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Building in sustainability, social responsibility and value co-creation	[ "Value co-creation", "Integrity", "Sustainability", "Social responsibility", "Pride" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Porter and Kramer (2011) discuss the perverse effects of corporate social responsibility, arguing that the more the businesses embrace corporate social responsibility the more they are blamed for society's failures. The reason for this, Porter and Kramer (2011) continue, is that social responsibility programs increase the visibility of companies, and, instead of improving their image, companies are perceived to be prospering at the expense of the broader community. Thus, the community construes companies' actions as doing too little when the aim was in reality to be perceived as doing good, which ultimately should result in enhanced business viability. So the expected positive reactions that corporate social responsibility programs (CSR's) are designed to create may turn unexpectedly negative. Although companies have moved from the Friedman's (1962) perspective which proclaims that the only obligation of businesses is to create wealth for their stakeholders, the adoption of social responsibility initiatives has not increased their ability to secure the wider benefits of sustainability\nLiterature review: Delivering superior value in business involves the participation of a large number of parties amplifying the difficulties of coordinating business interaction (Anderson et al., 2007). Failures to coordinate actions in complex value chains can translate into massive recalls of products that companies may be pressured into instigating. On the consumer side the levels of information available promoted by the advancement of information technology can expose, in short time frames, any problems a company might have. Even more importantly, increased information availability has promoted the emergence of new groups of consumers that proactively seek information about the business practices, as well as probe the behaviour of the suppliers of those businesses. This means consumers are now capable of seeing further into suppliers' extended networks, as well as investigating the behaviour of their members.\nMethodology: This research is based on two embedded case studies as defined by Yin (2003). The first case study was in a large mining company operating in New Zealand, where the main focus of the study has been on the effects of the company's relationships with stakeholders on sustainability. Multiple strategies for data gathering were utilised. These include sustainability development practices in the context of the mining industry in the region, published reports from the mining company's website and affiliated stakeholder websites, as well as online search in news articles used in determining their stakeholder groups. The second stage consisted of interviewing two company's field managers working on sustainability and five key stakeholder groups. The informants of the in-depth interviews were key decision makers, representing their organisation with expertise in the sustainability arena of their organisations. All participants had extensive levels of knowledge of the working relationship between the stakeholder groups and the mining company or vice versa. The second case study was based on the New Zealand Merino Company with headquarters in Christchurch, New Zealand. They are an integrated marketing and sales facilitator for the New Zealand merino wool industry. NZM is a key link in the value chain that provides through brokering contracts for merino wool, value in research and development, quality control on the farms, marketing research and co-development of brands with retailers. They also work with offshore manufacturers to increase the reliability as well as the ethical behaviours of those manufacturers. A total of eight semi-structured interviews lasting in average one hour were conducted; four within the company, two with retailers, and two with wool growers. Manufacturers, located in China, were not included in the research as the company did not allow the researchers to contact manufacturers for reasons of confidentiality. Senior and key account managers and owners were the typical interviewees. In both case studies, informants were briefed about the research purposes before the interview. This procedure proved to be useful because then the researcher did not need to continuously prompt the informant regarding the research topic. Hence, bias due to interviewer intrusion was minimised. Interviews were tape-recorded and fully transcribed for analysis. Thematic networks were used for data analysis.\nCase study 1: The mining company has a sustainability project that basically consists of the implementation of individual projects targeting sustainable development for beneficiaries that are organisations in the surrounding local community. The company aims to build a relationship with key stakeholders through these projects. The company considers that these relationships have the potential of promoting sustainable development in the region and therefore foster their own intentions of achieving business sustainability. Three relevant projects related to each one of the stakeholder groups are identified. Stakeholder group 1 is associated to a project of landscape rehabilitation; stakeholder group 2 is associated to a trout hatchery project, and stakeholder group 3 is associated to a heritage and art park development. The effects of establishing these three projects were different.\nCase study 2: The focal company on case study 2 designs and markets high end merino clothes in the New Zealand and international markets. The focus of the study was on the relationship between the company and their stakeholders. The company construes sustainability as a consequence of being socially responsible, which is only achievable through integrity. The company defines integrity as, \"more than the tip of the iceberg, it is instead the whole iceberg that includes everything about the product and is underpinned with credibility.\" Driven by the company's definition of sustainability we focused our enquiry on integrity, finding that other members of the value chain shared the company's idea of sustainability as the consequence of integrity. A wool grower explained, \"the product we deliver is what we say it is and that we are not hiding or being un-truthful about any aspect of production of that product.\" A retailer also justified the importance of having nothing to hide, \"We are getting bigger and bigger, as people are getting more conscious about where their clothing is coming from, and the practices made to make it.\"\nDiscussion: While Whitmore (2006) argues that behind the miners' rhetoric of sustainability lies the same old financial ambition, case study 1 shows that the implementation of a project, proposed by and beneficial to the stakeholder worked as the starting point for the company in building a relationship with stakeholder 2, a relationship that delivers value for both parties beyond the benefits of the project. Based on Sollner's (1999) commitment typology it could be argued that the employee's sharing of information with the company about the opportunity to build a fish hatchery was an attitudinal input towards commitment. However, from the point-of-view of Interest group 2, the company's response to financing the infrastructure was an instrumental input towards commitment. This created a solid structure of relationships that improved through the interaction between the parties which has reinforced economic bonds as well (Holmlund and Tornroos, 1997). Thus, the mutual interdependence of the parties makes the businesses evolve together. The project fosters business sustainability for the mining company because it demonstrates a mitigation activity of the adversarial effects that mining operations invariably create. While for Group 2 the project has economic relevance because the fish hatchery is fundamental for their activity. However, if it were not for that one member's actions in Group 2 who worked at the company, initiating this project might not have been possible. This mutually beneficial initiative illustrates the importance of the intertwinement that exists between a company and its stakeholders. The case supports (Koll et al., 2005) who argue that the responsiveness of one party to the benefits of the other creates value for both.\nConclusions: Sustainability has several dimensions including economic, ecological, and social. As companies are part of extended networks, they are related to multiple stakeholders. Sustainability strategies need to include all stakeholders, bearing in mind, that most stakeholders are different regarding the demands they make, their abilities to influence the course of action, and their expectations. Thus, companies' responsiveness towards the demands of different stakeholders should be different too. Sustainability strategies must be stakeholder inclusive.\nManagerial implications: Company managers should not ignore the importance of building in sustainability into their businesses. They need to respond to stakeholders' demands, however proactively, as opposed to reactively. Sustainability goes beyond environmental issues. While CSR is closely associated with achieving integrity, as Ebner and Baumgartner (2006) suggest, CSR activity should include economic, ecologic and social aspects. Social responsibility initiatives should focus on the benefits delivered by all parties in the value chain. That is, CSR should be about value creation. The effects of integrity on achieving more profitable business outcomes are such that companies should find increased motivation to demonstrate and pursue integrity alongside the whole value chain. Even a mining company should be able to instil pride in their stakeholders, not only because of the product they market, but because of the beneficial relationships that can be built, the value that this activity creates, and thus the benefits derived, with others, within their networks.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to address the question of how value can be created through social responsibility programs or other means, so that sustainability is achieved through increasing stakeholders' participation in the process of design and selection of such programs, so that transparency is maximised and trust can be built with the lasting benefits of co-creation of value.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper studies the relationship between sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and value co-creation based on qualitative research data gathered from two embedded case studies. The first case study in a large mining company operating in New Zealand and the second case study is based on the New Zealand Merino Company.\nFindings: Findings of this research suggest that sustainability is built with the participation of many interconnected entities, that is, suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, or more generally stakeholders whose actions are fostered by social responsibility that fuels the pride, trust, and consistency of the members of the value chain. Value in all forms - functional value, hedonic value, symbolic value and cost value - is a recurrent theme in this research data; however it is value co-creation, working together, living up to the values that their products and services promise that ultimately supports sustainability.\nOriginality/value: This paper shows how the scope of sustainability has broadened from environmental matters to include other topics such as good corporate citizenship, business relationships and the value that is created and shared, not only with shareholders, but also within a wider community of stakeholders.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Trends in learning content management	[ "Skills", "Productivity rate", "Human capital", "Content management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nTrends in learning content management: Technology that allows us to communicate with almost anywhere in the world almost instantly, is also being used to help us communicate across cultures closer to home. Importantly, the application of this technology - through providing leading edge technology-delivered learningis helping European workforces to compete effectively in global terms with the world's fast-growing economies, such as India and China.While the world increasingly displays the characteristics of a \"global village\", Europeans already have many years experience of tackling - and, in recent years, using technology to cope with the language and cultural issues that such communications raise. The European eco-system contains over 40 separate languages and - if you accept the most popular sociological view some 80 separate cultures.To cope effectively with competition in world markets from firms in countries such as China and India, European workforces need new learning paradigms, technologies and standards to help them develop ever greater skills and competencies, believes Fabrizio Cardinali, co-chair of the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG). ELIG is a consortium of international players in the \"e\" marketplace, covering IT, content publishing and service provision for the e-learning market. ELIG provides industry thought leadership and policy input to both the European Commission (EC) and to national governments within the European Union as well as, at the same time, functioning as a networking and partnering platform for its members.Cardinali, who is also CEO of Giunti Labspart of one of Europe's longest established cross-cultural educational publishers, added: \"To compete effectively, European organisations must also develop these skills and competencies faster, more effectively and efficiently.