and issues faced by women-owned enterprises at local level during the survival and growth stages.\n2. Objectives: Some studies (Birley, 1989; Rosa et al., 1996; Eastwood, 2004; Brindley, 2005) have discussed the issues and barriers faced by women-owned enterprises in the UK. No primary, hands-on academic research, however, has focused so far on the analysis of factors affecting and/or contributing to the growth of women-owned enterprises in the East of England. The main objective of this study is to contribute to this domain by conducting an in-depth analysis of the determinants of growth in established women-owned enterprises. This study seeks not only to identify the issues affecting the growth of women-owned enterprises, but also to endeavour to map out factors contributing to the survival and success of businesses owned by women in the region.\n3. Theoretical framework: 3.1 Growth process in enterprises\n4. Methodology: In an attempt to answer these questions and, in effect, to determine the impact of women entrepreneurs' individual capabilities including education, training, and prior experience on the growth and ultimate success of their businesses, an online questionnaire was designed using Snap(tm) survey software, with results exported to SPSS(tm) for analysis.The research aimed to gather information both of a quantitative and qualitative nature, with a variety of scaled, open-ended, rank order, dichotomous, and multiple choice questions. The possible barriers and contributing factors to growth mentioned in the questionnaire were based on a number of studies (Buttner, 1993; Hitt et al., 2003; Bygrave and Zacharakis, 2004; Hisrich et al., 2005).The web link of the online questionnaire was e-mailed to 150 women entrepreneurs based in the East of England who are members of the Centre for Women's Enterprise at the University of Bedfordshire. A link to the web-based survey was also put on the \"Enterprising-Women\" web site (funded by the East of England Development Agency and the European Social Fund, this unique project is a consortium of seven organisations - including the University of Bedfordshire - to transform support for women in the East of England who are starting up a business and those seeking to grow an existing business). Approximately 300 registered members of the programme were informed through e-mail about the web link.Initial data were collected through 108 online filled questionnaires followed by 15 telephone and 12 face-to-face in-depth interviews. Some of the advantages of adopting online questionnaire methodology included reduced costs, increased response rate as compared with a postal survey, shortened data collection-analysis-presentation cycles, and enhanced interactivity of research materials (Stanton and Rogelberg, 2001). Statistical analysis using SPSS was applied to analyse quantitative data gathered by 108 online responses.In addition, qualitative data collected were inductively analysed and interpreted in response to open-ended questions. The main research questions to be tested were:* What factors influence and contribute to the growth of women-owned enterprises?* Do individual capabilities of entrepreneurs such as training, education, and prior experience in the same field have a significant effect on the growth of the business through the management strategies and business practices they choose to adopt?The emphasis was on influences internal to the company in the explanation of small business growth, while controlling for the influence of external or environmental variables.4.1 Limitations of the methodology\n5. Results and analysis: 5.1 Demographics\n6. Conclusion: A general conclusion that emerges from this research study is that women-owned enterprises in the East of England are these enterprises tend to be smaller in employee count and revenues and most of them are concentrated in the services sector of the economy. Statistically, the differences in means suggest that women rank access to capital for expansion as the most important constraint in their growth, confirming the findings of many previous studies (Brush and Hisrich, 1999; Greene et al., 2003; Brush et al., 2004; Kovalainen and Arenius, 2006). In addition, lack of information on business development, shortage of skilled labour, lack of effective networking abilities, lack of business training opportunities, child care responsibilities, and their family commitments were also indicated as significant hurdles in the growth and development of their businesses. A closer look at the results reveals that external factors relating to environment-development - lack of business support services, local government's attitude and shortage of skilled labour - also rank as very important constraints. This is in contrast to previous studies such as (Heilbrunn, 2004), which concentrate mainly on internal factors.This study also endeavoured to discover entrepreneurs' perceptions about the contributing factors to growth. High quality of products and/or services, effective networking and appropriate marketing were considered to be the most important contributing factors followed by development of new products and services. This depicts the importance of innovation in their successful performance. An effective web site, appropriate business training, easy accessibility to finance, reliable after-sales service and appropriate location with ample parking were some of the other important aspects responsible for growth as perceived by women entrepreneurs themselves.Although only 41 per cent of the respondents had attained business training at the time of start-up, most of them considered appropriate business training to be a very important contributing factor to growth. Other research (Chandler and Hanks, 1994; Sirmon and Hitt, 2003) also confirms that most female-owned businesses show slow or no growth due to lack of business and managerial skills. This raises a need for design and delivery of specific business and technical training programmes by national and regional institutions responsible for fostering the growth of women-owned businesses.Effective networking was named as one of the most important contributing factors to growth not only in quantitative terms, but also in qualitative responses. While, considering the importance of the use of networks, consideration should be given to literature findings (Cooper et al., 1994; Lerner et al., 1997; Robson and Bennett, 2000) which show no or limited association between formal networking and female-owned firm's growth. Here we find a positive relationship between informal networks (especially networking with family and friends) and the growth of women-owned enterprises. While using the networking as an important tool for enterprise growth, the cost in terms of entrepreneurs' time and effort to develop and maintain networks is considerable which can affect the performance negatively.The controversial finding that \"family\" was cited by some respondents as one of the largest obstacles to growth, but by others as one of the most important contributors is an interesting dichotomy. Family constitutes a barrier when women cannot give proper time and attention to the business and/or cannot travel because of family commitments and childcare responsibilities. A positive attitude from family and spouse however, as well as their physical and emotional support, seems to assist in achieving successful performance and results.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study attempts to understand the nature and activities of growth-oriented women-owned businesses in the East of England by highlighting the problems faced by women entrepreneurs during the growth process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach analysed the main growth factors and their influence on the adoption of different growth strategies. An online questionnaire was designed using Snap survey software(tm), with results exported to SPSS(tm) for analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected via a variety of scaled, open-ended, rank order, dichotomous, multiple choice and open questions.\nFindings: - The research indicates that most do not opt to develop growth-oriented businesses, choosing instead small, non-scalable, locally focused businesses providing services or operating in low-tech industries. Women who are growth-oriented appear to be inhibited due to a lack of access to, and control over such resources as, capital, business premises, information and technology, production inputs, appropriate childcare, qualifications, experience, training facilities and appropriate assistance from business development agencies. Non-effective accumulation and use of social capital hinders access to appropriate decision-making circles, and limits the probability of accessing critical management and financing resources, especially through the venture capital industry.\nPractical implications: - This research has implications for government or other business development agencies seeking to understand the growth patterns and problems of women-owned enterprises in the East of England.\nOriginality/value: - There are few British studies that have focussed on growth oriented women-owned businesses. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by attempting to understand the nature and activities of such business, by analysing the main growth factors and their influence on different growth strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Shari'ah risk and corporate governance of Islamic banks	[ "Corporate Governance", "Risk management", "Islamic banks", "Shari'ah governance", "Shari'ah risk" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The East Asian crisis of the late 1990s and several prominent corporate failures such as Enron underscored the importance of further understanding and developing corporate governance as a field (Sarkar and Sarkar, 2012). More recently, the worldwide economic and financial crisis that began in mid-2007 and included failures of several financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers, once a \"heavyweight\" of investment banking, made the topic of corporate governance a chief concern for academics, governments, and regulators globally. Other factors also contributed to this increased interest in corporate governance including the growth of institutional investors and their role in developed economies, suboptimal economic and social development in developed countries, increased attention to stakeholders other than shareholders, and the globalisation and deregulation of markets along with the liberalisation of institutional investors' activities (Iqbal and Mirakhor, 2004).\nLiterature review: There are unique issues pertaining to stakeholders of Islamic banks that justify special corporate governance attention. These include compliance with shari'ah in activities, protecting investment account holders' interests, calculating the mudarib's\nIslamic finance principles: One of the most salient principles of Islamic financing is the existence of a one-to-one correspondence between financing and real market transactions. Hence, Islamic financing is asset-based whether transactions are executed through exchange, sharing, or agency contracts. Other principles include engaging in fair transactions where no exploitation of parties takes place and the consequences of contracts are clear, recognising the relationship between ownership and profit entitlement, ensuring that unethical items or industries such as tobacco, alcohol, arms and pornography are not the subject of financing, and avoiding interest. To uphold these principles, assure stakeholders of doing so, and mitigate the risks that arise from shari'ah non-compliance, shari'ah governance is needed. One entity that is vital for such governance is the SSB, which is tasked with reviewing and supervising activities to ensure shari'ah compliance (AAOIFI, 2010). It has a \"social wellbeing function\" (Choudhury and Ziaul Hoque, 2006), and is recognised as a distinct corporate governance element for IFIs (Magalhaes and Al-Saad, 2013).\nAdapted corporate governance understanding: Several international organisations have issued corporate governance principles and standards. To complement this work, especially the OECD's and the BCBS's, and meet the outstanding needs of IFIs, the IFSB issued in December 2006 Guiding Principles on Corporate Governance for Institutions offering only Islamic Financial Services. The principles are meant to assist IFIs in identifying where governance structures and processes are required, recommend best practices, and raise the level of knowledge of stakeholders on IFI governance (IFSB, 2006). Hence, it empowers stakeholders, advocates good IFI governance, and sets a benchmark that can be used by IFIs and regulators for monitoring purposes. Not long before the IFSB issued its standard, AAOIFI (2010) adopted Statement on Governance Principles for Islamic Financial Institutions. It aims to set key concepts and principles relating to IFI governance, allow stakeholders to recognise the roles of those responsible for governance, lay a foundation for compliance or governance standards that may develop in the future, and link current and future standards.\nShari'ah risk and possible implications: Shari'ah risk definition\nShari'ah risk causes and events: After recognising that shari'ah risk exists, it is important to identify some possible causes and events of this risk. According to the BCBS operational risk definition mentioned earlier, there are three internal causes of operational risk - people, internal processes, and systems, and one external cause - external events.\nThe responsibility of the BOD and senior management: As part of its duty to oversee risk management, the BOD is responsible for monitoring shari'ah risk and having a precise and comprehensive understanding of it and its impact on the bank and its objectives, and stakeholders. Moreover, the BOD is accountable for establishing an efficient and effective organisational shari'ah governance framework that adequately assesses and manages the Islamic bank's exposure to shari'ah risk, and ensures total compliance of activities with the precepts of shari'ah (AAOIFI, 2010; CBO, 2012). AAOIFI recommends that the audit and governance committee assist the BOD in overseeing and monitoring shari'ah compliance of the IFI (AAOIFI, 2010). Such committee should periodically review the efficiency and effectiveness of the shari'ah governance framework, and assess the adequacy of shari'ah controls. It should also follow up on concerns and recommendations expressed by the SSB, internal auditors, external auditors, shari'ah auditors and supervisory authorities.\nRole of banking supervisors: Banking supervisors are keen on maintaining the stability of the financial system. Part of this stability is ensuring that Islamic banks have internal shari'ah governance arrangements, policies, and processes for identifying, measuring, evaluating, monitoring, reporting and controlling or mitigating shari'ah risk (CBO, 2012). Additionally, since one of the objectives of financial regulation is the protection of the rights of consumers from undue tampering by financial institutions (Llewellyn, 1999), it is crucial that regulators ensure that Islamic banks are true to their word and duty in committing to shari'ah precepts in activities and that any negligence in doing so does not come at the expense of consumers, who are attracted to these institutions mostly because of the ideals and principles that they say they follow. Thus, the IFSB (2007a) advises supervisors to provide banks with an internal framework for upholding shari'ah compliance. Nevertheless, the standard-setter recognises that supervisors will have differing viewpoints on what they can or cannot do regarding shari'ah governance, given the diverse legal systems that rule jurisdictions where Islamic banks operate (IFSB, 2009). Moreover, the IFSB understands that the needs of individual Islamic banks will vary depending on several factors such as size. Hence, if supervisors cannot do the aforesaid, then they should at least satisfy themselves that banks have instituted systems and controls to guarantee shari'ah compliance (IFSB, 2007a).\nConcluding note: In Islamic finance the rules of shari'ah and finance cross paths thereby introducing new dimensions, shari'ah risk and compliance, to risk management and corporate governance that, due to their importance and novelty, require special attention. Ensuring shari'ah compliance is essential for upholding salient principles of Islamic banking. Since customers are commonly drawn to Islamic finance because of its underlying principles, maintaining their confidence is crucial to the sustainability of Islamic banks. Thus, non-compliance with shari'ah precepts in activities poses a genuine risk for Islamic banks that can shake the confidence of stakeholders in the banks' credibility; thus, resulting in fund withdrawals (IDB and IFSB, 2007).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to help directors, senior management, and stakeholders of Islamic banks understand shari'ah risk, a crucial consideration in the corporate governance of Islamic banks, and its impact on these banks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper links dispersed insights drawn from the emerging body of shari'ah governance literature, and the guidance issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), and the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) with new insights to clarify the shari'ah risk that Islamic banks face.\nFindings: Shari'ah risk, an operational risk, poses a credible hazard to Islamic banks and their stakeholders. Possible consequences of shari'ah non-compliance include higher costs, financial losses, liquidity problems, bank runs, bank failure, industry smearing and financial instability. This study defines shariah risk, identifies credit, legal, compliance, market, and reputational risk that it may evoke, and categorizes its causes and events.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research could empirically test the ideas posited. In this paper claims were substantiated by logic and examples.\nPractical implications: The study devises an instrument for assessing shari'ah risk, and suggests measures for directors, senior management, and regulators to mitigate this risk.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to focus on the implications of shari'ah risk, delineate examples of events and incorporate them within the BCBS operational risk causes, and develop a tool for measuring shari'ah risk.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Operational intelligence discovery and knowledge-mapping approach in a supply network with uncertainty	[ "Knowledge management", "Knowledge mapping", "Uncertainty management", "Supply chain management", "Decision making" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Background: The performance of today's global supply network is affected by an increased number of uncertainties. Koh and Saad (2004) defined uncertainty as any unpredictable event that affects the performance of an enterprise. In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge (Nonaka, 1998).By taking a \"zoom-in view\" of a simple example: a supply network that consists of a manufacturer from China and a distributor in the UK, it can be noted that various types of uncertainty may affect the performance of such a supply network. For instance, the logistics issues on ability to deliver on-time, the expected quality in the UK, and others. It is clear that the setting up of a supply network process is connected to the presence of operational interdependencies between the units of the supply chain, the stability and effectiveness of a supply network is closely bound to the ability of the core firm to plan the governance structure of the supply relationship, and the product structure and the nature of the process influence the networking process (De Toni and Nassimbeni, 1995). This phenomenon calls for a better understanding of the operations and characteristics of a supply network with uncertainty, so that a more accurate knowledge can be mapped and a better decision can be made.Following with this notion, much past research has been carried out proposing various methods of knowledge management in a supply chain. Thannhuber et al. (2001) developed an autopoietic approach for building knowledge management systems in manufacturing enterprises. It was suggested that through understanding of the knowledge at the enterprise level, one could cope with dynamic changes of market demand, process design, capabilities in diverse locations, and associated fluctuations in internal process adaptations. Their work has also indicated that instead of focusing on individual human knowledge, the ability of an enterprise to dynamically derive processes to meet the external needs and internal stability is identified as the organisational knowledge. It was proposed that this autopoietic approach could be used in managing a supply network.Towill (1996) suggested that an industrial dynamics modelling of real-life supply chains is a powerful methodology for predicting and prioritising methods of reengineering the chain to achieve enhanced performance when viewed from the perspective of all players in the chain. However, building an adequate model of an existing or proposed real-life supply chain requires the use of people-based resources, observation-based resources and systems knowledge-based resources. Therefore, it is important to be able to map the knowledge of a supply chain particularly in a global supply network with uncertainty.Automotive multinational firms increasingly engage in transferring their supply management practices across countries within their global network of operational units. Pagano (2003) provided an in-depth qualitative analysis on such transfer outcomes and on relevant factors shaping such processes. The case of a component automotive manufacturer in China was investigated. The results showed that the transfer process has concerned mainly the supply chain decision-making procedures and those areas linked to the production phase including delivery/logistics and quality control. Using the concept of knowledge transfer, Graziadio and Zilbovicius (2003) compared the supply system in two plants of a single car assembler: one is modular and the other is conventional, both producing sub-compact cars. The modular plant has the highest level of outsourcing. Modular supply demands more interaction between assembler and systemist (also called modular supplier) whenever the logic of outsourcing is present. As long as the assembler transfers more responsibilities for design, purchasing and production to the systemists, the flow of information has to be very efficient. The volume and intensity of knowledge transferred from assembler to systemist also depends on the systemist's role.Using the concept of knowledge sharing, it was argued that supplier performance will benefit most where time-bound relational assets have developed between a buyer and supplier and the firms exploit the resulting communication, efficiency by transferring productive knowledge (Kotabe et al., 2003). In that study, the effects of two forms of knowledge exchange were also examined, together with the prior duration of the buyer-supplier relationship. Similar interaction patterns were found in two survey samples of Japanese and the US automotive suppliers.Nath et al. (2005) studied the supply chain management of two automobile manufacturers in India and traced the relationship between supply chain and knowledge chain management. The efforts of building up the supply chain were examined under three broad headings namely, knowledge hierarchy, geographical proximity and cultural reorientation of the supply chain. An enterprise's knowledge domain, defined as critical, sub-critical or common market knowledge, was related to various organisational forms.As the North American automotive manufacturers transfer more responsibility to major suppliers while at the same time experiencing significant engineering personnel reductions due to layoffs and retirements, the industry landscape begins to change (Belzowski et al., 2003). It was recommended that companies must understand thoroughly the value of knowledge within the organisation; acknowledge likely gaps between the perceived benefits and reported knowledge activity levels; resolve discontinuities in knowledge sharing activities between the company, its customers and suppliers; take into account differing emphases by the company, its customers and suppliers on people, technology, process and culture as facilitators of knowledge activities; and measure knowledge activities in order to manage them effectively.It must be noted that increasing globalisation of aerospace supply network could also be identified. This is particularly true in the outsourcing of engineering and manufacturing operations. In this type of outsourcing project, the effective use of knowledge across the supply chain is crucial. Fan et al. (2000) studied the different types of supplier knowledge in the five key stages of the aerospace product development process, and used an existing joint supplier improvement information system to illustrate best practice in supply base management.Outsourcing has not only dominated the manufacturing industry, but has equally dominated the service industry. For examples, outsourced of call centres and software development to India, are amongst the most practised operations. Koh et al. (2004) developed a knowledge management model for effective service performance for a call centre. Such operation also requires an effective knowledge management procedure in order to protect innovations capability and service performance.\n2 Research gaps, aims and objectives: It can be synthesised from the above literature review that little research has been carried out on knowing mapping. Simply identifying and managing the relevant knowledge in an enterprise or supply network will not be suffice because of the inter-relations of business functions and operations in a supply network, particularly one with uncertainty and with many tiers. Without proper mapping of knowledge, the causes and effects of uncertainty in a supply network may not be clearly understood, and consequently this may lead to inaccurate decision-making.Knowledge mapping is difficult when there is uncertainty in a supply network. Owing to its unpredictable nature, which complicates the process of knowledge mapping, it is necessary to extract the operational intelligence within a supply network so that the operational intelligence can be used as \"clues\" for predication on probable uncertainty. The review above shows little work on analysing \"knowledge\" with \"intelligence\". In this research, operational intelligence can be defined as a kind of integrated knowledge at a level higher than tacit knowledge on operations within a supply network. For example, the time for repairing a machine, which is not recorded and is a form of experience of the operator, can be deemed a type of tacit knowledge. Integrating this tacit knowledge to other related operations in a supply network, it may inform the decision maker that a probable delay due to machine breakdown can be minimised with the use of a different spare part. Thus, this operational intelligence activates an informed decision-making, which attempts to deal with uncertainty by integrating knowledge from other sources in a supply network.To enable knowledge mapping, discovery of operational intelligence is necessary. Brooks (1991) noted that an intelligent system is decomposed into independent and parallel activity producers which all interface directly to the world through perception and action, rather than interface to each other particularly much. Business intelligence is also an important source of operational intelligence. Anon (2000) suggested that evolving applications will support a closed loop decision-making process whereby the output of business intelligence applications is routed to operational system users in the form of suggested actions which could be taken to remedy specific business problems.Distributed intelligence has been proposed by Luder and Peschke (2004) as a flexible approach for controlling plant automation. Human intelligence has been suggested by Zhou and Chuah (2000) as the key factor for successful intelligent manufacturing. These are possible sources of operational intelligence to assist knowledge mapping and uncertainty management.Garavelli and Gorgoglione (2003) proposed a framework to analyse manufacturing problems according to a knowledge management perspective. The analysis is based on the main knowledge processes involved in problem solving, namely knowledge generation, memory, transfer and codification. Each can be assessed by variables such as uncertainty, space-dependence, time-dependence, and codification level, describing manufacturing problems in terms of, for instance, degree of coordination and integration, repetitiveness or uniqueness of the solution. Owing to multi-tiers of suppliers in a supply network, codification and knowledge sharing may not be straight forward.This research proposes an approach for discovering operational intelligence and knowledge mapping in a supply network with uncertainty. The approach is developed by referring to the concept of new value stream or supply chain mapping (Hines and Rich, 1997) and by adapting the notion of using operational intelligence as \"clues\" for uncertainty management. It is envisaged that this approach will assist better decision-making.\n3 Knowledge-mapping techniques: The knowledge embodied in managers' experience is tacit. Ideally, managers need a knowledge-mapping tool that gives them a way of eliciting and capturing this knowledge, a mechanism for retaining it and, if possible, a way of providing a comprehensive check. A typical output could be a formal explicit model of variable linkages, in contrast to their previous tacit mental models.Once the variable linkages are understood, analysis is required to determine the potential impact of changes being considered. A knowledge-mapping tool that automates this analysis would allow managers to consider a wide range of options in a short time. The final stage, an evaluation of the options, requires the consideration of many factors, so some form of multi-attribute decision-making is required. A knowledge-mapping tool should provide the appropriate level of functionality and detail, yet be easy to use. In short, the requirements of a tool for knowledge mapping are (Tan and Platts, 2002):* Sequential decision-making. Supports managers through the entire process from identifying relevant variables to evaluating decisions.* Visualization support. Provides visualization support at each stage of the decision-making process.* Integrated documentation. Captures information on variables and linkages for analysis or comparison.3.1 Appraisal of existing techniques\n4 An \"intelligence handbook\" approach: Tan and Platts (2003) developed a software tool called TAPS. The tool is implemented under the Microsoft Windows operating system using Microsoft's Visual Basic 6.0 programming language. TAPS has four main modules:1. database;2. graphic user interface;3. algorithm; and4. evaluation.They use a network diagram to represent the inter-relationship between a variable and its connected variables. In the network diagram the variable is displayed as a node with edges (lines) linking it to other nodes with which it has a connectance. Arrows connect variables to indicate the existence and direction of a connectance. Thus, a variable's connectance network is made up of nodes and relations.Having studied and investigated the TAPS approach in details, we believe that it could be used as a tool to address the issues of knowledge-mapping and intelligence gathering in a supply network.A TAPS network diagram has five basic levels. The bottom level displays the objective or the variable on which analysis is to be carried out. At level two, the objective is broken down into its different dimensions. For example, \"Increase flexibility\" can be broken into four resource dimensions (Slack et al., 1995): System flexibility, labour flexibility, process flexibility, and control flexibility. At level three, the relevant cause-effect variables for each dimension are displayed. The fourth level displays the actions that could be taken to address the variables. For example, the variables affecting labour flexibility could be training and working hours. One of the actions that could be taken to address \"working hours\" is overtime (Figure 2). At level five are tools that could be used to address particular actions or variables.To enable a user to identify actions related to specific variables, TAPS has built-in functions called \"trace-down\" and \"trace-up\". Trace-down is an analysis to determine the effect of a given direction of change in one variable on other variables in the network. Trace-up analysis, starts with a desired direction of change in a variable and works back to find which other variables have to be changed in value and in which direction. These functions allow a user to perform an analysis on any variable in the network diagram. Please see Tan and Platts (2003) for further descriptions of TAPS functions.4.1 Mapping operational intelligence\n5 Application: Let us take a look at some examples to illustrate the application of iTAPS. If a manager wants to improve manufacturing flexibility, a trace-up analysis on the \"process\" dimension of a \"flexibility\" variable could be conducted. Figure 4 shows the network diagram for a \"process\" dimension of flexibility. At the upper level are the action plans (actions, tools and techniques). The network illustrates to managers the indirect impact of an action could have on a network.Managers also could use iTAPS to identify suitable actions for managing the supply chain uncertainty. Its suitability is decided based on satisfactory on-time delivery performance achieved by certain cluster of enterprises. The identified alternative actions are then prioritised using the AHP built-in decision support feature of TAPS (Figure 5). Supply chain uncertainty that affects on-time delivery could be tackled via a number of different actions. For example, the possible actions (alternatives) include total preventive maintenance (TPM), training need analysis (TNA), and overall equipment efficiency (OEE) (Figure 6). Three criteria are used to assess the merits of the identified actions in achieving the objective of on-time delivery. These include time effectiveness (time taken to provide results), sustainability (continuing for a long time), and integration (ability to integrate well with existing practices). In the above example, the results of the pair-wise comparison suggested that TNA has a major impact on time effectiveness, sustainability and integration. Therefore, TNA could be taken as an action to achieve on-time delivery.\n6 Conclusions and implications: In this paper we have demonstrated iTAPS, an operational intelligence approach to managing supply chain uncertainty. In practise, iTAPS application is best done in a group. iTAPS provides clarity by facilitating communication among managers and helps to get everyone's view out in the open, where assumptions can be recognised and challenged and where the need for more detail information becomes more obvious. We believe iTAPS provides managers with following benefits:* an ability to visualise the operational intelligence for a given objective; and* an ability to identify the likely effects on implementing a particular tool or technique in a supply network.In the longer view, iTAPS should facilitate the accumulation and integration of a body of production knowledge, so that what is learned through coping with one set of problems can be brought to bear on others.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to propose an approach for discovering operational intelligence and knowledge mapping in a supply network with uncertainty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Knowledge mapping and handbook techniques are used. TAPS software is used to model a supply network with uncertainty and to discover operational intelligence in a supply network.\nFindings: - Knowledge management is inadequate for managing a supply network with uncertainty. Knowledge mapping is proposed, but it needs to be assisted by operational intelligence.\nPractical implications: - iTAPS provides managers with an ability to visualise the operational intelligence for a given objective, and to identify the likely effects on implementing a particular tool or technique in a supply network.\nOriginality/value: - A new approach - called the \"intelligence handbook\" is proposed to discover operational intelligence in order to map knowledge in a supply network with uncertainty.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of perceived service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty in e-commerce settings: A cross cultural analysis	[ "SERVQUAL", "Customer satisfaction", "Customer loyalty", "Electronic commerce", "Malaysia", "Qatar" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Loyal customers are indeed crucial to business survival (Reichheld and Schefter, 2000; Semejin et al., 2005). For that reason many companies use defensive marketing strategies to increase their market share and profitability by maximizing customer retention (Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006). Although, traditionally, more efforts are dedicated to offensive strategies (Fornell, 1992), research has shown that defensive strategies can be more profitable through increased cross selling, possibly at higher prices, and positive word of mouth (WOM) communication (Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006).In an e-commerce setting, at its highest level, companies can use the internet to deliver products and services to their customers. They can have mutually rewarding relationships with customers they have never seen, met, or spoken to. The entire relationship can successfully exist in cyberspace. Leveraging the internet can free up resources to deliver higher levels of value to customers in new ways. The internet provides companies and consumers with opportunities for much greater interaction and individualization.Clearly, in e-commerce settings, all companies need to consider and evaluate e-marketing and e-purchasing opportunities thoroughly. A key challenge is designing a site that is attractive on first viewing and interesting enough to encourage repeat visits. To ensure consumers of long-term commitment to a single on-line service provider, many online companies often look beyond satisfaction to developing trust in order to reduce the perceived risk of using the service (Ranaweera and Prabhu, 2003). Perhaps, trust is also seen as being a critical factor of considerable importance in the process of building and maintaining relationships in online services (Gummerus et al., 2004; Reichheld and Schefter, 2000; Ribbink et al., 2004; Semejin et al., 2005). They also face challenges in expanding the public's use of e-commerce. Customers will have to feel that the information that they supply is confidential and not to be sold to others. They will need to trust that online transactions are secure. Research suggests that up to 75 percent of online shoppers do not complete their purchase on the internet. Instead they use e-commerce sites to find and research products or services before completing their purchase either by phone or with a visit to a store location (Anderson and Kerr, 2002). Nevertheless, the theoretical background and the empirical support for these issues come mostly from developed countries.The purpose of our study is to investigate the path service quality - customer satisfaction - trust - loyalty, drawing from Malaysian and Qatari customers because it has been contended that constructs of service quality that are developed in one culture might not be applicable in another culture (Ladhari, 2008). Our study is expected to offer important managerial insights because of the unique cultural characteristics of the Malaysian (so called \"truly Asia\") and Arab societies and the examination of the influences from the individual dimensions of constructs.In this paper, first we present a short review of this research. Although what we presented in the theoretical framework shares the same elements of other customer satisfaction and trust models and their relationships with customer loyalty in the literature (see Gefen, 2002; Ribbink et al., 2004), this one differs from the current literature in four aspects:(1) it examines customer behavioral loyalty separately through emotional loyalty (such as WOM) and behavioral loyalty (such as retention intentions);(2) it investigates the effects of customer satisfaction and trust on WOM and intentions;(3) it examines the link between WOM and intentions; and(4) it examines the model's appropriateness across cultures.Next, followed by the methodology and the main results of our study. Then, we present the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings. Finally, we present the limitations of the research as well as some suggestions for future research.\n2. Theoretical framework: 2.1 Service quality\n3. Methodology: 3.1 The questionnaire design and appraisal of the scale\n4. Results: 4.1 Demographics profile\n5. Discussion of results: The final and parsimonious model of the relationships is shown in Table III. First, we tested the relationship of ease of use website design, responsiveness, customization, and assurance on customer satisfaction. The standardized path coefficients (b) support that quality is an antecedent and that it positively affects customer satisfaction (see Cronin and Taylor, 1992). However, only the coefficients of ease of use (b = 0.213; t-value = 2.791), website design (b = 0.239; t-value = 2.969), and assurance (b = 0.325; t-value = 5.735) are significant with satisfaction while coefficient of responsiveness (b = 0.107; t-value = 1.669) and customization (b = 0.095; t-value = 1.175) are not. Thus, H3 and H4 are rejected. A possible explanation for this phenomenon could be that the collectivist consumers are probably more tolerant and less demanding compared to the individualistic customers (see Table III). The independent variables (ease of use, website, and assurance) explain 63.0 percent of the variance of customer satisfaction. Therefore, H1, H2, and H5 are substantiated.Second, we examined H7 that dealt with the relationship between customer satisfaction and trust. Interestingly, the results of the analysis indicate that customer satisfaction (b = 0.566; t-value = 7.215) is an antecedent of trust. As such, satisfaction does appear to be an important factor in building trust among the online users. Thus, H7 is supported (see Table III).Third, we tested the direct effect of customer satisfaction and trust on customer loyalty. The argument that satisfaction and trust are antecedents and positively related to loyalty is also supported by the findings. Table III shows that the path coefficients from satisfaction to WOM (b = 0.502; t-value = 7.833) and from trust to WOM (b = 0.961; t-value = 2.869) are significant, where, they explain 53.4 percent of WOM's variance. Thus, H9 and H13 are supported. It should be noted, however, that when examining the direct effect of satisfaction and trust on intentions, only satisfaction appears to have positive and significant impact on customers (b = 0.369; t-value = 5.864). Hence, H11 is supported and H15 is rejected. This could be a specific characteristic of the collectivist culture where individuals belong to groups that look after them in exchange for loyalty.Fourth, we examined H17 deals with the direct effect of WOM on intention. Our inspection of the path coefficient found that WOM does influence intention (b = 0.571; t-value = 8.937). This confirms our hypothesis that emotional loyalty does influence positively the customers' behavioral loyalty, where it explains 79.8 percent of intention's variance (see Table III).Fifth, we tested H6a-e, H8, H10, H12, H14, H16, and H18, which compare the effect of the perceived service quality dimensions, satisfaction, trust, and customer loyalty between two cultures (i.e. Malaysian and Qatari). AMOS is unable to measure the effect of the interaction terms between culture on one hand and EOU, WEB, RESP, CUST ASSURE, SAT, TRUST, WOM, and INTENT on the other hand. Therefore, we used general linear model of univariate analysis of variance (SPSS 13). H6a-e stipulates that the impact of EOU, WEB, RESP, CUST, and ASSURE on SAT is greater for Qatari than for Malaysian users. The results indicate that the interaction between these service quality dimensions and culture are insignificant in determining SAT. Thus, the effect of service quality dimensions on satisfaction on both Qatari and Malaysian users is the same. Consequently, H6a-e is not supported. With respect to the effect of satisfaction, the results show that the interaction between SAT and culture is significant in determining TRUST (Fvalue = 1.772; p-value = 0.028). The impact of satisfaction on trust is greater for Qatari than for Malaysian users. Therefore, H8 is supported. As for H10, H12, H14, H16, and H18 the results show that they are insignificant. Therefore, H10, H12, H14, H16, and H18 are not supported.The research hypotheses were confirmed and disconfirmed through SEM and general linear model of univariate analysis of variance in order of their presentation as summarized in Table IV. Nine of the hypotheses were fully supported and 13 were rejected. The limitations and implications of these results will now be described in the following sections.\n6. Limitations: As in any study, there are a few limitations of the current research that should be understood when interpreting the results and implications. First, the convenience sampling used was not random and it is difficult to obtain a fully matched profile of respondents from Malaysia and Qatar. Although this issue has been rectified, we believed that a selection of a sample where respondents from the two countries have a matched profile might lead to better results. Finally, it is fruitful to replicate this study in a broader cultural setting.\n7. Theoretical and managerial implications: 7.1 Theoretical implications\n8. Conclusions and direction for future research: The major contribution to this study is the adoption of a more comprehensive approach to investigating determinants of loyalty than previous studies. The literature on the aggregate relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty is quite rich but it is not the case when the construct's individual dimensions are taken into account. Thus, this study has a wider coverage of the key dimensions of service quality and their impact on satisfaction, trust, and loyalty in e-commerce settings.Since this study is considered as the first attempt to investigate the path of service quality - customer satisfaction - trust - loyalty, at the level of constructs, drawing from the Middle Eastern and South East Asian perspectives, directions for further research are needed. Comparative studies with other developed countries could be also carried out in order to find out whether the effect of individual service quality dimensions in the competitive mix may be greater or lesser than in other markets, and whether the effect of ease of use, website design and assurance on satisfaction, trust, and loyalty may be more or less. Since customer relationships are built over time, the cross-sectional research cannot fully capture the dynamic, interactive, and non-linear nature of so many relationship variables. Moreover, the research could be enhanced by expanding the current model. The role of cultural issues could be investigated to add further depth to the model.Opens in a new window.Figure 1\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to empirically investigate the relationship between perceived service quality, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty in e-commerce settings in two cultures - Malaysian and Qatari - at the level of construct dimensions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey method approach was used in this study. To test the dimensionality of the perceived service quality, all 20 items were analyzed using oblique rotation and varimax rotation. The hypotheses were tested using the structural equations modeling and general linear model of univariate analysis of variance.\nFindings: - Perceived service quality was found to have a significant impact on customer satisfaction. In turn customer satisfaction was found to have a significant effect on trust. Both customer satisfaction and trust have significant effects on loyalty through word of mouth (WOM) while WOM is an antecedent of repeat visits or repurchase intentions. Interestingly, trust does not directly influence the latter. With the exception of the effect of satisfaction on trust, we found no significant difference between the effects of perceived service quality on satisfaction, satisfaction on loyalty, and trust on loyalty among the Qatari and Malaysian customers indicating that the relationships in the model did not hold across the two cultural groups because the respondents have similar cultural background.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study suffers from a limitation in that it uses a convenience sampling technique without a fully matched profile of the respondents. However, the satisfactory fit of the estimated model allows for the study to be a basis of a reliable comparison for future research.\nPractical implications: - In an e-commerce setting companies can increase customer loyalty directly by improving the ease of use, the attractiveness, and the security of their website. Thus, marketers should tailor their marketing strategies to fit each marketing environment because overseas success of their business is very much a function of cultural adaptability.\nOriginality/value: - The major contribution of this study is that it is the first attempt to investigate the impact of word of mouth on trust and intention.