\"The growth of the Asian economies, together with changes in the structure of Europe's national economies, which sees manufacturing and extractive industry declining while the services sector forges ahead, is giving rise to the development of the \"knowledge worker\". These knowledge workers have unique expertise and experience and, if their knowledge and skills are harnessed and exploited correctly, they will keep Europe as a key player in the world's economic stage. If this fails to happen, then Europe could find itself left behind in the economic development stakes for the first time in centuries.Since \"knowledge working\" is now key to the future prosperity of European economies and the firms that comprise them, keeping those knowledge workers abreast of the latest developments and techniques in their field is becoming increasingly important. This is where technology-delivered learning is proving its worth.It used to be said that one of the advantages of e-learning over conventional, classroom-delivered learning is that, unlike courses in which the personality of a tutor or instructor colours the learning message, it provides consistency of message. Nowadays, learning technologists and learning designers recognise that this is only partly true. Thankfully, advances in technology coupled with advances in understanding of the process of learning are helping to replace \"one size fits all\" e-learning programmes with learning materials that take account not only of the learner's learning needs and preferences but also of the way in which the learner needs to access the learning materials, the learner's location and even the learner's particular culture, language and learning preferences. Increasingly the \"traditional e-learning\" experience is enhanced by providing, for example, a mobile access to the learning materials.\"When thinking about designing learning materials that will be used across cultures and by people of varying abilities within these cultures, the key is to provide consistency of message,\" Cardinali said. \"Today, the key to providing consistency of message is to carefully consider contextualisation and personalisation. This means that you need to understand the learners' likes and dislikes; their learning styles and learning preferences and their habits as well as their particular language and culture.\"Consequently, developing user-centered learning solutions which can be adapted to an individual's learning needs is a key objective for the EC and its constituent states. In the last year or so, European learning delivery technologists have developed mobile learning via wearable computers; enabled the interaction of learners with remote coaches via mobile technology and virtual worlds, and made increasing use of serious games and simulations.\"From Giunti Labs' perspective on the learning market,\" Cardinali commented, \"we are seeing three trends emerging\".\"Everyone is placing greater emphasis on increasingly informal and personalised content and learning experiences. This is producing increases in 'just-in-time', informal, personalised, customised pieces of learning content, combining to produce 'just-in-time', informal, personalised, customised learning experiences.\"\"Second, we are seeing the increased use of mobile and location-based content delivery,\" he added. \"This means that learning is becoming localised and personalised. People receive learning materials tailored to their particular need at that time. These learning materials are delivered to where they are and take into account their background and personal needs as well as the type of delivery device they have and the technology to which they have access.\"\"The third trend we're experiencing is the growth in informal access to learning via portals and software-as-a-service (SaaS) systems, which could generate new digital marketplaces for education revolutionising the way we deal with learning resources online, a little like YouTube and iTunes have done for music and video assets in the new millennium,\" he said. \"This means that the learning content can now be customised by the learner rather than the developer or producer. Learners download and use this material or even use it \"on the fly\" using new devices such as the iPod Touch or iPhone\".\"Over the last five to ten years, we've seen the method of delivery of learning materials change from the 'single turnkey platform' to an open, interoperable, two-tier model: content is produced and managed by external systems, such as authoring tools and learning management systems (LMSs), and this interfaces with learning content management systems (LCMSs) to deliver the learning materials to learners,\" Cardinali continued.\"Now, with the development of digital marketplaces, this two tier system has become a three tier system. Between the LMS and LCMS tiers is a tier of learning content traders and brokers. So learning content publishers and providers use an LCMS to produce the content, while consumers of the learning are accessing it via LMSs/virtual learning environments (VLEs) - increasingly via open source systems such as Moodle and Sakai. In the middle, you find a network of content providers operating as 'learning clearing houses'. They take content, version it, deliver it and track it once it has been delivered.\"Cardinali continued: \"Increasing globalisation is putting pressure on organisations. They know that they have to invest in their workforces if they want to compete in today's global markets. They can't rely on purely keeping their prices competitive in order to survive. Rather, they need to continue to develop the skills and competencies of their workforces - in order to compete with the up-skilling of economies such as those of India and China. So this means that they must invest in better corporate education and innovative ways to manage their legacy materials for training and performance support.\"\"Since organisations are having to become increasingly international - if only because they have to compete with multinational firms within their own national economy - it is important that learning providers, such as Giunti Labs, should offer content which has a worldwide relevance and applicability. In that way, we can help companies to develop the skills and talents that their workforces need in order to be increasingly successful in the markets operating within the global economy.\"Over the years, Europe's multi-cultural publishers have learnt that being successful as a publisher of multi-cultural learning materials (in whatever form) involves a great deal more that merely translating text across languages.\"You don't just communicate with the words on a screen within, say, an e-learning programme. There are also explicit and implicit messages contained in any 'screen' of information - and different cultures interpret these messages in different ways,\" Cardinali explained.\"Moreover, when designing learning materials to be delivered via technology - whether that is via 'traditional' e-learning or, increasingly, via mobile devices - you have to take account of the learners' abilities,\" Cardinali added. \"For example, an 'able' person looking at information on a small screen may have similar difficulties to a differently-abled person who sees that information on a large screen. Each of these people - and, indeed, everyone - has a right to access learning materials in a way that will be both meaningful and helpful to them. Since everyone has something to contribute to the society in which they live, no one should be precluded from having access to the learning materials that they need - and these should be presented to every learner in the most appropriate way.\"Cardinali explained that, when thinking about designing learning materials that will be used across cultures and by people of varying abilities within these cultures, the key is to provide consistency of message. The key to this is to carefully consider contextualisation and personalisation, he said. This means that you need to understand the learners' likes and dislikes; their learning styles and learning preferences and their habits as well as their particular language and culture.\"When it comes to the contextualisation of learning materials, you need to understand the users and where they are - both 'spiritually' and physically,\" Cardinali explained. \"This should enable you to compile a learning experience that is just-in-time, just enough and just for the learner.\"\"There is no longer any room for a monolithic approach. Instead there must be learning solutions that are personalised to take account of the learner's background, preferred learning style, precise learning needs and so on. Then you also have to consider the medium by which the learner receives the learning materials. Increasingly, this could be via PDA, BlackBerry, Nintendo, Smartphone and so on. Finally, you have to consider the learner's location.\"\"So today's learning platform should not be a single turnkey platform but, rather, it should be a learning services architecture where, in addition to the learning content creation and delivery, you can read and write people's portfolios - encompassing their backgrounds, competences, the learning objects they need and so on. This means that you can use this architecture to engage in talent management by spotting and then plugging the gaps in people's knowledge, skills and competences in order for them to progress and meet their organisation's needs.\"\"And those organisations that take advantage of this architecture to rapidly up-skill their workforces will be winners in the global marketplace,\" he predicted.As far as learning technologists are concerned, Cardinali believes that: \"Today's big challenge facing providers of corporate learning materials is how to enrich existing standards for learning content publishing and distribution such as SCORM - especially adding web services protocols to content packages making the learning experience richer and more personalised. The 'Common Cartridge' initiative from IMS is an excellent contribution to this issue, and there are many other evolutions in the standards space addressing this next step in digital content publishing and distribution.\"\"Other challenges relate to how to develop web-based services to search, query and retrieve repositories of learning content - and the MIT's OKI initiative is a good example of one approach to this issue.\"\"We need an extended standard related to content packaging and providing services to education - both in the academic and corporate sectors,\" said Cardinali. \"We also need to be able to harvest and distribute learning content - not in a single, turnkey system but via an open architecture.\"\"That's where Giunti Labs is currently focusing its attentions: on acquisitions and software development so that we can offer customers content and systems that are interoperable within open standards.\"\nA unique perspective: Giunti is unique in the international publishing industry.In 1497, Giunti publishers and typographers in Florence, together with others in Venice, began modern book manufacturing. Over the years Giunti has built a \"historical catalogue\" of huge dimensions, through a gradual process of \"fusion\" of different publishers, but also through the creation of new brands, including Giunti Labs. Giunti Editore now includes 20 companies in the publishing sector.Giunti Labs, which has its global headquarters in Italy and offices in London (UK), Frankfurt (Germany), Lund (Sweden), Boston (USA) as well as Perth and Sydney (Australia), provides a wide range of services, in response to any content, learning and knowledge management need, covering:technological solutions for content, learning and knowledge management;architectural and technological solutions for mobile and wireless;consulting and training;content production; and*research and development.Moreover, Giunti Labs does not just adhere to the international standards relating to the LMS/LCMS world, it is one of the organisations that helps to determine and drive these standards: co-writing and developing them. Giunti Labs plays a key role in most of the international institutions for the definition of e-learning specifications (IEEE LTSC, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC36, CEN/ISSS WSLT, AICC, IMS, ADL-SCORM and OKI).\nContact: Giunti Labs Abbazia dell'Annunziata, Via Portobello - Baia del Silenzio, 16039 Sestri Levante (GE), Italy. Tel: +39 0185 42123; Web: www.giuntilabs.comGiunti Labs, Abraxus House, 17A Princes Road, Richmond-upon-Thames, TW10 6DQ. Tel: +44 (0)20 8819 2653; Web: www.giuntilabs.com\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the latest trends in technology-delivered learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An interview with Fabrizio Cardinali, co-chair of European Learning Industry Group (ELIG) and CEO of Giunti Labs.\nFindings: - Greater emphasis on increasingly informal and personalised content and learning experiences is producing increases in \"just-in-time\", informal, personalised, customised pieces of learning content, combining to produce \"just-in-time\", informal, personalised, customised learning experiences. The increasing use of mobile and location-based content delivery means that learning is becoming localised and personalised. There is a growth in informal access to learning via portals and software-as-a-service (SaaS) systems. This means that the learning content can now be customised by the learner rather than the developer or producer. With the development of digital marketplaces, a network of content providers operating as \"learning clearing houses\" has grown up. They take content, version it, deliver it and track it once it has been delivered.\nPractical implications: - Today's big challenge facing providers of corporate learning materials is how to enrich existing standards for learning content publishing and distribution such as SCORM - especially adding web services protocols to content packages making the learning experience richer and more personalised. Other challenges relate to how to develop web-based services to search, query and retrieve repositories of learning content.\nOriginality/value: - This paper explores the latest trends in technology-delivered learning, especially as they affect national and international competitiveness.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Unclogging the pipeline: advancement to full professor in academic STEM	[ "Academia", "Policy", "Promotion", "STEM", "Glass ceilings", "Gender inequality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Women have been entering academic STEM disciplines in increasing numbers since the 1980s (Burelli, 2008), yet they remain underrepresented at the senior ranks (Long and Fox, 1995; Valian, 1999; Mason et al., 2013). The National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE program was initiated in 2001 with the specific goal of developing strategies to increase the representation and advancement of women in science and engineering disciplines at institutions of higher education (IHE) in the USA. This paper analyzes gender differences in the rate of advancement to full professor within academic STEM at a mid-size public doctoral university in the western USA, before and after participation in the NSF-ADVANCE Program (2003-2008). Using quantitative personnel data augmented with findings from two waves of a faculty climate survey, we investigate the magnitude and longevity of the impact of ADVANCE on mid-career faculty advancement across gender.\nThe ADVANCE program: Our university was part of the second wave of NSF Transformational Grants funding and shares many of the programmatic components and study approaches with other early ADVANCE projects (Stewart et al., 2007). Among the various goals of the NSF-ADVANCE project at this university (2003-2008), three aspects were particularly pertinent to the mid-career advancement issue: data transparency, i.e., the development of a demographic database to provide an objective and tractable record of the gender distribution among faculty ranks over time; awareness and intervention through workshops, panel discussions and departmental meetings sanctioned by the university administration and intended to provide information to all faculty on the promotion process; and policy changes such as clarifying post-tenure review in the faculty policy, which at this university contains a detailed delineation of all policies and procedures specifically related to faculty.\nMethods: This study used secondary faculty data (AAA census data) for 2008 and 2014, including college, gender, date and rank at hire and dates of promotion. During the ADVANCE project, promotion rates prior to 2008 were extracted from personnel files. The proportional representation of women in assistant, associate and full professor rank was compared to the NSF data on the gender composition of PhD recipients in 2009-2013, 2004 and 1999, respectively. In addition, the provost office provided an anonymized list of promotions to full professor by college between 2008 and 2015, which also included gender, date and rank at hire, and year of tenure. The 2008 census data were used retrospectively and examined the past career trajectory of those faculty who were listed as full professors in the 2008 census. It could not, by its very nature (static snapshot), provide any information on the promotion dynamics of faculty who had left the university prior to 2008. Those faculty members who were full professors in the 2008 census are considered to have been promoted using the pre-ADVANCE institutional practices in faculty promotions. The 2014 census and the 2008-2015 promotion data were used to reflect post-ADVANCE institutional practices as they pertained to the promotion to full professor.\nResults: Status of women\nDiscussion: The initial climate survey conducted in 2003 by the ADVANCE team into the perceived barriers to career attainment among STEM faculty revealed the mediating effect of departmental climate on lower job satisfaction of women faculty (Callister, 2006). Confusion about promotion criteria and process (Fox and Colatrella, 2006) or lack of access to information (Hult et al., 2006) have been documented as causes for lower job satisfaction and career attainment for women faculty in STEM. This study shows significant post-ADVANCE improvement in women's perception of the academic climate for advancement and provides evidence of positive feelings toward and confidence in the promotion process by the majority of tenured faculty, irrespective of gender. The differences in pre-ADVANCE job satisfaction between men and women, and the overall improvement in faculty morale post-ADVANCE, especially for women, are consistent with findings from a similar longitudinal ADVANCE study at Ohio State University (Bystydzienski et al., 2017). The slightly more positive responses of full compared to associate professors likely reflect situational differences in perception between those who have successfully navigated the process and those still facing the promotion decision.\nConclusions and implications: On the basis of faculty census and promotion data between 2008 and 2014, and multiple waves of climate surveys, this study was able to demonstrate the impact of the ADVANCE project on the mid-career upward mobility of women faculty in STEM at a single doctoral research university where research productivity rather than teaching, advising, mentoring or service is prioritized in faculty evaluations for promotion. The relative proportion of women faculty in the associate professor rank increased from 22 percent in 2008 to 28 percent in 2014, with corresponding increase from 8 to 13 percent for full professors. There was a noticeable upswing in the number of women promoted full professor post-ADVANCE, such that nearly one-third of those promoted to full professor now are women. A more equitable working environment for women was achieved through a combination of data collection to highlight problem areas and provide indicators of progress toward gender representation targets; systematic and deliberate disseminations of crucial information to all faculty to counteract the impact of informal networks and dispel myths and misinformation; formalization and codification of post-tenure procedures to counteract ambiguity in decision making; and the active engagement of university leadership in the transformation of institutional practices toward greater transparency, consistency and accountability. Our findings suggest that the variability in promotion outcomes was not a gender issue per se, and that a program aimed at improving the working environment for women faculty members in fact benefited all faculty members irrespective of their gender. This was borne out both by actual promotion data and by faculty survey responses that signaled a noticeable improvement in faculty morale, irrespective of gender.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Women remain underrepresented in academic STEM, especially at the highest ranks. While much attention has focused on early-career attrition, mid-career advancement is still largely understudied and undocumented. The purpose of this paper is to analyze gender differences in advancement to full professor within academic STEM at a mid-size public doctoral university in the western USA, before and after the National Science Foundation (NSF)-ADVANCE Program (2003-2008).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using faculty demographics and promotion data between 2008 and 2014, combined with faculty responses to two waves of a climate survey, the magnitude and longevity of the impact of ADVANCE on mid-career faculty advancement across gender is evaluated.\nFindings: This study documents increased representation of women in all ranks within the STEM colleges, including that of full professor due to ADVANCE efforts. It also demonstrates the role of greater gender awareness and formalization of procedures in reducing the variability in the time as associate professor until promotion to full professor for all faculty members, while also shrinking gender disparities in career attainment. As a result of the codification of the post-tenure review timeline toward promotion, more recently hired faculty are promoted more swiftly and consistently, irrespective of gender. Post-ADVANCE, both male and female faculty members express a greater understanding of and confidence in the promotion process and no longer see it as either a hurdle or source of gender inequality in upward career mobility.\nResearch limitations/implications: While data were collected at a single university, demographics and career experiences by women mirror those at other research universities. This study shows that within a given institution-specific governance structure, long-lasting effects on faculty career trajectories can be achieved, by focusing efforts on creating greater transparency in expectations and necessary steps toward promotion, by reducing barriers to information flown, by standardizing and codifying the promotion process, and by actively engaging administrators as collaborators and change agents in the transformation process.\nOriginality/value: This study addresses mid-career dynamics and potential mechanisms that explain gender gaps in the promotion to full professor, a largely understudied aspect of gender disparities in career attainment within STEM. It shows how institutional policy changes, intended to alleviate gender disparities, can benefit the career trajectories of all faculty members. Specifically, this study highlights the crucial role of codifying procedures and responsibilities in neutralizing subjectivity and inconsistencies in promotion outcomes due to varying departmental climates.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of tie strength in bank credit card referral reward programs with scarcity messages	[ "Relationship marketing", "Credit card", "Promotion", "Scarcity messages", "Referral rewards" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Credit card ownership has grown dramatically across the globe over the past few decades (Kaynak and Yucelt, 1984; Barker and Sekerkaya, 1992; Kaynak and Harcar, 2001; Teoh et al., 2013), causing consumers to be more discriminating when choosing to apply for credit cards. Since credit cards are one of their most profitable financial services (Holmes, 2014), banks have increasingly utilized referral reward programs (RRPs) to grow their credit card services (Boschetti et al., 2017). As a result, RRPs for bank credit cards have become a global phenomenon (Liu and Brock, 2009; Ricaldi et al., 2013). Research into RRPs has demonstrated that the usage of these programs is justifiable; the presence of an RRP has a strong positive effect on referral intention among credit card holders. The expectancy theory provides one explanation for this effect; that is, the perceived economic benefit of these referral rewards motivates a bank credit card holder to make referrals (Le Bon and Merunka, 2006; Vroom, 1964). Recently, Song et al. (2019) find that this effect could be amplified further by utilizing limited quantity scarcity messages to promote banks' credit card referral rewards programs. By limiting the number of referrals available to a consumer, these referrals become a scarce resource (Brock, 1968; Lynn, 1991, 1992), temporarily enhancing the perceived value of these referrals and making consumers more likely to act on them (Fromkin and Snyder, 1980; Aggarwal et al., 2011; Ku et al., 2012).