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer perception of local food products in Hungary	[ "Local products", "Local food system", "Consumer survey", "Cluster analysis", "Hungarian food culture" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The role of the local food products\nData and methodology: To identify the influencing factors of food shopping of consumers, a quantitative consumer survey based on personal interviews was conducted. The survey sought answers for questions such as what is considered to be \"local product\" in Hungary and what is the Hungarian consumers' opinion on it at the time of the food purchase decision. The questionnaire-based quantitative consumer survey (n = 1,000) with personal interviews was conducted in December 2016. The sample was representative to age, sex and geographical regions (pro rata in regard of the country's seven planning statistical NUTS2 regions). Representativeness of the sample was assured by matching the sample composition to the latest census data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO, 2011). For this purpose, we determined quotas for each region, which were tracked during the interview period. Interviews were mostly conducted at railway stations and major traffic junctions of larger cities of Hungary. Respondents were recruited by asking passengers randomly on the street. The representativeness parameters were continuously tracked by the interviewers to ensure an appropriate composition of the sample. Volunteers were selected according to the quotas. The first questions were about the representativeness parameters. In case the respondent fit, the interview was carried on. Sample composition compared to the 2011 census is presented in Table 1.The aim of the group of questions in the first half of the survey was to find out the extent to which consumers are rejecting or accepting factors related to food safety and quality. Moreover, other elements to be measured were their knowledge on food and how they obtain it.The second group of questions can be divided into three subgroups:general characteristics related to the quality and safety of purchased food;claims suggesting consumer awareness and commitment; andclaims expressing the usefulness of food.During the elaboration of the questions, we relied on the recommendations of Simon (2006). Most of the applied questions were close-ended, measured on 1-5 Likert scale. The respondents rated their opinion on certain claims and aspects. Five meant that the respondent strongly agreed, while 1 meant that they strongly disagreed. The results close to the two extreme values were clear to interpret, as in these cases, the respondent truly took sides. In case the respondent chose the value 3, it had to be decided based on the given question whether the respondent can be considered an average respondent, or they do not have a firm opinion on the topic; that is why, they chose 3.The error-filtered data were analyzed with the IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 software package. Apart from the descriptive statistical tools, cluster analysis was carried out to separate segments of consumers with different characteristics. Consumer segmentation with cluster analysis based on their perceptions of local foods had been previously applied by other research groups (Aprile et al., 2015; Kumar and Smith, 2017). These studies served as inspiration for conducting our analysis. Ward's method, according to the Euclidean distance, was used. Hierarchical techniques have long been the popular clustering methods (Hair et al., 2014). Ward's method has a tendency to generate clusters that are homogenous and relatively equal in size. Out of the initial sample size of 1,000 persons, 898 respondents answered all necessary questions for the cluster analysis and were added to the clusters.The differences between certain segments were analyzed on the basis of the following two aspects:how consumers evaluate the characteristic of local products among foodstuffs; andthe conditions under which food is considered to be a local product.The respondents were categorized based on the responses given to these questions:How much do local products differ in the category of foodstuffs?How important aspect is the local origin of a product when purchasing food?Do you buy vegetables/cheese/jam/syrup directly from the producer?Limitations of the study\nResults and discussion: Food safety and quality aspects of food purchasing\nFan: I acknowledge it and buy it: The cluster of the Fan consists mostly of females. The Fan consumers believe that local products represent distinctive quality among foods. All three product categories - vegetables, cheese jam and syrup - are regularly purchased directly from the producers (Figure 4). Regularity was measured by a 1-5 Likert scale. Number 5 indicated that every time the consumer buys a certain food, she or he chooses local production, while 1 meant \"never\". About 70% of the cluster is over the age of 40. This is the age group where most of the members maintain an independent household, so they purchase food for own consumption on a regular basis. The age group represented the least in this cluster is the consumers under the age of 30, with 10.4%, which might be connected to their low income level.Moreover, it can be stated about this cluster that they constantly seek information about food safety and quality; they consciously choose a producer, a brand or a shop; and they learned a lot about food from their parents and grandparents. This attribute is in line with the \"quality labelling consumers oriented\" cluster, found by Aprile et al. (2015). Kumar and Smith (2017) also found that those who are more involved in seeking for information have greater intentions to buy local foods.\nMarketgoer: I acknowledge it, but I only buy fresh vegetables: This cluster also consists mostly of females. The Marketgoer buys almost only vegetables directly from the producer, which is the main difference observed, compared to the previous group (Fan). During shopping, the availability of local product is a relevant aspect for them, but only vegetables can be found in their market basket that are purchased directly from the producer. They buy cheese from a producer once in a while, but they buy this product in larger shops in general. They do not buy jam and syrup at all. The ratio of those who prepare their own jam regularly is higher than average.Similarly to the Fan cluster, 70% is over the age of 40. The number of persons in their 60s - the retirees - is the highest in this cluster. Environmentally conscious shopping dominates in this group the most. Aprile et al. (2015) found a similar segment of consumers in Italy, the \"strict localists\", that is also characterized mostly by the elderly. However, in their study, another cluster that showed great interest towards local products was also formed, composed mostly of young consumers (18-29 years old).\nIndecisive: it is not better than other food: This is the largest cluster, of which the majority of the respondents are females. The members of this group do not have a strong opinion on local foods, although they tend to have positive associations, and even believe that these products are of superior quality compared to conventional food items (e.g. rich in nutrients, more natural and more delicious) (Figure 4).Among the three product categories, vegetables are often purchased from traditional sellers of vegetables and fruits, as in at markets or grocery stores. Locally produced cheese and jam are bought occasionally by the members of this cluster. This occasional local food purchase habit is similar to the characteristics of \"ethnocentric consumers\" identified by the study of Aprile et al. (2015).The members of the cluster are mostly over the age of 30, so they have their own income. The group of persons between 40 and 59 represent the highest ratio in this cluster. As the collected sample was not limited to respondents involved in frequent local food purchase, prior to data collection, we supposed that a remarkable proportion of respondents will fall into this category. Considering their positive perceptions and occasional buying habits of local food products, we identify this cluster as possible future buyers. Therefore, as suggested in previous studies (Kumar and Smith, 2017; Chambers et al., 2007; Arsil et al., 2018), we agree that marketing strategies for local products should emphasize the distinctive characteristics of local food, in this case naturalness, tastiness, nutrient content, place of origin, which are already accepted as existing and positive quality elements according to consumer perceptions.\nTheoretical fan: I acknowledge it, but I do not buy it: As opposed to the three clusters mentioned before, this cluster consists of males mostly. This corresponds with a previous study revealing that concerning the socio-demographic characteristics, in Hungary, women are more likely buyers of local products (Szente et al., 2017). The ratio of respondents that have positive attitude towards local product is considerable, but currently, they do not often buy such products. They purchase vegetable and cheese almost only at larger stores. Sometimes, they also buy jam and syrup, and at times, they prepare their own.Persons under the age of 30 and persons in their 30s are represented the most in this cluster; meanwhile, the ratio of persons over the age of 60 is the lowest. This cluster has the potential to become fans, as their income level rises.\nRejective: it is not better, I do not buy it: The members of this cluster are also males mostly, and students are present with the highest percentage, so this group is the future generation of buyers.For a small segment of respondents (approximately 5%), local products do not have any positive characteristic among foodstuffs. While making purchase decisions, it is not an important aspect whether the product is local or not.Most of the members check the details on the label of the product. Quality matters for them, and they show interest towards healthy diets. However, the most important factor for them is the low price. Persons over the age of 40 are overrepresented in this group.\nConclusions: In forming the development strategy for local production systems, it is a crucial piece to understand consumer perception of local food products. The results of the research show that there are three groups of aspects that determine food purchases by influencing respondents. The most important aspect is the characteristics regarding the quality and safety of the product. Less important, but still relevant, element is consumer awareness and commitment, such as knowledge of ingredients, origin of product and environmentally friendliness. The least determining aspect includes, for example, the practicality and quality of packaging, advertisements and price.This research proves that the consumer perception of local products is better than average among foodstuffs. For the majority of respondents, local products have distinct positive attributes: more delicious, more natural and more environmentally friendly. The results are in line with international literature (Zepeda and Leviten-Reid, 2004; Chambers et al., 2007; Aprile et al., 2015; Feldmann and Hamm, 2015).A determinative factor is the connection of local products to geographical areas, towns or regions. According to the respondents, the most characteristic feature of local products is that the producing and selling of product are conducted in the same town or region. When purchasing local products, the most important aspect for the majority of the respondents is to get to know local flavours (68.2%) and to support local jobs (63.5%).Five distinct groups of respondents were created with the cluster analysis. The members of the Fan, the Marketgoer and the Theoretical fan clusters show positive attitude towards local products. The Indecisive cluster cannot be characterized with rejection towards local products; however, they do not have a strong opinion on them. As they rather believe that local food products have preferable characteristics, they can be considered potential future buyers. Therefore, taking their needs into consideration by focussing on their perceptions would help the promotion of the development strategy of local production systems. The Rejective group, having the smallest rate within the sample, is the one that does not consider local products relevant to their purchasing habits. It is also clear that female consumers of their middle ages (40-59) and elderly are rather potential buyers of local food in Hungary. This is even more important due to the fact that in most households, women are responsible for food purchase. Furthermore, it seems that the younger consumers lack the activity of procuring local products. This result is in contrast with Aprile et al. (2015), who discovered a young environmentally conscious group having the habit of buying local goods.Having determined the clusters of consumers based on their perceptions and purchasing practices of local products, we may set up the conclusion that while positive associations are existing patterns, there are still segments of the society that do not frequently or at all buy their food directly from the producer. Likewise Penney and Prior (2014), we, therefore, assume that although interest is high, the actual demand seems to lag behind it. Here, we should mention a limitation of our methodology, which aimed at measuring attitudes and perceptions in the light of the influencing socio-demographic parameters, but was not capable of tracing actual buying habits (such as an experimental observation of shopping behaviour). Also, the overrepresentation of city dwellers in the sample limits interpreting the results to some extent; however, the statistical analysis of the effect of this variable did not result in significant differences between the groups.Local governments have the opportunity to open and operate farmers' markets. Supporting local products can contribute to more sustainable food supply, the preservation of local communities and the diversity of food culture. Based on the results, we suggest that farmers' market operators should map the local consumers, including those who are not regular \"marketgoers\" or \"local product fans\", to better understand their expectations and attitudes towards food purchase. Delivering this experience to the farmers and small-scale food processing communities fosters development of an economically successful local food supply system that can have beneficial socio-cultural effects.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of local origin of food in the Hungarian population's decisions regarding food purchase and to identify under which conditions consumers consider food to be a local product.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was based on a representative quantitative consumer survey (n = 1,000). Cluster analysis was used to define different consumer groups.\nFindings: In general, consumers perceive that local products have positive characteristics that distinguish them from not locally sourced foodstuffs. The results prove that the accessibility of local food products differs to a great extent in towns and regions. In towns with local markets, the ratio of recognition and acceptance of local products is higher. Based on the attitudes and behaviour of respondents towards local products, five clusters were separated and described.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the sample's representativeness of three demographic factors was ensured, some general limitations resulted from the sampling methodology.\nPractical implications: Based on the study findings, the authors encourage farmers' market operators to actively study the purchasing habits, attitudes and expectations of the consumer groups described in the study and to exchange information to promote the development of an economically successful local food supply system.\nOriginality/value: This empirical representative study is suitable to describe the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of Hungarian consumers related to local food products. Consumer perception about local food varies internationally; therefore, national level studies are important to understand the viability of short food supply chains.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
In-store behavioral analytics technology selection using fuzzy decision making	[ "Analytic hierarchy process", "Behavioural analytics", "Hesitant fuzzy sets", "Technology selection" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Advances in technology have enabled collecting, storing and processing a large amount of data. Automated collection of human behavior is one of the recent developments in data collection. Companies can analyze the behavior data to get insight into interests and desires of individuals. The technology can be used to detect movements of employees to understand common routes and optimize facility location in production systems; it can also be used to monitor potential customers in stores for marketing purposes. The technology is very important for customers to understand and communicate with their customers. Nowadays, customers expect to see personalized proposals from both production and service companies especially stores such as companies like Netflix, Amazon and Spotify (Celikkan et al., 2011; Merad et al., 2016). In a recent study by the Infosys Company, it was reported that 78 percent of consumers would be customers again if a retailer offers customer-targeted and personalized offers (Infosys, 2013). In another similar study, Microsoft states that 73 percent of customers prefer to shop with brands that offer a personalized buying experience (Shave, 2016). By 2020, customer experience is expected to pass price and product as a brand separator (Walker Corp., 2017). These findings underline the importance of understanding customers.\n2. Literature review: in-store behavioral analytics: There are many different ways to collect the data needed to analyze customer behavior. The questionnaire method is the most commonly used data collection methods among other traditional methods such as observation, interview and document review. Kirchberg and M. Trondle (2012) conducts interviews to investigate the similarities and differences between experiences of visitors. Data are collected comparing visitors' expectations (motivations before the visit), experiences (social interactions during the visit) and contributions (what they learned after the visit). Operators are asked to directly observe the behavior of customers in the store if they need more details about the customer's behavior to set better the number of employees who need to be in their sales area (Merad et al., 2016).\n3. In-store behavioral analytics technology (IBAT) alternatives: There are many different ways to collect data to analyze customer behavior in indoor locations. Traditional data collection technologies such as questionnaires, interviews, observation and document scanning are still preferred methods in many studies (Kirchberg and Trondle, 2012; Lee et al., 2005; Brosdahl and Carpenter, 2012; Koklic et al., 2017; Bellini et al., 2017). Traditional methods are particularly useful in understanding the inner world of customers, especially where technological data collection methods are lacking. However, it is preferable that the practitioners are trained to understand the questions, how to approach the customers, how to evaluate the doubtful answers, how to finish the interview or the questionnaire (Bellini et al., 2017). This is also time-consuming compared to technological methods.\n4. Evaluation criteria: The criteria for selection of the most appropriate IBAT are determined by an extended literature review and expert opinion. The decision model for the selection problem is given in Figure 1. The model is composed of four levels. At the first level the main goal, which is to select the best IBAT takes place. At the second level, four main criteria namely, economic factors (C1), data accuracy (C2), data quality (C3) and technical factors (C4) take place. Economic factors represent the monetary value of the investment, and it is composed of two sub-criteria: cost (C11) and time (C12). Data accuracy criteria focus on the accuracy of the data captured by the IBAT alternative, and it involves two sub-criteria accuracy (C21) and bias (C22). Data quality criteria focus on the capacity of the collected data, and it involves quantity (C31) and introspection (C32) sub-criteria. The final main criteria are the technical factors which focus on simplicity (C41) of the IBAT alternative and ease of analysis (C42) of the data collected by the alternative.\n5. Methodology: 5.1 Preliminaries\n6. Application: We apply the steps of the proposed hesitant fuzzy AHP method in the following.\n7. Conclusion: The emerging technologies provide various alternatives on capturing indoor behaviors which lead to technology selection problem for companies. In this paper, IBAT selection problem is modeled as an MCDM containing four criteria and eight sub-criteria. After an extended literature and expert interviews, the sub-criteria for this problem is concluded as cost, time, accuracy, bias, quantity, introspective, simplicity and ease of analysis. among these criteria the most important one are found as accuracy, bias and cost.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: With the emerging technologies, collecting and processing data about the behaviors of customers or employees in a specific location has become possible. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate existing data collection technologies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Technology evaluation problem is handled as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. In this manner, a decision model containing four criteria and eight sub-criteria and four alternatives are formed. The problem is solved using hesitant analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and trapezoidal fuzzy numbers (TrFN).\nFindings: The results show that the most important sub-criteria are: accuracy, quantity, introspective and cost. Decision makers' evaluate for alternatives, namely wireless fidelity (WiFi), camera, radio-frequency identification and Bluetooth. The best alternative is found as Bluetooth which is followed by WiFi and Camera.\nResearch limitations/implications: Technology evaluation problem, just like many other MCDM problems are solved using expert evaluations. Thus, the generalizability of the findings is low.\nOriginality/value: In this paper, technology selection problem has been handled using hesitant AHP for the first time. In addition, the original methodology is extended by using TrFN to represent the expert evaluations in a better way.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modeling desired behaviors: do leaders need new technology?	[ "Leadership", "Communication technologies", "Modelling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Leaders are behavioral role models to their followers. By serving as exemplars who model desired behaviors, leaders aim to increase the levels of those behaviors among their followers. Leaders in business, academics, and other fields frequently employ various technologies to enhance the effectiveness of their examples and ultimately produce higher levels of the desired behaviors among followers or constituents. Decision-makers often face the dilemma of whether to replace functional older equipment with newer technologies to accomplish the same task. For completing a specific task, such as modeling desired behavior, new and old technologies may be used interchangeably. When the new technology is costly, the decision may rest on effectiveness comparisons. With technology expenditures in the billions of dollars annually, the issue of effectiveness is not trivial. Thus, organization leaders want and need data on effectiveness in order to justify purchases of new technology.The vast array of technology choices complicates the decision-making process even more and may also increase the costs of replacing older technologies. Some choices new to the marketplace but not yet in the mainstream offer natural user interface technologies revolving around speech, digital ink, vision and touch, instead of standard keyboards. Technologies such as these will accomplish current tasks in new ways, and their adoption is highly encouraged by their developers. Among the strong proponents is Bill Gates. Though Gates will retire from day-to-day operations at Microsoft in the summer of 2008, he plans to remain actively involved with development of natural user interfaces, such as interactive tabletop surface computing, voice-based interfaces, and tablet PCs (Baig, 2008). The tablet is gaining popularity globally. Sales grew 30 percent annually from 2003-2006 and are expected to rise even faster with the release of Microsoft Vista (Shao, 2007). Worldwide, a Gartner report showed that nearly 60 percent of tablet units shipped were consumed by the US market, almost 20 percent by Europe, and about 10 percent by the Asia/Pacific region (Fiering et al., 2005).Business persons are often among the first to review and adopt new technologies, particularly those that may enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their work activities. Business persons also review new technology that performs similar tasks as older technology. By reviewing new technologies, they can test the developer's claims, expose serious flaws, exploit unique features, and decide whether to adopt the new technologies for everyday use. Such has been the case with the introduction of tablets. Developers and early adopters have suggested and demonstrated how the unique and unusual features of tablets can both add new functionality and replace older technologies.Much of the research to date on tablets explores the new functionality it offers vertical industries, such as healthcare, insurance, public safety and real estate, and the semi-vertical industries of sales and higher education (Shao, 2007), particularly in the areas of science and engineering (Rogers and Cox, 2008). In education, most studies simply describe the use of tablets for different purposes such as grading, multimedia lectures, improved collaboration (Gill, 2007), class presentations (Mock, 2004), or archiving electronic course notes (Mock, 2004; Rogers and Cox, 2008). Software development studies have focused on new tablet software for presentations designed to increase student engagement (Anderson et al., 2007) or collecting field data (Kravcik et al., 2004) among other uses.Fewer empirical studies have considered the various features of tablets, and scholars have called for more empirical work. In considering the value of technology to education, researchers have noted the difficulties associated with the usual practice of correlating technology expenditures to test scores as a means of determining the causal impact and value (Machin et al., 2007). The studies reported here answer that call with empirical tests of two specific technologies used to perform the same task and measure outcomes associated directly with the experimental task.For visually presenting material to an audience, tablets have become formidable rivals for older projector-type technologies such as overhead transparencies and ELMO projectors. However, the effectiveness of the new technology as a substitute for older technologies has not yet been rigorously tested and fundamental questions remain. Are tablets more effective than the older technologies in presenting material or illustrating desired behaviors to an audience? Are employees, customers, and trainees more likely to exhibit desired behaviors after viewing tablet presentations? The studies described in this paper were designed to address some of the questions about effectiveness by comparing the new technology, tablets, with an older projector-type technology for presentation of material. Following a brief review of relevant literature, the methodology and results for each study are presented. The last section addresses implications, limitations, and future research directions.\nTheory and hypotheses: Individuals learn from watching others, and technologies are often employed as aids in the learning process. We draw upon Bandura's (1977, 1986) social cognitive theory to explain characteristics of the model (the human exemplar) and features of the target (the technology employed) that are likely to draw attention, promote observation, encourage learning, and enhance performance. This foundational theory has been expanded over the years and is regularly used by researchers in a variety of disciplines.Learning\nStudy 1. Method: Participants\nStudy 2. Method: Participants\nDiscussion and conclusions: New technology can sometimes increase efficiency, enhance effectiveness, improve performance, and provide other worthwhile benefits. Some new technologies offer vast improvements over older ones, while others only provide alternatives or small incremental enhancements. It is important to test new technologies, compare them to existing technologies, and then judge their ability to achieve desired results. These studies empirically examine the effectiveness of Tablets in comparison to older technology for accomplishing the same task. Armed with knowledge about the effectiveness of various technologies, organizational leaders can make more informed purchase decisions. Without such knowledge, organizations may be wasting both their financial and human resources by purchasing and using technologies that are ineffective or unnecessary.H1 predicted higher levels of exemplification when technology was used to model behaviors than when the exemplar used technology only to describe the desired behaviors without modeling those behaviors. H2 predicted that modeling with newer technology would result in higher levels of emulation than modeling with older technology. Both hypotheses were supported in study 1. The results provide evidence to help justify the costs of investing in newer technology.Employers value employees who have the ability to learn. Learning leads to better job performance, which in turn increases organizational performance. One way of learning is through observation of behavioral models. Bandura's social cognitive theory recognizes modeling as a necessary element in the observational learning process. Within organizations, leaders are frequently the exemplars who model desired behaviors which are then emulated by their followers. While technology is often used to enhance learning in formal training programs, leaders also employ technologies in modeling. Leaders need technologies that better facilitate the learning process by enhancing the leader's ability to model desired behaviors. These studies add to our knowledge by evaluating the effectiveness of technologies that leaders regularly use when modeling behaviors they want others to follow. With knowledge gained from this and future studies, leaders can make more informed decisions about technologies that can improve individual and organizational performance.Using either older or newer technology for instruction alone, participants were able to replicate the desired behavior to some extent. However, modeling of the behavior increased performance levels. Moreover, participants who watched the model demonstration via the newer technology, the tablet, produced more of the desired behavior. Thus, as was expected, modeling of desired behaviors increased the level of those behaviors that were exhibited by the participants, and the newer technology outperformed the older one in study 1. However, novelty may play an important role, as was demonstrated in study 2. When the novelty of the newer technology had worn off, the older and newer technologies were equally effective for the particular task used in these studies.Limitations\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Leaders model behaviors they want followers to emulate, and they use various technologies to enhance their message, but which tools are most effective? Using two studies, this paper sets out to compare the effectiveness of newer and older computer technologies used by leaders for describing and demonstrating desired behaviors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The first study, an interdisciplinary experimental design, involved 110 students across two college campuses and data were analyzed using a 2 (modeling and no modeling)x2 (older and newer technology) between-subjects ANOVA. The second study further explored modeling with both technologies on one campus, and data were analyzed with independent samples t-tests.\nFindings: - Newer technology was more effective than older technology in increasing desired behaviors but only when coupled with modeling of those behaviors by the leader. However, after the novelty of the new technology had worn off, no significant difference in production of desired behaviors was observed.\nPractical implications: - Justifying the expense of purchasing new technology to replace functional older equipment is an important consideration for businesses and universities. Organizational leaders need factual, unbiased data to guide their decisions about allocating limited financial resources.\nOriginality/value: - The studies were designed to provide decision-makers with some much-needed empirical data.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Role of mobile banking servicescape on customer attitude and engagement: An empirical investigation in India	[ "Marketing", "India", "Engagement", "Consumer attitudes", "E-commerce", "Mobile banking", "Servicescape" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As part of the electronic banking strategy, the importance of managing mobile banking (M banking) transactions has emerged as a major priority in banking services (Laukkanen and Kiviniemi, 2010; Laukkanen, 2016; Tam and Oliveira, 2016). M banking is as an electronic form of transaction that enable the customer to perform banking-related transactions through a personal mobile platform (Chen, 2008; Mallat et al., 2004; Moser, 2015; Suoranta and Mattila, 2004; Weber and Darbellay, 2010; Wessels and Drennan, 2010). In recent years, this mode of transaction has become popularised among the public, since this mode of transaction includes carrying out common activities such as account balance and transaction history inquiries, money transfer, bill payment, trading stocks, managing portfolios, payment of insurance policies, and so on (Baptista and Oliveira, 2016). Such an M banking platform offers a number of advantages for both customers and the bank. For customers, usage of M banking facilitates time saving, convenience, and mobility (Anckar and D'Incau, 2002; Luarn and Lin, 2005). Moreover, this medium represents an additional service to customers many circumstances, adding the element of true mobility to conventional internet banking conducted over fixed networks (Laukkanen and Kiviniemi, 2010). Additionally, as a form of self-service, M banking allows banks to offer more personalised and cost-efficient services to customers, thus enhancing the effectiveness of the same, compared to other electronic mediums in the same category (Hoehle et al., 2012; Riivari, 2005). In addition, by offering service benefits to both customers and banks, this mode also offers significant profit margins to telecom companies and third-party providers (Koksal, 2016). Thus, researchers support the claim that this mode of banking service has paved a pathway to an innovative banking approach in both developed and developing countries (Tran and Corner, 2016). However, unlike traditional transactional and online banking services, the limited ability of this mode to provide one-to-one interactions with service providers increases privacy concerns among consumers (Malaquias and Hwang, 2016). To address these privacy concerns, consumers may look for relevant cues from the channel environment to confirm that they will not experience a loss once they perform banking-related activities via this mode.\n2. Theoretical development and hypotheses formulation: 2.2 Stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model\n3. Research methodology: To collect responses, a web-based survey was administered. The study uses a web-based survey for several reasons. The study demands data which explains users' perception about M banking. Since customer perception is the reflection of their belief and attitude towards M banking, the survey method is the best to serve such purposes (Kerlinger, 1973). The researchers also felt that this mode of data gathering would enhance the robustness of the research outcomes (Kerlinger, 1973).\n4. Data analysis and results: We tested the proposed set of hypotheses following Anderson and Gerbing's (1988) two step procedure. First, prior to the testing of hypotheses, we carried out measurement model testing through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to confirm the psychometric properties of the constructs. After the measurement model confirmation, we examined the structural model to test the hypotheses. At this stage, the study also examined the mediating role of customers' M banking attitude between M banking servicescape and customer engagement. The following sub-sections detail these stages.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: M banking represents an innovation in banking services where both multifaceted intangible services and a technologically innovative medium of service delivery are present (Rao and Troshani, 2007). There is a general consensus among researchers that among the wide variety of electronic-based self-services, M banking is a rich platform for automated banking and other financial services (Moser, 2015; Wessels and Drennan, 2010). Considering the importance of M banking, previous studies in M banking analysed the roles of content and features of M banking platform on customer responses (e.g. Akturan and Tezcan, 2012; Cruz et al., 2010; Hoehle et al., 2012; Kim et al., 2007; Laukkanen and Kiviniemi, 2010; Luarn and Lin, 2005; Luo et al., 2010; Puschel et al., 2010; Thakur, 2014). However, limited empirical research has been conducted to examine how overall environment of M banking (called as servicescape) influences customers' behaviour-related outcomes, specifically customer engagement behaviours. The current study intends to fill in this research gap by conducting an empirical study.\n6. Theoretical and managerial implications: The current study contributed to the literature on M banking in various ways. First, a clear understanding of how various M banking environmental cues affect its customers is essential, so that environments with the maximum likelihood of inducing the desired effects can be produced and delivered. In today's banking services, there is an increasing drive towards competitiveness; therefore, appropriate design of M banking environments in which banking-related products and services are offered or provided may be a powerful medium for improving efficiency, user satisfaction, and attaining competitive advantage over adversaries. Moreover, the development of an effective and systematic approach for investigating the designed M banking environment and its impact on users will allow more effective designs to be produced. In this way, this study is the first attempt in M banking literature to show the importance of M banking environment to develop user engagement. Second, although earlier M banking studies addressed consumers' M banking adoption, the strength of the current study lies in empirical finding that there is a strong link between M banking servicescape, customer attitude, and engagement. Thus, this contribution helps future researchers to expand their theoretical boundaries. Third, the contribution of the study is unique in a way that the study results supported that S-O-R model is a valid in M banking literature, and there exists a strong mediating effect of customer attitude between servicescape and engagement. These findings emphasise the importance of S-O-R model while examining customers' adoption of M banking. Finally, another considerable contribution of the study lies in its use of emerging market context, India. An empirical examination of the model in this emerging economy provides a valid theoretical contribution by imparting a contextual understanding of how consumers use the M banking servicescape to develop their behaviour-related outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential influence of the mobile banking (M banking) servicescape on customer attitude and engagement. The stimulus-organism-response framework was adapted to formulate a conceptual model, in which the M banking servicescape was modelled as an antecedent (stimulus) of customer attitudes towards M banking (organism), in turn directing customer behaviour (response), namely, customer engagement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A web-based survey of 345 M banking users was conducted to gather data. The structural equation modelling technique was employed to analyse the conceptual model and test the proposed set of hypotheses.\nFindings: The results of data analyses showed that M banking servicescape is a strong predictor of customer attitude towards M banking, which then influences customer engagement. The findings also demonstrate that customer attitudes towards M banking mediate both the M banking servicescape and engagement.\nOriginality/value: The extension of servicescape literature from the physical to the online context of M banking provides a notable new realm in which academicians can extend the current paradigms. This study also enhances understanding of potential improvements to customer attitude towards and engagement with M banking.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving of the efficiency through benchmarking: a case of Ukrainian breweries	[ "Benchmarking", "Brewing", "Ukraine", "Process efficiency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As practice shows, benchmarking is one of the best tools that allows to define the opportunities of improvement (Jain and Yadav, 2006), key success factors (Chen, 2005) and ways of increase of efficiency of the company (Goncharuk, 2008). If the enterprise does not have complex organizational structure and set of divisions or branches it can use only the tools of external benchmarking, which as a rule is much more effective than internal one (Southard and Parente, 2007). Frequently, benchmarking use for improvement of solitary processes (Gebauer et al., 2006) or efficiency of use of particular inputs, for example, energy (Chung et al., 2006) or labour (Abdel-Razek et al., 2007). However, in order to have a full imagine of shortcomings of the enterprise, to establish its weak points and capabilities of their elimination, to improve efficiency and quality, it is expedient to use performance of competitive benchmarking covering the majority of the enterprises of industry (Dawkins et al., 2007; Lobo and Zairi, 1999). Moreover, if for a variety of reasons like too rigid competition and lack of the necessary information about competitors or vice versa, an absence of real competitors in a home market, it is not possible to reveal significant reserves of growth of efficiency, the basic efforts of the enterprise should be directed on implementation of international benchmarking (Bogetic and Fedderke, 2006).As a rule the beer markets of majority of the countries are characterized by a rigid competition and presence of the large number of manufacturers and sellers. In such conditions maintenance of high performance is the important condition of a survival of the enterprises.The beer industry is one of the most dynamically developing industries of Ukrainian economy. Last seven years volumes of beer output and consumption have grown in Ukraine highly and have practically trebled (Figure 1) that has been caused by the following reasons:* attraction of foreign investments of the large transnational companies (Inbev, Baltic Beverages Holding);* modernization of the equipment and technologies by some companies;* carrying out of effective marketing policy by some companies;* the market is far from saturation, beer consumption per capita in Ukraine a quarter higher than in Russia, two times higher than in Germany, and almost three times higher than in Czech Republic; and* growth of incomes of the population owing to there is reduction of a share of the market of spirits and growth of a share of low alcohol production.At the end of 2007 the capacity of the Ukrainian beer market was about 28 million hectolitres a year and annual production was above 31,6 million hectolitres.The basic mover of growth of beer output in Ukraine is high competitive activity of four leading manufacturers of industry:1. the SUN InBev Ukraine owing the Brewery \"Rogan\", Chernigiv brewery \"Desna\" and Nikolaev brewery \"Yantar\";2. the Baltic Beverages Holding Ukraine owing the BNC Slavutich and Lviv brewery;3. the Company \"Obolon\" owing the Bershad brewery, Ohtyrka brewery and Sevastopol brewery; and4. the Sarmat Brewery Group owing the Lugansk brewery, Brewery \"Crimea\", \"Poltavpivo\" firm and Dnepropetrovsk brewery \"Dnipro\".In 2006 the share of these four industry groups accounts for about 95 per cent of the whole beer manufacturing in Ukraine.Process of consolidation of the market was not included into a slowdown phase yet and pressure of the titans of Ukrainian brewing business on small manufacturers becomes stronger. As a result the number of beer manufacturers in Ukraine reduces year by year: from 2003 to the end of 2005 their amount decreased from 65 to less than 50. During last years many old and known enterprises have stopped the activity and have been recognized as bankrupts: the First Kyiv brewery, Odessa brewery \"Gambrinus\", Ivanovskiy brewery, Kramatorskiy brewery, Vinnitsa brewery, etc.One of the forms of a survival of small breweries in conditions of rigid competition is their association. The example of that is the cooperation in the end of 2007 of the Melitopol, Zaporizhya, Lysychansk and Kryvyi Rig breweries in Ukrainian beer group. Its share of the total production of beer in the country is 0.4 per cent.Researches of various aspects of functioning of beer industry were developed in the different countries. They can be divided into three groups. The first is connected with the general and retrospective studies of tendencies and features of development of the regional and national beer markets (Dumicic et al., 2003; Gilbert and Smith, 1992; Larimo et al., 2006; Vignali and Vrontis, 2000; Van der Hallen, 2007). The second concerns managerial, marketing and economic aspects of functioning of the beer industry (Lewis and Vickerstaff, 2001; Nwabueze and Clair, 2001; Tsamantanis and Kogetsidis, 2006). The third examines investment activity and development prospects of the global and small beer companies on the separate markets (see, for example, in Dezutter, 1997; Firstbrook, 2007; Pugh et al., 2001).However, till now there is no research of the Ukrainian beer industry that would define its efficiency and possible ways of its improvement.This paper is devoted to the answers to the following questions: what is the efficiency of the Ukrainian beer companies today, what are its defining factors and potential of growth, how to improve the efficiency of the breweries using various benchmarking tools.\n2. Methodology: The aim of benchmarking is to compare the performance of the companies, to identify which companies work in the most efficient way, and to give a ranking of the companies are referred to be efficient ones (Goncharuk, 2008). Performance benchmarking shows whether a company is efficient compared with the other ones.Hence, we offer to study an efficiency of breweries and beer industry under the following scheme:* an estimation of efficiency and revealing of the most efficient and inefficient companies of beer industry;* construction of a matrix of efficiency-profitability and an establishing of influence of the major factors on activity of the breweries; and* revealing of reserves of cost reduction and potential growth of efficiency of the breweries.For the estimation of efficiency of the companies it is offered to use the widely known method of data envelopment analysis (DEA) first offered by Charnes et al. (1978). The DEA include the investigation of the complex objects with the set of inputs and outputs and the analysis of its activity in functioning. Efficiency is defined as quotient from the division of the sum of all outputs by the sum of all inputs. It defines the value of efficiency for each investigated object named decision-making unit (DMU), and then the comparison of supervision by the method of linear programming with using of various basic models and their variants is executed. DEA selects from the whole set the efficient DMUs by construction of efficiency frontier, and allows to define a measure of their inefficiency for others. Criterion for revealing efficiency here is an achievement of Pareto efficiency. The detailed description of history, models and interpretations of DEA method is stated at Cooper et al. (2004).The choice of DEA method is predetermined by the following: it is the nonparametric method that does not demand the obvious specification of functional relations between inputs and outputs and statistical distribution of an inefficiency; unlike other benchmarking methods it does not demand assumptions of type of behaviour of research objects; it allows to define effective and inefficient manufactures, calculate a quantitative measure of efficiency, build an effective hypersurface, find reference (effective) industrial DMUs. Besides, this method supposes simultaneous use both cost and physical indicators that allows to generalize numerous heterogeneous input and output parameters.As the considered industry being alcohol and has negative influence to the human health, it has to have the limited circle of consumers, and its over-use is undesirable from the public point of view, the company management cannot significant influence on volumes of sales, that are defined in a greater degree by external factors (dynamics of incomes of the population, government regulation, etc.). In such situation the basic source of improving of the efficiency of breweries is decreasing in own expenses (inputs). Therefore, in order to study the efficiency of the breweries it is expedient to use input-oriented DEA models. In particular, for an estimation and ranking of the companies, DEA model of super-efficiency offered by Anderson and Petersen (1993) will be used. And for an estimation of reserves of input reduction, the slack-based model (SBM) offered by Ali et al. (1995) and Thrall (1996) and advanced by Tone (2001) will be used. The first model will allow revealing the best companies of industry and to estimate efficiency of the breweries from the point of view of their opportunity to influence to inputs, i.e. cost management. The second one will ensure an objective quantitative measure for possible reserves of decrease in inputs on each enterprise and industry as the whole.To estimate the influence of production scale on the enterprise efficiency and define the scale effect, the parameter of scale efficiency will be defined on the following ratio: Equation 1 where TECRS is technical efficiency score for CRS model and TEVRS is technical efficiency score for variable return of scale (VRS) model (for VRS model form Banker et al., 1984).For the establishment of cumulative scale effect to industry and valuation of the elasticities of output with respect to major factors (labour, materials and capital), three-factor production function (Goncharuk, 2006) is used here.With a view of division of impact of external and internal factors on efficiency of the companies, the efficiency-profitability matrix (EPM) first offered by Dyson et al. (1990) and advanced later by Camanho and Dyson (1999) and Todoroki and Carson (2003) will be used. The basic idea of the given method is placement of the firms of sample in bidimentional co-ordinate. The horizontal axis shows their efficiency scores, and the vertical one shows values of profitability, and there is grouping by four quadrants: \"sleeping\", \"stars\", \"dogs\" and \"duds\". On hit of the firm in this or that quadrant it is possible to judge the general character of influence of exogenous factors such as government regulation, an environment, a level of business activity and public income, regional features, etc. on its activity. The EPM allows not only to look at the efficiency in two aspects and to present it in two-dimensional view, but also enables to receive the expanded notion about efficiency of analysed sample of the firms, about their relative performance and potential development.