\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Expectancy theory, social motives and WOM\n3. Research method: Song et al. (2019) provide evidence that time scarcity has a minimal effect on referrals, yet demonstrates that quantity scarcity, that is, the number of referral rewards available, consistently influences behavioral intentions and the reported number of referrals. Quantity was manipulated at 0 and 5 levels in Song et al. (2019). Thus, in this study, we exclude time scarcity from our research design and extend quantity to include 5 and 10. Since the primary focus of this study is on tie strength, additional response measures are gathered to capture the impact of tie strength on the number of referrals and adoptions.\n4. Results: Among the 760 valid participants, 56 percent are females. The participants' ages range from 18 to 51 years (mean = 31 years). In sum, 98 percent of participants have made at least one referral, 85 percent at least two, and 54 percent more than four in the past year. Also, 90 percent of the friends who were referred and subsequently adopted are satisfied as well. Roughly 90 percent of the participants possessed at least one credit card. Of those subjects who owned cards, the majority (53.6 percent) owns one or two cards. However, 32 percent owns more than three credit cards, and almost 4 percent have over seven credit cards. Most participants in this sample typically pay 51 percent of their monthly expenditures with credit cards. Their average monthly payments range from under $300 to more than $3,000. In sum, 62 percent of the respondents reported a total family income of over $80,000 for the past year. In conclusion, the overall profile of our sample resembles that of the general population of bank credit card holders.\n5. Summary and discussion: This research extends the prior work in bank credit card adoption (Song et al., 2019). The social motive theory is combined and integrated with expectancy theory to explain the difference between the utilization of a referral reward and no use of a reward. A 2x2 factorial experiment was designed and implemented to capture the effects of REWARD and QUANTITY TYPE (scarcity) on referrals and adoptions. Participants were asked to record the number of referrals and adoptions that were made to close or distant friends. In sum, 800 participants responded to our survey forms yielding 760 valid responses. Data were collected using Amazon's MTurk worker panel.\n6. Conclusion: Song et al. (2019) first incorporated scarcity messages in the context RRPs. This study validates their findings for limited quantity scarcity and extends their research to include an examination of the effect of tie strength, generating a more complete framework. Two notable conceptual contributions to the referral reward literature should be recognized. First, we introduce social motive theory in conjunction with the expectancy theory to explain the effects of RRPs. A recommender is subject to the combined influence of both economic incentives and self-derived social benefits. Second, the meta-perception argument is applied to the receiver's perception of the recommender when predicting adoptions. Wirtz et al. (2012) applied this argument to behavioral intentions of referrals. A recommender's perception of possible adoption by receivers has seldom, if ever, been examined in the referral literature, let alone in conjunction with the meta-perception argument.\n7. Limitations and future research: This study is still quite exploratory in nature and thus, limitations must be recognized. Only one specific type (monetary) and level of referral reward ($50) is used in the experiment. Biyalogorsky et al. (2001) argues the amount of reward is a key factor determining the profitability of an RRP. Airline miles and points toward redemption of gift items are frequently used as referral incentives in practice (Jin and Huang, 2014). It is possible that the interplay between economic and social incentives may vary, based on the amount of reward incentive, thus highlighting the need to examine increased levels of referral rewards in the future. Additionally, to truly measure the success of a referral rewards program, the profitability of the program should be examined, including potential sales revenue from new and existing customers from a life-time value perspective, along with the total associated expenses of implementing the program. This is recognized as a limitation and is a fruitful venue for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how referral reward programs (RRPs) utilizing scarcity messages influence bank credit holders' referrals to and adoptions by close or distant friends.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 2x2 experiment is implemented with 760 consumers solicited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk worker panel. Logit transformation and general linear models are used to test the proposed hypotheses.\nFindings: Results showed that offering RRPs with limited available referrals (quantity scarcity) increases the overall number of referrals to and adoptions by close and distant friends. The percent of strong ties also increases with RRPs. As quantity scarcity is relaxed, the percentages of referrals to and adoptions by close friends decrease.\nOriginality/value: The inclusion of tie strength with scarcity framing greatly enhances our understanding of the effectiveness of RRPs for bank credit cards. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first research attempt on this topic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Benchmarking practices of quality function deployment: results from a field study	[ "Quality function deployment", "Benchmarking", "Product development", "Quality management", "Best practice", "Brazil" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In today's competitive world, it has become essential that companies achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty to remain in the market. In order to reach these objectives, it is necessary that the company know its customers well, identify their most important requirements and that the products it supplies meet them satisfactorily. quality function development (QFD) is one of the methods for developing products and services to reach these goals and according to Yasin (2002) it may be considered as an important predecessor of the current benchmarking approach. Its main proposal is to define quality assurance during product development and to identify and translate customer requirements into technical characteristics for the product in order to meet these requirements (Akao, 1990; Ohfuji et al., 1997). QFD is now in use in several countries throughout the world, such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States and Brazil; and it was first applied mostly in the 1990s.Even after 10 years of disseminating the QFD method in Brazil, there is still a scarcity of data about how it is applied. Several years ago, in an attempt to overcome this shortage of data, a survey was undertaken (Miguel, 2003) with the following objectives: to verify the extent of QFD introduction in Brazil, principally by studying the largest private companies determined by revenue in order to identify the benefits and difficulties in implementation and which companies have matured in its use. In this survey, it was verified that companies have difficulties in implementing the method.The present article continues the analysis of data collected in the survey, incorporating information gathered from other interviews realized later at some of the companies that participated in the survey. The paper then presents and discusses good practices in QFD application, which should be considered by companies that intend to implement it. In the following sections some examples of QFD application alone or with benchmarking (Shen, 2000; Gonzalez et al., 2005; Kumar et al., 2006) are presented, a summary of the survey done in Brazil and the research methods and techniques that were used in the present study, as well as their respective results and conclusions.\n2 Experiences in QFD utilization: Table I shows some example of applying the QFD method taken from the literature. As can be seen, QFD is a flexible method and this allows it to be used to develop or the re-project a vast range of products. Its main characteristic is the ability to identify priority project requirements, whether those from customers, ergonomic or ecological requirements (or others) and to later translate them into project specifications to meet these requirements. This feature has also encouraged QFD application and a search for its continued improvement. Another feature highlighted in Table I is QFD's ability to document project know how in its matrices and thus preserve this knowledge for future projects.The following is a summary of the stages of QFD application, adapted from Akao (1990) and Ohfuji et al. (1997):1. Establish an annual plan for product development in strategic planning and define the product to be developed with it.2. Select the members of the QFD team. According to Ohfuji et al. (1997), the members of the team vary with the new PD stages, but the team leader should remain stable.3. Conduct training in the method; this training should consider practical aspects and implementation, but the company should fit the implementation to its specific reality (Ohfuji et al., 1997).4. Conduct market research with the target population to identify requirements for the product under development. Ohfuji et al. (1997) also recommend using internal information, such as customer complaint data.5. Define the conceptual model and which QFD tables and matrices will be used to reach project objective.6. Develop the quality matrix; at this stage the priority customer requirements are identified (planned quality), translate these requirements (quality demanded) into project specification (quality characteristics) and define the values for these specifications (projected quality).7. Create the other tables and matrices defined in the conceptual model. According to Akao (1990), the values of the project specifications (projected quality) should be deployed until it is possible to assure project quality; the types of deployment are:* Quality deployment can involve deploying the project specifications into functions, subsystems, components, processes, etc.* Technology deployment. Verify whether the company has the conditions to manufacture products with the values defined in quality deployment. If not, verify possible solutions and project viability.* Cost deployment. Define the project's cost objectives (Akao, 1990). Using the degree of importance of the items defined in quality deployment it is possible to identify the cost objectives of the functions, subsystems and components (Cheng et al., 1995). With this assessment it is possible to verify the cases in which costs are higher then projected and to propose ways to reduce them.* Reliability deployment. Identify the critical components and processes which should be applied - failure model and effect analysis (FMEA) - to prevent and reduce the incidence of errors.8. Perform QFDr - quality function deployment in the restricted sense: which involves deployment of the work functions to assure quality, defining which activities will be carried out in product development. To develop QFDr, Cheng et al. (1995) recommend using the tree diagram and the 5W1H method.9. With the results of QFD application the process flow diagrams, quality assurance table and the technical standards for the projects are developed in a way that makes it possible to manufacture the product with the defined specifications.Companies should asses the need to follow these stages when they decide to implement QFD. For Lowe and Ridgway (2000a) the method should be adapted to the company. The following presents a summary of the earlier survey, which will serve as a basis to select companies with maturity in the use of QFD and the use of good practices in its application.2.1 Results of the survey study\n3 Methods and techniques used to collect and analyze data to construct the cases: Interviews with companies that used QFD, selected on the basis of the survey results, were carried out in order to get more extensive information. A script for data collection, which can be described as semi-structured was used along with open-ended questions (discursive). This is because, despite its being a standardized format where the interviewer has a number of questions to follow on the script, this is characterized as a structured format according to Lakatos and Marconi (1991). The interviewer was also free to formulate new questions, change the order of the questions and allow the interviewee to speak at will, which are features of a non-structure format as pointed out by Lakatos and Marconi (1991). Interviews were scheduled in advance with the same people who had participated in the survey. They answered the questionnaire from that study and in some cases also together with the project team that applied QFD. The profiles of those interviewed shown in Table II and they vary from company to company, which was to be expected since are companies have different characteristics.Interviews lasted an average of two hours and were recorded by tape recorder; notes were also taken by one of the interviewers. After transcribing the interviews, the research team sent the files to the respondents by e-mail so that they could check for any confidential company information that needed to be excluded as well as the accuracy of the information provided. The research team also promised not to