\n3. Data collection: The basic sample includes 34 beer companies, the total volume of output of which in 2006 has made more than 99 per cent of all beer production of Ukraine.Additional sample for implementation of an international benchmarking includes 20 beer companies of the USA (seven), Czech Republic (three), Russia (two), Belgium, Holland, Poland, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, Chile and Colombia.The material cost, depreciation and number of employees are used as inputs. The net sales of beer are used here as output.Considering the results of DEA are sensitive to errors in initial data, the annual reports (10-K, 20-F and other forms) of the companies, reliability of which is confirmed by the auditor conclusions, were used as a source of information. The descriptive statistics of companies samples is framed in Table I.\n4. The results of efficiency analysis: 4.1 Estimation and ranking of efficiency\n5. The reserves, potential and benchmarking: 5.1 Estimation of internal reserves and potential\n6. Conclusions: By the results of the study of efficiency of the brewing industry of Ukraine while using benchmarking tools it is possible to draw the following conclusions.1. The Ukrainian brewing industry develops high owing to the growth of incomes of the population, attraction of the large foreign capital (Inbev, Baltic Beverages Holding), modernization of the equipment and effective marketing policy carried out by a number of the breweries.2. Purchasing by two large domestic groups (Obolon and Sarmat) of the regional beer companies is negatively reflected on their efficiency, because of inability, impossibility or unwillingness of their proprietors to develop and to manage effectively the purchased businesses. The majority of small and medium breweries that belong to the domestic proprietors are inefficient and unprofitable through the lack of financial resources and operational experience, rigid competition, prevalence of the unproductive equipment and resource-intensive technologies, absence of the personnel motivation system, poor-quality management and marketing.3. Material motivation of the personnel (the high wages) more often exerts positive influence on the overall performance of the Ukrainian breweries.4. Factor of allocation influences on the efficiency of the beer companies: the most efficient companies of industry are located in central and eastern regions of the country, close to the basic sources of raw materials (malt) and to the largest consumers of finished goods. It indicates an essential influence of the allocation factor on efficiency of the breweries. The breweries located in the central part of megacities are doomed to liquidation or carrying over owing to rapidly growing prices for the ground and the real estate.5. Annually downward financial results of one of the largest and most productive companies of the market - the Sarmat Brewery Company and its subsidiaries are connected with an inefficient marketing policy, absence of new investments into its activity and loss of interest of the proprietor to the further development of business. In order to use high potential of growth of the given company it is expedient to purchase its control share holding by large transnational beer group like SABMiller capable to provide its efficiency.6. Significant reserves of inputs reduction by the domestic beer companies are revealed: for material inputs on 7.4 per cent, for capital input on 35.3 per cent, for labour input on 48.7 per cent. International benchmarking allows considerably expand these reserves and raise potential growth of efficiency of the Ukrainian breweries up to 45.6 per cent. It is possible to use this potential at studying of foreign experience and application of the best practices by the domestic companies during their own operational activity.7. The offered ways of use of potential of efficiency growth for the Ukrainian beer companies are connected with use both their internal ability (modernization of the equipment, motivation of the personnel, etc.), and successful experience and resources of the concrete domestic and foreign companies (benchmarks) through the tools of cooperation, exchange of experience, merger or friendly acquisition.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of competitive and international performance benchmarking in order to estimate efficiency, determine key factors, find the internal and foreign benchmarks, and reveal the full reserves of inputs reduction and potential growth efficiency for brewing companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and other tools of performance benchmarking are used to analyse the efficiency of brewing companies. Some key factors are examined for their impact on efficiency: the scale, regional location, proprietors and other endogenous and exogenous factors. The results are based on the samples of 34 Ukrainian brewing companies and 20 foreign brewing companies.\nFindings: - Only one domestic company can be recognized as a world-class efficient company. The proprietors, location and the scale factors exert sufficient influence on efficiency of the brewing companies. The international benchmarking allows to widen essentially the capability of reduced consumption of various inputs and provides considerable benefit to Ukrainian breweries and industry efficiency. Some variants for improving of the efficiency of Ukrainian breweries and industry, including cooperation, mergers or friendly acquisitions, are proposed.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research is limited by single industry that is explained by requirement of technology (product) homogeneity while using DEA tools.\nPractical implications: - The results of the study contain data and recommendations that can be practicable for brewing companies' management, present and potential investors and proprietors. The foreign and domestic benchmarks most suitable for benchmarking implementation are established for each of the Ukrainian brewing companies.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study that adopts the various DEA models for measuring of efficiency in the brewing industry with the tools of competitive and international benchmarking.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Performance measurement for green supply chain management	[ "Performance measurement (quality)", "Supply chain management", "Environmental management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In supply chains with multiple vendors, manufacturers, distributors and retailers, whether regionally or globally dispersed, performance measurement is challenging because it is difficult to attribute performance results to one particular entity within the chain. There are difficulties in measuring performance within organizations and even more difficulties arise in inter-organizational environmental performance measurement. The reasons for lack of systems to measure performance across organizations are multidimensional, including non-standardized data, poor technological integration, geographical and cultural differences, differences in organizational policy, lack of agreed upon metrics, or poor understanding of the need for inter-organizational performance measurement. Performance measurement in supply chains is difficult for additional reasons, especially when looking at numerous tiers within a supply chain, and green supply chain management performance measurement, or GSCM/PM, is virtually non-existent. With these barriers and difficulties in mind, GSCM/PM is needed for a number of reasons (including regulatory, marketing and competitiveness reasons). Overcoming these barriers is not a trivial issue, but the long-term sustainability (environmental and otherwise) and competitiveness of organizations may rely on successful adoption of GSCM/PM.The basic purposes of GSCM/PM are: external reporting (economic rent), internal control (managing the business better) and internal analysis (understanding the business better and continuous improvement). These are the fundamental issues that drive the development of frameworks for business performance measurement. It is important to consider both purpose, as well as the interrelationships of these various measurements.To address the numerous issues facing GSCM/PM, this paper begins with a general discussion of supply chain management and performance measurement principles. This initial discussion is extended by incorporating supply chain or inter-organizational dimensions to performance measurement principles. Then, presentation of some principles of GSCM will set the stage for the discussion of GSCM/PM and environmental management systems (or GSCM/PMS). Metrics and measures are identified within this context. Management and research issues related to the management of GSCM/PM systems conclude our discussion.\nSupply chain performance measurement: Supply chain management\nGreen supply chain management: Several studies have considered the concept of ecological sustainability as a framework for studying management practices in both operational and strategic contexts (Sarkis and Rasheed, 1995; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996; King and Lenox, 2001). As part of this effort, other studies have examined the greening of supply chains within various contexts including in product design (Allenby, 1993; Gupta, 1995), process design (Porter and Van der Linde, 1995a; Klassen and McLaughlin, 1996), manufacturing practices (Winsemius and Guntram, 1992), purchasing (Handfield et al., 2002) and a broad mixture of these elements (Bowen et al., 2001a).It is not surprising that GSCM finds its definition in supply chain management. Adding the \"green\" component to supply chain management involves addressing the influence and relationships of supply chain management to the natural environment. Motivated by an environmentally-conscious mindset, it can also stem from a competitiveness motive within organizations.In this paper GSCM is defined as: Equation 1 Figure 1 shows this GSCM equation graphically, where reverse logistics \"closes the loop\" of a typical forward supply chain and includes reuse, remanufacturing, and/or recycling of materials into new materials or other products with value in the marketplace. The idea is to eliminate or minimize waste (energy, emissions, chemical/hazardous, solid wastes). This figure is representative of a single organization's internal supply chain, its major operational elements and the linkage to external organizations. A number of environmentally conscious practices are evident throughout the supply chain ranging from green design (marketing and engineering), green procurement practices (e.g. certifying suppliers, purchasing environmentally sound materials/products), total quality environmental management (internal performance measurement, pollution prevention), environmentally friendly packaging and transportation, to the various product end-of-life practices defined by the \"Re's\" of reduction, reuse, remanufacturing, recycling. Expanding this figure, a number of organizational relationships could be found at various stages of this model, including customers and their chains, as well as suppliers and their chains, forming webs of relationships.The development of industrial ecosystems would be greatly supported by GSCM practices. Korhonen and Niutanen (2003) in their study of material and energy flows in the local forest industry in Finland suggested these flows were comparable to other economic and industrial systems. In the last two decades, the product-based systems perspective and the geographically defined local-regional industrial ecosystem have emerged. Both approached focus on material and energy flows aiming at reducing the industrial system's virgin resource use and waste and emission outputs. Korhonen (2002) agrees the ideal mirrors the model of a sustainable natural ecosystem.A major element within GSCM is concerned with inter-organizationally sharing responsibility for various aspects of environmental performance. GSCM should promote the sharing of environmental responsibility and lend itself to achieving a reduced environmental burden caused by industry. Several techniques exist to help managers map the environmental impacts along supply chains, such as the life cycle assessment, product stewardship, and design for environment (DFE) principles, which are also complementary tools and philosophies for each other. Life cycle assessment is a structural approach to define and evaluate the total environmental load associated with providing a service. It also incorporates development of an inventory of data, impact of materials, products and processes, and improvement analysis aspects. GSCM performance measurement and metrics are critical to all these dimensions of life cycle assessment.The most frequently cited predictor GSCM implementation is the proactivity of the firm's corporate environmental approach (Drumwright, 1994; Cramer, 1996; Ellram and Ready, 1998). Bowen et al. (2001b) argue capabilities appropriate for green supply must be developed by a proactive corporate environmental stance and a strategic purchasing and supply chain management approach. Once developed, supply chain management capabilities can ease the implementation of green supply and thus help disseminate environmentally sound practices throughout the complex network of industrial buying and selling.Hart (1995) and Sarkis and Kitazawa (2000) argue capabilities in total quality management can ease the introduction of pollution prevention programs and capabilities in cross-functional management facilitate product stewardship, essential to GSCM, and are related to organizational capabilities and pressures existing for GSCM introduction. Total quality management requires decisions based on data and continuous improvement through appropriate performance measurement, which is also true of the more specific total quality environmental management paradigm.In one of the few studies linking GSCM elements and performance measurement, Beamon (1999) suggests the traditional performance measurement structure of the supply chain must be extended and include mechanisms for product recovery (reverse logistics) and the establishment and implementation of new performance measurement systems. Yet, overall environmental performance measurement, and supporting systems, across supply chains has not been as extensively studied.\nGreen supply chain management performance measurement system (GSCM/PMS): The issues surrounding the green supply chain performance measurement system, or GSCM/PMS, form the core contribution of this paper. Figure 2, which shows a framework for the remainder of our discussion, represents a systems model based on one activity \"Implementation and Operation of GSCM/PMS\". The discussion begins with the major boundaries associated with managing this system, including \"external pressures\" and \"internal controls/pressures\". The next set of elements discussed, critical inputs to the system, includes various \"metrics and measures\", as well as the design of a GSCM/PMS. To aid the GSCM/PMS management, \"tools\" are also identified. Expected results represent outcomes of such a system and are discussed.Pressures and controls facing a GSCM/PMS\nSummary and conclusions: Growth in organizational performance measurement from stand-alone operational systems to include strategic and inter-organizational (supply chain) requirements has been discussed. Competitive forces have caused organizations to look externally to determine how to sustain long-term competitive advantage. Inter-organizational performance management systems play a role. Part of this broadened focus of competitiveness necessarily begins to focus on the natural environment. Stakeholders (internal and external) over the last few decades have caused organizations to explicitly consider the environment in their strategic and operational planning and execution. This pressure has extended across the supply chain and is responsible for the increased growth and interest in GSCM. To aid GSCM implementation and introduction, there is a need to at least plan for and conceptualize performance measurement systems and their requirements. This issue leads to the major contribution of this paper, which is the introduction of various topics and concerns of GSCM/PMS ranging from the various internal/external pressures, types of metrics that need to be developed, potential designs of GSCM/PMS, as well as tools and results of a GSCM/PMS. These systems have yet to fully exist and operate within many organizations, yet their development and introduction may be inevitable as further integration and pressures cause organizations to seriously consider them for their long term well-being.To aid practitioners and researchers a number of emerging areas of research have been identified. Future studies must address the business and environmental results of a GSCM performance measurement system and their impact within the organization, industry, and society at large. If studies indicate no immediate differences, further studies should address when and if they will make a difference. Industry-specific research is needed to address which where the performance measurement systems work best.Other issues for future research are:1. inter-organizational agreement on performance management and measurement;2. managing the entire supply chain beyond the single dyadic relationship (with numerous questions that need to be answer such as: who is in charge? who decides? how important is it? global issues? what should be the baseline? do industry differences exist - e.g. chemical versus electronics?);3. tools needed for further GSCM/PMS enhancement and development;4. linkages to product stewardship, life cycle analysis and design for the environment;5. development of data and information with respect to GSCM;6. adequacy of the tools and management of supply chain management for incorporating environmental management dimensions; and7. roles of new technologies including information technology.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To introduce and provide an overview of the various issues related to environmental (green) supply chain management performance measurement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The work relies on experiences, case studies and other literature related to performance measurement in environmental supply chains. It seeks to integrate works in supply chain management, environmental management, and performance management into one framework. A systems framework forms the discussion outline with a focus on controls/pressures, inputs, tools, and outputs as major categories for evaluation and review.\nFindings: - Provides an integrative framework for study, design and evaluation of green supply chain management performance tools. The findings also identify a number of issues that need to still be addressed.\nResearch limitations/implications: - We have only one design of the issues in which numerous categorizations could be provided. There is limited research in this area and new and current models/developments can provide additional insight. Implications of the work is that these gaps exist and that significantly more work needs to be completed in this field.\nPractical implications: - A very useful source of information for practitioners that seek to implement these systems within and between organizations. Also, the paper provides numerous areas which researchers could complete additional research and develop research agendas.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides some of the very first insights into development of a green supply chain management performance measurement system. Typically performance measurement systems are internally and business focused, we expand on these issues by considering inter-organizational and environmental issues within a business context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
To what extent a "bad" job? Employee perceptions of job quality in community aged care	[ "Retention", "Job quality", "Aged care" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In developed countries, such as Australia, ageing populations and extended life expectancies are creating unprecedented demand for the provision of aged care services (Hogan, 2004; Lafortune and Balestat, 2007). A recent Australian Productivity Commission (2011) report predicted that by 2050 over 3.5 million people would be seeking some form of aged care support. It also predicted that 80 per cent of demand would be for services delivered in the community rather than residential or nursing home care, as already reflected in a 600 per cent increase in demand for community-based care between 1996 and 2004 (AIHW, 2008).\nResearch method: The research reported here forms part of a wider study of employee well-being in the community aged care workforce. This stage of the study was designed to gather a broad range of perspectives on the issues facing community aged care workers in relation to motivations for working in the sector, employment conditions and overall satisfaction with their job. The case study was conducted in ABC[1], a large aged care organisation offering both residential and community-based care. It employs over 300 community care workers primarily on casual contracts. ABC was invited to participate in the study because it is recognised by other aged care providers as a leader in the field and because it is actively engaged in research partnerships with local universities. It seeks to be cutting-edge in its approach to caring for older people and innovative in its human resource management practices. For example, it allocates \"well-being funds\" to support employee health through diet and exercise programmes and provides free physiotherapy treatments for both work and non-work-related musculoskeletal problems. Despite these initiatives ABC continues to experience turnover of around 25 per cent which is consistent with other organisations in the sector.\nResults: In the following section the results are presented using the job quality components identified in the literature (Table I). Pay and security are presented as one theme given that for casual employees these variables are inextricably linked. Management and co-worker relations are also discussed together as there was significant overlap between these concepts.\nDiscussion: So, how do community aged care workers evaluate the overall quality of their jobs? Do they see them as \"bad jobs\" (Martin, 2007) or do they see them as providing meaningful, rewarding and suitably recompensed work? Various aspects of job quality as proposed by Green (2009), namely pay, skill, autonomy and security, were common themes within the study. These themes fit with the definition proposed by Burgess et al. (2013, p. 2) of job quality as \"a set of job attributes\" that impact on \"workers' well-being in their work and non-work roles\". Working in aged care has the potential to be valuable and self-affirming because it supports a vulnerable group in society (Tuckett et al., 2009). At the same time the complex nature of the work (e.g. dealing with clients who have dementia), physical demands, dealing with client family expectations (Stack, 2003) and the emotional stress of coping with client mortality (VonDras et al., 2009) creates significant pressures with a likely spill-over effect to an individual's non-work life. In this study there were clear indications that intrinsic factors (e.g. autonomy and job content) were valued highly whereas extrinsic factors (notably issues associated with pay and hours of work) made the job much less attractive.\nRecommendations for aged care organisations: The findings highlight two key areas that aged care organisations need to address to improve job quality - remuneration and opportunities for advancement. For carers a critical issue is the fact that pay is embedded in structures (such as casual contracts and variable hours of work) that limit the possibility of earning fair and reasonable wages (Palmer and Eveline, 2012). Aged care organisations operate under tight financial constraints; nevertheless, a heavy reliance on casual staff has implications for job satisfaction and turnover. Labour costs (encompassing pay rates, casual vs part-time employment, payment for hours at work vs time spent with clients) need to be weighed up against the costs associated with the recruitment and training of new staff and the potential cost to employee morale when carers are stressed by inadequate incomes or when they feel they are unfairly rewarded for their contributions. Although turnover did not emerge as a significant factor in this study, ABC data indicates that its turnover levels are consistent with other organisations in the sector. While some of their HR practices may have addressed job quality issues (e.g. training and manager/supervisor support) high turnover would suggest the need for this organisation (and others) to focus on the more difficult problem of pay and employment conditions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how community aged care workers evaluate job quality using a job quality framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses a qualitative approach. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and focus groups from a large aged care organisation.\nFindings: Perceptions of job quality are influenced by individual motivations, match between life-stage and work flexibility, as well as broader community views of the value of this type of work. Intrinsic factors (e.g. autonomy, job content) moderate the impact of extrinsic factors such as pay and job security.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample is relatively small and the study is based on data from one aged care organisation which may not reflect employment conditions in other organisations.\nPractical implications: Attraction and retention of community care workers can be improved by addressing factors associated with remuneration (including employment contracts and hours of work) and career structures. Skill and experience-based career structures would help build organisational capacity as well as making these jobs more attractive.\nSocial implications: The demand for community care will continue to increase. Attracting, retaining and managing this workforce will be critical to meeting society's expectations regarding the future care needs of older people.\nOriginality/value: This research explores an under-researched workforce group in a critical area of aged care management. It highlights two key areas with the potential to improve employee perceptions of job quality and therefore address issues related to attraction, retention, job satisfaction and ultimately organisational performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining explorative and exploitative uses of smartphones: a user competence perspective	[ "Behaviour", "Adoption", "Human computer interaction (HCI)", "IT/IS management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The diffusion of mobile computing technologies has accelerated during the last century (Ladd et al., 2010), as has mobile phone research (e.g. Butt and Phillips, 2008; Coursaris et al., 2012; Chung et al., 2012; Hong et al., 2012; Koo et al., 2013; Sun and Teng, 2012). Because of its unique combination of technologies, mobile computing has the potential to significantly alter the interactions of individuals, groups, organizations, and societies (Ladd et al., 2010). Smartphones are one of the latest developments in mobile computing technology. Smartphones are an emerging phenomenon for personal and business voice, data, e-mail, and social networking communications, as well as having applications through internet access (Oulasvirta et al., 2011). Smartphones offer a combination of technologies, including location tracking, digital cameras, and digital content, including music, apps, and podcasts. A Smartphone provides a myriad of different functions. Some people use Smartphones for a range of tasks from simply making and receiving phone calls to a variety of applications for in-depth use. Clearly, not everyone uses Smartphones in the same way or to the same degree. With usage increasing in the last several years, Smartphones accounted for around 70 percent of all US mobile devices in 2013 (Hardawar, 2012). In case of Korea, the number of Smartphone users reached to 40 million in 2013, which equates to roughly eight out of every ten people (62 percent) in Korea (Strategy Analytics, 2013). The number of active Smartphones worldwide is expected to total around 1.4 billion in 2014 (digitaltrends.com). Smartphone market share also explains the worldwide usage of Smartphones: Asia/Pacific (52.3 percent), Europe (18.0 percent), North America (15.0 percent), Latin America (9.0 percent), and Middle East and Africa (5.7 percent)[1]. Due to the complex characteristics of Smartphone platforms and the broad range of functionality, Smartphone usage behaviors are not easily generalized into usage types along the lines of general information systems (IS). Despite the rapid market growth in recent years, limited research has been conducted in this area. Since the first appearance of the devices on the market, Smartphone usage has extended significantly and limitlessly.\n2. Conceptual background: 2.1. Smartphone characteristics\n3. Research model and hypotheses: This study adopts an IS continuance model (Bhattacherjee, 2001) as its main overarching theory, because the IS continuance model has been commonly used for explaining the post-adoption stage of IS. However, IS infusion requires high-level skills and knowledge among users when it comes to using the system. For this reason, we add a factor of user competence to the IS continuance model by conceptualizing it as a second-order formative construct with its three dimensions (finesse, breadth of knowledge, and depth of knowledge). Munro et al. (1997) explained the three dimensions of user competence. Petter et al. (2007) provided decision rules in modeling second-order constructs for formative models and reflective models. In conceptualizing user competence for our purposes herein, there are three issues to consider, as follows: the three dimensions of user competence are not interchangeable, the dimensions do not necessarily covary with each other, and the three dimensions are defining characteristics of user competence. For these reasons, we model user competence as a second-order formative model based on the decision rules of Petter et al. (2007).\n4. Research methodology: Data were collected through a field survey of Smartphone users in South Korea to empirically validate the research model in Figure 2. As voice call-oriented businesses transformed to fixed-mobile convergent businesses in recent years, the three major South Korean players, Korea Telecom, LG U+, and SK Telecom, competed to offer the best Smartphone services to the largest number of users. There were more than 20 million people (out of a population of 45 million people) using Smartphones in South Korea as of 2012. For this reason, South Korea is a good setting for this study.\n5. Data analysis and results: Partial least squares (PLS) analysis was used to examine the data. PLS is a powerful structural equation model that has been used widely in IS research (Chin et al., 2003). The data were tested in a second-order model with reflective measures for the first and second factors of user competence. All measures in this study were treated as reflective constructs. In a reflective measurement model, indicators are considered consequences of the latent variable to which they belong (Jarvis et al., 2003). Therefore, reflective indicators should be highly correlated (Hanseler and Fassott, 2010). PLS-Graph version 3.00 was used to perform the analysis.\n6. Discussion and implications: 6.1. Discussion of findings\n7. Conclusion: The main goal of this paper is to identify the role of user competence and to understand IS infusion usage behaviors (i.e. exploitative use and explorative use) in the context of Smartphone usage through the theoretical combination of the IS continuance model and the concept of user competence. The results of analytical testing reveal that both user competence and perceived usefulness are the main predictors of both exploitative and explorative use. In contrast, user satisfaction and perceived ease of use have inconsistent effects on the two subtypes of IS infusion. Thus this study contributes to the advancement of our understanding of IS infusion behaviors (i.e., explorative use and exploitative use), as well as to our understanding of infusion behaviors from a user competence perspective in the context of Smartphone use. Our findings also offer suggestions for Smartphone researchers and practitioners to increase the level of Smartphone usage among individual users.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of user competence on two different usage variables related to information systems (IS) infusion: explorative use and exploitative use.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Structural equation modeling is used to construct a predictive model of user competence toward IS infusion. Individuals' responses to questions about attitude and intention to use smartphone were collected and analyzed.\nFindings: The results showed that all first-order factors of user competence were significantly linked to the second-order factor. User competence is then significantly related to IS infusion, both explorative use and exploitative use.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study discusses individual usage behavior related to IS infusion usage. The authors conceptualized that exploitative use is different from explorative use. The findings in this study suggest that user competence must be included in IS usage models, especially IS infusion model.\nPractical implications: The results associated with exploitation are more certain and closer in time, while those associated with exploration are more variable. That is, users are likely to innovate through their smart devices related to IS infusion. Smartphone developers and the relevant service providers should decide which factors are more important along the stages of the information technology implementation process. As indicated in this study, knowledge-based user competence together with perceived usefulness influences the usage behavior of smartphone users. Industry players need to consider user competence when they promote their smartphone services.\nOriginality/value: The proposed model brings together extant research on IS use and technology acceptance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Recurrent embodied energy and its relationship with service life and life cycle energy: A review paper	[ "Facilities management", "Life cycle embodied energy", "Maintenance and replacement", "Recurrent embodied energy", "Service life" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Built facilities consume nearly 40 percent of the global energy annually in their life cycle stages of construction, use, maintenance and demolition. This energy consumption occurs in either a primary (e.g. natural gas, oil etc.) or delivered energy (e.g. electricity) form (Fay and Treloar, 1998). During the building material manufacture and building production processes, both the primary and delivered energy are used, which are collectively known as the initial embodied energy (Crowther, 1999). The primary and delivered energy are also used during the use phase of a built facility in the processes of space conditioning, lighting and powering building appliances. This fraction of energy is known as the operational energy (Hegner, 2007). Compared to the embodied energy, the operational energy constitutes a larger fraction of a facility's life cycle energy (Hegner, 2007). However, recent research has indicated that with a growing number of energy efficient buildings, the fraction of embodied energy in a facility's total life cycle energy would increase (Plank, 2008). Sartori and Hestnes (2007) determined that for a conventional building, the embodied energy accounted for 2-38 percent of the total life cycle energy; whereas, for a low energy building, this range was 9-46 percent.\n2. Review of literature: 2.1 Embodied energy model for a built facility\n3. Research purpose and methods: The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of a built facility's REE with its service life as well as with its life cycle embodied energy (LCEE). A built facility's REE may also hold a positive relationship with its total life cycle energy (LCE). This correlation is also examined in this paper. It is hypothesized that the REE is positively correlated with a building's service life, LCEE and LCE. This hypothesis, if found supported, could demonstrate that a building's REE has a major impact on its LCEE and LCE and facility managers who are primarily responsible for building maintenance and replacement activities have a potential for reducing the life cycle energy use in a built facility. In addition, the amount of variation in reported REE values is also determined and discussed.\n4. Findings: 4.1 Residential buildings\n5. Discussion: The referred case studies were a combination of residential and commercial facilities. The annual REE requirements for the residential facilities vary from 8 to 213 MJ/m2-year with an average of MJ/m2-year. The REE values calculated by Barnes and Rankin (1975) were the lowest among referred residential facilities. One reason for this may be the fixed percentage (0.9 percent of IEE) considered by the authors. Fay and Treloar (1998) calculated a higher (188-213 MJ/m2-year) REE value due to a wider system boundary that included maintenance and replacement requirements for not only the facility and its components but also the landscaping and major building appliances (stove, microwave oven, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, heater etc.). The REE values ranged from 1.7 to 470 MJ/m2-year for commercial facilities with an average REE value of 157 MJ/m2-year. The lower annual REE values (1.7-3.6 MJ/m2-year) calculated by Page (2006) are due to the fact that only exterior wall and roof paint were included under the maintenance and replacement works. The annual REE values reported by Langston and Langston (2007) were significantly higher (up to 470 MJ/m2-year) due to a wider system boundary to include the building, its components, services, fittings, site works and external services. They, like Fay and Treloar (1998), also used the input/output-based hybrid method to calculate the energy embodied, which usually results in higher energy figures (Crawford et al., 2002).\n6. Conclusions: A built facility consumes energy in two ways: in building operation (operational energy) and in its production, maintenance and demolition (collectively as embodied energy). Both the fractions of life cycle energy (embodied and operational) are important in significantly reducing the energy consumption by a facility. As suggested in the Review of Literature section, a life cycle perspective is needed while performing an energy assessment of a facility. Recurrent embodied energy (REE) is one important fraction of a facility's total embodied energy. Literature suggested that the REE is correlated to a built facility's service life and has a major impact on its LCE.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The recurrent embodied energy (REE) is the energy consumed in the maintenance, replacement and retrofit processes of a facility. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the relationship of REE with the service life and life cycle embodied energy. The amount of variation in the reported REE values is also determined and discussed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach that is known as the literature based discovery (LBD) was adopted. Existing literature was surveyed to gather case studies and to analyze the reported values of REE.\nFindings: The reported values of REE showed considerable variation across referred studies. It was also found that the reported REE values demonstrated a moderate positive correlation with the service life but a very strong positive correlation with the life cycle embodied energy of both the residential and commercial facilities.\nResearch limitations/implications: This review paper pointed out the importance of the maintenance and replacement processes in reducing the life cycle energy use in a facility. Future research could focus on performing case studies to evaluate this relationship.\nPractical implications: The findings highlight the significance of REE in reducing the life cycle energy impacts of a facility. As facility managers routinely deal with maintenance and replacement processes, they hold an important responsibility of reducing the life cycle energy.\nOriginality/value: The findings of the paper would motivate the facilities management professionals to prefer long service life materials and components during the postconstruction phases of a built facility.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
On the verge of disruption: rethinking position and role - the case of additive manufacturing	[ "Additive manufacturing", "Strategy", "3D printing", "Role", "Disruption", "Position" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Disruptive technology refers to how new solutions, normally represented by firms from outside the current industry sector, make current products or production methods redundant (Christensen, 1997; Adner, 2002; Gilbert and Bower, 2002; Danneels, 2004; Christensen, 2006; Millar et al., 2018). It is thereby believed to fundamentally change who does what in the sector, shifting current activities into new ones and replacing those firms that traditionally dominated the sector, thus challenging positions and roles of parties. Positions describe the \"place\" a firm holds vis-a-vis other firms, and could, for instance, describe them as suppliers, customers, sub-suppliers or intermediaries. Roles refer to activities pursued by firms (Blumer, 1969; Hakansson and Snehota, 1995; Gadde, 2004) such as developing and delivering products.\nTheoretical background: The idea of disruption\nResearch design: The empirical part of this paper is based on three case studies (Yin, 1994; Welch et al., 2011). Because a very limited amount of research links together additive manufacturing with business issues (Oberg et al., 2017; Oberg et al., 2018), and no previous research discusses it from a position and role point of view, the case study approach seemed appropriate. It would help to determine how firms take on the challenge (and opportunities) related to additive manufacturing, and the case study research design indicates that in-depth insights can be captured in terms of changes of structures and their activity contents, i.e. the positions and roles (Halinen and Tornroos, 2005).\nFindings: In this section, the three cases are presented in terms of how additive manufacturing changes or, in a future-oriented thought of the firms, would change their businesses.\nAnalysis: Table I summarises the three cases in terms of positions and roles during traditional manufacturing regimes and when addressing issues of additive manufacturing. Below, the cases are discussed in terms of the changes in positions and roles and strategising in the supply chain, respectively.\nConcluding discussion: The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss changes in positions and roles related to the implementation of disruptive technology. The paper focused on 3D printing in metal and the related strategising of firms by empirically capturing firms operating in Sweden at different positions in a supply chain before the introduction of additive manufacturing. The theory section raised three questions:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: With the overarching idea of disruptive technology and its effects on business, this paper focuses on how companies strategically consider meeting the challenge of a disruptive technology such as additive manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss changes in positions and roles related to the implementation of a disruptive technology.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Additive manufacturing could be expected to have different consequences for parties based on their current supply chain positions. The paper therefore investigates companies' strategies related to various supply chain positions and does so by departing from a position and role point of view. Three business cases related to metal 3D printing - illustrating sub-suppliers, manufacturers and logistics firms - describe as many strategies. Data for the cases were collected through meetings, interviews, seminars and secondary data focusing on both current business activities related to additive manufacturing and scenarios for the future.\nFindings: The companies attempted to defend their current positions, leading to new roles for them. This disconnects the change of roles from that of positions. The changed roles indicate that all parties, regardless of supply chain positions, would move into competing producing roles, thereby indicating how a disruptive technology may disrupt network structures based on companies' attempts to defend their positions.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to previous research by reporting a disconnect between positions and roles among firms when disruption takes place. The paper further denotes how the investigated firms largely disregarded network consequences at the disruptive stage, caused by the introduction of additive manufacturing. The paper also contributes to research on additive manufacturing by including a business dimension and linking this to positions and roles.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Internationalisation of firms from Central and Eastern Europe: A systematic literature review	[ "Strategy", "Internationalisation", "FDI", "Export", "Central and Eastern Europe", "CEE" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The literature on internationalisation models of firms can be divided into two main streams of research:\n2. Method: We adopted the systematic method for our literature review (Cook et al., 1997; Denyer and Tranfield, 2008; Tranfield et al., 2003). This is a research method that emerged in the UK medical profession to produce better evidence-based research. Since then, it has been extensively used in many fields, including management analysis (Thorpe et al., 2005). This method aims at collecting and linking together as many already existing relevant studies as possible by adopting a structured and systematic process of reviewing the literature (Callahan, 2014).\n3. Findings: According to their content and consistent with previous research, articles from the data set were grouped in two categories (Gonzalez-Loureiro et al., 2015).\n4. Discussion of clusters: In this section, the main content of the different clusters is analysed.\n5. Conclusions and implications for future research: CEE firms seem to adopt both the Uppsala model and the born-global approach. According to the presented review, CEE firms seem to internationalise only in similar countries; the concept of proximity is fundamental in deciding where to expand. Proximity is intended as physical proximity (geography), cultural proximity and language proximity. Compared to firms from developed economies, the internationalisation of which has a broad spectrum, internationalisation of CEE firms is limited by the resources and capabilities available to them, and the results are more limited. Hostile home-country conditions represent an interesting motive for internationalisation of CEE firms, and this aspect should be researched in more detail. Further research should take into account that internationalisation of different industries results in different added value per employee and number of workers (Ruzzier and Ruzzier, 2015). Also, more strategies should be studied: joint ventures, strategic alliances - most of the studies analyse export or FDI. A primary emphasis should be placed on the risk of internationalisation, and not only on its benefits, so far seemingly limited to the generic benefits arising from the incorporation of CEE countries in the EU area. Likewise, different factors that drive internationalisation should be addressed in detail, especially because this phenomenon is among the main pillars of economic growth and change.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the literature addressing internationalisation of firms from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents an inter-disciplinary systematic review of literature about the internationalisation of firms from CEE.\nFindings: Three different clusters of research were identified. In the \"Internationalisation Processes\" cluster, containing many comparative studies, the focus is on specific approaches adopted by local firms in the process of internationalisation. One of the leitmotivs is the dichotomy between hostile home-country factors that create the need for internationalisation and market-seeking motives that guide the search for international expansion. The \"Internationalisation Variables\" cluster aims to explain the reasons of success or failure of internationalisation processes and strategies; this cluster focuses on possible facilitating or hindering aspects experienced by CEE firms and one often-cited element is the firm's network. Finally, the \"Internationalisation Outcomes\" cluster assumes a reverse approach when compared to the other two clusters. Indeed, the internationalisation phenomenon can also be studied in terms of its effect on the firm; the elements sought in these types of studies are both potential benefits and risks associated with internationalisation in CEE countries. The latter category in particular gives rise to interesting questions for future research.