divulge the names of companies interviewed without the proper authorization. Later, the interview content was re-evaluated to identify information about the initial expectations when QFD was introduced in the company, since expectations are important to understanding the goals of application and possible resistance to its use by its employees.The following section presents the definition of the criteria used to identify good practices in the use of QFD at companies that participated in the survey in Brazil3.1 Exemplary criteria for QFD use\n4 Exemplary aspects in QFD use identified in companies participating in the survey: Of the total 19 QFD uses in Brazil, 14 were identified as having at least one exemplary aspect in their application of the method. This section cites some of the exemplary aspects of the 10 companies that were not interviewed, since the four interviewed companies are presented separately in the next section. Since more than one company operating in the same industry was identified, they have been designated as company (1), (2) and so on.Appliance company (1) shows the following exemplary aspects: experience (over 10 years since implanting the method), size of the QFD team (five people), frequency of meetings (weekly), and duration of meetings (around 1 day). In addition, this company developed matrices in addition to the quality matrix. QFD was used by the company to develop projects for refrigerators and freezers.In appliance company (2) the notable exemplary aspects are: frequency of meetings (daily); other deployments (not restricted to the quality matrix), method for determining customer requirements (uses inside and outside information). The company employed QFD to develop air conditioners.In appliance company (3) the following exemplary criteria were found: size of the team (five members), frequency of meetings on use of the method (weekly), development of other deployments in addition to the quality matrix, and obtaining customer requirements via internal and external information. QFD was used to create and adapt products (oven development).Chemical product company (1) has the following exemplary aspects: method to obtain customer requirements (using internal and external information), development of other deployments in addition to the quality matrix, evaluation of implementation costs and keeping records of improvements attained with QFD. QFD is used in all company products (thermoplastic resins).At chemical product company (2), the outstanding criteria were: QFD experience (over 7 years of implementation), developing matrices in addition to quality and using internal and external information to the company to determine customer requirements. QFD was used to develop adhesive tape, files and reflective and decorative film.At the automobile company the notable criteria are: QFD experience (initiated implementation 6 years ago), size of the QFD team (six members on average), evaluation of QFD implementation costs and keeping records on improvements achieved with the method. At this company, QFD was used in the development of automobile wheels and in window raising devices for vehicles.The machinery and equipment company met one criterion: keeping records on improvements achieved with the method. The company used QFD in projects for household appliance motors.At the railroad product and services company, the following criteria were noted: frequency of meetings (weekly), method of obtaining customer requirements (use of information internal and external to the company), development of other deployments (not restricted to the quality matrix) and keeping records of the improvements achieved through the use of QFD. The company used QFD to improve or develop new manufacturing processes.The basic metallurgy company met the following criteria: training (over 3 days), duration of QFD meetings (about half a day), and development of other matrices, in addition to the quality matrix. QFD was used to develop new wire drawing products.The construction materials company met the following three criteria: frequency of meetings (weekly), obtaining customer requirements using information from inside and outside the company, and keeping records of improvements achieved with the method. QFD was applied to new product development (projects for tubes and connections).\n5 Exemplary aspects of QFD use at the interviewed companies: This section presents some good practices in the implementation and use of QFD identified at the four companies interviewed. However, it is important to stress that the importance of some of these aspects varies with the type of company and the product developed with QFD, and could be less important for other products and industries.5.1 Food industry company\n6 Conclusions: Analyzing the criteria and good practices of the 14 companies, we concluded that the key points to be taken in account by companies that want to implant QFD successfully are:* The company should try to develop a level of control over quality that allows it to manufacture products with the specifications determined by QFD. If it does not have this level of quality, it should investigate the possibility of acquiring it. If not, the use of QFD might not reach its potential, and might limit the benefits of the method in the case of product development (whether durable or non-durable goods), if the company is unable to produce products with all the desired specifications.* Support from top management. This support is needed due to the changes in the work relations that QFD can imply, and this recommendation is nearly unanimous in the literature and in the information collected.* The company must develop the knowledge needed to implement the method. When a company does not have this knowledge, it should seek the support needed to help in training and implementation. Moreover, it should record all the knowledge acquired in a manual that can serve as an empirical guide for future applications of the method. Training should also try to make the people involved with QFD (the team and departments involved) aware of the importance of using QFD to eliminate possible resistance and gain everyone's collaboration.* The multifunctional pilot project team should be made up, whenever possible, of the most competent people from the areas involved; those who also believe in the method and are opinion makers. The teams should have around six members; working with very small or very large teams should be avoided. Even though the number of team members can vary from stage to stage, the key persons with the information necessary to carry out each stage should remain present. Pilot project team members should try to support and guide the new teams, transferring their experience.* The company should try to introduce the method by means of a pilot project, using a product for which it already has the know how, and which needs to be improved.* The frequency and duration of QFD project meetings should be in line with work demands and can last a full day at some stages, if the company situation allows. It is important that these meetings occur at least weekly in order to maintain continuity in the use of the method.* Outside information (for example, customer interviews) and inside information (for example, complaint reports) should be used to identify requirements, since the company can then verify what customers really want and can use assurance information at the same time, to then improve its products.* The company should develop a conceptual model to identify all the necessary deployments to manufacture a product using the projected quality values. However, every deployment should consider the number and kind of matrices involved to reach these objectives.* The company should seek ways of evaluating QFD implementation and costs and should keep records of the improvements achieved to be able to confirm the effectiveness of the use of the method. After launching a product developed with QFD, it is advisable to follow up to verify whether the initial project objectives were attained on the market.Through the interviews it was possible to determine that companies began using QFD in order to attain the benefits cited in the literature, such as quality assurance for the product, reducing the time for development and the number of changes in the project; to translate customer requirements into project specifications for the product to meet them and to reduce project risk; democratize knowledge and preserve know how for the company. Some internal resistance to use of the method was identified, which the company should seek ways to overcome, in some cases support from upper management or management has been fundamental to overcoming this resistance.Research to continue this work is underway in the form of a methodological study of QFD on reducing the difficulties of application to allow the company to fully benefit from its use. To do so, it intends to develop a systemic model for QFD application based on the axiomatic design. Nevertheless, the work reflects the vision of the authors based on analyzing the data collected.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper continues the analysis of the data collected in a survey of quality function deployment (QFD) carried out in Brazil, and deepens the study by carrying out interviews at some of the companies which participated in the survey to identify best practices on QFD application.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To analyze the data collected in a survey of QFD and interviews, eight exemplary criteria based on the QFD literature were considered. The paper then presents and discusses best practices in QFD application.\nFindings: - The results of analyzing the interviews showed that there were exemplary aspects in the use of the method and the key points in the QFD implementation that should be considered were related to: support from upper management, carrying out training, creating the team, frequency and length of meetings, and creating a conceptual model, among other aspects.\nResearch limitations/implications: - It is important to stress that the importance of some of these exemplary aspects varies with the type of company and the product developed with QFD, and could be less important for other products and industries.\nPractical implications: - The results showed that there were key points in the QFD implementation that should be considered depending on type of company and the product.\nOriginality/value: - The key points in the QFD implementation identified in this paper may be useful to QFD users and academics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Integration of sustainability in engineering education: Why is PBL an answer?	[ "Engineering education", "Curriculum change", "Education for sustainable development", "Learning principles and competencies", "Problem based learning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The sustainability crisis constitutes one of the challenges engineering education faces for the twenty-first century. Engineering education, like other professional educational fields, has the responsibility to educate engineers who will be able to remediate the existing sustainable problems, and prevent future ones (Doods and Venables, 2005; Bourn and Neal, 2008; UNESCO, 2010). Education for sustainable development (ESD) draws on the principles of sustainability, whereas values, knowledge and competencies are part of an institution's organization, structure and provision (Gough and Scott, 2007; Sterling, 2004; UNESCO, 2014).\nRelation between problem based learning and education for sustainable development: a literature review: Education for sustainable development principles, knowledge and competencies\nProblem based learning curriculum and integration of education for sustainable development: an empirical study: The present section presents the empirical work, in which some of the learning principles defined above are investigated in a PBL engineering curriculum. The study is conducted at Aalborg University (Denmark) and involves two engineering master programmes.\nConclusion and final considerations: This paper presents a study whose aim is to understand the relations between PBL and ESD theories and in which they are practised and integrated into the engineering curriculum. The study is carried out in two phases: a literature review and empirical work. The literature review shows that PBL and ESD share common learning principles, namely, interdisciplinarity, collaborative learning, contextual learning, experiential learning, problem orientation and self-directed learning. The learning principles provide foundations for the PBL curriculum that enable enhancement of ESD competencies and knowledge and engineering professional expertise. However, it is the empirical work that provides an understanding of how these principles are practised in a PBL curriculum and supports the integration of sustainability in engineering education. The empirical work was conducted at Aalborg University and involved two engineering master programmes: MSc UPM and MSc SCE. The results show that both programmes have learning principles and sustainability in their curricula through courses, project themes and learning objectives. However, some challenges are identified in practice and constitute potential limitations to the integration of sustainability: for example, the limited participant/self-directed learning due to a strict, loaded and prescriptive curriculum, and the staff control over some aspects of the learning process (such as the direction projects take). Participant/self-directed learning can be promoted by co-construction of the curriculum structures and organizations, such as by offering elective courses in sustainability, and recognizing and rewarding students' initiatives that move beyond formal curriculum guidelines. Inevitably, a restricted and loaded curriculum also limits the construction of knowledge beyond the disciplines of professional domains; consequently, engineering programmes can fall into more a multidisciplinary learning and technocratic approach to sustainability. By limiting interdisciplinarity and collaboration, it is impossible to form cross-programme groups. Interdisciplinarity and collaborative learning can be promoted by forming cross-programme groups (i.e. cross expertise), cross-department groups (i.e. cross disciplines/fields within engineering) and cross-faculty groups (cross-knowledge domains).