\nOriginality/value: Given that large, developed economies tend to receive much academic interest and that smaller transitional economies are not always adequately represented in the scientific discussion, this paper contributes to the literature on internationalisation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Keeping it in the family: exploring Igbo ethnic entrepreneurial behaviour in Nigeria	[ "Family firms", "Entrepreneurship", "Ethnic groups", "Institutions", "Institutional theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This study explores the links between the Igbo ethnic family, institutions and entrepreneurial behaviour. The institutional theory has long struggled to explain the action and agency inherent in entrepreneurship (Sine and David, 2010). As North (1990) observed, institutions govern individual behaviour and, together with social and cultural elements, determines own behaviour (Anggadwita et al., 2017). Several studies have shown that entrepreneurship is inextricably linked to institutions and family (Aldrich and Cliff, 2003; Williams et al., 2013). Social learning theories explain human behaviour concerning continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioural and environmental influences. Bandura (1977) posits that people learn from one another via observation, imitation and modelling. Anggadwita et al. (2017) note that socio-cultural systems generate an intangible element that may affect a person's behaviour, relationships, perceptions, ways of life and survival. Several scholars have discussed the influence of family in entrepreneurship in context, yet more work is needed to unpick how family dynamics influence the initial steps in an entrepreneurial process (Alberts et al., 2017). Much of what is known regarding entrepreneurial behaviour is based on Western, not African, values. Hence, a growing number of scholars have repeatedly highlighted the need to study entrepreneurial behaviour from a non-Western conceptualisation of entrepreneurship (Newbery et al., 2017).\nLiterature review: This section is divided into three parts. First, we explore the literature with the aim of offering insights into the current understanding of the influence of institution and culture on entrepreneurial behaviour. Second, we analyse the regulative institutional context in Nigeria. These regulative factors are both barriers to formal business creation and catalysts for Igbo entrepreneurship. Third, we explore Igbo culture and how the family as an informal institution is paramount in shaping entrepreneurial behaviours.\nMethodology: From a methodological perspective, this paper responds to concerns about the use of tools and techniques (Short et al., 2010, p. 7) and validity in assessments of entrepreneurship research (see e.g. Chandler and Lyon, 2001). The study adopts an interpretive design that enables the participant's perspectives and provides them with a voice to narrate their experiences (Goddard and Melville, 2004; Robson, 2002; Usman, 2010). The approach adopts unstructured interviews to facilitate free-flowing conversations (see e.g. Charmaz, 2014) that promote the voice of the indigenous people and triangulates its findings through conducting a focus group (of five participants) and collecting fieldnotes. Through the focus group, responses from individual interviews were verified and the possible omission of important Igbo cultural elements assumed (see e.g. Igwe, Madichie and Newbery, 2018; Igwe, Newbery and Icha-Ituma, 2018; Igwe, Onjewu and Nwibo, 2018; Nwankwo et al., 2010). This method allows the researcher to focus on the subject's individual experience, and so explain the subject's reality (Morse, 2006; Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2005; Rolfe, 2006). Purposeful sampling procedure (Palinkas et al., 2015) was used to select and interview 50 business owners and community leaders (as shown in Table I). This technique is widely used in qualitative research for the identification and selection of information-rich cases for the most effective use of limited resources (Patton, 2002). It involves identifying and selecting individuals or groups that are exceptionally knowledgeable about a phenomenon of interest (Cresswell and Plano Clark, 2011; Palinkas et al., 2015).\nDiscussion of findings: Three major themes are evident from the evaluation of interview data (from primary and secondary codes) are informal institution, entrepreneurial characteristics and entrepreneurial culture/behaviour. Figure 1 summarises our analysis by showing how we progressed from primary to secondary codes, and from secondary codes to aggregate (relational) dimensions in our theoretical model (Figure 2).\nConclusions and implications: This study explored indigenous Igbo knowledge of the antecedents of entrepreneurial behaviour, the importance of the linked institutions of the extended family and the informal apprenticeship system on Igbo entrepreneurial culture, and sought an understanding of how the Igbos nurture and develop transgenerational entrepreneurial behaviour. The review of the literature shows the lack of theory describing how Igbos develop entrepreneurial behaviour and manage to nurture entrepreneurial spirits across generations. The research provides an African-centric account of indigenous Igbo entrepreneurs as they articulate their practice in a context-rich manner. Our study further explains that Igbo entrepreneurial culture develops from the linked institutions of the extended family and the informal apprenticeship system (as revealed in Figures 1 and 2). Narratives of family social learning show how children and young people are motivated and encouraged to take up entrepreneurship early on in their development. These narratives explain perceived indigenous characteristics of the Igbos which include risk taking and a thirst for autonomy from institutional constraints. We described how parents, elders and older members of the extended family and Kindred imprint entrepreneurial behaviour through family cohesion, early childhood learning and children involvement in family business. We also show that, through an informal apprenticeship system, young people are encouraged to learn the \"rules-of-the-game\" where the payoff is often the provision of informal start-up capital to start their own business. These findings show how these institutional resources have enabled the Igbo to build on local, national and international networks to develop business clusters which are to be found in many parts of Nigeria and West Africa. Our study has implications for future studies on ethnic and family entrepreneurship in the African context, with a need to develop an African-centric theory of ethnic entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the attributes of the Igbos in Eastern Nigeria and the underlying factors influencing their entrepreneurial behaviour. More specifically, the study highlights the links between family, culture, institution and entrepreneurial behaviour in the African context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a qualitative research method by interviewing 50 entrepreneurs and community leaders of the Igbo nation. Igbos have been described as \"naturally enterprising and ingenious\" and can be found throughout Nigeria and West Africa. Understanding the vagaries of ethnic entrepreneurship can arguably only be achieved through research that is undertaken within these socio-historically rich, traditional and cultural contexts.\nFindings: Linked to the social learning theory, Igbo families provide an entrepreneurial leadership platform which influences youths through role models, providing mastery experiences and socialisation. The extended family provides a safe environment for risk taking, creativity and innovation. Also, an informal apprenticeship system provides entrepreneurial learning that prepares the younger generation to take to business as a way of life.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is based on a relatively small sample size of 50 respondents, which makes it difficult to generalise the findings despite the benefits of the research methods adopted in the study. Also, there are limitations to the extension of the findings to a generalised Igbo population comprising individuals who may, or may not, behave entrepreneurially.\nPractical implications: There are significant practical implications, both nationally and internationally, for policy makers that are concerned with developing jobs for the growing population of unemployed youths and inclusive entrepreneurship in Nigeria.\nOriginality/value: The research has three main contributions. First, it valorises indigenous knowledge of family and institutional entrepreneurial behaviour in an African context. Second, it highlights the importance of the linked institutions of the extended family and the informal apprenticeship system in Igbo culture. Finally, it provides a model and an explanation of how the Igbo culture nurtures and develops transgenerational entrepreneurial behaviour.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigation of instrument validity: Investigate the consistency between criterion and unidimensional in instrument validity (case study in management research)	[ "Structural equation modeling", "Measurement instrument", "Criterion validity", "Unidimensional validity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The aim of this research is to investigate the consistency between the criterion validity and the unidimensional validity - case study in management research. Testing instrument validity is very important to get the data (as result of instrument/questionnaire) to be unbiased. If data are biased, it indicates that the result of the research is also biased. Instrument tryout should be done; the result tryout data can be used to investigate the validity of instrument. No valid conclusions exist without valid measurement. Validity can be defined as the agreement between a test score or measure and the quality it is believed to measure. Validity is sometimes defined as the answer to the question: \"Does the test measure what it is supposed to measure?\" To address this question, we use systematic studies to determine whether the conclusions from test results are justified by evidence. Definitions of validity blossomed, making it hard to determine whether psychologists who referred to different types of validity were really talking about different things. Though validity defined the meaning of tests and measures, the term itself was beginning to lose its meaning (Kaplan and Saccuzoo, 2009; Bollen, 2001).\n2. Theoretical review: Hair et al. (2010) said that confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) enables us to test how well the measured variables represent the latent variables. When CFA results are combined with construct validity tests, researchers can obtain a better understanding of the quality of their measures. No valid conclusions exist without valid measurement (Hoekstra et al., 2008). Validity of a measurement model can be tested using CFA. This is called unidimensional measures. Unidimensional measure is a set of measured variables (indicators) with only one underlying latent variable, that is, the indicator variables load on only one latent variable. In my opinion, the unidimensional measure is the same with an unidimensional validity (Sekaran, 2003; Suryabrata, 1998).\n3. Method: Data were found from three dissertations of Doctoral Program of Management on Brawijaya University and Airlangga University and it consists of seven variables. The first data consist of three variables, i.e. X1, X2 and Y1; the second data consist of two variables, i.e. X2 and Y1; and the third data consist of two variables, i.e. X3 and Y1. It is can been seen in Table I.\n4. Result and discussion: The instrument of research must be valid. The research is limited to only analyzing the criterion validity and unidimensional validity. Table I shows the result of investigation of the validity of the instrument. The table shows that the unidimensional validity is more sensitive than the criterion validity.\n5. Conclusion and recommendation: The measurement instrument of latent variables must be valid. There are many methods of construct validity, i.e. unidimensional validity and criterion validity. The criterion validity is less sensitive than unidimensional validity, that is, it is more simple and easy for application. So, there is a tendency of some students of Doctoral Program of Management at Brawijaya University and Airlangga University to investigate the validity of instrument using the criterion validity. The unidimensional validity is more sensitive than criterion validity, that is, it is more complex and difficult for application. On the other hand, if the research uses SEM as an analysis tool, the valid unidimensionality will be met because this tool (SEM) has factor indeterminacy as the constraint.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this research is to investigate the consistency between the criterion validity and the unidimensional validity - case study in management research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The investigation of construct validity and criterion validity by using confirmatory factor analysis is presented in this paper. Data were found from three dissertations of Doctoral Program of Management on Brawijaya University and Airlangga University. It consists of seven variables. The first data consist of three variables, i.e. X1, X2 and Y1; the second data consist of two variables, i.e. X2 and Y1; and the third data consist of two variables, i.e. X3 and Y1.\nFindings: The measurement instrument of latent variables must be valid. There are many methods of construct validity, i.e. unidimensional validity and criterion validity. The criterion validity is less sensitive than unidimensional validity, that is, it is more simple and easy for application.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research is limited to only analyzing criterion validity and unidimensional validity.\nPractical implications: The unidimensional validity is more sensitive than criterion validity, that is, it is more complex and difficult for application. But if structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to analyze data, the unidimensional validity test must be used; this causes SEM to have constraint, i.e. factor indeterminacy.\nSocial implications: Majority in Dissertation of Doctoral Program (Brawijaya University and Airlangga University) using criterion validity to investigate the instrument validity, without investigating the unidimensional validity, is included in this paper.\nOriginality/value: To investigate the instrument validity, no studies have focused on the selection of instrument validity, particularly in the field of management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Discovering the foundational philosophies, practices, and influences of modern management theory	[ "Religion", "Science", "Management history", "Christianity", "Scientific management", "Social Darwinism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Modern American management practices have become widespread in organizations not only in the developed world, but increasingly in urbanized third world business centers. Surprisingly, no one has explicitly documented how the foundation for these ubiquitous practices was formed. One might well question the omission of such research considering the meticulousness of the academic mindset. Bedeian (1998) notes that the management discipline has ignored its own history which would better illuminate the present. Even though Bedeian wrote this over a decade ago, a review of the published articles in management history revealed that little additional illumination has occurred in the particular area of this article, the crystallization of management principles into the tacit framework that is essentially the embodiment of management practice in the developed world today[1]. In fact, this article stands as a challenge to the scholars working in this field to study the foundational elements of modern management more thoroughly.\nModern management described: Henri Fayol notes that all organizations, at least in the private sector, have activities that can be categorized into six groups: technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting and management (Fayol, 1949). This article will focus on the prevailing forces that affected the last category, modern management. More attention has been focused in the other five areas than in management, yet it is arguable that how organizations are managed has more of an impact on everyday lives than the other five groups. In essence, the primary philosophy underpinning modern management can be characterized as the Material-Instrumental model - that organizations are purely material entities and those in them are merely instruments (Vaill, 1998).\nThe gap in understanding the creation of modern management: If this is such an important and fruitful area for research, why has this work not already been completed? Various scholars have offered multiple reasons. It is relatively easy to record the foundational elements of historical events. Although there will always be new nuances added to complete the picture, the story of second world war, for example, is fairly well chronicled by the series of events, the key actors' actions and motives, and so forth. Not so when it comes to the development of a scholarly discipline. In this case, \"Conceptual and other unobservable elements can frustrate posthoc analytic attempts to explicate the critical formal arguments and outline their ideological implications\" (Murphy et al., 2006, p. 3). Additionally, having a verifiable history provides an area of study with substantial foundation on which to validate its scholarship.\nEarly attempts at formalized management theory: In some fields, it is relatively easy to point to the first book written or the first intellectual contribution. Even in a field such as accounting, the oldest treatise can be found in a Venetian document in 1494 (\nPrevailing social ideas and influences: Beyond these first attempts at developing a comprehensive approach to management there were the ideas and beliefs of society that carried significant weight in moving industry toward a system of management. Issues such as Darwinism, science, religion, Marxism, immigration, public resistance towards factories and industries in general, unions, and safety issues were the intangibles that were gradually impacting nineteenth-century American industry. These issues simmered in the background, slowly becoming factors in the establishment of modern management. George Herbert Mead (1936) has written what is perhaps the most highly regarded description of the backdrop of issues in the nineteenth century. For the latter half of the century, he lists the following as the most significant: Evolution, Marx and Socialism, Science, and the Industrial Revolution. These four movements are discussed below.\nThe influence of Christianity: Mead (1936) did not identify Christianity as a major factor in the unfolding of the nineteenth century. Although his list of factors is well-respected, it is subjective and others have identified different factors, including Christianity (Thomas, 1989). Consequently, because of its significance in the formation of other important institutions, such as American government and modern medicine, Christianity was investigated in this research, but deemed not to have had much influence on the formation of modern management. As noted earlier in the article, the foundational influences of modern medicine are well understood. The influence of religion (Christianity, in particular) is clear in the foundation of the American Medical Association. The very first line of the Code of Medical Ethics of the American Management Association (AMA, 1847) is, \"Medical ethics ... must rest on the basis of religion and morality.\" Likewise, the foundational influences of modern democratic government are also fairly well-documented.\nFrederick W. Taylor and scientific management: Mead (1936) certainly highlighted the role of science in determining events of the nineteenth century. However, he did not mention Frederick Taylor in his book, likely because his orientation was not specifically to organizations. Taylor provided a philosophical approach that was consistent with the business owners' social Darwinian proclivities, the aura of science, a method for making changes, and examples of proven[2] results. Frederick W. Taylor became emblematic of modern management. The analysis of this article climaxes in Taylor, his scientific management, and the primary edifice of modern management that is still operative today.\nFinal thoughts: Although there were a number of prevailing ideas present in the second half of the nineteenth century, some that are perhaps surprising, played a much more significant role in the establishment of modern management. There is no doubt that the transition from farms to factories, religion, and the critiques of the budding social scientists created a tension with big business and a sense that employees should be treated better. However, the more dominating ideas seemed to be those of social Darwinism and science. Common interpretations of Darwin's work sanctioned a class structuring of society and a \"dog-eat-dog\" approach to the conduct of business. Moreover, the tremendous advances of science and technology were indisputable. Progress through the scientific method of objective interaction and a focus on what is observable all set the stage for the introduction and establishment of the Material-Instrumental (Vaill, 1998) approach to management.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this paper is to discuss the factors that influenced the establishment of modern management into the pervasive force it is today. It briefly describes modern management and discusses the reasons for this gap in knowledge in such a critical area. The main analysis of the paper focuses on the following social ideas and influences that created the conditions for modern management to be formed and established: social Darwinism and religion, the rise of social science, the promise of the scientific method, and the perspectives of the business tycoons.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes the prevailing trends of the late 1800 s to determine which had the greatest influence on the formation of modern management.\nFindings: This paper concludes that the greatest factors on the establishment of modern management were social Darwinism and the promise of the scientific method. These, then, provided the perfect environment for Frederick W. Taylor to become the embodiment and popularizer of modern management. Perhaps, surprisingly, Christianity had little influence.\nOriginality/value: Now that the prevailing influences of modern management have been surfaced, scholars and practitioners can more effectively critique the current state of management and determine whether legacy assumptions and influences are still valid, or whether modern management should change in some way(s) to better reflect accurate assumptions and influences operative today. The anonymous reviewers of this paper have found this analysis to be provocative and challenging. They have also concluded that a single article cannot do justice to such an important, yet relatively unexplored area. Consequently, the authors hope that other researchers will also be provoked to join in this important task.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strategic information systems planning model for building flexibility and success	[ "Information systems", "User interfaces" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Practitioners and researchers have consistently considered strategic information systems planning a very important topic, and as a significant issue facing IT managers (Aladwani, 2000) because of the increased investment in IS and the increasing strategic impact of IS on business (Bai and Lee, 2003). Since information systems are costly and slow to develop, IS plan should be developed as part of the business strategic plan and in line with business strategies (Williams, 1997). Accordingly, a strategic approach is emphasized to effectively integrate all the IT functions into an organization (Lin et al., 1993). Strategic information systems planning (SISP) includes the development of broad organizational information requirements but would not include information requirements for an individual application (King and Zmud, 1987). The planning activities are performed at the highest level of an organization for a longer time frame.Within IS literature considerable attention has been given to develop methodologies for conducting SISP. However, many times organizations face IS failures because of IS rigidity and passiveness in handling new situations. Accordingly, IS need the capability to change or to adapt and adjust in response to new conditions, demands both within and outside the enterprise. Since today's business environments are often fast moving, turbulent, and unpredictable, organizations have to develop a methodology for IS planning to cope with dynamically changing environment. Organizations look for flexibility to adapt quickly to environmental changes and thereby gain an advantage over their competitors (Leana and Barry, 2000). Consequently, IS researchers and practitioners have started recognizing the importance of flexibility in information systems (Byrd and Turner, 2000; Duncan, 1995).However, limited research has been done in the area of SISP for building flexibility and success. Existing IS planning models assume relatively stable environment and do not explicitly consider dynamically changing, fast moving, and turbulent business environment. Moreover, underlying cognitive and motivational factors for the users were not adequately explored in the past studies. In this paper, a model for SISP is developed explicitly considering volatile environment and the possibilities for leveraging the user's cognitive capabilities in IS planning.\nReview of IS planning models: To identify the shortcomings in addressing the ever changing IS planning needs and to know the weaknesses in applying the existing planning models for building flexibility and success, this section examines six popular IS planning methodologies and discuss what they individually and collectively lack.Existing IS planning models can be broadly classified into impact and alignment models. Impact models focus on the potential impact of IS on organizational tasks and processes and alignment models focus on aligning the IS technology plan with organizational strategy and business goals (Pant and Ravichandran, 2001). Popular impact methodologies include value chain analysis (Porter, 1984) and critical success factors (Rockart, 1979). The alignment methodologies include IBM's business systems planning, Robert Holland's strategic systems planning, James Martin's (1989) information engineering and method/1 from Anderson Consulting.Value chain analysis\nMethodology: For the purpose of testing the hypotheses statistically, empirical inputs were obtained through a questionnaire survey. The survey included responses from users with more than five years of IS planning/usage experience. This criteria has ensured the survey responses from well-experienced IS users. Moreover, since IS planning and IS success were the prime variables in the proposed research model, specifying IS planning/usage experience was considered to be appropriate. The responses from inexperienced and novice users were removed from the pool of usable responses. Of the 1,400 potential participants, 296 gave usable responses, giving response rate of 21 percent. This response rate ratio was accepted against non-response bias for a blind mailing. Demographically analyzing the distribution of respondents, approximately 52 percent of the respondents were from service and information consultancy industry. Table II shows respondent demographics. Table III shows managerial level of respondents and distribution of organizations. From Table III it can be seen that approximately 51 percent of the respondents were from tactical level; and 39 percent of the responses were from smaller organizations with less than US$20 million sales turnover.A total of 42 public and private organizations from eight different industry sectors were participated in this survey. A Chi-square analysis of the industry distribution of the respondents revealed no significant difference from the industry distribution, thus indicating lack of non-response bias. The individual responses were kept confidential in order to encourage openness and disclosure; therefore the names of organizations are not given. To diminish the skewness on data from the same geographical region and to get views from widely scattered user population, the survey was conducted in three major cities in India: New Delhi, Chennai, and Bangalore.Administration of the survey\nDiscussion: This study has empirically tested the relationships among user involvement, flexibility, and IS success. The results have shown that generating IS flexibility improves the level of IS success at both strategic and operational level; and organizational flexibility could be achieved through IS flexibility. Besides IS maturity, presence of user involvement in IS strategic planning influence IS flexibility. Also, the study results have shown that user expectations, perceived personal usefulness and user's internal flexibility possess a high driver power for user involvement. Based on these results, IS planning model was evolved for building flexibility and success.IS planning model for building flexibility for IS success\nConcluding remarks: This research has contributed a model for IS planning. The model has been evolved by empirically testing the relationships between user involvement, flexibility, and IS success. The study concludes that IS success and organizational flexibility could be achieved through IS flexibility, which could be generated by involving users in IS planning. The idea of balancing the extreme approaches has been emphasized in the IS planning model. The model has drawn management's attention to issues and opportunities associated with planning for flexibility and IS success. Building flexibility in IS becomes a necessary activity for every firm that aspires for success and flexibility. To achieve this, users should be guided to do the IS planning exercise in collaboration with planners and top management. Also, there is a need to train the users for the ways of building flexibility and success.There are some limitations to the study. The findings reported in this study are more organization dependent and the discriminating factors among various organizations were not reported. The validity of the planning model had not been tested in a real life situation, especially in configuring and implementing the ERP systems. The model could be modified according to one's own IS planning environment and organizational context. The study did not include other related variables for increasing flexibility at both IS and organizational level. Technology would be a potential contributor for increasing flexibility for organization and IS. Other actor-related variables such as top management commitment, competence of IS staff, user education and training were not included in the model. In the organizational context culture plays a dominant role for involving users in IS planning. Further studies could focus on these aspects. Flexibility is not an end by itself and it is an ongoing process. Case studies of successful and unsuccessful IS plans could identify issues critical to IS planning for building flexibility and success. A collection of case studies would be appropriate in identifying the practical steps that organizations follow in IS planning for building flexibility and success.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper provides a model for IS planning for building flexibility and success, by considering volatile environment and the possibilities for leveraging the user's cognitive capabilities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A review of existing IS planning models is given to identify the shortcomings in building flexibility and success. A model is evolved by hypothesizing user involvement in IS planning leads to IS flexibility; and flexibility in IS enables organizational flexibility and IS success. The control variables were considered at the user, IS, and organizational levels. The proposed model was examined by a questionnaire survey, in which 296 users and planners from 42 organizations participated.\nFindings: - The study results validated the proposed model that IS success and organizational flexibility could be achieved through IS flexibility, which could be generated by involving users in IS planning. Also, the study results have shown that user expectations, perceived personal usefulness, and users' internal flexibility possess a high driver power for user involvement.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The variables included in the model are not exhaustive, and the validity of the model has not been tested in a real life situation.\nOriginality/value: - This paper explains the ways of collaborating with users and top management to plan a flexible IS by studying the impending changes in the environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tariff choice of online contents based on usage goal and self-control: can I control myself?	[ "Flat-rate tariff", "Online content", "Past-usage pattern", "Pay-per-use tariff", "Self-control", "Tariff preference" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Rapid and converging technological advances in computing, communications, and digital devices have caused an explosion in the generation, processing, storage, transmission, and consumption of enormous amounts of digital content (Jun et al., 2014). These trends are likely to continue to accelerate and have profound effects on content delivery and consumption (Subramanya and Yi, 2005). Digital content generally refers to movies, songs, news, or educational material that spans various application domains, including personal entertainment, business, and education and training. Digital content providers offer various pricing schemes, ranging from pure pay-per-use tariffs to flat rates (Lambrecht and Skiera, 2006). These enable consumers to make choices for obtaining access to the various contents and services. Thus, it is important for both company profits and consumer utility that content providers offer optimal price plans for digital content and that consumers use these plans.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1. Tariff choice\n3. Experiment 1: the effect of perceived self-control on tariff preference: Prior research has examined the relation between consumers' level of self-control and the ability to avoid temptations (e.g. overspending) and found that when consumers are confident in their ability to control themselves, they tend to follow normative rules (Hoch and Loewenstein, 1991). For example, in the context of online content usage, users of vice-based content are likely to spend relatively less time using the content whereas users of virtue-based content are likely to spend relatively more time using the content. Thus, if consumers observe that they used more (less) time than the past-usage target for virtue-based (vice-based) content in their past-usage pattern, they will perceive their level of self-control as high. As a result, users of virtue-based content will use even more, and users of vice-based content will use less. We hypothesize that virtue-based content users are more likely to prefer the flat-rate tariff than vice-based content users when they have a high level of self-control.\n4. Experiment 2: the effect of self-control on tariff preference: Experiment 1 confirmed that a difference in tariff preference is largely due to the interaction between the level of self-control and type of content. Experiment 2 further evaluates the implications of this finding. We used the consumer impulsiveness scale (CIS; Puri, 1996) to systematically replicate Experiment 1, as it is a valid measure of enduring self-control.\n5. Conclusion: The present study provides convergent evidence that perceived self-control plays a moderating role on the tariff-choice process with respect to vice- and virtue-based content. We have illustrated this underlying process in the current experiments. Experiment 1 showed that, depending on the experience of goal success or failure, tariff preference varied between the flat-rate and pay-per-use options. More interestingly, this effect was moderated by content type. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 and further supported our theory by showing the same result when enduring self-control was measured.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: People can easily track and understand their usage pattern for any content (e.g. movies, games) or service (e.g. card payment, cell phone usage) by using technologies such as the internet and smart phones. When consumers evaluate their past consumption patterns, they may experience two different kinds of regret: content-based or monetary-based. The purpose of this paper is to propose that perceived self-control, defined as the extent to which people believe they can control their usage, plays a moderating role in the tariff-choice process (flatrate vs pay-per-use) for two types of content: vice-based and virtue-based.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two laboratory experiments were designed to test the hypotheses. There were a total of 200 participants (86 for Experiment 1 and 114 for Experiment 2) who completed the entire experimental process (i.e. stimulus exposure, questionnaire reporting, dependent variable measurement, manipulation of the independent variables, and control checks).\nFindings: The results of this research provide evidence supporting the role of perceived self-control in tariff preference by showing that preference varies between flat-rate and pay-per-use tariff options. Specifically, virtue-based content users were more likely to prefer the pay-per-use tariff when their perceived self-control was low vs when it was high. In contrast, vice-based content users were more likely to prefer the flat-rate tariff when their perceived self-control was low vs when it was high.\nOriginality/value: There are three contributions of the present research. First, the authors investigated the effect of content type on tariff preference. Second, the authors suggest that there is a moderating effect of perceived self-control on tariff preference. Third, this study revealed the factors affecting consumers' perceived self-control.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modeling attitude ambivalence and behavioral outcomes from hotel reviews	[ "Hotel booking intention", "Choice deferral", "Anticipated conflicting reactions", "Attitude ambivalence", "Hotel review", "Psychological discomfort" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Online reviews are a form of electronic word of mouth that tourists increasingly use to select their hotels and make travel plans (Buzova et al., 2019; Li et al., 2020). According to SiteMinder's (2019) report, 88% of travelers consider online reviews when they choose hotels, travel services and restaurants. However, online platforms such as Booking.com, Hotel.com and TripAdvisor do not discern among reviews of hospitality, travel and tourism experiences that are neutral, positive, negative or contradictory (Dowell et al., 2019). Therefore, potential tourists often encounter contradictory facts and opinions and both high and low ratings in online reviews about travel choices, hotel bookings and hospitality services (Hwang et al., 2018). When tourists are exposed to contradictory evaluations, they feel uncertain and even ambivalent about their travel plans and decision-making (Pang et al., 2016). We focus on tourists' attitude ambivalence, which refers to a psychological state in which an individual has bivalent positive and negative (vs positive or negative) evaluations of something (Moody et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2016). In the hospitality industry, tourists' ambivalent attitudes that emanate from contradictory facts and a lack of linguistic adherence on electronic forums affect hotels' reputations and business performance. For instance, a recent analysis by REVINATE showed that positive reviews about restaurants and hotels contained 65-75% negative experiences, such as rude staff, facility issues, poor service and high prices - which cause travelers' ambivalence and choice deferral (Murphy, 2019). Similarly, ReviewPro disclosed that hotel reviews contain improper mechanics and grammar and simultaneous negative and positive comments, both of which cause confusion and affect firms' reputations (Telegraph, 2016).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses formulation: Heuristic-systematic dual-process model\nResearch methods: Questionnaire development and measurements items\nData analyses: Respondents' profiles\nDiscussion and conclusion: This research developed and validated a conceptual model empirically from the perspective of contradictory hotel reviews. The research examined the role contradictory features in hotel reviews by focusing on two types of contradictory reviews - contradictions in a single review and contradictions across multiple reviews - in developing inbound tourists' ambivalence. We also investigated the psychological discomfort resulting from consumers' ambivalence and associated behaviors. In addition, we tested the role of tourists' ACRs as a moderator in the relationship between contradictory features of reviews in terms of factuality and comprehension and readers' ambivalence. The results suggest that contradictory features of reviews in terms of factuality comprehension increase ambivalence. Our findings also demonstrate that ambivalence can engender feelings of anger, sadness and anxiety, which lead to psychological discomfort. ACRs moderate the effects of reviews' contradictory features on ambivalence. In pursuit of answers to the research questions, we contribute to the body of service marketing, consumer psychology, online information processing and hospitality literatures by showing how contradictory features of hotel reviews (as well as in a single hotel review) create ambivalence, which increases consumers' discomfort and adverse behavioral outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to offer a conceptual framework that elaborates on how tourists' perception of contradictory features in reviews' factuality and comprehension - within a single hotel review and across multiple hotel reviews - trigger attitude ambivalence and psychological discomfort, which determine their behaviors - choice deferral and hotel booking intentions. It also investigates the moderating role of anticipated conflicting reactions (ACRs) through contradictory features on consumers' attitude ambivalence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a Chinese setting, researchers collected data from 524 inbound tourists who were the consumers of hotels in Beijing. The study used IBM Amos 23.0 to test measurement and structural models for the proposed relationships. It also used PROCESS macro 3.4 for the moderation analysis.\nFindings: The findings reveal a positive association between contradictory features in reviews and the resulting ambivalence that affects consumers' discomfort and leads to the decision to defer the choice of hotel. Conversely, consumers' discomfort has a positive impact on the hotel booking intentions. ACRs have positive moderating effects on the associations between contradictory features and consumers' attitude ambivalence.\nOriginality/value: By investigating the contradictory features in hotel reviews, this study extends the body of research on dual information processing (i.e. the heuristic-systematic model) and the literature on service management, psychological behaviors, travel intermediaries and hotel firms. Future research directions are recommended for tourism and hospitality researchers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Systematically innovate! What sounds like an oxymoron is actually a recipe for dependable results	[ "Innovation", "Corporate strategy", "Competitive advantage" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Does this dialog sound familiar?What are you working on now?The new innovation initiative.Cool. What specifically does your group do?Umm ... well, we do a lot of different things, it's kind of hard to classify. Generally we're just looking for new stuff.\nWhy innovation?: It has become a truism that innovation is important. But have you ever asked yourself why? Why are companies expected to innovate? Why is growth presumed to come through innovation? Why isn't there more attention from the experts and the media on companies that are \"fast followers?\"Business theory being what it is, there is a simple explanation for why innovation is considered so important: there just are not very many examples of companies who have maintained success without focusing on growing through innovation. Sure, an occasional example may arise of a company that found some growth without taking a new way of thinking about part of its business. But examples of successful innovative companies are everywhere, and the level of their success is persuasive. Everyone has a favorite example or two - Google, Apple, ING Direct, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Toyota, Procter and Gamble, Under Armour, or Threadless, or any number of others. Those companies do not have a lot of structural similarities. What they do have is a shared understanding that innovation capability can be built, and that an innovation capability ensures that they will not get stuck working on their \"old\" innovations.The dramatic success of these companies, coupled with the current and anticipated changes in the consumer and business worlds have not escaped the attention of CEOs. Indeed, IBM Global Services (2006) chose to focus their 2006 CEO Survey on innovation. While it may not be a surprise that innovation was important to the CEOs surveyed, the degree of importance was. Two-thirds of the 765 CEOs interviewed said they intend to drive fundamental change in their organizations within the following two years, and that they understand the need to innovate to drive those changes.In addition to IBM's study and others, business books on innovation continue to be popular. Amazon.com lists over 43,000 business books about innovation. There are innovation newsletters, journals, blogs, and specialists. With so much being written about innovation, it is no wonder CEOs recognize the importance of innovation to their future growth. And it is no wonder implementation can be so confusing.\nInnovation in established companies: recipes are many but so are the skeptics: Truth is, there is no given recipe to organize for innovation. Each industry and each company has different objectives and roles for innovation, and different systems and business models in which innovation has to accomplish its role. Indeed, there is an ongoing and lengthy debate about whether a mature company can build an innovation capability, or even innovate and re-invent itself in the first place. And for those for whom the answer is yes, there is even more spirited debate about how to build it.At one end, some believe innovation should be everyone's responsibility. They propose, for instance, a company-wide innovation education and programs. Unfortunately, like many other training programs, jumping from classroom concepts to a specific job's practice is not a slam-dunk, to say the least. Here are some questions to consider: Should everyone in a business \"innovate?\" And, is it reasonable to expect that one way to innovate will be relevant to each job in a company?At the other extreme, others believe innovation can only happen outside the rigidities and constraints of normal day-to-day operations. In their view, a Skunk Works approach is the way to go. But the original Lockheed Skunk Works was a solution to specific issues in the aerospace industry, such as heavy government regulation and oversight. Consider two Skunk Works operating rules:(7) The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for the subcontract of the project. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones.(10) The Skunk Works practice of having a specification section stating clearly which important military specification items will not knowingly be complied with and reasons therefore, is highly recommended.But in situations where the output of a Skunk Works is to be adopted by the broader organization, its initial isolation sets up formidable political obstacles. Indeed, the original Lockheed Skunk Works was spun off as an independent company in 1990.The limitations of either extreme - total integration of innovation and complete separation - have been well analyzed in the 2004 Harvard Business Review article, \"The ambidextrous organization,\" by O'Reilly and Tushman (2004). And for some, there is no solution at all. \"Colonizers and consolidators: the two cultures of corporate strategy,\" by Markides and Geroski (2003), in Strategy + Business issue 32, gives up on the possibility of an established company to do innovation at all. Other papers mentioned in this article hold the same position.They are all correct in one sense: there is no silver bullet that will work for everyone. Each successful company has built an innovation solution specific to them and their particular circumstances and constraints.Every successful company was innovative at some point. To extract all of the business value implicit in the innovation, it had to align skills, processes, and other organizational building blocks. Over the years, layers of processes and procedures optimize the execution of the original innovation - but at what price? Many organizations have inadvertently built processes biased against innovation. As the business grows, rules and procedures often inadvertently throw the baby out with the bathwater. Growth issues are often the result of unwitting obstacles to innovation built over time.For example, Southwest Airlines grew into the largest airline in the US based on domestic departures on the back of a superbly disruptive business model it created in the early 1970s. Every element of its business model is designed and aligned to support Southwest's original design (see Porter's (1996) Harvard Business Review article, \"What is strategy?\"). Today, the potential of the model is mostly tapped out. Southwest's shares have been stagnant for the past year. The airline is busy looking for new revenue streams. Southwest today needs an innovation-friendly organization, not just a well-aligned one.\nAn easier way to increase an organization's innovation capability: Rather than thinking about layering another set of processes and procedures on top of existing ones, it is often more straightforward to step back, identify the barriers to innovation in the current environment, and then systematically remove them.For instance, many stage gate processes are filtering mechanisms to commercialize only opportunities that are closely related to ideas that have worked in the past. Innovative or disruptive opportunities get filtered out, along with truly bad ideas, before their potential is visible to anyone.Performance metrics are carefully tailored to track the existing business model, and, as a result, are not appropriate to measure new and different business concepts. Think of an established computer hardware company delivering services for the first time: metrics such as return on assets will be meaningless for the new business. But the entire reporting and accounting system will be designed to track that metric.What we must look for is the smallest and simplest (i.e. least traumatic while still achieving the desired changes in favor of innovation) set of levers that, when pulled, will deliver the solution - a systematic, and systemically efficient, way of going about innovation for a given company.Studying past innovation successes and failures throws light into enablers and impediments to innovation. What were the reasons previous attempts failed? What helped other previous attempts succeed? We want to understand how existing organizational mechanisms contributed to or detracted from innovation in concrete instances. Were the people involved properly skilled? Did relevant processes accommodate innovation needs? Did existing technology enable the venture? Was the culture supportive? By studying the role of each organizational lever in enabling or disabling previous innovative efforts we can find avenues to increase an organization's capacity for innovation.There is an innovation diagnostic that links innovation successes and failures to organizational levers that top management can pull as appropriate. A taxonomy of the levers we routinely consider is shown in Figure 1 (the diamond).One point worth mentioning - these levers must be thought of and designed systemically for any given organization. If you want to alter your stage gate process, to create and then nurture new business opportunities that are both homogeneous and heterogeneous to your existing opportunities, you can redesign the process to produce both types. But will your measures (both in process and outside of the stage gate process) accommodate? Or do you need to re-look at those as well? Furthermore, will your leadership team have flight hours at assessing substantially different opportunities or business models and concepts? Or do you need to expect to build flight hours? And will the broader managerial base within the organization know what you are searching for? Or will communications within the organization need to be deliberately altered to convey the new aspiration and exploratory mindset?\nEstablished companies that have successfully renewed their ability to innovate: It is possible to find taxonomies to map approaches to innovation within an industry or a business model type, but the practical answer for each company lies at the intersection of industry and business model - leading to designs that are fairly unique to each company.As such, it behooves each company to find out what innovation is to achieve in their current situation, how it is falling short and how it is delivering, and what needs to be changed.The way in which one implements additional innovation capacity is also going to be different across different business models, current situations, and cultures.For instance, Whirlpool is a product-focused company organized by appliance brand. Innovation at Whirlpool was to fight the \"ocean of white\" syndrome - the mass of difficult-to-differentiate boxes that face consumers entering an appliance store. Whirlpool chose to escape commoditization by building the organization's capability to continuously differentiate its products through innovation.Today Whirlpool goes from one successful launch to another successful launch after modifying existing processes and adding to existing capabilities. For example, they have:* the ability to fund innovative opportunities that do not appear in synch with the annual budgeting process;* metrics that encourage new products;* a process to manage a pipeline of new products, from idea to commercialization; and* a set of innovation skills widely disseminated but tailored to different positions across the organization.For Whirlpool, the ability to differentiate products resided in equipping as many people as possible involved in the creation and manufacturing of appliances with the tools to identify new needs and to satisfy them.Whirlpool has had great success with this approach - so should this be the way to do it for everyone else? Do we not all have more or less of a differentiation issue? Would we not all benefit by having a workforce that can spot new consumer needs and act on them?Let's look at Crayola's approach to innovation. Only a few years ago, many wondered about the future of Crayola in a world of electronic toys and computer-savvy children. It would have been tempting for Crayola to reinvent itself from top to bottom and to try to follow Leapfrog and other computer-centric toy companies - a major effort fraught with risk.A careful study of internal obstacles and enablers to innovation led to a simpler, easier, and, so far, very successful alternative. Crayola did opt to shift from mostly stationery-like products to more toy-like products. But it also - and more significantly - chose to leverage its deep intellectual property competencies in chemistry to do so. The Crayola Color Wonder Spray Magic and the Crayola Color Explosion Spinner are some of the very successful products that are creating new reasons for kids to continue exercising their creativity today.Chemistry was neither an issue nor a source of competitive advantage for Whirlpool. Crayola did not have business units that could be made independently responsible for innovation. A cookie cutter design for these two companies would not have served their respective innovation needs.More generally, an industry's bases for competition, the structure of its channels, the source of its competitive differentiation, etc., will dictate differences in innovation systems across industries and across companies in an industry.\nYou, too, can renew your ability to innovate: Just like Whirlpool and Crayola, any company seeking to increase its capacity for innovation can do so. Look back and identify which organizational levers will be most effective in removing obstacles and capitalizing on existing strengths. Based on our experience over the past decade, there are effective ways to deal with each lever type. The following list spells out some of the dos and don'ts for each lever.1. Skills:* Don't have everyone learn the same thing.* Do determine what role innovation can play in each job type and see how much innovation-related skill is really needed and how available it is.* Train additional employees as they become involved in innovation-related activities instead of getting ahead of the need. In the best of all worlds, have them learn while they are involved with the activity - learn by doing, and learn by working on the actual, relevant issue at hand.2. Processes:* Don't create additional process.* Do tweak existing processes to remove barriers to innovation without losing the processes' other advantages. For instance, hold part of the annual budget for opportunities that will come up between budgeting cycles, rather than creating an entirely separate innovation budgeting cycle.3. Culture and values:* Don't try to \"change culture\" in the abstract.* Do get early results and communicate how working differently leads to success.Create the space to get something done in a different way. Show the way by example. The message should never precede the action. As director of Innovation at Crayola, Bonnie Hall noted, \"You don't change the culture to prepare to innovate. You innovate to change the culture.\"4. Enabling tools and technologies:* Don't create an electronic suggestion box.* Do pair up idea management technology with capable coaches who can organize, support, and lead people and teams to triage and elaborate their innovative ideas.* Do leave responsibility for elaborating an idea on the idea originator - both to stay connected to the original passion, and to ensure better quality ideas.5. Organizational structures:* Don't rely on separate innovation roles alone.* Do spell out responsibility and accountability for all the members of a leadership team and for the heads of the business units in particular. Have a small number of innovation specialists available to support employees who work on an innovative opportunity.6. Measures:* Don't measure output alone.* Do assess the health of your innovation pipeline by tracking number of opportunities at different stages of elaboration at any given time - from ideas to concepts to pilots to commercial launches. Many opportunities take more than a year for their full potential to be realized. Executive performance measures have to consider opportunities under development for the following year and not only today's mature revenue streams.\nSuccess begets success: Innovation is important. Most ready-made tips on innovation do little more than to help managers check their innovation to-do checkbox. Many companies have become disenchanted with innovation after trying these generic recipes and getting no rewards for their effort.Not unlike quality improvement measures in the past, companies have been slow to adopt an innovation strategy in the face of apparent dilemmas - irreconcilable tensions between running the core business and how to make innovation happen. A systematic integration of an innovation capability into existing management levers addresses and resolves this apparent tension. The price is an explicit, tailored roadmap to fit an innovation system to existing company processes and policies.It can be frustrating to learn that the answer to the question, \"How can we build an innovation capability?\" is, \"It depends.\" Here is an important lesson to pull from the experience of successful companies that have renewed their ability to innovate: even though the specific levers and the specific structures that have been successful for others may or may not work for you; the components of those levers are the same. It is then just a matter of organizing the pieces in the manner that best suits your needs. Just make sure you do something - the energy from your first few successes will serve to drive innovation capability deeply and broadly throughout your organization, until you become one of the established companies that successfully renewed its ability to innovate.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Strategic innovation competence is critical to business success in the world today. How to develop this competence is an even more critical issue facing businesses today. This paper aims to investigate this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper explains how companies can solve these dilemmas as it explores relevant innovation theory and practice with several short case studies. Principles underlying the development of an innovation competence and an explanation of how companies can put these principles into practice to overcome the most common innovation challenges are also discussed.\nFindings: - The paper shows how ongoing, systematic innovation has become the only sustainable source of competitive advantage\nOriginality/value: - This paper discusses how companies can put the principles of innovation and change into their business and make it work for them.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Renegotiations - empirical analysis of impacts on business relationships	[ "Negotiating", "Renegotiation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Negotiations are defined as an interactive process between at least two parties that is characterized by diverging interests and oriented toward obtaining agreement on the exchange conditions of a good or service (Thompson, 1990). In business-to-business markets, negotiations are an essential part of everyday business life. This is attributable to the high complexity and individuality of products distributed in these markets that require negotiations between purchasing and sales departments to coordinate the transaction details (Herbst et al., 2011). However, in recent times, business practice shows that it has become increasingly common that the negotiation process no longer ends when an agreement is reached. On the contrary, many agreements become subject to renegotiation because \"one of the participants is seeking relief from a legally binding obligation\" (Salacuse, 2001, p. 313).\nConceptual framework and hypotheses: In the first step of our analysis, we pursue a better understanding of renegotiation outcomes and their impact on RC. Negotiation research came to the conclusion that an analysis of negotiation outcomes has to consider two main groups of performance measures, namely, economic and social psychological measures (Thompson, 1990), as \"it seems important to distinguish between these different outcome measures [in order] to decide about the most suitable negotiation strategy\" (Zerres and Huffmeier, 2011, p. 562).\nMethodology: Research design and sample\nFindings: Measurement model\nDiscussion and practical implications: Our empirical study generated extensive knowledge regarding our research issue and provides insights into consequences and causal relations of renegotiations and respective renegotiation strategies with regard to outcomes and RC. On this basis, we are able to derive implications for the proper use of renegotiation demands.\nLimitations and further research: The current study has some limitations and leaves space for further research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Renegotiations not only promise an economically relevant improvement of the original negotiation outcome for the communicator of the demand but also imply a potential threat to the business relationship. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of renegotiations in detail and to provide practical implications for the optimal usage of renegotiations by analyzing potential renegotiation strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data of 255 negotiation experts collected via a standardized online questionnaire.\nFindings: Social psychological outcome of renegotiations has the most relevant impact on relationship continuity (RC). The impact of economic outcomes is wholly mediated by the social psychological outcome. Regarding the use of different renegotiation strategies, other-oriented strategies and direct communication are most successful, whereas self-oriented strategies correlate negatively with all results.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study's sample is drawn from Germany, which requires careful consideration of the results' generalizability.\nPractical implications: When demanding renegotiation, practitioners should apply strategies characterized by other-orientation and direct communication to increase the probability of RC. For the sake of the business relationship, self-oriented strategies should be avoided.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents the first detailed analysis of the impact of renegotiations on business relationships and investigates the effects of different renegotiation strategies on renegotiation outcomes and RC; hence, it is of great value for practical usage and may serve as a stepping stone for further research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The non-monotonic governance effects of large shareholdings in Chinese listed companies: an overinvestment perspective	[ "Corporate governance", "Blockholder ownership", "Independent directors", "Directors", "Shareholders", "China", "Agency theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to the theories of modern finance, diversified portfolios can eliminate diversifiable risk. However, what motivates some investors to forgo the benefits of diversification and concentrate much of their wealth in the stock of a single firm? A number of studies have indicated that to gain the shared and private benefits of control is the most fundamental motivation of large-block ownership (Holderness, 2003). So the (shared and private) benefits of control play an important role in analyzing large shareholders' governance behaviors. On the one hand, different from minority investors' free-ride behaviors, large shareholders have the incentive and enough voting power to collect information and monitor the management, thereby reducing the agency cost between shareholders and managers and then acquiring the shared benefits of control, which is the incentive effect of large shareholdings (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Shleifer and Vishny, 1986, 1997). On the other hand, large shareholders generally have outright control of the firms and their management with relative small shares through some kind of control-enhancing mechanisms (e.g. pyramid structure, cross-holding, and dual-class shares) (Adams and Ferreira, 2008). Large shareholders thus have a general interest and enough control to pursue their private benefits by expropriating minority shareholders (Johnson et al., 2000), which is the entrenchment effect of large shareholdings (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997). Accordingly, what the effects of large shareholdings on corporate decisions and on firm value are mainly depends on the fact that which behavior of large shareholders dominates, monitoring the management to acquire shared benefits or expropriating minority investors to grab private benefits of control (PBC) (Denis and McConnell, 2003).Although both effects of large shareholdings are well documented in ample empirical studies, the evidence is inconclusive and ambiguous on whether the incentive or entrenchment effects dominate (Burkart and Lee, 2008). There are two main lines in this area of research. The first line is to explore the effects of large shareholdings by using an event study methodology (e.g. Barclay and Holderness, 1989; Hanouna et al., 2001; Dyck and Zingales, 2004). This research branch measures the premium of control transfer or different class shares to estimate the size of PBC and thus sheds light on the entrenchment effects of large shareholdings. Given that the limitations of the event study, it is hard to analyze the effects of large shareholdings systematically in this research branch and thus the related empirical evidence is limited. The second line is to analyze the effects of large shareholdings on firm value (e.g. La Porta et al., 2002; Claessens et al., 2002). Despite of abundant empirical studies in this research branch, the findings are ambiguous. On the one hand, different studies often use different measures, have different sample periods in different institutional contexts, and consider different control variables. On the other hand, there are many factors that affect firm value (Kesner and Johnson, 1990), and large shareholders rarely operate companies by themselves but usually monitor (or manipulate) managers and influence decision making within the firm, and thus are not directly responsible for firm performance. Accordingly, one particular and insightful research topic is to explore what is exactly the governance effects of large shareholdings on various kinds of managers' moral hazard behaviors, such as insufficient effort, extravagant investments, and so on. And this research topic will help us understand the inherent mechanism and effects of large shareholdings as a governance mechanism to promote value maximization better.There is plenty of direct and indirect evidence that some managers tend to engage in pet projects and build empires, which deviate from the maximum of shareholder value (Tirole, 2006). Because both managers' compensation and power are positively related to firm size (Jensen, 1986), and managers can increase the costs of being replaced and thus entrench their positions by building empires (Hart, 1995). As a result, managers have strong incentive to invest beyond the optimal size, which results in overinvestment, a main kind of agency costs between shareholders and managers. According to the similar incentives as managers have, controlling minority shareholders are also prone to invest extravagantly through influencing investing actions taken by management (Morck et al., 2005), which results from the interest conflicts between large shareholders and minority investors. And investment policy, as a kind of corporate decisions, is significantly influenced by a firm's ownership and control structure (Burkart and Lee, 2008). Thus, in this study, we will take the agency problem of overinvestment, in which there may exists two kinds of governance behaviors (e.g. monitoring and expropriation) for large shareholders, i.e. large shareholders can both mitigate and exacerbate the problem of overinvestment, as our research object to explore the practical effects of large shareholdings as a governance mechanism.Furthermore, little is known about the role of corporate governance on resolving the problem of overinvestment in the context of concentrated ownership. When a firm is controlled by larger shareholders, the role of traditional governance mechanisms (e.g. managerial compensation schemes, board of directors, markets for corporate control) would be much limited (Berglof and Pajuste, 2003; Claessens and Fan, 2002; Morck et al., 2005). However, independent directors have no affiliation with the firm other than their directorship (Byrd and Hickman, 1992). Thus, they would be likely to effectively balance the strong power of large shareholders (Guan, 2007), and then restrict their expropriation of minority investors by means of overinvestment.Accordingly, taking the agency problem of overinvestment as our research object, the purpose of this study is to fill the research gaps described above. That is, using a five-year panel data set from Chinese non-financial listed companies during 2001-2005, we first follow Richardson's (2006) accounting-based framework to measure firm level overinvestment and then explore the practical role of large shareholdings and board independence on the problem of overinvestment.The structure of the rest of this study is as follows. Section 2 drives testable hypotheses. Section 3 describes the variables, econometric models and data set. Section 4 displays and discusses the empirical results. Section 5 concludes.\nHypothesis development: The root of the agency problem of overinvestment is the principal-agent relationships between shareholders and managers and large shareholders and minority investors, which are resulted from the separation of ownership and control (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Shleifer and Vishny, 1997). Unlike the case of diffuse ownership, universal large shareholders can not only help to resolve the traditional agency problem between shareholders and managers, but also address the agency problem between large shareholders and minority investors (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997).Grossman and Hart (1980) indicate that a certain concentration degree of ownership can help to resolve the problem of free-riders in monitoring managers. Emerging blockholders have enough voting power and incentive to collect information and monitor the management, thereby can effectively restrict the problem of managerial extravagant investments. This is the convergence-of-interests effects of large shareholdings on the agency problem of overinvestment. However, large shareholdings are not always a positive force from the perspective of minority shareholders (Denis and McConnell, 2003). As Shleifer and Vishny (1997) point out that large shareholders will get outright control of the firms and their management when their ownership reaches some extent, especially through some kind of control-enhancing mechanisms. At this moment, the management would be in the control of large shareholders and make investment decisions on behalf of large shareholders (Ding et al., 2007). And not only managers but also large shareholders have the tendency to distort investment decisions. The controlling shareholders would prefer to invest the projects that is not always the best choice to maximize the shareholder value but could bring them some kind of private benefits. Because they earns only a small part of the project's monetary payoff but can retain all of any private benefits the project generates (Morck et al., 2005). This is the entrenchment effects of large shareholdings on the agency problem of overinvestment. And as large shareholdings further concentrate (e.g., exceeding 51 or more percent), the controlling shareholders' investing behaviors would become more and more conservative for the convergence-of-interests effects of block ownership and out of consideration for reducing their investment risks (Jiang and Shen, 2005), and thus they would mitigate the problem of overinvestment.Given the above theoretical analysis, the dominate effects of large shareholdings on the problem of overinvestment are different in different value ranges of large shareholdings. Concretely, as large shareholdings gradually concentrate, the positive effect of large shareholdings first dominates and thus mitigates the problem of overinvestment, then the negative effect of large shareholdings is prevailing and thus exacerbate the problem of overinvestment, and finally the positive effect of large shareholdings dominates again and thus reduces the firm level overinvestment. So we get the first testable hypothesis:H1. There is a non-monotonic relationship between large shareholdings and firm level overinvestment.The identities of block holders is an important element of ownership structure (Wu et al., 2009). In China, the government is a significant owner of listed companies, about two-part of the stock of whom are state-owned shares (Claessens and Fan, 2002). The principal-agent relationship of state-owned shares is complicated and the principal-agent chain is relatively long. As a result, the power and responsibility is hard to define clearly in every layer of the principal-agent chain, and it will easily arise the problem that the cost of supervision does not match the income of supervision and thus reduces the agent's incentive to monitor. On the one hand, the ultimate owners of state-owned shares are all citizens (Denis and McConnell, 2003), which results in the de facto absence of owners and thus arises severe problem of insider control. So the overinvestment taken by self-interest managers would be much serious. On the other hand, the State-owned listed companies are mostly reformed from former State-owned enterprises in the time of the planned economy in China. These former State-owned enterprises were used to making an investment on a large scale with funds from State-owned banks to expend fast (Liu and Pang, 2009), and thus resulted in severe problem of overinvestment. Although these former State-owned enterprises have be reformed into State-owned listed companies and the main resource of investment funds have transferred from bank loans to equity capital, the tendency of investing behaviors in these listed companies has not yet changed (Pan and Jin, 2003). That is, the problem of overinvestment is severe in these State-owned listed companies. So we get the second testable hypothesis:H2. Compared with private ownership, state ownership will worsen the problem of overinvestment.Independent directors have no affiliation with the firm other than their directorship (Byrd and Hickman, 1992)1, and thus are expected to represent the interests of small shareholders and are considered as an independent check on managerial opportunistic behaviors (e.g. overinvestment) (Jensen and Meckling, 1976; Shleifer and Vishny, 1997). However, previous empirical findings on the effectiveness of independent directors in China are inconclusive. In the very first study examining the role of independent directors of Chinese listed companies, Peng (2004) finds that non-affiliated outside directors (i.e. independent directors) do not contribute to firm performance. But recently, Ma and Tian (2009) finds evidence that independent directors can effectively enhance firm performance in Chinese listed firms. Considering that many factors influences firm performance and independent directors are not directly responsible for firm performance (Kesner and Johnson, 1990), it would be natural that prior studies find mixed evidences, and Kosnik (1987) argues that it would be much more meaningful to examine the effectiveness of board independence on specific governance behaviors. For instance, Chen et al. (2006) provide evidence from Chinese cases that firms with a greater proportion of independent directors on the board are less likely to engage in fraud. And Ye et al. (2007) also find strong evidence that independent directors could effectively reduce large shareholders' fund embezzlement in Chinese listed firms.Hence, although empirical findings on the effectiveness of independent directors are mixed, independent directors could also be expected to effectively mitigate the agency problem of overinvestment in China. So we get the third testable hypothesis:H3. A greater proportion of independent directors on the boards will mitigate the problem of overinvestment.\nResearch design: Variables description\nEmpirical results: Descriptive results\nConclusion: In this paper, we empirically explore the effects of large shareholdings and board independence on the agency problem of overinvestment using a five-year panel data set from Chinese non-financial listed companies between 2001 and 2005. First, following the accounting-based framework of Richardson (2006), we decompose new investment expenditure into expected new investment and overinvestment in negative NPV projects, and the former is a linear function of a firm's growth opportunities, measured as Tobin's Q (or variations of Tobin's Q) in this study. Then we use the OLS regression models to predict the expected new investment and thus the overinvestment equals new investment expenditure minus expected new investment. Second, we take both the fixed-effects and random-effects models to analyze the impact of large shareholdings and board independence on overinvestment.Consistent with our theoretical predictions, there exists a significant non-monotonic relationship between large shareholdings and firm level overinvestment. That is, there exists the incentive effect and entrenchment effect of large shareholdings on the agency problem of overinvestment at the same time. As large shareholdings gradually rise, firm level overinvestment first declines, then increases, and finally declines again. And we find that for State-owned firms, there are lower levels of overinvestment, which is contrary to our hypothesis. Furthermore, board independence (measured as the proportion of independent directors on the boards) has statistically significant and negative effects on firm level overinvestment, which is consistent with our theoretical argument in H3. However, we find that firms with more frequent meetings experience much higher levels of overinvestment.The findings in this paper have important implications for corporate governance practice in emerging market countries like China. Since concentrated ownership structure is very common in emerging market countries, block holders play an important role in corporate governance. Our findings indicate that concentrated ownership is not always a bad thing or a good thing and the crux of the matter is how to induce large shareholders' incentive to monitor managers' opportunistic behaviors and restrict their motivation to expropriate minority shareholders. And in the context of concentrated ownership, the role of traditional governance mechanisms (e.g. managerial compensation) designed to resolve the classical principal-agency conflicts would be much limited but board independence would be an effective governance mechanism to mitigate the principal (large shareholders)-principal (minority investors) conflicts. Taken as a whole, our findings suggest that in the context of concentrated ownership, the key to improve corporate governance, and thus mitigate two kinds of agency problems between shareholders and managers and large shareholders and minority investors, is to construct an appropriate ownership structure and improve the level of board independence.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of large shareholdings from the agency problem perspective of overinvestment, and re-test the role of board independence in the context of concentrated ownership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using a five-year panel data of Chinese non-financial listed companies between 2001 and 2005, the paper estimates both a fixed-effects model and a random-effects model.\nFindings: - The paper finds evidence of a significant non-monotonic relationship between large shareholdings and firm level overinvestment. It also finds that state-owned firms and firms with more independent directors experience lower level of overinvestment. However, firms with more frequent meetings experience a higher level of overinvestment.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper's findings indicate that concentrated ownership is not always a bad thing. The crux of the matter is how to induce large shareholders' incentive to monitor managers' opportunistic behaviors and restrict their motivation to expropriate minority shareholders.\nPractical implications: - In the context of concentrated ownership, the key to improve corporate governance is to strengthen board independence.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides useful information on non-monotonic governance effects of large shareholdings in Chinese listed companies and overinvestment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge management capability, customer relationship management, and service quality	[ "Service quality", "Knowledge management capability", "Customer relationship management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consumers now have easy access to information on the internet and are well connected by means of technology, they can easily compare prices through the internet and hence non-price advantages, such as service quality, have become much more significant as a means of attracting and retaining customers (Ueltschy et al., 2009). Moreover, when a customer has an enjoyable experience, this service experience will transform into a new service expectation, and so the next experience will be compared to the previous one. Thus, enterprises should incessantly surpass customer expectations in order to provide satisfying services and enhance service quality (Fang and Tsai, 2005).\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1. KMC\n3. Research model and hypotheses: The purpose of this research is to understand how KMC enhances CRM, as well as how it can enhance service quality. The basic model examined the relationship between KMC and service quality. The effects of CRM on this relationship were explored. The research model is shown in Figure 1. The reminder of this section will develop the hypotheses presented in the model.\n4. Methodology: 4.1. Sampling and procedures\n5. Results: Partial least square (PLS) aims to estimate parameters by minimizing the residual variances of all the dependent variables involved. As compared to covariance-based SEM techniques, PLS is less stringent with distributional assumptions, measurement scale type, and sample size requirement (Chin, 1998; Fornell and Cha, 1994). The minimal demands on distributional assumptions and sample size made PLS an appropriate analysis technique for this study.\n6. Implications for research and practice: Figure 2 showed that KMC has significant effect on CRM and service quality. This means that if the KMC of an enterprise is superior, the CRM and service quality of enterprise will significantly increase. Therefore, in order to enhance CRM and service quality, this study suggests that due to the KMC helps ascertain a firm to create a universal view of the customer that can be disseminated across geographical and divisional boundaries within the organization, hence the staff can be guaranteed that they are working with the most current set of customer knowledge regardless where their work posts are. This mechanism will allow the staff to gain better understanding of the customers and their demands, of which eventually will result in product, channel, and market segmentation strategies that are more effective and more accurate.\n7. Limitations: There are two main limitations of this study, as follows. First, while this research applied a purposive sampling method and obtained an adequate number of respondents, the results may include some bias. Therefore, it is suggested that future research should apply a random sampling method to collect more responses and increase the generalizability of the findings. Second, this research investigated the impact of KMC and CRM on service quality in a Chinese cultural context, subject to a specific set of societal, cultural, and linguistic attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, future research could extend this study to other regions of the world.\n8. Conclusions: The objective of this study was to assess the impact of KMC on service quality by considering CRM. Results show that KMC and CRM are the major factor for enhancing service quality. Enterprises can rely on the basis of high KMC and utilize CRM to better understand customer needs, to supply personalized information, and to increase the interaction between the enterprises and their customers. Moreover, the corporate growth is supposed to be concentrated on the customers, data warehousing, data mining, and the integration between computer technology and explicit knowledge that will help identify potential customer knowledge, maintain customer relationship, and enhance service quality (Hung et al., 2010).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Firms survive by exploiting knowledge resources to maintain customer relationships more efficiently and effectively, as well as enhance their service quality. However, whether an enterprise can effectively utilize knowledge resources determines the effectiveness of knowledge management capability (KMC). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship among KMC, customer relationship management (CRM), and service quality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to explore on KMC, CRM, and service quality, the questionnaire and partial least square (PLS) techniques were used.\nFindings: The results indicate that KMC has a positive influence on CRM and service quality; and further, that CRM has a positive influence on service quality. This result also reveals constructive suggestions that allow firms to strengthen their KMC and CRM, as well as enhance their service quality.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research applied a purposive sampling method and obtained a slightly inadequate number of respondents. Therefore, it is suggested that future research should apply a random sampling method to collect more responses and increase the generalizability of the findings.\nPractical implications: This research aims to investigate KMC, CRM, and service quality, as well as establish and verify the patterns of the aforementioned relationships based on how enterprises implement their KMC and CRM to enhance service quality.\nOriginality/value: Although the critical factors for enhancing service quality have been identified in previous studies, few have specifically explored KMC despite the fact that it has a dramatic impact on service quality. To fill this knowledge gap, the present study employed a questionnaire and PLS techniques to explore the relationship among KMC, CRM, and service quality. Comprehending the essentials for enhancing service quality can provide useful management insights into developing effective strategies that allow enterprises to retain customers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital and performance of Islamic and conventional banking: Empirical evidence from Gulf Cooperative Council countries	[ "GCC", "Islamic banks", "Intellectual capital", "Conventional banks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: By the inception of the twenty-first century, the proverb that \"knowledge is power\" has a bigger significance than ever before (Rechberg and Syed, 2013). Knowledge all over the world has shifted innovation and creativity in firms specifically in the value of firms from tangible assets to intangible assets. One important research line devotes attention to intellectual capital (IC), which plays a crucial rule in enhancing high-tech or knowledge-based firms, which are mainly based on the knowledge assets that refer to IC.\n2. Literature review and developing hypotheses: 2.1 Definition and valuation of IC\n3. Research design and methodology: 3.1 The study sample\n4. Descriptive analysis: In this section, we used the descriptive statistics in order to describe the basic features of the variables. In addition, we adopt cross-country and cross-year analysis. Finally, we adopt path analysis to show more advanced results.\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Correlation analysis\n6. Conclusion: This study considers the level of IC efficiency in the banks listed in GCC stock exchange and compares the IC components (HCE, SCE, RCE and CEE) and performance between Islamic and conventional banks. The data were collected as pooled data during the period 2012-2016.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Intellectual capital (IC) is considered as a lifeblood of the high-tech and knowledge-based sectors. Therefore, there is a great need to highlight the importance of IC in the banking sector. Since the banking sector in the gulf countries is mainly based on Islamic and conventional banking, the purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative empirical analysis between IC efficiency in Islamic and conventional banks, and its impacts on a bank's operational, financial and market performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study examined 59 banks for five years to end up with 295 observations. The independent variable is the modified value added IC components; the dependent variables are performance indicators (return on assets, return on equity and Tobin's Q). Two control variables are utilized in this study: bank-specific and macroeconomic.\nFindings: The findings deduced from the empirical results demonstrate that there is a positive relationship between IC efficiency and financial performance (ROE) and market performance (TQ) in Islamic banks. However, in conventional banks, there is a positive relationship between IC and operational performance (ROE) and financial performance (ROE).\nOriginality/value: The results of this study can be used to present a successful model for the Islamic and conventional banks to concentrate more on the role of IC in enhancing the bank's performance. In addition, the results of this study may provide a wake-up call for Islamic banks to examine the reasons for the imperfect relationship between the IC and asset efficiency (ROA), as well as for conventional banks to examine the reasons for an imperfect relationship between the IC and market value (TQ).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A review on indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and energy consumption in building based on occupant behavior	[ "Thermal comfort", "Energy consumption", "Indoor air quality", "Aural comfort", "Human behavior", "Indoor environmental quality", "Visual comfort" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Most people spend around 90 per cent of their lives indoors, and students spend about 30 per cent of their time in schools (De Giuli et al., 2012). The importance of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is its impacts on building energy usage and health and productivity of occupants. The four main parameters for determination of IEQ are: thermal comfort (TC), visual comfort (VC), indoor air quality (IAQ) and aural comfort (AC) (Clausen and Wyon, 2008). There is a significant relation between the amount of energy usage in buildings and indoor environmental features (temperature, lighting, acoustic and ventilation) and building design and operation. On the basis of recent studies, the cost of poor indoor environmental conditions for the employer, owner as well as society, as a whole, are frequently considerably higher than the cost of energy which are used in the same building (Olesen, 2012). The behavior is referred to any direct or indirect act, which is selected by a resident to achieve the comfortable indoor environmental conditions. Human activities and decision might be the most important IEQ issue because of its impact on other IEQ factors. Understanding occupant behavior is helpful for predicting building energy consumption. The weakness in quantitative measurement of human behavior and translating it to the energy algorithms are the some of the problems of considering occupant actions. Simulation technology is based on several disciplines like as computer and numerical sciences, physics, mathematics and so on. Social science modeling is a useful method for simulating human behavior. The aim of this study is to review presented research studies in the field of IEQ, energy, human behavior simulation and energy management in buildings. For this reason, the studies related to the objective of this paper are identified through internet searches, review of published papers and conversation with other researchers. The results and methods of these studies are considered, and the simulation software is analyzed.\n2. Indoor environmental quality: Measuring IEQ is commonly validated by four aspects, i.e. thermal comfort (TC), aural comfort (AC), visual comfort (VC) and indoor air quality (IAQ) (Lai et al., 2009; Clausen and Wyon, 2008; Wong et al., 2008).\n3. Human behavior and building energy consumption: The amount of energy usage in residential and commercial buildings was about 41 per cent of the total energy usage in the USA in 2014. A computer-based system for managing, controlling and monitoring building services are building energy management systems (BEMS). There is the possibility for operators to reduce energy consumption with or without advanced technological systems (Aune et al., 2009). The results of a research shows the 30 per cent energy conservation improvement by using indoor environmental management systems (IEEMS) is based on a fuzzy controller system (Kolokotsa et al., 2005).\n4. Discussions: Thermal comfort, aural comfort, indoor air quality and visual comfort are the four main parameters to evaluate the IEQ in buildings. The poor IEQ is caused by SBS, decreased human productivity and increased energy consumption. One of the most important reasons for considering IEQ in buildings is reducing the amount of energy usage. However, heating, cooling, ventilation, water heating, lighting and electronic equipment are the main reasons for increasing building energy consumption, but occupant activities affect everyone. Occupant behaviour is a physical and also psychological response to the environmental conditions to manage the dissatisfied conditions. This is why, human behaviour is closely related to energy usage in residential and commercial buildings and should be considered as an important factor in the field of built environment.\n5. Conclusions and future work: Based on reviewing different papers in the field of IEQ, it is concluded that:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the concept of occupant behavior and its relation with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and building energy consumption. The behavior is referred to any direct or indirect action, which is selected by an occupant to manage the unpleasant indoor environmental conditions. Thermal comfort, indoor air quality, aural comfort and visual comfort are the key factors of IEQ evaluation. Human behavior significantly interacts with energy consumption in buildings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Each IEQ parameter was reviewed separately and the overall IEQ acceptance was considered. In addition, this paper reviews the methods that were used to measure and simulate the IEQ factors, energy consumption and human behavior. Finally, the lack of knowledge in this field is based on the review demonstrated.\nFindings: Most studies considered one or two IEQ factors to evaluate IEQ acceptance in buildings. Further, weakness of simulating all IEQ factors at the same time is the deficiency of IEQ simulation, based on reviews. In the case of occupant behavior simulation, the uncertainly of human psychological parameter is a drawback to predict behavior.\nOriginality/value: Energy consumption, occupant health and productivity are related to IEQ. Human behavior affects building energy consumption directly. Simulation software and methods can predict IEQ factors and human behavior. Therefore, reviewing the existing studies is critical to find new methods for measuring and simulating IEQ, energy consumption and human behavior in buildings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Defining the undefinable: an analysis of definitions of community archives	[ "Archives", "Archival collections", "Heritage information", "Community archives", "Archival practice", "Archival theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Community archives are a growing area of interest and an often-overlooked aspect of the wider heritage information sector. Over the past ten years, there has been noticeable growth in discussion and research about community archives as a separate and distinct aspect to large and formally constituted archives (Battley, 2019; Caswell, 2014; Copeland, 2014). Wider recognition of the value of heritage material and archives by researchers in the sphere of cultural heritage, library studies, digital humanities and human rights is also noticeable, but the body of literature is somewhat dispersed.\nDefinitions of mainstream archives and community archives: Before looking at definitions of archives, community and community archives, we briefly scope the kinds of archives that are talked about as community archives.\nScope and definitions of community archives: A Google nGram suggests that the term \"community archives\" has been used since around 1960[1]. The nGram shows a noticeable spike in its use in the second half of the 1980s and a sustained increase since then. We emphasise that such searches are only roughly indicative of use of a term but provide a helpful starting point to show when a term began to change and the literature in which the term was used (limited, of course, to the literature that Google included). Google Scholar indicates that there have been about 3,370 scholarly publications including the term community archives published in the seven years from 2012 to 2019, with a similar number published in the previous 25 years (about 3,650). While such figures are also only indicative (and Google Scholar's coverage may be less thorough for the earlier years), they support the notion of a recent growth in interest in community archives.\nCommunity archives and the archival paradigm: Much mainstream archival research and thinking does not always accommodate ideas about community archives particularly well (Ramsden, 2016), and while excellent theoretical discussion exists about their role and purpose, the realities of day-to-day practice in smaller community archives either demonstrates a gap in theory vs practice or indicates an area not well-covered in the library and information studies literature broadly (i.e. that covering libraries, archives, community archives, recordkeeping, heritage information, etc).