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Education for sustainable development (ESD) is one of the challenges engineering education currently faces. Engineering education needs to revise and change its curriculum to integrate ESD principles and knowledge. Problem based learning (PBL) has been one of the main learning pedagogies used to integrate sustainability in engineering education. However, there is a lack of understanding of the relation between ESD and PBL principles and the ways in which they can be integrated and practised in the engineering curricula. This paper aims to investigate the relation between PBL and ESD and the ways in which they are integrated and practised in the engineering curricula.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study starts with a review of the literature concerning ESD and PBL theories where relations between both are defined. The literature review is followed by an empirical work in which the PBL and ESD relations are investigated in relation to the PBL engineering curricula. The empirical work involves two engineering master programmes from Aalborg University, Denmark, while documentary analysis and interviews are used as methods for data collection.\nFindings: The results show that even though PBL and ESD share common learning principles, their practice presents limitations that challenge the full integration of sustainability, namely, the crowded, strict and academic-centred curriculum, the struggle to balance different contexts with professional, interdisciplinary and collaborative knowledge and the tacit presence of sustainability.\nOriginality/value: The existence of a PBL curriculum at institutional level, such as at Aalborg University, enables investigation of how the PBL and ESD principles are practised, highlighting the limitations and potentials of integrating sustainability in the engineering curriculum.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Collective efforts of people to reduce disasters in the Indian Sundarban islands	[ "Disaster", "Collective action", "Sundarban", "Disaster reduction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The highly populated region of the India-Bangladesh delta is increasingly susceptible to coastal floods, river erosion and saltwater intrusion. The rising sea level makes survival difficult for communities living in low-lying coastal areas in the Bay of Bengal. The risk of disaster is intensified by social inequality, poverty and inadequate government strategies to manage disaster (Cutter, 2017). The National Policy on Disaster Management 2009 (GoI, 2009) has promoted a bottom-up approach to reduce disaster risk at the grassroots, but in developing countries, local governments or communities cannot by themselves deal with disaster (Kusumasari et al., 2010). The vulnerability of people to disaster in the Indian Sundarban islands is complicated by geographical factors, such as the transformation of coastal areas and the alteration of river banks. People's efforts and strategies also change in response to these factors. Often they are unable to place their faith in the local government because of its failure to reduce the adverse effects of floods (Yu et al., 2017). As a result, affected people take initiatives to work collectively to minimise the risk. The success of such collective efforts is determined by factors such as the size of the group, shared norms, past experiences, appropriate leadership, interdependence among group members, heterogeneity of identity and poverty levels (Araral, 2009). What are the characteristics and effects of these collective efforts? How can we explain the varying degrees of success that collective action has achieved in villages of the Indian Sundarban region? This paper examines the extent to which a vulnerable community acts collectively to address disaster risk concerns with the support of the government and aims to see how people's collective efforts can contribute to disaster reduction.\nConceptualisation: People living in chronically disaster-affected areas realise that the efforts of individual families are not sufficient to combat the effects of a disaster (Comfort and Okada, 2011). Therefore, families are required to work together to achieve shared goals and ensure an effective outcome (Comfort and Okada, 2011). When the government's strategies to manage common resources prove inadequate, people try to solve the problem by engaging in collective activity (Miller, 2014; Yu et al., 2017; Meinzen-Dick et al., 2018).\nResearch design and method: In India, the Sundarbans are situated at the southern fringes of the state of West Bengal, where the Gangetic plain meets the Bay of Bengal (see Figure 1). The formation of new islands through siltation, and the erosion of landmass through tidal currents, is a continuous process. Embankments protect the Sundarban region from saline water floods. The West Bengal Irrigation and Waterways Department (WBIWD) and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) (the three-tier local self-governance institution in rural India) are in charge of maintaining the embankments in selected areas in the region by developing appropriate strategies.\nCollective efforts and leadership: In the Sundarban region, elderly villagers take the initiative in most matters of general importance as the youth are reluctant to do so (because they lack adequate finances and wish to avoid political disputes). Elderly villagers are more knowledgeable, as regards interpersonal dilemmas and able to make appropriate decisions during disasters. The villagers who work on the embankments in order to protect their land from tidal waves are not always economically secure. Even if somebody takes the initiative to work on a particular problem and persuades other villagers to join him, there is often no one to take on the responsibility of organising them. In addition, political pressure may sometimes disallow them from shouldering certain responsibilities.\nDrivers of collective activities: Certain common causes unite villagers and motivate them to engage in fruitful collective action, but the sources of unity vary among villagers in the affected area. The chief sources of unity in hamlets affected by chronic flooding are listed below.\nCollective efforts during a disaster: Villagers are aware that embankments play a crucial role in reducing the impact of tidal waves during the flood season. Collective activities comprise the following:\nCollective efforts for disaster prevention and mitigation: In chronically flood-affected villages, a \"culture of prevention\" is essential for providing the local community effective long-term solutions to minimise the effects of a disaster (Comfort and Wukich, 2009). Most of these long-term efforts focus on reducing rapid land erosion, creating proper drainage channels and constructing houses in safe places. The collective actions in disaster prevention and mitigation are buying a plot of land collectively in a safe place, and jhupy pylon.\nCollective demands, complaints and protests to find permanent solutions to disasters: In the Sundarban islands, floods are frequent and the preventive efforts of the people are usually inadequate. The villagers expect support from formal institutions to find effective long-term solutions to disasters. The government provides assistance based on impacts of hazards on residents and level of disaster vulnerability (GoWB, 2015), but limited resources and operational failures prevent them from fulfilling the needs of all villagers. To redress their grievances, villagers approach the state government and protest collectively over issues, such as corruption, inadequate distribution of relief and incomplete information about the disaster in different government departments. Their collective activities include apolitical rallies, the boycotting of humanitarian support, refusing to vote at general elections and mass fasting.\nDiscussion and conclusion: The impact of socio-cultural heterogeneity is not important for collective action in the Sundarban islands because the settlements are socio-economically diverse. Most people depend on unskilled labour for their livelihoods. Therefore, respondents' ability to contribute to collective activity is more influential than their heterogeneity as regards ethics, ethnicity, wealth and occupation. This study concurs with Sapkota et al. (2015), who state that leaders' experience in disaster reduction positively correlates with performance in overcoming the problem of heterogeneity. In conformity with Sapkota et al. (2015), this study reveals that people participate in decision making if leaders are transparent in their functioning and development of strategies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: People from chronic flood-affected areas in the Sundarban islands understand that individual efforts are not sufficient to deal with the floods of increasing magnitude caused by tidal waves in coastal areas and take proactive measures to minimise the impact of floods before turning to the government for support. Their perception of disaster risk influences them to engage in collective activities and develop strategies to mitigate flood disasters. However, many villagers do not participate in collective disaster management activities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors of homogeneity that motivate people to work together to reduce the impact of natural hazards.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative research has been conducted in Sibpur and Gobordhanpur villages of Indian Sundarban islands. Participant observation and in-depth interview have been applied to explore the collective activities of disaster reduction. Affected, non-affected villagers, representatives of the local government and government administrative officers have been interviewed to understand the disaster management efforts of the government and local people.\nFindings: The research has found that drivers of homogeneity and leadership are important for collective activities in disaster management. Threat of disasters, potential loss of livelihood and damages of properties, emotional attachment with the village and ties with extended family members influence villagers to engage in collective activity. Collective activities of villagers help to address the local needs of disaster reduction to the government in a better way.\nOriginality/value: The study has revealed that strong leadership is required in effective collective activities to manage disaster in the Indian Sundarban islands.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Industrial marketing research: a bibliometric analysis (1990-2015)	[ "Bibliometrics", "University rankings", "Country rankings", "Marketing B2B" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Marketing has become a phenomenon that has changed company core philosophies and modified core strategies into generating value for clients, increasingly demanded in both the consumer market and in the industrial sector. However, what differentiates massive consumer marketing from the marketing developed to exchange of goods and services between organizations? The answer lies in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, a concept that addresses commercial relations between industrial customers and was defined by Raymond (1991) as:\nTheoretical framework: The statistical analysis on the scientific literature can be traced back to almost 50 years ago before the term bibliometric was even introduced (Glanzel, 2003). Research conducted by Pritchard (1969) explains extensively the application of mathematics and statistics to books and other media methods and subsequently introduces the term bibliometric. Further, the authors address it as the discipline that studies the quantitative bibliometric materials, as the quantitative study of the physical units published or as the bibliographic units (Broadus, 1987).\nMethodology: It is of utmost importance to determine the methods and tools that will be implemented when wanting to analyze information. To be as informative and neutral with the information investigated as possible, the search process applied during this study has been based on the results extracted from the WoS databases belonging to Thomson and Reuters. This paper focused on the WoS core collection, which considers several sub-databases, including the Conference Proceedings Citation Index. Scientific research has been included in WoS, as it is a well-known database and incorporates all the information with more than 15,000 journals and 50 million documents. The information has been classified in 251 categories or topics and 151 areas of investigation. It is noted that there are other databases that have been considered for this study, including SCOPUS and Google Scholar and also some other software (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010). However, for the purpose of this investigation, the study solely focuses on the WoS database. There are different ways to classify the material for a bibliometric analysis. The most common indicator is the total number of articles or the total number of citations. Another useful indicator is the h-index (Hirsch, 2005) which combines the articles with cited quotes and the number of studies that have received one or more citations. This study works with several indicators to provide a comprehensive view of the set of articles. One of these indicators categorizes the information. Conversely, the others are also included in the analysis so that the reader can have a general idea on who is conducting the investigation through a set of different indicators (Merigo et al., 2015a, 2016). It should be noted that the general assumption is that the number of articles shows that productivity and the number of citations reflect an influence upon a group of articles (Merigo et al., 2015b).\nResults: The results of this study provide six important insights on B2B marketing research:\nCountry and most influential universities mapping through the application of VOS viewer software: The VOS viewer software (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010) is a program for the construction and visualization of bibliometric networks in terms of bibliographic coupling, co-citation and co-authorship. Bibliographic coupling (Bibliographic Coupling) occurs when two different articles cite a third common study in their reference lists (Kessler, 1963). Throughout this study, bibliographic coupling between the countries that have made greater number of influential publications on B2B marketing during the past 26 years have been analyzed, such as in the case of universities who have excelled in specific work. Figure 1 shows the bibliographic coupling between countries using VOS viewer.\nConclusions: This article provides an overview of bibliometric research conducted between the periods starting from 1990 to 2015 in B2B marketing. The focus of this study is to determine the most productive and influential universities in relation to this matter for the scientific community through a ranking compiled from information found on the WoS.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the most influential countries and universities that have contributed to science in the field of industrial marketing research during the period from 1990 to 2015.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Bibliometric methodology is adopted, focusing on the most productive and influential countries and universities within this discipline, for the scientific community analyzing journals listed in the Web of Science (WoS) database from 1990 to 2015 and is supplemented by using VOS viewer to graph the existing bibliometric networks for each and every variable.\nFindings: Evidence that the USA and UK remain leaders in the investigation of industrial marketing research. Finland stands at the third place, leaving Australia and Germany behind. In reference to the universities, Michigan State University ranks as the leader.\nResearch limitations/implications: The process of data classification originates from WoS. Moreover, to provide a comprehensive analytical scenario, other factors could have potentially been considered such as the editor's commitment to leading journals, to partnerships and conferences, as well as other databases.\nOriginality/value: This paper takes into account alternative variables that have not been previously considered in previous studies, such as universities and countries in which the transcendental contributions to this field have taken place, providing a closer look, which gives rise to further discussions and studies with more detail to the history of this science in the future.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The composition of intellectual capital in non-profit orchestras	[ "Intellectual capital", "Music industry", "Non‐profit organizations", "Working practices", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The importance of what constitutes intellectual capital (IC) in a non-profit organisation (NPO) and how it works has been validated as imperative to the management of NPOs. (Kong, 2006) IC research in NPOs has ranged from the development of conceptual IC frameworks (Kong and Thomson, 2009); the importance of IC in strategic development (Kong, 2008); IC as linked to competitive advantage in NPOs (Kong and Prior, 2008); and the role IC plays in learning within an NPO (Kong et al., 2009). Indeed, the inspiration for this special issue emerges from an increased recognition that IC plays a vital role in the complexities of managing NPOs.While business entities and NPOs alike produce services or products for customers, the strategic purpose of the two differ which means different aims in the use of IC. Profit entities leverage resources towards the firm's profitability and the maximization of wealth to shareholders within the context of stakeholders. NPOs on the other hand leverage resources towards what Peter Drucker (1990) identifies as changing human lives. Kong (2008) states the place of IC, as a resource, for NPOs in meeting their unique missions:Unlike many other for-profit strategy concepts, IC stresses qualitative, non-financial indicators for future strategic prospects and may be harnessed to co-ordinate with the unique environment in which Social Service NPOs operate. IC aids the organizations in their attempts to reconcile their social and commercial objectives (Kong, 2008, p. 283).Though the study was on Social Service NPOs, the statement is broad enough as to be relevant to NPOs as a whole. NPOs are human-change agents with the purpose of making a difference and change in people's lives (Drucker, 1990).The aim of this paper presented as a case study is to explain how intellectual capital (IC) is used in non-profit community based symphony orchestras. The importance of leveraging IC in NPOs is important within the context of a knowledge economy where services are not only unique, but will need to be above excellence (Kong, 2009). Identifying IC, mapping interrelations of IC, and how IC is used contributes towards understanding how IC can be managed in community orchestras with the goal of being a human-change agent. The paper reflects an understanding of IC as a holistic concept versus a static concept in parts (Kong and Thomson, 2009).An organisational behaviour perspective frames the investigation of IC in this paper. As such, inquiry into the nature and use of IC in community orchestras will be based on basic organizational behaviour principles such as participation, motivation and personal goals.\n2. NPO community orchestras: Why do orchestras exist and why do they perform? In a very basic sense, NPO orchestras seek to preserve orchestral music. Orchestras as a whole operate to preserve orchestral music; they work to make it accessible to a community; they perform music so that people can experience it at a deep and contemplative level; and they perform music as an alternative to the current stream of entertainment options (Boaz, 2000). A \"bottom-line\" outcome is not the best test by which to measure orchestras or to be use in the non-profit environment as a whole (Kong and Thomson, 2009). Moreover, the mix of volunteers with paid positions and limited funding creates complexities unique to the management of NPOs (Kong and Thomson, 2009). In summary, orchestras pursue a mission to change and enrich lives and do so principally through orchestral music because orchestras, as NPOs, are primarily human-change agents.The role of community orchestras in the mission to preserve orchestral music was an important discussion in the Symphony Orchestra Institute literature (Boaz, 2000). This was an unexpected finding since I assumed the task of performing and preserving orchestral music was principally that of the large orchestras such as New York, Chicago, Berlin, and London. Community orchestras, however, are better situated within a community to preserve classical music for practical reasons:* they are readily accessible to the community versus commuting downtown;* the musicians and staff are primarily members of the community that work day jobs outside of music just as the audience member;* community orchestras provide live performances at a fraction of the price of the professional regional orchestras; and* the orchestra belongs to the community (Boaz, 2000).All of these reasons energize the task of the typical NPO community orchestra in preserving orchestral music: to give something that enriches human livelihood in the community at large.For NPOs and community orchestras alike, the aim is to leverage resources towards fulfilling a social mission in changing people's lives for the better. The current state of research reveals the importance of IC as a strategic resource for profit entities, though models and some concepts in IC may be difficult to transfer and generalize in NPOs (Kong, 2007). \"The IC approach forces non-profit leaders to rethink their mission\" (Kong, 2008, p. 292). This case study is an investigation of the IC composition for community orchestras with the aim of providing managerial direction for orchestras in effectively meeting their mission. IC can act as a stimulus in creating changes in people's behaviour and values (Kong, 2008). This study affirms such an assertion.The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: Section 3 discusses IC using an organisational behaviour context; section 4 discusses the empirical evidence from the case; section 5 summarizes the management implications with some concluding remarks inviting additional research.\n3. Intellectual capital in context of NPOs: Preserving music for the benefit of enriching people's lives and contributing to the community are what give life to the NPO community orchestra. The tasks of this case study was to identify IC components, map such components, and decipher how IC is used in an NPO orchestra in support of being a human-change agent. With the tasks in mind there was the constant reminder that NPOs have a unique focus and outcome which suggests a different use of resources relative to profit-oriented firms. IC has non-competitive characteristic associated with its process of resource sharing (Kong and Prior, 2008). This is an essential process for NPOs with employees and volunteers working together towards solving social problems or enriching people's lives (Kong, 2008). Furthermore, drawing from the IC literature is challenging since the polyphony of definitions, constructs, models, and assumptions of IC are within the context of profitability. An IC perspective, however, contributes towards NPOs continuing their social missions (Kong, 2008). My focus was to connect the IC literature to the participations and motivations of individuals and what types of IC are applied by using an organisational behaviour perspective with the starting point being to identify the common IC components.Identifying IC components has been essential in the research and literature. Bukh et al. (2001) finds that all IC components have three things in common:1. the connection to employees;2. processes and structures; and3. a relationship to customers.Components of IC have been established through a basic framework of human capital, structural capital, and relational capital (Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; Stewart, 1997). This case study examines human capital and structural capital.3.1 Human capital\n4. Community orchestra field work: Two community orchestras in the Denver, CO metro-area were selected to conduct the case study fieldwork. Each orchestra has musician personnel, most of which are volunteers, ranging from 30-40 individuals; a music director being a paid position (i.e. the conductor); and a board of directors (five to seven members) of which are volunteers and musicians in the orchestra. Additionally, the conductor attends board meetings but is not a voting member. Each orchestra performs five to six concerts per season spanning nine months. Ticket prices for performances are comparable with each orchestra with no material differences. Performances for one orchestra are in a local cultural performance centre seating 300 while the other performs in a local church sanctuary with good performance acoustics which seats approximately 350. Both orchestras rely on grants, donations, ticket sales, and staff volunteers. Both