\nDefining the themes around community archives: The literature raises four themes that help us to determine what community archives actually are.\nThe social and political nature of community archives: A key factor influencing these themes is an assumption by some archives researchers that community archives will be representative of political or social movements rather than being just another form of heritage and memory institution where the collection and management of archives is a key (but not necessarily only) focus. This is a notion summed up by Drake's statement that \"archivists must shift their paradigms away from the fictive notions of 'local' and 'community-based' towards a more radically precise and politically liberatory language\" (Drake, 2018). Discourse, as a result, is around the themes of identify, power and influence, and the ability of the community archive to work successfully (or not) within this paradigm (Bastian, 2013; Caswell, 2014; Cook, 2012; Kaplan, 2000).\nFactors affecting definitions of community archives: Definitions of community archives continue to be developed, with most sitting outside the accepted standard definitions of what an archive or a library (or even a museum) is.\nConclusion: The nature of community archives is diverse, variously understood, open to discussion, and likely to continue challenging archival paradigms. Community archives are a growing area of interest for researchers because of the link to community and the provision of evidence of it. They are especially significant for communities that have been historically been marginalised and lack a voice or equal (or even any) recognition. Notably (in western societies) this includes indigenous communities, LGBTQI communities, migrants and refugees. In New Zealand, and despite its bicultural framework, the voice of Maori has often been hidden or dismissed, sometimes deliberately and often through conscious colonialism and unconscious institutional racism, and also because Maori has been an oral culture whose recordkeeping and history has been conveyed through stories and physical artefacts such as wharenui (meeting houses) and weaving.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore definitions and notions of what a community archive is, and the tensions between different understandings of community archives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is a critical analysis of community archives definitions and understanding from researchers and practitioners across the wider heritage information sector.\nFindings: Community archives are a growing area of interest for researchers because of the archives' intrinsic link to the community and their provision of the evidence of it. While discussion often focuses on a paradigm of transformative purpose, existing definitions around community archives continue to be tenuous, reflecting different real or perceived types and practices and the perspective of the author and the sector they work within. Variations in definition can also occur because of differences in perspective around theory and practice, with many practitioner-based definitions intrinsically bound with the community they represent. This can result in community archives being defined as \"alternative\" based on mainstream practice or \"political\" based on theoretical purview, or \"meeting the needs of community\" by the community archivists themselves.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is conceptual and does not attempt to provide one definition that covers the perceived extent of community archives. It is part of work in progress on the nature of community archives and the impact such discourse may have on archival theory and practice.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides an overview of some of the key issues and themes impacting a definition of community archives, and in doing so works towards a broader understanding the nature of community archives. In most cases, the concept of \"community\" seems to provide a common definitive element and practitioner definitions focus on addressing the needs of self-defined community to a greater or lesser extent.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transnational degree program franchising and the challenge of commercial franchisees	[ "Branding", "Legitimacy", "Franchising", "Transnational higher education", "Franchised programmes", "The United Arab Emirates" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Upon my visit to one franchisee, there was only a sign for that franchisee outside the building. When I entered, the wall behind the reception was decorated with a big embossed sign for University X. As I was waiting for my meeting, I sat down and flipped through the graduation photo album for University Y. Moments later, the phone rang and the receptionist answered, \"Good afternoon, this is University Z\". Where am I, I wondered? I had to ask the receptionist to be sure(Author 2).Transnational higher education (TNHE) and the education \"industry\" have become subjects of increasing attention amongst higher education and management scholars (Altbach and Knight, 2007; Knight, 2011, 2016; Wilkins, 2016; Wilkins and Huisman, 2012). The majority of the existing research focuses on international branch campuses (IBCs), which are a high-profile form of cross-border ventures with more than 200 IBCs operating globally (OBHE/C-BERT, 2016). Our opening scenario addresses a lower profile but no less important form of TNHE, commercial degree program franchising, which have received less interest in research despite its relative ubiquity. Franchising involves a local educational, or in our case a commercial, private company (franchisee) in the host country that is licensed by a foreign institution (franchisor) to offer whole or part of the franchisor's educational program under specified contractual conditions to award the franchisor's degrees for its graduates (Nealey, 2013). Many franchisees nowadays are not educational institutions per se but privately owned business enterprises providing service and infrastructure, despite being branded as \"universities,\" \"colleges\" or \"business schools;\" they thus resemble \"pseudouniversities\" (Altbach, 2001). Franchisees, similar to IBCs and distance education providers, compete for students who are seeking international degrees but are unable or unwilling to travel abroad for study. To compete successfully, the franchisees must build a locally recognized, legitimate brand to not only differentiate themselves from their competitors but also as a strategy to \"fit in.\"\nLiterature review: Branding and legitimacy in TNHE\nMethods: This study focuses on commercial franchisees and their franchised programs offered in the UAE. Our sample consists of five local education infrastructure and service providers (the franchisee) offering franchised MBA programs primarily from western institutions (see Table I). The five case franchisees were chosen for the sample as they share particular commonalities: they are not part of traditional higher education institutions but privately owned business enterprises; their operating model is purely based on franchising as they cannot award their own degrees; they are not accredited in the host country; and they are all strategically located in the Northern Emirates of the UAE. Due to the relaxed licensing requirements in those Emirates' free zones, three of the franchisees in our sample offer more than one franchised MBA program, with most of them from different international origins. Pseudonyms for the five franchisees and their franchised programs have been devised to ensure their anonymity.\nFindings: legitimacy-building through discursive and symbolic strategies: All five franchisees were identified to use similar, proactive efforts to build their perceived legitimacy to foster the belief that the franchisee's operations are congruent with the expectations, values and norms of their constituents (see Ashforth and Gibbs, 1990). The following sections introduce their strategies in more detail and use verbatim quotes (in italics) collected from the case franchisees' marketing materials, websites and social media, and from interviews and site visits.\nDiscussion: The self-promoter's paradox\nConclusions: The purpose of this study was to explore the interrelationship of branding practices and legitimacy-building of commercial degree program franchising and to understand how commercial franchisees' branding practices employ discursive and symbolic strategies for building legitimacy, and what kind of legitimacy challenges franchisees face. The findings of this study implicate that commercial franchisees have successfully utilized strategies for conforming, selecting and manipulating the environments in which they operate in order to build legitimacy. The case franchisees have been fairly successful in finding their place in the market as they have managed to attract large numbers of price-conscious students and graduate numerous cohorts. However, the long-term viability of franchising arrangements is problematic due to two legitimacy paradoxes: the \"self-promoter's paradox\" and the \"legitimacy-borrowing paradox.\" In the former paradox, the franchisee engages in practices to over-promote itself, and such practices may decrease its legitimacy in the eyes of its constituents (see Ashforth and Gibbs, 1990). The branding efforts of all franchisees in this study were found to be prone to hyperbole, and many of their brand promises do not necessarily materialize in practice. The latter paradox, on the other hand, prevents the franchisee from turning from an infrastructure/service provider into a fully fledged higher education institution as currently its legitimacy is borrowed from the foreign franchisor. If the franchisee aims to independently deliver its own programs, it would do so without the benefit of the linkage legitimacy attached to its international franchisor and its brand value, and therefore would likely face significant challenges.\nEpilogue: Since this study was conducted, there have been substantive changes in the Emirate in which the franchisees operate. In mid-2017, a new set of rules governing universities and colleges in the academic free zones was introduced to protect students. This has resulted in some franchisee closures and relocation to other Emirates, as well as changes to the imagery used on franchisees' websites that have to match the reality and define franchisee's operational terms, as well as refraining from the use of hyperbolic promotional language. One franchisee has also re-branded itself from a college to a corporation as a result of the new quality assurance requirements.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the interrelationship of branding practices and legitimacy-building of commercial degree program franchising within transnational higher education (TNHE). It aims to understand how commercial franchisees' branding practices employ discursive and symbolic strategies for building legitimacy, and how these practices impact both organizational development and stakeholder perception.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative study uses document and visual content analysis, supported by discourse analysis, as the methods in analyzing commercial franchisees' branding practices of their franchised programs. The sample of the study consists of five commercial franchisees offering primarily Western MBA programs in the United Arab Emirates. The data were obtained through franchisees' websites, marketing materials, student prospectuses, visiting campuses and their marketing events, and through interviews with franchise managers.\nFindings: The findings of this study indicate that growing a sustainable brand for a commercial franchisee requires successful building of its legitimacy in the host country. Legitimacy in such arrangement however involves two paradoxes: the \"self-promoter's paradox\" where the franchisees often engage in legitimacy-building practices that decrease their legitimacy, and the \"legitimacy-borrowing paradox\" that happens when the commercial franchisee initially borrows its legitimacy from the franchised program, but simultaneously this borrowing of legitimacy prevents it from becoming a fully legitimate higher education institution.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the research on management of TNHE by exploring the branding practices of franchised programs, which so far has been a neglected area in research. Furthermore, interconnections of legitimacy-building and branding practices are underrepresented within the broader higher education research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Key stakeholders' perspectives towards UK new-build housing defects	[ "Defects", "Warranty", "New-build housing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the UK there is a significant shortage of homes, exacerbated by a prolonged under supply of new housing (Parliament, 2016). The UK Government introduced a number of incentives to increase the new-build housing supply. For example, the Housing Infrastructure Fund is planned to allocate PS1.4 b to provide 40,000 new affordable homes and another PS1.7 b to speed up the construction of new homes on public sector land (HM Treasury, 2016). House builders (HBs) have responded to the pent up demand and policy incentives by significantly up-scaling supply, with a 78 per cent increase in housing starts for 2015 compared to the 2008 downturn (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2016). There is evidence that the rapid up-scaling of supply has had a negative impact on build quality, causing an increase in defects (Hopkin et al., 2016). There is strong historical evidence that a step-change in housing production causes supply chains and skills to become over-stretched due to excessive workload (Sommerville et al., 2004). There are indications of over-stretching in the current uplift in supply, with the UK house building sector reporting acute materials, skills and workforce shortages (Construction Industry Training Board, 2015). Further evidence of over-stretching is in the increased volume of new housing defects. The Home Builders Federation survey, for example, shows that in 2016, 93 per cent of home occupants (HOs) reported defects within their new-build house, the highest level since 2010 (Home Builders Federation (HBF), 2016).\nOverview of defect detection and remediation within UK new-build housing and key stakeholders involved: There is no universal definition of \"defects\", but differing \"defect\" descriptions appear to describe the same phenomenon, i.e. imperfections in buildings (Macarulla et al., 2013). Indeed, the term \"defect\" in new housing has been used interchangeably with labels such as \"snags\" (Sommerville and McCosh, 2006) and \"non-compliance\" (Baiche et al., 2006). For this paper, a defect is understood as \"the breach of any mandatory National House Building Council (NHBC) Requirement by the Builder or anyone employed by or acting for the Builder\" (NHBC, 2012, p. 3). The NHBC's definition has been adopted because over 80 per cent of new homes in the UK need to be built in accordance with NHBC standards (which include Building Regulations) to receive warranty cover (NHBC, 2015). The NHBC is the UK's leading standard-setting body, approved inspector and provider of warranties for new homes. The NHBC warranty typically offers ten years of post-completion cover (in addition to certain cover before completion) and is split into two sections: cover during the first two years (builder's liability period) and cover during years three to ten (NHBC, 2012). The warranty is a tripartite agreement between the HB, HO and WP. Under the terms of the warranty the HB is responsible for rectifying any breach of the requirements within the builder's liability period and any breach that may result in a warranty claim in years three to ten will ultimately affect the HB's premium rating (NHBC, 2011). A new home warranty plays an important role within the detection and remediation of UK new-build housing defects for two reasons. First, mortgage lenders will generally only lend on a new-build house when the property is covered by a warranty (Construction Industry Council, 2010). Second, the warranty offers protection for HOs and redress in respect of defects because new homes are exempt from the Sale of Goods Act (Sommerville and McCosh, 2006) and the contractual arrangements employed whereby the HB is the \"employer\" and the work is subcontracted out (Craig, 2007) means that HOs have no redress under the construction contract.\nResearch problem: The previous section has indicated that there are three specific stages in a new-build house's life where defects are recorded: the construction phase, the builder's liability period and the warranty period. Research on housing defects tends to focus on the construction phase (e.g. Atkinson, 2002) and the builder's liability period (e.g. Craig, 2007), yet the occurrence of defects within new-build houses is not limited to these two stages. Within the respective individual stages researchers tend to adopt a similar approach of classifying defects based upon the characteristics defects display, where they occur and their causes to highlight the frequency of these aspects (e.g. Georgiou et al., 1999; Mills et al., 2009). What is also evident is that defects detected in each of the three stages are different. During construction, defects tend to be positioned around Building Regulation contraventions, as identified by the BI. Baiche et al. (2006), for example, indicate that the most common Building Regulation contraventions include radon protection, and inadequate thermal insulation. During the builder's liability period, defects typically relate to \"aesthetics\" as identified by the HO. Some support for the aesthetics idea is Craig's (2007) finding that making good, paint, cleaning, and sealant are the prevalent \"snags\" in UK new homes. Within the warranty period there are indications of defects associated with building fabric and structure being reported to the WP. Mills et al. (2009), for example, stress that the most prominent sources of warranty claims in Australia include foundation failures, roof leaks, and external water penetration. By focussing predominantly on defects during construction or the builder's liability period, the UK scholarship tends to only explore the involvement of the HB, HO, and/or BI in defects detection and remediation without considering the important role of the WP plays during the warranty period. This view is consistent with Forcada et al. (2016) who suggest the need to consider defects during construction, during the builder's liability period, and defects beyond the builder's liability period.\nPotential impact of defects: A review of existing construction defect literature has identified a number of common aspects which have the potential to cause negative impacts to a variety of stakeholders involved with construction projects, including: H&S implications (Baiche et al., 2006; Smith et al., 2013), cost (Love and Li, 2000; Rosenfeld, 2009), and general disruption (Davey et al., 2006; Building Employers Confederation (BEC), 1991). Each of these aspects are discussed below.\nResearch method: The questionnaire survey approach was adopted for this research to gain insight into which impacts of defects are perceived as important by the key stakeholders involved in their detection and remediation. The questionnaire distribution list was drawn from NHBC's records (see the \"overview of defect detection\" section for the rationale for focussing on NHBC). The researchers were given controlled access to probe NHBC data sets, including a list of registered builders (HBs), a list of their warranty staff (WPs), a list of their BIs, and details of HOs who had previously had defects rectified under their warranty.\nKey results: This section explores the key stakeholders' views on the impact of defects on H&S, followed by cost and disruption.\nDiscussion: The potential H&S implications of defects were found to be the main priority to the house building industry in general with HO disruption seen as the second most important consideration. The high H&S prioritisation supports the arguments of Baiche et al. (2006) and Ilozor et al. (2004) that there should be focus on defects that may be detrimental to H&S. This finding, however, is in contrast to the general perception that the house building industry is predominantly financially motivated and cost focussed (Sommerville et al., 2004). The house building industry proclaim to be more focussed on reducing defects to limit danger to HOs and workers on-site, along with reducing post-completion disruption than saving money on remediation.\nConclusions: There is limited research that has explored which potential impacts of defects are important to the key stakeholders involved in their detection and rectification from construction on-site until the end of the warranty period. The contribution of this research is threefold. First, this research offers fresh insights into how the UK house building industry can benefit from defect reduction, primarily through a reduction in the H&S problems associated with defects and disruption to HOs. HOs are unlikely to welcome disruption resulting from work being carried out incorrectly (BEC, 1991). Therefore the increase in the volume of defects and the additional disruption caused may be a contributing factor to the decline in satisfaction reported in the HBF's\"New Home Customer Satisfaction\" surveys (HBF, 2016). Second, the findings shows that there is a clear disconnect between Hos' view of the house building industry's level of customer focus, and the level of customer focus the house building industry claim to have. Finally, this research can complement existing defect scholarship to help researchers identify what types of defects are important (based upon the level of disruption they cause and H&S concerns they pose) and subsequently which defects should be focussed on. Further, research into HBs' defect reduction attempts in practice found that they sought to reduce the highest frequency defect types experienced - albeit with limited success (Hopkin et al., 2016). The findings from this research could offer the HBs an alternative approach to determine which defects should be targeted.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Research on housing defects has limited its enquiry to the classifications of defects, potential impact of defects, and their detection and remediation during construction and the builder's liability period, without considering the warranty period. The purpose of this paper is to better understand which impacts of defects are perceived as important by the key stakeholders involved in their detection and remediation over the construction, builder's liability and insurer's warranty periods.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The questionnaire survey approach was used. The questionnaire distribution list was drawn from the UK's largest warranty provider (WP) and approved inspector's records. The questionnaire was distributed to 2003 people, receiving 292 responses, a response rate of 15 per cent.\nFindings: This research challenges the assertion that the house building industry (i.e. house builders (HBs), building inspectors and WPs) is predominantly cost focussed and finds that the potential impact of defects on home occupants (HOs) are their primary concern. In contrast, the HOs' appear solely focussed on the disruption defects caused on their daily lives and perceive a lack customer focus in the house building industry.\nOriginality/value: This study provides empirical evidence of the contrasting view of the house building industry and HOs with respect to the prioritisation of the impacts of defects. Further, this research offers HBs an alternative approach to determine which defects should be targeted for reduction purposes which may lead to improved levels of customer satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Incubator networks and new venture performance: the roles of entrepreneurial orientation and environmental dynamism	[ "Business incubator", "Internal network", "External network", "Entrepreneurial orientation", "New venture performance", "Environmental dynamism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Business incubators (BIs) are effective organizations that facilitate and accelerate the success of new and often vulnerable ventures (Theodorakopoulos et al., 2014). BIs help new ventures not only acquire technical, professional and financial support from outside the incubator at lower costs (Bruneel et al., 2012) but also overcome the \"liability of newness\" by favouring a networked environment (Phan et al., 2005). Therefore, exploring networks' role has become important for BIs in recent decades (e.g. Eveleens et al., 2017). It has been widely acknowledged that establishing network relationships in incubators is essential for new ventures, as an incubator network can better meet new ventures' diversified needs and have benefits such as a rich resource flow, lower transaction cost and high-quality alliance partners. Additionally, it would also help new ventures accelerate growth.According to new ventures' process view, entrepreneurs find and exchange resources through the network to transform entrepreneurial opportunities and ideas into organizations (Salamzadeh, 2015; Salamzadeh and Kirby, 2017). Particularly, ready-made networks provided by BIs not only help new ventures enter the market rapidly but also accelerate their development (Stayton and Mangematin, 2019). However, existing studies only analysed the entire incubator networks' impact on enterprise performance (e.g. Slavec and Adlesic, 2012; Theodorakopoulos et al., 2014) or explored the effects of BIs' internal networks (e.g. Bollingtoft, 2012; Nijssen and van der Borgh, 2017) and external networks (e.g. Sungur, 2015) on new venture performance separately. Further, existing research mainly focusses on developed economies, rarely exploring emerging economies such as China. Therefore, it is worth analysing how BIs' internal and external networks affect new venture performance in the Chinese context.Although previous studies identified important determinants of BI networks' effects on new venture growth (e.g. Zhang et al., 2016), few explored this relationship from the perspective of the new venture attributes, such as entrepreneurial orientation (EO; Martins, 2016). This study thus argues that EO is critical to the relationship between incubator networks and new venture performance, being defined as a long-term developmental orientation or style based on innovation, which reflects new ventures' proactiveness and risk-taking tendency (Lumpkin and Dess, 2001). Existing literature offers hints regarding the relationship between organizational networks and EO (e.g. Stayton and Mangematin, 2019; Torkkeli et al., 2012). For instance, when new ventures are formed on emerging markets, they can promote their EO by establishing relationships with suppliers, competitors and customers (Boso et al., 2013). Further, new ventures and other network members can enhance EO through open communication, resource exchange and long-term cooperation (Awang et al., 2011). EO is necessary for them to cultivate and develop competitive advantages (Kuratko, 2017) and enables new ventures to integrate resources creatively and enhances enterprises' ability to take advantage of market opportunities with new products and services, thereby attaining industry leadership (Van Doorn et al., 2013).Additionally, the environment's uncertainty and dynamics have profound impacts on resource acquisition and the EO strategy of new ventures in an incubator network (Engelen et al., 2016). Especially in the emerging economies such as China, which are characterized by uncertainty and risk-taking behaviours, the EO of new ventures may be affected by the volatile business environment (Du and Wang, 2019). Moreover, existing research has shown that the effect of EO on firm performance is contingent upon environmental dynamism (e.g. Adomako et al., 2016; Lee and Chu, 2013). However, the research on the network-EO relationship in BIs rarely documents the different conditions created by environmental dynamism. Therefore, to comprehensively analyse the impact of BIs' internal and external networks on EO, this study investigates its moderating effect on the network-EO relationship to fully clarify the existing chain relationships.This study makes three main contributions to the literature. First, in the context of China' BIs, it integrates internal and external networks and explains their impacts on new venture performance using co-production theory and the resource-based view. Second, it opens the black box on how incubator networks affect new ventures' performance from the EO perspective and clarifies how incubator networks stimulate new ventures' EO as resource networks. It thus not only provides a finer-grained model for exploring the link between incubator networks and performance but also adds to the current research on the network incubation mechanism. Third, it fully clarifies the existing chain relationships by analysing environmental dynamism's moderating role in the relationship between incubator networks and EO. This fills the existing research gaps described earlier and provides evidence for further analysing incubator networks' impact on EO in dynamic environments.\n2. Hypotheses development and literature review: Based on national strategic guidance on \"mass entrepreneurship and innovation\", China's incubators are thriving. The new generation of Chinese incubators focus on building networks around technology-based ventures, that is, actively promoting the establishment of interactive relationship networks among new ventures and between new ventures and scientific research institutions, venture capital institutions, intermediary service institutions and government departments. Through these incubation networks, new ventures can obtain available key resources for their early innovative development and the formation of first-mover advantages. Additionally, the business environment and technology market in emerging economies exhibit volatility and uncertainty, posing higher challenges for the survival and development of new ventures while also increasing their risk taking and coping strategies. Therefore, China's incubators provide an interesting research context to study the EO strategies and growth performance of new ventures within incubators and the effects of the incubation network and dynamic environment. Here, we propose hypotheses on the effects of BIs' internal and external networks on new venture performance. 2.1 BIs' internal and external networks and new venture performance\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection and sample\n4. Results and analysis: Table 3 presents descriptive statistics and the Pearson correlation matrix. Before testing each hypothesis, the variance inflation factor (VIF) and condition index were used to test multicollinearity problems. All VIF values are below the cut-off of 10 and all the conditional indexes are below the critical value of 30, indicating the effects of multicollinearity are acceptable (O'Brien, 2007).Table 4 presents the results of the multiple regression analysis. Model 1 tested the effects of BIs' internal and external networks on performance, revealing that the internal (b = 0.235, p < 0.001) and external networks (b = 0.189, p < 0.01) significantly and positively impact performance, thus confirming H1a and H1b.Next, in Model 2, the EO is shown to significantly and positively affect performance (b = 0.599, p < 0.001). In Model 3, the internal (b = 0.206, p < 0.01) and external networks (b = 0.180, p < 0.01) significantly and positively affect the EO. Simultaneously, this study tested EO's mediating role through the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013), with EO having a mediating effect on internal network and performance (bindirect effect = 0.151, 95% confidence interval = 0.082 to 0.245) and in the relationship between external network and performance (bindirect effect = 0.149, 95% confidence interval = 0.039 to 0.256). Therefore, H2a and H2b are verified.Finally, this study tested the moderating effects of environmental dynamism on the incubator network and EO in Models 4-7. Before creating each interactive item the variables for the internal network, external network and environmental dynamism were standardized. Environmental dynamism was shown to have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the internal network and EO (b = 0.079, p < 0.05) and that between the external network and EO (b = 0.083, p < 0.1). Therefore, H3a and H3b are verified. Figure 2 intuitively illustrates the moderating effect of environmental dynamism based on Toothaker et al. (1994), using unstandardized coefficients. When environmental dynamism is high, the internal and external networks improve the EO of new ventures, and vice versa.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Research implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study analyses the relationship between the networks of business incubators (BIs) and new venture performance. It proposes an integrated model for identifying the influence of BIs' internal and external networks on new venture performance through the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and environmental dynamism.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses multiple regression analysis on a sample of 205 new ventures in Chinese BIs.\nFindings: Both the internal and external networks of BIs positively affect new venture performance and EO has a mediating effect in this relationship. Environmental dynamism plays a positive moderating role in the relationship between BIs' internal and external networks and EO.\nPractical implications: Based on the results of this study, incubator managers should focus on creating internal and external networks and leveraging network embeddedness to influence new venture performance. Further, new ventures should focus on strengthening their EO and fully consider the impact of environmental dynamism on EO implementation.\nOriginality/value: To address the research gaps in understanding how BI networks can support new venture growth, this study integrates BIs' internal and external networks and explores their impacts on new venture performance using co-production theory and the resource-based view. It thus opens the black box on how BI's networks affect performance from the EO perspective. Moreover, this study fully clarifies chain relationships by identifying and analysing the moderating role of environmental dynamism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Revisiting user studies and information needs	[ "User studies", "Information science" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: David Bawden has provided what seems to me, at least, an excellent, insightful review of the impact of my 1981 Journal of Documentation paper, and I was, initially, at somewhat of a loss to know how to respond - it seems rather narcissistic to reply to the commentary! To a degree, the paper is history, although, as David notes, it appears still to be relevant and some of the concerns it expressed still await thorough examination. However, it cannot be properly understood without some awareness of its prehistory. David has provided a general analysis of the state of what is now called \"human information behaviour research\" at the time of its publication, but a more specific contextual setting may be useful. When the paper was published, the major research project, which I had been directing, the INISS Project (Wilson and Streatfield, 1980), had just come to an end, after five years of work on communication and information flows in local authority social services departments. It was the experience of this project that drove many of the ideas, although some had been in my mind, and used in teaching, for a decade before. (In fact, I had tried to get funds for a similar project in about 1966 or 1968, but had been turned down.)\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to respond to Bawden's review of Wilson's 1981 paper, \"On user studies and information needs\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper reflects on the context of the original paper, and on subsequent developments.\nFindings: - The paper comments on a variety of issues relating to information science as a discipline, and its research programme and methods, with specific emphasis on the understanding of human information behaviour.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides a unique perspective on the development of this aspect of the discipline.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What is sustainable fashion?	[ "UK", "Sustainability", "Fashion", "Sustainable fashion", "Micro-organisation", "Sustainable fashion criteria" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The second anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory incident marks an increased interest in sustainable fashion and ethical practices in the industry (Westervelt, 2015). With sustainability emerging as a \"megatrend\" (Mittelstaedt et al., 2014) the fashion landscape changes dramatically, whereby sustainable fashion becomes increasingly mainstream (Watson and Yan, 2013; Mora et al., 2014). Extant research predominantly focussed on sustainable fashion consumption (e.g. Joy et al., 2012; Cao et al., 2014) rather than on establishing an academic understanding towards sustainable fashion, which is part of the slow fashion movement (Jung and Jin, 2014). This paper utilises a social constructionist approach to address this gap.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Slow fashion movement and sustainable fashion\n3. Methodology: This paper is exploratory in nature and uses social constructionist theory to investigate sustainable fashion. Qualitative research methodologies (e.g. Pookulangara and Shephard, 2013), such as semi-structured interviews (Is), semiotics (SE), Twitterfeed (TF), and questionnaires (Qs) form the basis to investigate principles of sustainable fashion. Thus, findings not only rely on subjective interpretations of the term, but also investigate how \"sustainability\" is communicated with the boundaries of the cases selected (e.g. Eisenhardt, 1989).\n4. Findings and discussion: 4.1 Background information\n5. Conclusion and implications: This paper contributes to knowledge by exploring principles underpinning sustainable fashion from a social constructionist viewpoint. The findings indicate that sustainable fashion is subjective in nature and we suggest a matrix that allows companies to indicate their sustainable fashion priorities. This has various implications for practitioners, as in order to sell fashion items that are classified as \"sustainable\" they need to communicate this clearly to their stakeholders. Highlighting their unique ways of creating fashion could lead to a competitive advantage that strengthens their image. Understanding the various viewpoints is vital for marketers, who can utilise the matrix and clearly communicate what sustainable fashion means to individual companies, which helps to prevent greenwashing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine what the term sustainable fashion means from the perspective of micro-organisations, experts, and consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is qualitative in nature, utilising a multi-methods case study approach (semi-structured interviews, semiotics, questionnaires). Grounded analysis was applied to analyse the data.\nFindings: Findings indicate that interpretation of sustainable fashion is context and person dependent. A matrix of key criteria provides the opportunity to find common elements.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to the nature of this research the sample size is limited and may not be generalised. Data were collected in the UK and are limited to a geographical region.\nPractical implications: An important implication is that defining sustainable fashion is vital in order to avoid challenges, such as greenwashing, which were faced in other industries that have a longer history in sustainable practices. Micro-organisations should take advantage of identifying key sustainable fashion criteria, which will enable them to promote their fashion collections more effectively.\nSocial implications: The criteria identified provide assurance for consumers that sustainable fashion is produced with social aspects in mind (fair wages, good working conditions).\nOriginality/value: The paper proposes a matrix that allows micro-organisations to clearly identify their collections as sustainable.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
On state pensions and social security systems	[ "Social economics", "Social security", "Pensions", "Employment", "Economic doctrines" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI: The state pension and social security systems in industrial countries have faced serious problems of viability since the 1980s (see, e.g. Creedy and Disney, 1989; Marchand and Pestieau, 1991) or recently Bongaarts (2004)), due to various reasons such as:* The demographic ageing of the population, which means that each worker corresponds in more pensioners and therefore the pay-roll contributions be arisen by his labour seat and render unto the state fund, they are distributed to more elders.* The change in living style and standards, the extension of education and training period, and the mass entrance of women in the labour market, which together account for the reduction and the delay of procreation along with the delay of entry in labour market.* The illegal immigration and the afterwards legalization of illegal immigrants in continuous flow, which increases the produced output without however increasing contributions for social security and pensions in proportional extent and as much as the augmenting requirements on health services.\nII: Workers and the rest of the economy's agents claim higher disposable incomes (lower taxation and lower contributions for insurance and pensions) from a pie that does not grow enough and proportionally for all. No one however sells out his right on pension, and he fights against the prospect of increase at the retirement claiming limits of age (despite the increase of expected years of living at birth) and he does not accept any other unfavourable changes to the rest of retirement requirements. Hence the crisis, that no one wants to admit, is at the model of employment and production, in the division of labour and extreme specialization, in the increase of exchanges and the continuous economic growth. Work at this model is not a joy and creation. Whoever enters in the job market, he enters in a system of measurement. He is continuously being checked up for his presence, his productivity, his wage, his physique, his health, and his consumption preferences. All these determine the production of output, competitiveness, efficiency and the economy's growth. Whoever enters the labour market never exits (even when unemployed) unless he becomes fringe, due to his will or behaviour, and therefore he is not taken under consideration any more. Thus in the present model, all adults exist only if they have a role in the economy, i.e. worker, tradesman, entrepreneur etc. Hence retirement holds as the final redemption from the economy (and the labour market for the majority of economy's participants) and from the continuous measurement.\nIII: The obvious crisis of the present economic model has its routes from the one side at the fact that this model has exhausted the exploitation of natural resources of the planet and henceforth it is now moving in the limited horizon pattern of reallocating the existing wealth in favour of those who have the ability of appropriating it from others; and from the other side at the fact that we are not any more at the frame of civic democracy but in this soup of mass democracy (progressively from the decade of 1970) where as a supplement to modernity anything is flux and subversible (see Kondylis, 1991). When Bismarck established for the first time the system of issuing state pensions claimed at the age of 65 in the newly established German state (with the obvious objective to stimulate the solidarity between the generations and consequently between the citizens of his country), they were very few those who were reaching at this age to enjoy their retirement benefits (see Glendon, 2004). Usually they were working from young age, and they had attendance in production process and in inventions at work. At that era the new economic model needed the brain of workers and therefore it was encouraging them, stimulating their morals and made them feeling partners at workplace. Today employees usually enter to the labour force at the age of 25-30, they have frequent unemployment intervals, retire at around 60-65, they have expected years of living 79-81, but they are denying stubbornly to accept any prospect of working age expansion. Why the right in life became right in work and right in pension? It became when people thoroughly accepted the role of counted units in workforce and that of the consumer, selling therefore out their right in creation, thinking and participating in the decision making of their society.\nIV: The European states, during the last 30 years, were interested mainly for the problem of pensions and less for the problem of insurance and medico-pharmaceutical care, since the second can be downgraded via under-funding of the national health services. On the contrary, pensions are immediately claimed by the beneficiaries, and thus European governments tried to alleviate the burden of the retirement problem. First they tried to decrease the existing inequalities and the unfairness of the state pension system. However knowing that the rising of the age limits was a thorny political question, substantially they were moved to the revalorization of state pensions while other countries moved to a broader cash in advance state pension system and they tried to encourage their citizens to use private insurance and pension as a supplementary option. These policies were accompanied by policies of halting illegal and unverifiable immigration (recognizing that it creates more problems than those which unties), as well as by policies of encouragement of childbearing and support the institution of family. However I have the opinion that these measures have limited value and effectiveness since they are compatible with a socio-economic and political system in crisis.\nV: In this paper I argue that the model that exists which is in a swamp, it will sometimes be replaced. According to Kuhn (1970) \"paradigm\", the new model will not be arisen from the reform of the precedent. It will have new assumptions, new structure, new language of expression, new status and prospects. Let's consider as fundamental values life, thought, reason, creation, contribution and solidarity. Let's say that the existing model's values such as the division of labour, sovereignty of dependent salary-based labour, the continuous increase in exchanges due to the division of labour, the stirring up of consumerism through the subconscious creation of false needs and the continuous and \"sustainable\" economic growth are not acceptable. When the government will be interested for the citizen and not the employee, from the one hand it will not be eligible to request pay-roll contributions from the participants of the labour market and on the other hand it will be compelled to provide health care to all citizens and pensions to all aged citizens (beginning at the same age for all and being equal for all). This means that labour seat will not be burdened with such contributions since employee would not be any more the ultimate prototype of the society, but the person that works in order to economize his living. He could make his own savings or he can seek for private insurance if provided state pension to all citizens seems not enough for him.\nVI: Such a system would facilitate citizens to enter to and exit from the labour market according to their needs. Provided that this social insurance and pension system do not force them to work continually (independent of their economic situation) and being counted as number of productivity, labour seat etc. Abstention from the labour market would not constitute automatic political and social exclusion from the social services and political and economic activities. Then citizens would participate or would not participate to the labour market depending on their disposal and their needs, and they could work in different ways (as producer, entrepreneur, merchant, employee, manual worker) each time. With ensured health care and state pension, the values that prevailed from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries would likely collapse. If however the manipulating of subconscious (individual and collective) for the creation of false needs and the guidance of consumers (leading at the maintenance and increase of consumer expenses with consecutive the continuous economic growth) remain strong and vivid, then those who would have been benefited from such a change would be those economic agents who dictate and influence the economic activity, while the majority of citizens and workers would found themselves in even more awkward position.\nVII: Let us try to specify the frame of such a system where the state undertakes the full cover of medico-pharmaceutical care of all citizens and issues state pensions for all citizens over a certain age. As it was discussed above, the state will have the burden of the national pension which could not be easily estimated and could vary according to the economic activity (possibly connected with business cycle). Therefore it could vary according to the number of old people who would be interested in claiming it due to money's tightness. Let's specify some parameters of national pension:* National pension is paid down to those whose income is less than the double of it and it is paid up to the completion of the double of the national pension.* The determination of the high of the national (let's say monthly) pension could be done either through the estimation of the full cover of meals expenses (for the whole month) or through the estimation of (monthly) house rent expenses for a single person. However in either case the government in cooperation with the society (not the homo-economicus society of course) should be ready to provide shelter or extra food to those of pensioners who need them.* The retirement age (equal for all in the national pension system) can be determined as being the same time interval from the life expectancy age at birth with the duration of the period before adultness, i.e. if the age of adultness has been determined as the sixteenth and the life expectance at birth is 81 then this generation will take the national pension from the age of 65 (=81-16). Furthermore if some professions are responsible for increased mortality rates (with fatal labour accidents excluded from these calculations) among those being employed at those professions, then national pension could be paid to these employees at the respective lower age according to their life expectancy.* As it concerns the funding of the national pension system in a post-capitalistic society, this could be directed to specified and targeted indirect taxes in transportation of products (since this is the heart of capitalism: division of labour and exchange of intermediaries and final products) and energy consumption (since the consumption of everything, i.e. at the very end of any kind of energy and scarce resources, is at the heart of mass democracy since the decade of 1970).\nVIII: Summing up the crisis of state pension and social security system is interwoven with the crisis of the model of production, labour, accumulation and growth. Whether the solution will come through the inversion of current values (moving up to a humanistic system of values) or from their mutation (in the hard system of complete control via globalisation), only the future can reveal it. That is to say, the future will reveal whether it will be the release from the present system of values and work (according to the first) or the deterioration of conditions of living and working (according to the second) will resolve also the actuarial problem of state pension and social security systems in the developed countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show that the crisis of social security and state pension systems in the ageing industrial societies is actually a crisis of the model of social and economic organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The present economic model of industrial countries counts human beings only as contributors in production and consumption, and not as members of a society.\nFindings: - The paper shows that with another hierarchical order of values, the views of human beings are different.\nPractical Implications: - If the state cares for the citizen and not the worker, then it is responsible to provide health care and pensions to all citizens and not just to workers and to workers-attached persons.\nOriginality/value: - The paper paints the picture of another society, and not of the present one where the homo-economicus dominates.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Netnography as a tool for understanding customers: implications for service research and practice	[ "Qualitative research", "Ethnography", "Netnography", "Service research", "Method", "Internet research" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Understanding customers is a key aim of service marketing research and an important requirement for successful service business practice (Gummesson et al., 2014). On a daily basis, customers interact with service providers, such as retailers, restaurants, retail banks, health-care providers, government services, non-profit organizations and telecommunications companies (Anderson et al., 2013). However, due to rapid advancements, especially in information technology, the context in which service is delivered, experienced and evaluated is changing (Ostrom et al., 2015). Today's service customers are increasingly active online before, during and after interactions with service providers, which creates large masses of information about their activities and experiences (Berthon et al., 2015; Wuenderlich et al., 2015). Much of this information is publicly available and presents new opportunities for more personalized, higher quality service (Rust and Huang, 2014). Collecting and analyzing such extensive data, however, is one of the main challenges in today's service marketing research and practice (Aksoy, 2013; Baron and Russell-Bennett, 2016).\nNetnography: Ethnographic enquiry has traditionally been used to gain a deep understanding of marketplace cultures and actors (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995). Over the past two decades, however, the internet has created unprecedented opportunities for customer insights (Bickhart and Schindler, 2001; Catterall and Maclaran, 2002; Puri, 2007). When Kozinets (1997, 1998) developed netnography in the 1990s, customers' online presence was limited to virtual communities of enthusiasts discussing common interests and forming their own cybercultures. Today, customers are constantly connected to the internet through computers and an array of mobile devices; the younger generations especially share many of their opinions, experiences and everyday activities online. Thus, the evolution of netnographic research is closely linked to the evolution of the internet and information technologies (e.g. social media, internet of things, social networking sites and mobile technology). The abundance of traces left by customers on various online platforms is valuable data for researchers and managers (La Rocca et al., 2014; Baron and Russell-Bennett, 2016).\nMethodology: A systematic review approach was chosen to analyze the use of netnography in marketing research. Originating in the medical sciences, systematic or evidence-based literature reviews have increasingly been adopted by researchers in other disciplines to reduce bias and provide a comprehensive body of knowledge (Bryman and Bell, 2011). A systematic review investigates the literature on a particular subject with explicit and transparent methods that follow a standard series of stages (Mulrow, 1994). Consequently, systematic literature reviews are regarded as more objective, unbiased and trustworthy than traditional narrative literature reviews (Egger et al., 2008).\nFindings: Not surprisingly, the analysis revealed a rapid growth in the use of netnography by marketing researchers. As illustrated in Figure 1, it took approximately 10 years after the first netnography publication for the method to become widespread. Since 2008, there has been a rapid increase in netnography publications in the marketing field. This trend implies that netnography has established itself as a recognized qualitative methodology among marketing researchers. Due to societal trends, social media and the continuous expansion of the internet's reach, a continuous increase in the usage of netnography may be expected in the years ahead, before a potential flattening in the curve of publications per year (Figure 2).\nImplications for service research: The findings of this systematic review and analysis show that netnography has been used in different ways to research a variety of topics across different marketing fields. This review also reveals that service researchers have adopted netnography. Research in the service context, however, has used the method to a limited extent compared to, for example, consumer research. At the same time, services generate around 70-80 per cent of gross domestic product in most developed countries (CIA World Factbook, 2016) and reflect the typical type of everyday consumption discussed online by customers (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). Basically, all sorts of service experiences that customers openly and publicly share online can be used as input for netnography. Netnographic enquiry can help further service researchers' understanding of restaurant eating practices, for example, through online dietary discussion groups. Moreover, online forums devoted to personal finance can be used to explore how customers integrate different financial services and online tools into their personal financial management.\nImplications for service practice: This review and analysis of netnographic marketing research also has several implications for service managers. As customers bring their offline identities, values, meanings and other characteristics online (Dumitricia and Gaden, 2009), netnography makes a valuable contribution to the market research toolbox for companies. Netnographic enquiry allows service firms to access unelicited and naturalistic data from a variety of online platforms, such as internet discussion forums, review sites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest (Croft, 2013; Healy and Beverland, 2013; Podoshen, 2013). Furthermore, networked gamespaces, instant messaging chats and new forms of mobile communication technologies (e.g. smartphone apps) are interesting places for future netnographies (Kozinets, 2006). Many of the newer online platforms offer large amounts of visual data. Pictures and videos can be powerful complements to traditional textual online data. Hence, netnography is a flexible method that can be adapted for market research in most virtual arenas.\nControversies regarding the use of netnography: This study indicated that many marketing researchers have diverged from the original intentions of netnography. Very few of the reviewed studies followed the methodological guidelines outlined by Kozinets (2002, 2006, 2010, 2015). Although only studies that used the label \"netnography\" were included in this review, the sample contained a broad set of applications of the method. Netnography has been used in various ways, and this has resulted in a dilution and diversification of the principles of netnography. Some studies were strongly focused on ethnography with some online elements (e.g. O'Sullivan et al., 2011; McGrath et al., 2013), whereas other studies were more strongly focused on quantifying online textual data (e.g. Yang and Fang, 2004; Pan and Zhang, 2011). Kozinets (2015) also noted this fragmentation of netnography.\nConclusions: This study involved analyzing 321 netnographic marketing studies published between 1997 and 2017 and providing a comprehensive overview and synthesis of the use of netnography in marketing. In doing so, this study adds to and extends previous research on netnography as a research method (e.g. Kozinets, 1998, 2002; Sandlin, 2007; Bartl et al., 2016; Costello et al., 2017). While Costello et al. (2017), for example, focused on how netnography should be used and emphasized Kozinets (2002, 2006, 2010, 2015) methodological guidelines, the focus here was on mapping out what has been done under the label of netnography in the field of marketing and what future opportunities exist for service researchers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Understanding customers is critical for service researchers and practitioners. Today, customers are increasingly active online, and valuable information about their opinions, experiences and behaviors can be retrieved from a variety of online platforms. Online customer information creates new opportunities to design personalized and high-quality service. This paper aims to review how netnography as a method can help service researchers and practitioners to better use such data.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic review and analysis were conducted on 321 netnography studies published in marketing journals between 1997 and 2017.\nFindings: The systematic review reveals that netnography has been applied in a variety of ways across different marketing fields and topics. Based on the analysis of existing netnography literature, empirical, theoretical and methodological recommendations for future netnographic service research are presented.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper shows how netnography can offer service researchers unprecedented opportunities to access naturalistic online data about customers and, hence, why it is an important method for future service research.\nPractical implications: Netnographic research can help service firms with, for example, service innovation, advertising and environmental scanning. This paper provides guidelines for service managers who want to use netnography as a market research tool.\nOriginality/value: Netnography has seen limited use in service research despite many promising applications in this field. This paper is the first to encourage and support service researchers in their use of the method and aims to stimulate interesting future netnographic service research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational justice and innovation in the workplace: the case of the UAE	[ "Justice", "Fairness", "Innovation climate", "Readiness to innovate", "Work climate", "Middle East and developing countries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations, especially in developing countries, have been facing numerous challenges related to their survival, development and growth. They came to discover that they are not sealed-off from the global competition and that creating and sustaining competitive advantage is crucial to operate, compete and develop in today's challenging and continuously changing workplace. According to Al-Swidi et al. (2011, p. 299) \"organizations {in developing countries} are required not only to create their competitive advantage to lead the trend, but also to be able to sustain and upgrade the created competitive advantage.\" Meanwhile, to create and sustain the competitive advantage; organizations of developing countries need to adapt to outgoing changes. In other words, they must be creative and innovative as many recent research argue, e.g. Mayson (2011) \"businesses must adapt or die\" and Ruhanen (2010) \"innovate or deteriorate.\" To adapt we first need to create the right climate where each member of the organization feels accepted, respected and valued. Such a conducive work atmosphere will encourage employees to question the old established habits of doing work, think outside of the box and explore new and innovative ways of getting the job done. In this context Suliman (2007) argued that:\nLiterature review: The concept of organizational justice has been driven from different angles by different researchers. Generally speaking, employee perception of fairness in all organizational procedures, processes and practices is assumed to affect his/her behavior and other work outcomes. Most of the scholars (e.g. Forret and Love, 2008; Li and Cropanzano, 2009) tend to agree on the multifaceted nature of this construct, and incline to cite three main factors. Procedural justice which is concerned with the fairness of the processes by which decisions are made, distributive justice that refers to employee satisfaction with work outcomes and interactional justice; which examines the nature of the relationships between superiors and subordinates. Innovation climate is the perceptions, feelings and attitudes that employees share about innovation in the workplace. The term \"readiness to innovate\" will be used in this study to refer to how prepared are the employees to willingly try new ways of doing things.\nMethods: Sample\nFindings and discussions: In order to examine the study hypotheses the collected primary data are analyzed using SPSS software. Both descriptive and inferential statistics are applied for this purpose, i.e. frequency distribution, means, reliability test, correlation test, regression test and Baron and Kenny's (1986) three-step process.\nConclusions and recommendations: All organizational justice components - procedural, distributive and interactional justice - played significant role in explaining the variance in employees' perception of innovation climate. The more satisfied the employees with methods, procedures, policies [...], etc. of the organization and the quality of the relationships that they are having with their superiors the more prepared they will be to create and innovate. Further, innovation climate was found to play a significant yet a partial role in mediating the link between justice and readiness to innovate. This means that justice has a direct relationship with readiness to innovate, however, this relationship can be partially mediated by innovation climate.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper to aim at exploring the links between employees' perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice on one hand and innovation climate and readiness to innovate on the other hand. The role of innovation climate in predicting readiness to innovate is also examined. Further, the study attempts to test the mediating role of innovation climate in justice-readiness to innovate relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper aims at exploring the links between employees' perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice on one hand and innovation climate and readiness to innovate on the other hand. The role of innovation climate in predicting readiness to innovate is also examined. Further, the study attempts to test the mediating role of innovation climate in justice-readiness to innovate relationship.\nFindings: The findings revealed that perception of justice played a key role in employees' perception of innovation climate. Innovation climate was found to be positively and significantly related to readiness to innovate. Employees' readiness to try new ways of doing things and question the existing habits of the work tended to show significant and positive relationship to organizational justice. Innovation climate played a significant yet a partial role in mediating the link between justice and readiness to innovate.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample represented only governmental sector and only one emirate of the UAE's seven emirates. The implications of the findings for researchers together with some future guidelines are discussed in the paper.\nPractical implications: The paper provides practitioners with some advice about understanding and managing justice and innovation.\nOriginality/value: The paper is the first study in the UAE and the Middle East that examines the links between justice, innovation climate and readiness to innovate.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer control, dependency and satisfaction with online service	[ "Control", "Customer satisfaction", "Dependency", "Online service", "Encounter satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent times the internet appears to be playing an ever increasing significant role in aiding the succeesful marketing of both products and services. Research suggests that using the internet can help firms to build customer loyalty (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003; Kassim and Abdullah, 2010; Ganguli and Roy, 2011), influence repeat customer purchases (Kaur and Quareshi, 2015; Reibstein, 2002), reduce cost, enhance efficiency (Jayawardhena and Foley, 2000), improve market share and enhance profitability (Reichheld and Schefter, 2000). Whilst a plethora of such studies have tended to focus on corporate outcomes, this research offers a more customer-centric perspective by investigating internet user control as a customer-oriented concept. Through using online services, customers are now able to control the service process and determine their own online service outcome (Ba and Johansson, 2008). The study argues that through experiencing control, customers can contribute to their overall satisfaction at both the online service encounter level and corporate level.\nTheoretical background: Social learning theory assumes that human behaviour is determined by the continuous reciprocal interaction of personal cognition and the environment (Bandura, 1977). Being a cognitive factor affecting consumer behaviour, locus of control is defined as the extent to which an individual perceives events or behaviour to be determined by him/her, i.e., intrinsic or extrinsic factors (Rotter, 1954).\nConceptual model and research hypotheses: The antecedents of and the positive relationship between service encounter satisfaction and overall satisfaction have previously been examined in the literature comprehensively. Control and dependency have also been studied by scholars of online consumer behaviour and communication (e.g. Bridges and Florsheim, 2008; Chou and Hsiao, 2000; Koufaris, 2002; Novak et al., 2000; Ruiz and Sanz, 2006; Wang et al., 2005). However, the role of consumer control in relation to online dependency leading to satisfaction in an online service context has not previously been examined, but is worthy of investigation.\nInvestigation method: The study used iBanking (i.e. internet banking) to exemplify online service here. It focused on the iBanking usage behaviour of Hong Kong consumers. Hong Kong is an ideal location as it has a world class internet network and well developed iBanking service. Hong Kong customers are sophisticated, experienced and demanding. Such a consumer demanding condition facilitates the development of iBanking which makes the subject worthy of such study. Four personal interviews were conducted with four senior managers responsible for iBanking services in four different banks in Hong Kong. This process proved useful in clarifying the constructs and developing appropriate measurment scales to capture those four pertinent attributes in the study.\nResearch findings: Demographics and banking behaviour of respondents\nDiscussion: In the study, an online service model was formulated to theorise the relationship between control, online dependency, online encounter satisfaction and overall satisfaction. The findings confirmed the significance of control as an initiator and driver of customer satisfaction in an online service context. Control was found to be a significant factor leading to online encounter satisfaction and online dependency. Based on the findings and the model, customers control actively the interaction process via the online service platform which shows their dependency on and encounter satisfaction with the online service. Their dependency and encounter satisfaction then lead to overall satisfaction.\nLimitations and future directions: The Hong Kong context of the research places limitations on the generalisability of the findings to online service in other contexts. The same research instrument can be used in other cities and countries to further validate the findings. The data were only collected from iBanking customers. Thus its application and explanatory capability are limited. Further research in different online service environments will help to refine the current framework and future research should test the generalisability of the online service model confirmed in the study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a new conceptual model in an online service context. The model focuses on an important, yet often neglected customer-oriented construct, i.e., user \"control\", which is embedded in consumer behaviour when accessing the internet. The study examines the relationship between control, online dependency, online encounter satisfaction and overall satisfaction. It explains the strategic implications surrounding customer control and online dependency as means for enhancing customer satisfaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed drawing on a combination of existing and new measurement items for the constructs in question. The instrument was later pilot tested on two consecutive occasions ahead of the main survey. A random sample of Hong Kong banking consumers was approached and interviews were undertaken via telephone. The data were analysed via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses relating to the model.\nFindings: The findings reveal positive relationships between control and online dependency, and control and online encounter satisfaction. Meanwhile control, online dependency and online encounter satisfaction lead to overall satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: This study proposes a counterintuitive argument that while online service customers gain control of the online service process, they become more dependent on it, and their control and dependency also lead to their satisfaction, at both the online service encounter level and corporate level. Drawing on the pertinent literature, this is the first study to examine the importance of two information system constructs, i.e., control and online dependency, as predictors of consumer psychological fulfilment, i.e., satisfaction. The findings confirm that control as an initiator and driver of customer satisfaction in an online context, and online encounter satisfaction, further contributes to overall satisfaction at the corporate level.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Prior knowledge: the role of virtual worlds in venture creation	[ "Experiential learning", "Small business", "Venture creation", "Prior knowledge" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The start-up process and early growth of new ventures has been the focus of considerable research effort. Of particular interest has been the identification of the factors, characteristics and conditions which foster entrepreneurial processes in new venture creation (Gartner, 1986; Roberts, 1991; Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). In addition to the individual characteristics that an entrepreneur possesses, pre-entry knowledge and experience are attributed to the success of venture creation. As creating a new business is a process fraught with difficulty and failure (Reynolds, 1992; Song et al., 2010); the more knowledge of the process a nascent entrepreneur can gain pre-start up arguably success is more likely.\nResearch methodology: To understand how the nascent entrepreneurs can gain experiential learning of venture creation from virtual worlds this study adopted an interpretive philosophical position, drawing on the belief that reality is socially constructed and subjectively viewed by the people who give it its meaning. The researchers immersed themselves in a virtual world for a period of six months to observe the process of venture creation within Second Life. In this section we describe how we collected and analysed our data.\nFindings: The findings from the research showed that all of the businesses we examined conformed to the typical v-commerce transaction explained in the literature review. The businesses had been designed to reflect real world businesses. Table I gives summary information about a selection of products that were sold in the businesses we examined. Each of the products listed were designed to look like their real world counterpart, with the exception of the Desert Eagle gun and some of the aircraft, none purported to be a Second Life version of a real product/brand.\nDiscussion: With the importance of entrepreneurship and the process of new venture creation being widely accepted as important to the economy. But with more than half of new businesses failing in the first 18 months, it is essential that we explore the mechanisms that can aid the process of venture creation. This paper explored how the nascent entrepreneurs can gain crucial prior knowledge that will increase the chances of their new venture surviving. The aim of this paper was to understand how experiential learning through starting a business in a virtual world setting, aids the process of gaining prior knowledge.\nConclusion and future research: Our findings provide support for the notion that important knowledge of the entrepreneurial process of venture creation was gained, under business conditions. Second Life provided an accessible learning environment where nascent entrepreneurs could hone their business skills as they recognised opportunities and thus created new businesses. The advantages of experiencing venture creation in a virtual setting were that mistakes are not as costly as they may be in the real world, in terms of time and costs to set up the business. Yet the skills required recognising the opportunity and the process of venture creation was much the same as the real world.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Creating a new business often ends in failure arguably the more knowledge of the start-up process an entrepreneur has the more successful the outcome. Whilst business simulations have been researched, the role of virtual worlds in aiding nascent entrepreneurs in gaining important experiential learning is lacking. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative research involved six months observational data, with nine in-depth semistructured interviews with the small business owners based in the virtual world Second Life.\nFindings: The findings highlight important similarities between \"real world\" and \"virtual world\" businesses. The nascent entrepreneurs reported a sense of running the business as any other business. The level of risk, in terms of capital, for setting up a virtual business is far less than the real world. However, risks are still associated with a virtual business with entrepreneurs investing time to run the business.\nOriginality/value: The findings of this study provide important insight into how prior knowledge can be gained through participating in \"real\" business activities, other than business simulations. Virtual worlds provide can play an important role in aiding nascent entrepreneurs to gain important prior knowledge of the start-up process, that the authors can anticipate will aid the entrepreneur in further ventures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Auditing psychiatric out-patient records	[ "Auditing", "Outpatients", "Quality standards", "Communication", "Ireland" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: The quality of psychiatric patient care is known to be partly dependent on communication between general practitioners (GPs) and psychiatrists (Wright, 1997). Many studies look at clinical letter quality (Pullen and Yellowlees, 1985; Williams and Wallace, 1974) but few focus on the pathways involved, in this communication. Out-patient clinic letters are one of the most important ways that doctors involved in patient care can exchange information. These letters aim to provide a comprehensive picture of care and provide accurate details of management plans and, therefore, are an essential component of a high quality service. Placing letter copies in the chart also ensures an up-to-date, readily accessible reference point and legible record of the patient's current progress and the information supplied to primary carers. Typed, up-to-date information avoids eligibility difficulties. It is well recognised that poor handwriting means that much information in medical records remains inaccessible to others involved in the patient's care (Rodriguez-Vera et al., 2002). If out-patient letters are updated and stored electronically then they facilitate information sharing among all health professionals involved in the patient's care.Out-patient letters can have a powerful educational value (Fox et al., 2004). Correspondence from specialists furnishes GPs with management guidance. Furthermore they can help to clarify ambiguities in relation to patient care and are particularly important for patients with learning difficulties (Markar, 2002). Inferior and absent doctor-to-doctor communication may contribute to fragmented patient care (Chew-Graham et al., 2008). It is well known that poor correspondence can lead to patient complaints and litigation (Panting and Stearns, 2000). Difficulty transmitting information, has been highlighted by Wilson et al. (2001), in relation to discharge summaries. Litigation claims involving communication breakdown between secondary and primary carers are further strengthened by government mandates on appropriate inter-physician communication practices. For instance, UK government directives concerning appropriate communication standards between secondary and primary carers regarding individuals presenting to emergency departments with deliberate self harm have been established by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2004). Cooper et al. (2008) audited 93 self-harm presentations to an emergency department. They found that both psychiatric and emergency department medical staff communicated with primary care teams in only 62 per cent of the episodes, thereby insufficiently achieving NICE's standards.\nService context: Our department, providing services to approximately 136,000 people, is based on a multidisciplinary team treatment model. Each team comprises a consultant psychiatrist, registrar, psychiatric nurse, community psychiatric nurse, social worker and occupational therapist. We examined the out-patient service record keeping processes in a busy urban psychiatry service running daily out-patient clinics. Our main objectives were to:* examine psychiatric out-patient record keeping processes;* identify policy and practice discrepancies;* provide feedback to relevant staff; and* improve standards by setting appropriate guidelines.Our particular focus was to investigate whether out-patient department (OPD) communication pathways from letter dictation to chart insertion were being achieved. Our study allowed us to identify deficiencies in the current system and provide a template for improvement.\nMethod: We selected 100 medical charts by randomly choosing chart numbers from weekly OPD lists. If a chart number was chosen more than once then an alternative chart was selected so that 100 random individual OPD attendees were obtained and corresponding patient charts were selected for review. The OPD lists covered July to December 2006. This information was then compiled in April 2007. We looked at case notes for evidence of attendance at OPD clinics. We compared this with corresponding paper records and electronically stored files. Electronic files were patient letters stored as Microsoft Word documents only accessible by staff with user privileges. Data were collected by three psychiatry department clinicians and analysed using SPSS vs 12 to generate descriptive statistics. We collected non-identifiable data from patient case notes using an agreed pro-forma, which recorded the following details:* date first presenting;* most recent OPD attendance;* most recent OPD-related letter;* total letters to GPs and other healthcare professionals;* last electronically stored letter; and* uncorrected (manually altered) letters in the chart.\nResults: First presentation dates spanned from 1979 to 2006. 15 per cent of the charts contained no typed correspondence (see Table I). 27 per cent of the typed correspondence did not have a corresponding electronic counterpart. Of these, 81 per cent (22) had a typed letter in the chart but the electronic counterpart was absent. Of the 85 per cent that had typed correspondence, 5 per cent had uncorrected letters (letters with hand-written amendments), inserted into the chart.The mean time in years from the last letter inserted in the chart to current time (2007) was 2.8 years (range: 0 to 18 years). The mean time between out-patient attendance and last out-patient letter was 2.3 years (see Table II). The minimum and maximum categories indicate that letters where put in charts before and after the last OPD visit indicating that a discrepancy in timing between computer-stored letter and those in the chart was 1.2 years on average. The time between last out-patient clinic and the last computer-stored letter was 0.7 years.If one considers that a month is an acceptable time for letters to be inserted into patient charts and sent to primary care practitioners then only 11 per cent of our charts satisfied this condition. Almost three quarters of the charts we examined had no relevant letters one month from the patients' last out-patient attendance (see Table III).\nConclusions and recommendations: Our review highlights the current deficiencies in the communication pathways between different levels of patient care and a clear need to establish quality standards. The communication process seems to lack standardisation. Different practices seem to be followed depending on individual preferences. Several areas identified in the communication chain are worrying, including: out-patient letter frequency; time delay between letter dictation and chart insertion into; and letter storage. Preserving medical records is essential and, therefore, recording, documenting and communicating information procedures must be established (Singh et al., 2005).An obvious issue arising from these results is whether GPs are provided with updated and timely information. Poor communication between hospital and primary care practitioners results in overall poor service quality or potentially adverse outcomes; for example, treatment delays, medication errors, duplicating services including prescriptions and frustrated patients. Indeed, it is possible that GPs are not receiving any communication, as there is no mechanism to verify that correspondence was received. There are a number of disruptions in the communication process chain from letter dictation to chart insertion identified by this review (see Figure 1):* charts with no letters;* uncorrected letters in charts;* missing word documents - absent electronic records;* time delay between OPD appointment and corresponding OPD letter insertion in chart; and* No method to verify that GPs receive letters.Following this review, we agreed that our results would be: presented to the local health management committee - a forum for discussion; and used to address relevant severance points in the Figure 1 process map. The need to standardise procedures and policies for OPD doctor communication pathways and secretarial services was highlighted. We identified that establishing new out-patient standards is essential and communicated to all relevant staff;, e.g. secretaries and doctors. Our review also drew attention to the importance of addressing workforce issues in relation to the time lag from typing letters, checking and mailing (Farquhar et al., 2005; Penney, 1988). During our study there was no dedicated administrative support for each team, an obvious factor that influences whether medical records are regularly updated. Our concerns regarding timely letters to GPs indicate that electronic transfer methods could offer a solution. Electronically storing patient information helps doctors to significantly enhance service quality and increase medical efficiency (Sujansky, 1998). Another issue was ensuring that electronic records were properly maintained. While electronic records allow faster information storage, backup, retrieval and transmission, precautions are needed to ensure that important and confidential information is not compromised, whether by accidental deletion or incorrect storage or transmission. Appropriate staff training and support in relation to communication is needed. Regarding other deficiencies we identified that clear protocols for communication with GPs need developing. Finally, we recommend that this audit be repeated once new procedures are in place.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Up-to-date patient records are essential for safe and professional practice. They are an intrinsic component for providing adequate care and ensuring appropriate and systematic treatment plans. Furthermore, accurate and contemporaneous notes are essential for achieving professional standards from a medico-legal perspective. The study's main aim was to investigate current record-keeping practices by looking at whether out-patient communication pathways to general practitioners, from letter dictation to insertion in the chart, were being satisfied.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - From current out-patient attendees over six months, 100 charts were chosen randomly, and reviewed. A pro-forma was used to collect data and this information was also checked against electronic records.\nFindings: - Of the charts reviewed, 15 per cent had no letter. If one considers that one-month is an acceptable time for letters to be inserted into the chart, then only 11 per cent satisfied this condition. Electronic data were also missing.\nResearch limitations/implications: - It is impossible to discern whether letters to GPs were dictated by the out-patient doctor for each patient reviewed. Another limitation was that some multidisciplinary hospital teams have different out-patient note-keeping procedures, which makes some findings difficult to interpret.\nPractical implications: - The review drew attention to current record-keeping discrepancies, highlighting the need for medical record-keeping procedures and polices to be put in place. Also brought to light was the importance of providing a workforce sufficient to meet the out-patient team's administrative needs. An extended audit of other medical record-keeping aspects should be carried out to determine whether problems occur in other areas.\nOriginality/value: - The study highlights the importance of establishing agreed policies and procedures for out-patient record keeping and the need to have a checking mechanism to identify system weaknesses.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of global operations on product architecture: an exploratory study	[ "Global operations management", "Product design", "Case study", "Integral", "Modular", "Manufacturing network" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The manufacturing footprint of many companies is becoming successively more global. With larger product portfolios and more manufacturing and R&D sites, the problem of deciding who should be doing what in the global operations network becomes increasingly difficult. Simultaneously, the number of degrees of freedom in the decision space increases, which allows for a wider range of design opportunities for the global operations network. An increasingly important aspect in this context is the relationship between product design and global operations, since these should be aligned to provide the best support for the competitive position of the products in their respective markets. This is not an easy task. Firms need to effectively manage market-related aspects concerning the product such as product range and customer service as well as operations-related aspects such as cost efficiency and flexibility of production and distribution along the supply chain. While it is generally accepted that design decisions of products and their related supply chains are interrelated, it is not clear how they interact with each other (Zhang et al., 2008). All too often, product design and supply chain design are treated as two separate areas, for example, existing literature reviews on supply chain design do not discuss the explicit role of product architecture, and existing literature reviews on product architecture and design have not treated the relationship with supply chain design (Pashaei and Olhager, 2015). In general, the work on the development of decision support models for concurrent supply chain and product design has not been fully explored (Chiu and Okudan, 2011), particularly considering the global issues in supply chain design (Elmaraghy and Mahmoudi, 2009).\n2. Related literature: Below we first review the relevant literature on product architecture and global operations, divided into three parts, concerned with product architecture, global operations, and relationships between product architectures and global operations. Then, we synthesize the findings from the review of the related literature.\n3. Research design and methodology: The fundamental research question for this study is the following:\n4. Companies: 4.1 Company A\n5. Results: From the in-depth interviews and the common seminar with the companies at the first research stage, we identified ten global operations factors that potentially can influence the product architecture decisions (i.e. whether to use modular or integral architectures). These are displayed in Table III, which is divided into three sections that highlight the relationship with the six factors identified in the literature review. It should be emphasized that the ten factors from the multiple-case study were derived independently of the literature review, i.e. the researchers did not provide the companies with the result from the literature review.\n6. Discussion: This paper contributes to both research and practice, by providing some insights into the choice of product architecture based on characteristics of the global operations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how global operations of manufacturing companies influence the choice of product architecture decisions, ranging from integral to modular product designs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors perform a multiple-case study of three global manufacturing companies with integral and modular product architectures.\nFindings: The authors find that the internal network capabilities, the number of capable plants, the focus of component plants, the focus of assembly plants, the distances from key suppliers to internal plants, and the number of market segments significantly influence the choice of integral vs modular architecture.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study is limited to three large manufacturing companies with global operations. However, the authors investigate both integral and modular products. The authors develop propositions that can be tested in further survey research.\nPractical implications: The findings show that the type of global operations network influences the decision on product architecture, such that certain global operations characteristics support integral product designs, while other characteristics support modular designs.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge this paper is the first study on the explicit impact of global operations on product architecture, rather than the other way around.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From future states to images of identity	[ "Complexity theory", "Forecasting", "Government", "New Zealand" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI: As in most other Western countries, New Zealand government has a history since the Second World War of explicitly experimenting with ways of securing control over the future. In common with these other countries, the initial attempts emphasised centrally coordinated planning. It was assumed that the future is to a large extent predictable, through forecasting or extrapolation from the present. This meant, most importantly, a conviction that economic production targets could be set with the help of economic modelling and in consultation with relevant groups, and that these and other affected groups could be expected to manage their activities in accordance with the overall plan. In many countries, this idea did not work very well. In New Zealand's case, the production targets were too ambitious; there was a change of government; and the oil shocks of the 1970s were particularly severe for New Zealand given its distance from markets together with its dependence on commodity exports. A period of market liberalism followed, in which planning was a dirty word. And then in the 1990s - again as elsewhere - the government got interested in \"foresight\". This was often understood as technology foresight, or the idea that economies were now, more than ever before, driven by constant technological innovation, and it was therefore important to know what technological advances were possible or believed to be on the horizon, in order to ensure the productive forces of a society remained or became competitive with others.Delphi forecasting techniques were therefore popular at this time. But to varying degrees in different countries, the question of future technologies was also thought to entail discovering what kind of society was possible or likely in the future, or even what kind of society was considered desirable by those consulted on the matter. (Indeed, Paul Gandar, the chief designer of what was to become known as the Foresight Project in New Zealand, assured me in conversation that the process had been intended from the beginning to be something much broader than technology foresight.) Hence the interest of government in several countries, but particularly in New Zealand, in appropriating the technique of scenario building, which, as is well known, had originated in military contexts in the 1960s and become popular over the intervening 20 years in private corporations.So now, in scenario building, we have quite a different conception of the future from that operating amongst governments in the 1960s. In simple terms, instead of looking at the future as an extension of the present, there is now, on the one hand, a higher degree of uncertainty about what is transpiring, but on the other hand, also more willingness to see the future as open and malleable. There is therefore, importantly, a certain tension at the heart of this contemporary conception, and this is translated into differing perceptions of what scenarios can be used for. What we might call developed or classical scenario building theory emphasises the uncertainty. It is about building a \"matrix\" of possibilities around two or more key uncertainties or \"drivers\", a process that gives rise to a spectrum of possible future states, neither one of which is likely to transpire as such. The idea is to use the process as a learning tool for exploring the future prior to attempting to shape it in light of the scenario results. But there is also a popular idea of scenarios which is that you simply imagine possible future societies, which may be utopian or dystopian, or preferably, as far as policy makers are concerned, desirable yet realistic (i.e. normative), whereupon attention can be paid to \"back casting\", or working out a policy path for reaching that destination. (See also Voros (2006, pp. 49-50) for a similar distinction.)One of the potential pitfalls of using scenarios, then, in addition to the possibility of not carrying out either process adequately, is not being clear about the end that particular scenario exercises are being primarily used for: managing uncertainty, or envisioning a desirable future. If we now look more closely at New Zealand's experience of using scenarios at the government level, we can see the consequences of this lack of clarity.There were two aspects to the use of scenarios during the Foresight Project that are worth looking at. One aspect concerns the scenarios actually produced by government officials. The other aspect involves the process by which individual sector groups were invited to construct scenarios of their own. My intention in what follows is to address these aspects in turn, and then, in light of the difficulties described, propose an alternative technique, national imaging, which might usefully precede scenario-building when consulting with citizens about the nation's future.Official scenario construction\nII: Now in the second half of this article, I would like to present an alternative way of proceeding; one which does not eschew scenario-building entirely, but which is based on the view that the technique is too ambitious, too socially unitary, too implicitly long-term to be really useful as a primary focus for government planners. This view assumes that any account of a more realistic approach to managing the future must have two dimensions. One concerns the overall orientation to the future, which encapsulates the attitude to take towards time in general. How is time to be conceived and lived? The second, and subordinate, aspect concerns the actual mechanisms by which the future can be managed.Perhaps an even prior step, though, is to give up thinking of the future as something to be managed, since this kind of thinking may be part of the problem. Clearly, it is a matter of anticipating, and also being prepared as far as possible for what cannot be anticipated, and \"managing\" is an appropriate term in these respects. However, it is vital that this be combined with something more creative, along the lines of the Foresight Project's envisioning but more anchored than that mechanism was in the realisable as well as the desirable, to use terms employed by the French prospective tradition (Godet and Roubelat,1996).Even \"shaping\" - a popular contemporary choice, which has the appealing advantage of acknowledging both that the work must be ongoing and that it must build on materials already given - assumes, in my view, an unrealistic possibility of unity and control on the part of human agents. Better, I think, to accept at the outset a more modest notion of finding individual and collective ways of influencing a future that is always already in the process of formation; a future in which we can never be other than immersed, as opposed to standing outside. By \"influencing\" the future, I mean joining with intent the confluence of myriad trickles and torrents that make up the present. This sense is congruent with an understanding of complexity or \"emergence\" - both as scientific theory and as ontological practice - that stresses a possibility of guidance, of recognising and carefully attempting to further what are shaping as desirable outcomes. In terms that resonate with my earlier criticism of scenarios, Stacey (1996, p. 187) provides an illuminating elaboration of this argument:Members of an organization, no matter how intelligent or powerful, will be unable to predict the specific long-term outcomes of their actions. They may specify any long-term state they wish to, they may have any dream, fantasy or vision they like, but they will never be able to determine the sequence of actions required to actualize it.An ethic of the ephemeral\nConclusion: As I intimated earlier, these images are not so much visions of the future as (also) alternative models of social identity, possible models of collective will and endeavour that emerge from and belong in the present, in our current circumstances such as we presently understand them, but that do not necessarily endure once those circumstances change. In using so often the word \"collective\" I do not assume that complete consensus or unity can be achieved at any particular time, but rather that it is a dynamic phenomenon, a juggling act. As socially responsible individuals all we can do is join the building of alliances, which may beget other alliances, as will be appropriate for effective action at different levels of social conduct. At each level, imaging might be used to foster a capacity for reflection.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to review the use of scenario-building at the central government level in New Zealand and to consider an alternative technique - national imaging - for stimulating public discussion of the future.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper briefly surveys New Zealand's history of prospective government before examining scenario construction during the Foresight Project convened by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology during the late 1990s. Both the official scenarios produced and the guidance given to sector participants to produce their own scenarios are discussed.\nFindings: - Scenario-building in a national government context has pitfalls and limitations, namely that the technique is too ambitious, too socially unitary, and too implicitly long-term to be really useful as a primary focus. Consideration of the shortcomings gives rise to an alternative procedure which focuses on developing images of national identity or conduct rather than envisioning or predicting future states.\nPractical implications: - Scenario building need not be dispensed with, but should be subordinated to democratic discussion of ways of collectively orienting to the future.\nOriginality/value: - The paper introduces a new technique of \"national imaging\" as one that may better serve as an initial (not exclusive) tool of democratic envisioning of the future at the national level.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating the free school breakfast initiative in Wales: methodological issues	[ "Children (age groups)", "Primary schools", "Nutrition", "Government", "Wales" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nWhy is breakfast so important?: It is often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Indeed, there is substantial evidence to indicate that breakfast consumption is associated with a wide range of benefits. For example, laboratory research shows that consumption of an adequate breakfast is linked to short-term improvements in attention (Wesnes et al., 2003; though see also Smith et al., 1994), memory (Benton and Parker, 1998; Benton and Sargent, 1992; Smith et al., 1992, 1994, 1999; Wesnes et al., 2003 though see also Cromer et al., 1990) mood (Lloyd et al., 1996; Smith et al., 1994, 1999, though see also Benton et al., 2001), and possibly motivation (Benton et al., 2001). Likewise, experimental studies conducted in school settings[1] have also shown positive effects of breakfast on memory (Vaisman et al., 1996), arithmetic (Powell et al., 1998), verbal fluency (Chandler et al., 1995), physical endurance (Wyon et al., 1997), creativity (Wyon et al., 1997), and on-task behaviour (Bro et al., 1994).Breakfast can also represent an opportunity to consume nutrient rich foods, and in this way contribute towards a healthy diet. For example, research[2] suggests that skipping breakfast is associated with poorer nutrition (Morgan et al., 1986; Nicklas et al., 1998a; Nicklas et al., 2000; Nicklas et al., 1998; Ruxton and Kirk, 1997) and a greater body mass index (Ruxton and Kirk, 1997; Siega-Riz et al., 1998) whilst breakfast consumption is linked to a healthier diet and lifestyle more generally (Nicklas et al., 1998b; Smith, 1998).\nSchool breakfast programmes: The nutritional and educational benefits of breakfast consumption has led to a number of government funded school breakfast initiatives (e.g. see Shemilt et al., 2003). These were first employed in North America in 1966 and aimed to improve the nutritional status of children in deprived areas (Friedman and Hurd-Crixell, 1999). Since then, the number of schools participating in such programmes has risen dramatically, so that by 1997 approximately six million children in the US were attending a school breakfast club each day (US Department of Agriculture, 1999). In the UK, the introduction of breakfast programmes has occurred more recently, with funding becoming available from sources such as the Education Action Zone initiative, New Opportunities Funding and Sure Start out of School Funding. The Department of Health also introduced a pilot initiative in 1999. However, the objectives of these different breakfast clubs have varied considerably from one another; whilst some have focused on the provision of a healthy breakfast, others have placed more emphasis on childcare, education, or informal interaction between children and school staff (Shemilt et al., 2003). Indeed, a breakfast club may not necessarily provide breakfast.Nevertheless, there is evidence[3] to suggest that school breakfast programmes can help improve nutrition and may also be associated with improvements in attendance, academic performance and behaviour (e.g. Belderson et al., 2001; Bro et al., 1994; Hanes et al., 1984; Kleinman et al., 2002; Murphy et al., 1998; Pollitt, 1995; though see also Friedman and Hurd-Crixell, 1999). The potential impact of school breakfast programmes on health and social inequalities is therefore considerable. However, most of the studies that have evaluated school breakfast programmes have been unable to incorporate appropriate control groups or have suffered contamination between trial arms. Thus, although there is good reason to believe that breakfast programmes can have a wide range of beneficial outcomes, this has yet to be convincingly demonstrated.\nThe Welsh Assembly Government Primary School Free Breakfast Initiative: Within this context, the Welsh Assembly Government is working to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people in Wales. As part of this strategy they are piloting a school breakfast initiative. This scheme aims to provide all primary school aged children in maintained primary schools in Wales with the opportunity to have a free, healthy breakfast each day, with the aim of improving children's health and educational attainment. Breakfast provision takes place before the start of school each day and consists of a choice of four items from the following food groups: drinks or milk products; cereal (not sugar coated); fruit; breads. More information about the scheme can be found at: www.learning.wales.gov.uk/breakfastSignificantly, the Assembly Government took the decision to phase the introduction of this major policy initiative to allow for a period of testing, adjustment and evaluation. Although we have seen a growth in the use of such policy pilots in the UK in recent years, they remain the exception rather than the rule. This has led to calls for more collaboration between researchers and policy makers and the increased use of pilots in evidence based policy (Jowell, 2003). The Cardiff Institute of Society, Health and Ethics (CISHE) at Cardiff University successfully tendered for the contract to evaluate the scheme. This paper highlights some of the main methodological concerns that arose during the early stages of the evaluation. It is hoped that these will highlight potentially useful issues for researchers and policy makers in the area.Evaluating the school breakfast initiative\nConclusions: If we are to bring about improvements in health and social inequalities we need to ensure that money is invested into services that are effective. Unfortunately the evidence base for the identification of effective interventions is limited (Wanless, 2003, pp. 53-54). To this end, it is vital that new policy initiatives are piloted and rigorously evaluated. Unfortunately, new initiatives are often implemented in a way that makes such evaluation impossible. For example, the implementation timetable may be too short to allow for study design and recruitment, the rollout strategy may provide no opportunities for randomisation and the evaluation budget may be insufficient for a RCT. However, with increased dialogue between policy-makers and researchers, it becomes possible to take account of such factors. The Free School Breakfast Initiative represents a good example of how a new policy initiative can be implemented to enable a rigorous evaluation. It also represents an important opportunity to demonstrate the feasibility and value of using cluster randomised trials for this purpose.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to report findings on an initiative set up by The Welsh Assembly Government to provide free, healthy breakfasts to primary school children throughout Wales.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research employed a cluster randomised controlled trial design with 58 schools in South, West and North Wales. Quantitative measures were taken at baseline, four months and 12 months.\nFindings: - With the injection of more money and effective services it was found that the free school breakfast initiative could help improve health and social inequalities.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides some of the background to the initiative, describes the evaluation and highlights some of the key methodological issues that arose during the course of the research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Institutional interactions and foreign firms' strategies under tribal rule complexities in emerging markets	[ "Emerging markets", "Foreign firms", "Commonality of interests", "Institutional interactions", "Tribal rule" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Marketing organizations that try to enter new markets internationally, especially in emerging markets (EMs), often encounter institutional complexities. Recently, institutional theorists in both international marketing (IM) (e.g. Akaka et al., 2013; Cavusgil et al., 2005) and in international business (IB) (Cantwell et al., 2010; Dikova et al., 2010) have suggested that scholars should develop more studies to better explicate institutional interactions (II) and sources of complexities in EMs. These scholars argue that there is an urgent need to develop II studies on EMs.\nExtant literature and theoretical foundations: The urgency to develop II studies in EMs is underscored by Cantwell et al. (2010). They argued that such studies in EMs will help explain market complexities and the challenges they pose to foreign firms from developed markets that traditionally rely on standardized strategies rather than on strategies that leverage existing market conditions or co-evolution strategies. In Table I, we summarize numerous studies from IM and IB literatures that illustrate the need to examine II in global markets.\nComplexities to be expected under the four types of rule: Our aim is not to provide a comprehensive list of expected complexities in EMs, but to spotlight predominant complexities under the four types of rule. For instance, since TR markets are vulnerable to tribal conflicts, we highlight the complexities related to the actions of traditional tribal institutions. Correspondingly, a major source of complexity in RC markets is foreign influence due to protracted proxy wars.\nMethod: Given the relatively unexplored nature of tribal complexities within the existing frame of institutional view-based studies in EMs, qualitative methods were most applicable (Yin, 2003; Eisenhardt, 1989). Qualitative research is useful for operationalizing new concepts, examining novel relationships and assessing dimensions of abstract ideas (Weick, 1996). Hoskisson et al. (2000) further argued that exploratory methods are particularly relevant to research and assess business strategies and tactics in EMs. We specifically analyze foreign firms seeking market development and growth opportunities in TR markets. The outcome of this analysis will help develop theory on how firms successfully carry out market development strategies under conditions of tribal complexity in EMs. Further, the study will aid future testing and validation of the entire framework (Eisenhardt, 1989).\nThe cases: ABC in Nigeria\nDiscussion: Analysis of the cases exposed through the interviews we conducted with representatives of five firms to explore experiences that they had in TR markets provides answers to our main research question:\nConclusion: Many of the strategies in the global marketing literature are based on the premise that collaborative market actors interact freely (Granovetter, 1985). In TR markets, market actors are constrained by complexities of politically fragmented tribes and they do not have the freedom to trade or interact freely beyond their community (Platteau, 1994). Norms of small group morality reign over norms of \"generalized morality\" (James, 2013; Platteau, 1994, p. 534). Interaction beyond tribal community in TR markets is not efficient and may be fatal (Hirschman, 1982; Platteau, 1994). Trust may be possible within clans and tribes, but impossible and unattainable beyond tribal community.\nImplication for marketing: Our analysis indicates that in TR markets marketing practices, including key marketing decisions, such as positioning, image management, branding, and integrated marketing communications, have to be planned with the consent of local tribal leaders, especially in the initial stages. Later, as relations with tribal leaders develop through the strategies we mentioned, such as development of partnerships and joint projects, and tribal leaders gain greater appreciation of the principles and requirements of business, the firm will have greater leverage in determining marketing strategies.\nStudy limitations and future research: As we indicated earlier, future studies should collect more cases in more and varied TR markets. Although our study does represent three distinctly unique TR markets, the findings will be enriched and substantiated more by research in other contexts. Developing studies to assess historical causes of uncooperative and politically fragmented TNs in EMs will be useful to advance the findings in this study. For example, in TR and RC markets, marketers will develop better understanding of uncooperative networks by evaluating the history of colonial rule and its impact on creating distrust through divide-and-conquer mechanisms. Assessing the history of other causes of distrust such as political, economic, and social mobility, and prevalence of kinship relations can help shed more light on strategies for dealing with uncooperative and politically fragmented TNs in EMs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: International marketing (IM) researchers have underscored the need for scholars to develop more studies to investigate institutional interactions (II) and sources of complexities in emerging markets (EMs). In response to these calls, the purpose of this paper is to propose a framework that classifies the dominant conditions firms are likely to confront as they enter EMs. Further, using exploratory data, the study evaluates potential strategies that foreign firms can follow when they encounter one of the most challenging condition (tribal rule (TR)) identified in the framework. The primary research question explored is: what strategies do foreign firms adopt to succeed under conditions of TR in EMs?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology is exploratory qualitative research. The authors conducted extended interviews to produce rich case study data from CEOs and executives who have experience doing business in countries with strong TR conditions, such as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The interview data/transcripts were evaluated using open, axial, and selective coding (Strauss and Corbin, 1998) to discover macro-narratives that guide entry strategies in EMs.\nFindings: Overall, foreign firms successful strategies under TR conditions revolve around knowledge of tribal networks, understanding of their common interests, co-creation of commonality of interests and goals and internal assimilation of tribal leaders. Based on the findings, the authors argue strategies emphasizing co-creation of commonality of interest and goals and absorption of political risk environment perspective will outperform traditional standardization and relational trust approaches.\nPractical implications: The findings from the study provided preliminary insights about relevant managerial strategic choices under conditions of tribal complexities.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first known study to expand the recent IM debate on II and sources of complexities to TR context. The recognition of a co-creation of commonality of interest dimension is an important contribution. The strategy of co-creation of commonality of interests is unique to this study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"Please give me an invoice": VAT evasion and the Portuguese tax lottery	[ "VAT evasion", "Fiscal benefits", "Invoices", "Tax lotteries", "Tax policies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Paying taxes is a civic duty in that revenues from these taxes enable governments to pursue public policies presumed to be in the common interest. Taxes are particularly important in periods of austerity, when governments take measures to squeeze public spending and increase tax collection to reduce public debt. This strategy often generates public resentment. Struggling with tight personal budgets and getting less in return for their taxes, citizens may be unwilling to comply with tax authorities. It is therefore crucial to develop effective approaches to improving taxpayer cooperation. The focus of this paper is on a strategy used by the Portuguese tax authority to engage citizens in cracking down on potential tax evaders in a context of financial bailout.\nTax lotteries: The literature on tax compliance shows that attempts to promote tax compliance based only on deterrence measures have been rather ineffective (see e.g. Feld and Frey, 2002; Kirchler, 2007). Consequently, tax authorities have turned to strategies that focus on motivating citizens to cooperate with them. In the last few decades, instrumental motivations have received much attention (Tyler, 2011). Financial incentives to elicit desirable behavior have been used for centuries in different fields, but research on positive rewards applied to tax compliance is still scarce.\nMotives to request an invoice with the personal tax identification number: Under the Portuguese fiscal law, consumers are required to ask for an invoice when they purchase goods and services (Governo de Portugal, 2012), but there is no legal obligation to keep the invoice. Most pertinent for this study, there is no legal obligation to request invoices with the consumer's tax identification number. Hence, requesting an invoice is optional and it may be considered as a response to the tax authority request to ask for sales invoices. Broadly speaking, compliance is a response to a request to act in a desired manner and various factors influence compliance decisions (see e.g. Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004). In the case of requesting sales invoices, several considerations may influence Portuguese consumers.\nThe current study: The key aim of this study was to investigate the motives that might influence citizens to request invoices with their personal tax identification number and, more broadly, to cooperate with the tax authority for improving tax compliance. It was hypothesized that the willingness to request invoices with the consumer's tax identification number was positively associated with rewards (the lottery prize and tax benefits), perceptions of justice, civic duty/tax morale, social influence, patriotic feelings, and negatively associated with the acceptability of tax evasion (tax morale). Sociodemographic factors were also explored.\nData and method: Participants\nFindings: Survey findings\nDiscussion: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the motives that may influence Portuguese citizens to request sales invoices with their personal tax identification number, and indirectly cooperate with tax authority for improving tax compliance.\nConclusion: The recognition of the importance of public cooperation by policy makers is an important step forward in the combat to tax evasion. However, it is necessary to know how to best motivate citizens to aid the authorities and the motivation of behaving in a cooperative way may be influenced by different factors. Although VAT lotteries seem to be increasingly favored by policy makers, their effectiveness and potential side effects are not known. From the perspective of tax compliance being a civic duty, it would seem that tax lotteries undermine the foundation on which the tax system is based and would thus be counterproductive. Findings of the current study suggest that it may not be the case, but the lottery prize is not the main reason to request an invoice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The Portuguese tax authority implemented a lottery to encourage citizens to request invoices as a strategy to fight value-added tax (VAT) evasion. As the law does not require citizens to request sales invoices with the consumers' tax number, doing so is a form of voluntary cooperation in tracking down tax evaders. The purpose of this paper is to understand why ordinary citizens decide to join forces with tax authorities in the fight against VAT evasion by requesting invoices with their tax identification number.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An empirical study was conducted to explore the underlying motivation for Portuguese consumers to request sales invoices with their personal tax identification. The study combines quantitative and qualitative data.\nFindings: The results from this study show that rewarding citizens is clearly a factor to be considered in any policy to maximize citizens' cooperation in tracking down tax evaders. They indicate that fiscal benefits have a stronger effect on the request of invoices than the lottery and that it is necessary to promote good governance and justice.\nPractical implications: Findings should be used to inform a cost-effective public policy that takes into account citizens' concerns and combine deterrent measures and rewards in the form of tax benefits, rather than tax lotteries.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides new insights into VAT lotteries, which seem to be increasingly favored by policy makers but are an area under-researched. By recommending a course of action to maximize citizens' cooperation in tracking down tax evaders, the paper provides useful practical implications and is a contribution for the study of VAT evasion policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning model behavior: Embedding learning at all levels of the modern organization	[ "Organizational learning", "Learning-driven organization", "Individual learning", "Team learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: The worldwide health epidemic that ensued from the first transmissions of Coronavirus in China in the latter part of 2019 provided an unprecedented shockwave through global business. Similar to the Great Depression in the US in the 1920s and 1930s and the global financial crisis of 2008, the following events placed a spotlight on a number of fundamental issues in many industrial sectors and national economies. In the aftermath of the crisis, there would be no shortage of political, economic, social and environmental changes to be made to ensure such widespread devastation could not be repeated.\nSchools out: It could hardly have been conceived beforehand how quickly and easily adults and children would adapt to working and learning remotely, although such a utopia had been envisaged in what is known as 'Industry 4.0'. This concept began life in 2018 and summarized the optimal development and integration of a large number of information and communication technologies into business systems. These advances - such as the internet of things (IoT), intelligent enterprise resource planning (I-ERP), and computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) - are driven by developments in technology that enable activities like big data, cloud technology and augmented reality. Demand for a revolution in the utilization of these activities will only be enhanced by the massive changes in ways of working and learning seen in 2020.\nBecoming learning-driven: While the concept of organizational learning (OL) has been around for decades, and there has been a good deal of research and theoretical development done to help organizations see the benefits of the idea, the authors are quick to underline that there has been comparatively little work done to help organizations implement OL practices to take advantage. The authors point out that there are three types organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) that can help businesses move forward in this area:\nLDO model: In order to achieve this, the authors put forward the Learning-driven Organization (LDO) Model which aims to embed OL into an organization by following an integrative approach based on the study over many years of other OL models and strategies which places learning at the heart of an organization where it leverages innovation, ideas and other intangible assets as a means to deliver competitive advantage, with this idea institutionalized from the start. From this platform, other changes are necessitated in the three areas that follow traditional OL systems.\nCreativity and innovation: The second driver are the three sets of OL mechanisms laid out above, which the authors refer to as the 'how'. They have a long list of 20 indicators for how they can influence learning, but they include key areas such as having the right organizational strategy, that people are properly recognized for their learning and feedback from all stakeholders is listened to and acted upon.\nComment: The article \"The learning-driven organization: toward an integrative model for organizational learning\" (2019) by Garad and Gold is a timely reminder that firms have a huge task in trying to turn around the organizational culture. The article offers several tips and bits of advice on what needs to be done and the benefits of taking action, although one fears that the implementation would be all too painful for many organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The worldwide health epidemic that ensued from the first transmissions of Coronavirus in China in the latter part of 2019 provided an unprecedented shockwave through global business. Similar to the Great Depression in the US in the 1920s and 1930s and the global financial crisis of 2008, the following events placed a spotlight on a number of fundamental issues in many industrial sectors and national economies. In the aftermath of the crisis, there would be no shortage of political, economic, social and environmental changes to be made to ensure such widespread devastation could not be repeated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds his/her own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: The worldwide health epidemic that ensued from the first transmissions of Coronavirus in China in the latter part of 2019 provided an unprecedented shockwave through global business. Similar to the Great Depression in the US in the 1920s and 1930s and the global financial crisis of 2008, the following events placed a spotlight on a number of fundamental issues in many industrial sectors and national economies. In the aftermath of the crisis, there would be no shortage of political, economic, social and environmental changes to be made to ensure such widespread devastation could not be repeated.\nPractical implications: This paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Continuance use intention with mobile augmented reality games: Overall and multigroup analyses on Pokemon Go	[ "Survey", "Usability", "Computer games", "Survey data", "Individual" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, augmented reality (AR) functionality has been embedded into mobile gaming applications, which enables players to interact with the physical environment during the gameplay (Craig, 2013). Mobile AR games have been adopted promptly by game players. For instance, Pokemon Go has attracted a vast number of players during the first two weeks of its launch in 2016 (Siegal, 2017). Due to the characteristics of AR function, mobile AR game players engage in all types of physical activities such as walking, running, biking and skating for the gameplay, which appears to enhance mental health by reducing anxiety about leaving the house and interacting with strangers (Kogan et al., 2017). However, the rapid decline of Pokemon Go players has been observed, and four out of five players have quit after half year of its launch in the USA (Siegal, 2017). A year after its launch, 90 percent of its players has been lost (Peckham, 2017).\n2. Literature review and hypotheses: 2.1 Factors influencing user behavior in mobile AR games\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection and sample\n4. Results: 4.1 Structure model assessment\n5. Discussion: The objectives of this study are to examine which motives affect continuance intention of playing mobile AR games, specifically Pokemon Go, and how these effects differ across user demographics and gaming experience. Drawing upon U&G literature, we identified four major gratifications - content, process, social and technology - that might affect players' continuance use intention of mobile AR games, and built structural models based on overall and multigroup samples of Pokemon Go players. The overall structural model demonstrated there are causal relationships among factors in the model we tested. Furthermore, the results of multigroup analysis explained why the relationship between gratifications and continuance use intention can vary across user characteristics.\n6. Limitations and future research directions: The present study suffers from many of the limitations that are inherent to data collection of Pokemon Go players at the maturity stage. First, this study failed to differentiate whether gratifications influencing continuance use intention of the same Pokemon Go players change over time. Although this study attempted to compare the results with those of Rauschnabel et al.'s (2017) study on early-stage Pokemon Go users in Germany, the differences of sample and population with past studies cannot remedy the concern of methodological inappropriateness. Because mobile AR games (e.g. Pokemon Go) undergo continuing significant changes, future research needs to replicate such work over time (e.g. early vs maturity) toward the same cohort of respondents. Second, we mainly anchored on the gratifications from the U&G theory to develop our constructs. Although the explanatory power of the research model was relatively high (about 45 percent of the variance), future research could identify more related constructs to account for the remaining unexplained variance in continuance use intention with mobile AR games. Finally, although Pokemon Go is the most popular mobile AR games, the findings from focusing on Pokemon Go players in a single country cannot be generalized in the mobile AR gaming industry. Different types of players' gratifications might drive continuance use intention with mobile AR games depending on different games and different countries. Therefore, future research can investigate what gratifications drive different mobile AR game(s) of players in different countries. Nevertheless, we hope that this study inspires future research on the role of U&G in terms of continuance use intention of mobile AR games, in general, and Pokemon Go, in particular.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As mobile augmented reality (AR) games enter the maturity stage, understanding how to improve players' continuance use intention with mobile AR games is critical. Drawing upon the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of four major gratifications - content, process, social and technology - and other factors on continuance intention to play mobile AR games.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data collected from 280 Pokemon Go players were used to address research questions. Partial least squares method was employed to assess the relationships in the model and multigroup analysis was conducted based on survey participants' demographics and their gaming experience.\nFindings: Content gratification (i.e. catching Pokemon), process gratification (i.e. entertainment), game knowledge and achievement drive players' continuance use intention. However, social and technology gratifications do not influence players' continuance use intention. Multigroup analysis suggests that mobile AR game developers should capitalize on the fact that different types of gratifications prompt continuance use intention of different user segments in terms of demographics and experience in general mobile games and Pokemon Go.\nOriginality/value: The user behavior of mobile AR games has been studied at the early stage of the games, with less attention to variable continuance use intentions across different user segments. This paper attempts to fill the gap by extending the U&G theory to continuance use intention of mobile AR games at the maturity stage and further investigating the importance of player heterogeneity in continuance use intention with mobile AR games. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on U&G, continuance use intention and mobile AR games.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Wine producers' strategic response to a crisis situation	[ "Competitive strategy", "Business performance", "France", "Winemaking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: War is father of all, king of all. Some it makes gods, some it makes men, some it makes slaves, some free (Heraclitus).This quotation from Heraclitus states the situation of firms when their industrial sector is in crisis: some will disappear, others will not be affected, while others will improve their performance. How to explain such performance differences in a similar context? This question makes sense for all firms that are facing a crisis situation and have to make choices which influence their capacity to survive and prosper.Until now, very few studies have been conducted on this particular topic. The main problem in defining the theoretical background for this research project is the large variability of crisis situations. A crisis is usually rare and characterized by unique manifestations, which limits the possibility of firms to find solutions based on past experiences (Roux-Dufort, 2000). In order to identify the relevant literature, we attempted to define the causes of the French wine crisis in the national and regional context. These causes are quite well understood: the decrease of wine consumption in traditional producing countries, an increasing international competition, the absence of worldwide regulations regarding wine offer, and the inefficiency of the Wine Common Market Organization, whose activities are restricted to only one geographical area: the European region (Montaigne, 2005). Therefore, French wine producers face an increasing competitive pressure not only in their domestic market but also in their main foreign markets such as in the UK market where French market shares have decreased from 38 to 21 per cent between 1994 and 2007. Taking into account these elements, we based our literature review on three main strands of literature concerning firm's strategies facing increasing rivalry. Rivalry increases when:* an industry has reached a decline stage (Hall, 1981);* an industry enters in deregulation (Bleeke, 1991; Delmas et al., 2007; Kling and Smith, 1995; O'Reilly, 1995; Smith and Grimm, 1987); and* an industry enters in hypercompetition (Craig, 1996; D'Aveni, 1995, 2001; Ruhli, 1997).In addition, the model developed by Miles et al. (1978) was used to understand the typology of firms presented in the two case studies.The objective of this research project is to identify the strategic choices and to evaluate the financial performance of wine producing firms in a crisis situation. The empirical study is based on primary data collected through a questionnaire survey that was addressed in June 2008 to wine producing firms from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.\n1. Strategic choices in declining sectors: According to Porter (1982), the structural characteristics of the industrial sector determine the probability of market conflict between direct competitors. The decline of an industry is a structural characteristic that increases the probability of confrontation. In the phase of market decline, sales are decreasing at an accelerating rate, determining an intensive price war between competitors (Porter, 1982).During the 1970s crisis, Hall (1981) observed the behaviours of 64 firms in eight sectors facing a strong decrease in demand, in order to identify winning strategies. One of the best strategies consisted in producing at the lowest cost while keeping an acceptable quality. Another good performing strategy was to obtain the best ratio product/service/quality while using acceptable prices. However, three high performing firms managed to obtain simultaneously low costs and quality products. All low performing firms have not managed to differentiate their product or obtain lower costs than their competitors.A more formalized approach is proposed by the theory of population ecology (Lambkin, 1990). This theory shows that firms can make profits even in the decline phase. Three main organizational types have been identified: the \"specialists\", the \"generalists\", and the \"polymorphists\". The \"specialists\" target a narrow market segment and focus their resources to exploit them intensively. The \"generalists\" scatter their resources on several market segments in order to lower the risks. The \"polymorphists\" have a strategy that combines \"specialists\" and \"generalists\" strategies. The better performing organizational forms are linked to the specific phase of the industry lifecycle. In the decline phase, the less performing firms are the \"polymorphists\". They are overtaken on customer satisfaction by \"specialists\" and on costs by \"generalists\".1.1 Strategies in a deregulation context\n2. The crisis situation and the effect on firms' strategic choice: 2.1 The wine industry crisis in the Languedoc-Roussillon region\n3. The analysis and interpretation of data: 3.1 Competitive pressure\n4. Strategic choices and financial performance: In order to obtain more information about the link between financial performance and strategic choices, we estimated an ordinal regression (logit ordinal model) between the variable \"trend of global turnover (2004-2007)\" and the variable of \"implemented strategies (2000-2007)\".Table IX results show that the SPSS estimations for the betas are the following: -0.771, -0.528, and 0.226. According to these results the equation is: (Equation 2)We do not observe y* but four values of y: high decrease, decrease, stable, and increase.The Table IX results show that the equations that link y and y* are the following:* y = \"high decrease\" if y* <= -3.05;* y = \"decrease\" if-3.05 < y* <= -1.409;* y = \"stable\" if-1.409 < y* <= -0.385; and* y = \"increase\" if-0.385 < y* <= 2.413.This can be interpreted as following: the negative coefficients in the equation show that higher is the value of the variable the more the variable is linked to \"decrease\" or \"high decrease\" turnover.The results presented in Table IX indicate that firms that did not choose to implement a niche strategy tend to have a decreasing turnover between the years 2004 and 2007. This link is statistically significant to a level of p = 0.028.This particular result confirms the importance of selecting a niche strategy, and can be linked with the clear success of wine producers that apply biological agriculture methods; this specific group is the only one that has increased both in numbers of firms and in financial turnover during the past five years.In fact, this strategic approach represents a perfect example of effectively combining the niche and differentiating strategies. Therefore, a clear managerial option for the wine producers confronted with the market crisis is to identify the segments of consumers characterized through high loyalty and purchasing power, and then to develop the necessary competitive advantage to satisfy the needs of these customers.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: The main objective of this study was to put in evidence the competitive strategies adopted by firms in a crisis industry, focusing on wine producing firms from the Languedoc-Roussillon region, located in the south of France. The two case studies considered as exemplary situations show that many strategies, corresponding to different levels of performance, are possible in a crisis context.On the other hand, the quantitative findings indicate some interesting trends. The first ones concern the producers' perception regarding the effect of the crisis on their organization:* most of firms perceive the crisis effect and this perception is more important for the large firms; and* the most experienced responding firms describe themselves as more affected by the crisis than the less experienced ones.The other trends concern the strategies adopted by the investigated firms:* most of the firms do not try to obtain any type of a competitive advantage;* the most implemented strategy is the combination of \"niche + differentiation\" strategies;* the strategic choice of firms is influenced by their size; the strategy \"niche + differentiation\" is preferred by a large percentage of small firms; and* the strategic choice of firms is influenced by their experience; many less experienced firms prefer to adopt a differentiation strategy or a combination of the \"niche + differentiation\" strategies.These results confirm the previous findings regarding the strategic choice in declining (Hall, 1981) and in deregulated sectors (Bleeke, 1991; Delmas et al., 2007; Kling and Smith, 1995; O'Reilly, 1995; Smith and Grimm, 1987). Facing a crisis situation, firms tend to make radical choices between different types of competitive strategies. On the other hand, the results do not support the studies conducted in a hypercompetition context (Craig, 1996; D'Aveni, 1995, 2001; Ruhli, 1997), that recommend a complex and dynamic combination of competitive advantages.This study has a number of limitations determined by its research focus and methodology. First, the findings are relevant for the firms from the wine industry, located in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Using the framework of analysis developed by this study, this research can be applied in other geographical regions, or in other industrial sectors, in order to increase the pool of knowledge regarding firm's strategic choice in a context of market crisis.Second, the performance of investigated firms was not systematically measured in this study. Among these firms, it would be interesting to further analyse those that obtained the best performances in relation to their strategic choice. The results would bring finer indications about the most effective strategies to be applied in crisis industries.A third limitation is the fact that this study is essentially focused on competitive strategies implemented by independent organizations. It would be interesting to investigate other strategic options, briefly presented and discussed in the two case studies. For example, the choice of relational strategies can represent another viable option in times of crisis. Although the integration of wine producers into local and regional co-operatives seems less effective, other forms of alliances can be initiated in order to create synergy effects and to partially integrate the marketing and commercial functions of two or more firms.Opens in a new window.Table I\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the competitive strategies adopted by French wine producing firms in a crisis context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - First, two case studies have been developed through interviews with wine producers. They show that many strategies, corresponding to different levels of performance, are possible in a crisis industry. Second, an empirical study has been conducted applying a questionnaire survey addressed in June 2008 to wine producing firms from the Languedoc-Roussillon region, south of France. Third, ordinal regression is operated in order to link financial performance and strategic choices of the investigated 160 respondent firms.\nFindings: - The findings indicated some interesting trends concerning wine producers' perception regarding the effect of the crisis and the strategies adopted by firms. The preferred strategic choice of the majority of investigated firms is the combination of \"niche + differentiation\" strategies. On the other hand, the strategic choice of firms is influenced by their experience; many less experienced firms prefer to adopt a differentiation strategy or a combination of the \"niche + differentiation\" strategies. Moreover, statistical analysis shows that no implementation of niche, differentiation or relational marketing lead toward decreasing turnover.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This research is focused only on wine producing firms from Languedoc-Roussillon region in France. A second limitation is the fact that firms' performance was not systematically measured. The performance is evaluated mainly indirectly, considering that the investigated firms have survived the crisis.\nOriginality/value: - Very few studies have been conducted on this particular topic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Analysis of automobile repeat-purchase behaviour on CRM	[ "Customer relationship management", "Automobiles", "Proportional hazard model", "Recurrent event model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has been an efficient tool used by marketers since the focus in marketing has changed from customer acquisition to customer retention. Effective and efficient CRM design has been a popular research subject, though CRM systems have shown low or inconsistent success rates. Current research aims to devise accurate methods to evaluate CRM performance, and find solutions based on the evaluation (Shafia et al., 2011; Oztaysi et al., 2011). Another research direction extends CRM to other applications, and incorporates new analysis techniques (Neslin et al., 2013). For example, vendor relationship management combined with CRM for sales managers has become popular. In this paper, we propose a new CRM analysis technique and apply this to the repeat purchases of automobiles.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Models for durable goods\n3. The proposed model: 3.1 Model specification\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Data set building\n5. Results of empirical analysis: 5.1 Model estimation and result\n6. Conclusion: 6.1 Contribution of the study\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to suggest a method of selecting efficient customer service programmes and of providing relevant customer information to dealers, based on the analysis of repeat-purchase behaviour data in the automobile industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A recurrent event model is proposed and employed to determine which variables affect repurchasing behaviour in consumers' repurchase cycles. Unlike the conventional recurrent event model, the proposed model uses common variables for all strata, as well as stratum-specific variables.\nFindings: Empirical results show that age, price difference, change in vehicle type, and marketing promotion affect the likelihood of repeat purchase. VIP service centres and repair services are effective marketing tools, and dealers should pay more attention to existing customers having certain characteristics, depending on prior purchase behaviour.\nPractical implications: Though many customer service programmes are devised and implemented at great cost, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data reveal that classic car-care services are the most essential. CRM can provide dealers with essential customer information that enables real purchases.\nOriginality/value: Collecting primary data on automobile purchase behaviour and customer service usage is difficult, and therefore, customer behaviour strategy is often formulated using basic principles alone. The paper proposes a method to construct a service strategy and formulate deal guidelines based on CRM data and statistical modelling.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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