orchestras are non-profit cultural organizations that are passionate about serving their surrounding community.4.1 Identifying human capital and structural capital\n5. Final remarks: summary of case study and limitations: The case study was driven and shaped by a fundamental question: How is IC used in NPO community orchestras? By describing human capital as scripts, identities, and goals, we can better understand the competencies, motives, and personal goals of actors within an organisation. Describing human capital as comprised of scripts, identities, and goals is particularly crucial to understanding the management of IC in NPOs since the use of IC as a resource is directed towards changing and enriching people's lives. Volunteers and employees alike are participating in making something of the world.Second, the study suggests that IC should be understood in context rather than discrete items. Isaac et al. (2009) suggests that managing IC means understanding the context of how IC can best operate. Antecedents are a necessary ingredient to IC renewal and growth. Antecedents as context, then, provide a deeper understanding of how IC is interrelated (Isaac et al., 2009). A holistic role (Kong and Thomson, 2009) of IC forces management to realize that resources should be guided and developed rather than merely deployed. For profit-oriented businesses, the interrelatedness of IC components represents potential value added to the end product or service. NPOs, however, must focus on the social aspects of their mission. As such, IC serves as connecting organisation resources with the social dimension of NPO missions (Kong, 2008). For NPO community orchestras, interrelatedness of IC components is directed to preserving orchestral music and reaching a larger audience.Following from understanding IC in context, organisational practices are embedded with human capital and structural capital. IC is a product of its context which is the combination of practices embedded with structural capital and human capital. Intangible assets shape organisation structure as well as structure shaping intangible assets (Birkenshaw et al., 2002). The implication is that managing IC will require considering multiple contingencies. Changing motivations of employees may necessarily mean changing how work is accomplished, who is involved, and/or what skills are needed - all with varying levels of intensity. While this has been a practice of management, the focus was on the allocation of varying skills or work. IC interdependencies change this relationship to one of guiding resources while continuing to cultivate them.5.1 Practical outcomes\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explain how intellectual capital (IC) is enacted and used in non-profit symphony orchestras from an organisational behaviour perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is a nine-month case study on two community-based non-profit orchestras. The method uses field observations, interviews, factor analysis, and visual models in explaining how IC is connected to organisational practices.\nFindings: - IC is perhaps best understood in its context to specific organisations rather than as discrete items that are allocated.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The case study is limited to non-profit orchestras based on an organisational behaviour perspective. The results, however, invite further research into how IC is used as a resource towards strategic planning.\nPractical implications: - The study results point towards managing IC resources, given that they are grounded in actions and practices of the organisation. Questions of \"how\" (how is IC used?) drive the study versus questions of \"what\" (identification of IC).\nOriginality/value: - Understanding IC as context-dependent provides management guidance to NPO orchestras for improving volunteer participation, motivation, and meeting personal goals. It also informs boards of possible outcomes in implementing organisational change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Europe: is it ready for free movement of its workforce?	[ "Europe", "Employees", "Labour mobility", "Employment legislation", "European Union" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There are numerous economic benefits with the free movement of labour. First, this can help skill shortages in key industries, (Floyd, 1997; McManus et al., 2009). Polish workers for example have helped lower the cost of builders and plumbers in the UK for the use of their services. There are also multiplier effects since workers will spend money locally and will contribute to taxation. Workers will also use transport and accommodation services as well as buying their provisions locally. Skill may also be past on to others as an external benefit created. Establishing a free market will also lead to less protectionism thereby helping to reduce cost and widen the choice of available suppliers. Free labour markets can also result in less protectionist pressure, this helps expand trade and achieve a higher global growth. Indeed, the recent response to the global crisis has been to avoid going down a protectionist route. Krugman shows the benefits arising from comparative advantage when more international trade takes place. There can also be other benefits arising from new businesses that start to evolve supporting new cultures in the community (Krugman, 1987).\nOvercoming EU barriers: There are a number of cases where free mobility has been questioned across Europe despite the fact free mobility has been offered in theory. For example, Niemann (2008) shows that foreign workers with high skills that have been offered work permits in one European Union (EU) member country are not permitted to work in other EU member states. This undermines the concept of EU citizenship since there are limited rights associated with it. In a similar way, Guliyeva shows in the past that EU nationals are not entitled to student grants in other EU member states unless they have lived there for at least five years in many cases (Guliyeva, 2008). Some of the best skills can therefore not be developed due to this situation and the EU may lose out from this. The EU provides funds for a lucky small number of people.There has also been recent concern that citizens from recently joined member states have not been given full mobility rights. In the case of the UK workers from EU 25 member countries have been allowed to work in the UK, however, benefits could not be clamed for two years for the Eastern European accession members. Bulgaria and Romanians can only work in Britain in specific industries though they will be given full rights by 2014. France and Germany had different policies and issued a quota system on Eastern European workers. These complex arrangements make it difficult to achieve the benefits of migration and this particularly influences the skills gap that exists in many countries. Such issues also become more difficult when one sees a different approach also being adopted by member states to workers from outside the (EU) (McManus et al., 2009). It has been shown that in the UK non EU workers represent the largest number of foreign workers at present. Again there is a need for foreign workers and an effective EU policy being adopted. The EU has introduced the professions directive as well as the harmonisation of qualifications though there are still disparities between countries as the training period for various professions differs amongst countries and some countries may show a bias towards home country educated workers.There are also strange differences regarding EU member state provision for healthcare. Citizens of the UK who have gone abroad are not allowed to use the national health care services if they return to the UK for a period of six months. Indeed, trying to have an EU wide health service has proved to be very difficult. In France, for example, healthcare has to be paid for though around 80 per cent of the total costs can be claimed back. In some countries such as the UK care may not be provided for EU citizens if it is not available for example there have been recent problems of shortages of dentists. The EU agreements on health provision therefore vary a great deal and this may prove to be a barrier for encouraging the benefits of migration.\nGovernance across EU member states: It could be argued that European law has evolved in an experimental way in that the EU has tried to devise methods of keeping all countries on board. For example, the clause of subsidiary has been introduced to try and allow the local decision-making process take place at the country level where possible. Countries have been allowed to opt out of policies such as the UK's approach to the working time directive. The EU has also introduced a qualified majority voting process for most directives where countries are given votes depending on their population size. The system is far from a perfect solution but allows a great deal of progress on integration to take place, (Dearden, 2005). There have been suggestions of a democratic deficit though it is also important to remember that Europe has become the most integrated trading bloc in the world partly due to having effective legal processes in place. There has also been the introduction of the social chapter which gives workers minimum standards in EU member states. EU states vary a great deal in terms of social protection and the social chapter does not introduce any numerical measures for member states to comply with (Mercado, 2001). The EU also provides funds to encourage mobility and integration though the EU only has a limited number of resources. Those with the best knowledge of the schemes tend to get the most equal treatment across Europe and these have tended to be the people with the best access to education and resources. It is suggested by Velluti that it is often the educated middle class who are in a position to take advantage of these schemes. Owing to the limitation of resources there is increasing reliance on soft law in this field leaving it up to individuals to take action (Velluti, 2009).Labour mobility is also a new area for EU law since focus in treaties such as Maastricht and Amsterdam was more on the completion of a single market for goods and services with the main goal of expanding trade. There has also been a variation on social policy across member states (Floyd, 1997). The Scandinavian countries for example have offered greater social protection than Anglo-Saxon countries such as the UK. Often taxes have been higher in the Scandinavian countries though investment in training and education has been prioritised more in France Germany and Scandinavia compared with the UK. Workers also have achieved higher levels of payment in the case of redundancy for example. This may have an impact on the decision whether to work abroad. Other mobility constraints may include different levels of health care and the problems of having to re register for work when moving to a new town in countries like France and Germany. There are additional problems to mobility including family and possible discrimination (Granovetter, 2001).\nFuture possibilities: Increasingly, the EU is being seen as an integrated education market, for example it is possible to study in one EU country, in many European languages then continues at a higher level in another EU Country thanks to the Bologna process. According to the UK (The) Guardian (2009) numbers of international students at German universities are set to rise from 1.8 to 7.2 million from 2000 to 2025. Increasingly more information is being provided to workers on job placement in the EU, the increasing speed of technology and the mobile phone are also helping. Globalisation forces are further expanding the pace of change. However, there are still fewer than 5 per cent of EU workers willing to work abroad though this has increased slightly over the last few years (Mayes, 2007). It is unlikely that we will have a mobile labour force like the USA with over 20 per cent of people willing to move; this highlights the importance of historical and cultural barriers that still exist in the EU as has been considered in this paper.\nConcluding remarks: Clearly, there are numerous barriers to be overcome prior to seeing the full functioning of a mobile European workforce. Capital and labour movement theory shows that in some cases workers will not move from country to country unless a sufficient income is provided (Mayes, 2008; McManus et al., 2009). This helps to explain why many Polish workers have moved to the UK in the past as well as workers from former UK colonies. There tends to be more mobility between countries where there is less distance to travel (Read, 1991). Full mobility is the full functioning of a mobile European workforce. If full mobility is to be permitted legal constraints will need to be lifted. This will prove difficult due to the way the legal process has developed historically in the EU. It is argued that the variations in the social provisions provided in EU member states, will prevent full mobility. There are other barriers to mobility including lack of information on job opportunities as well as other social and cultural barriers including language barriers and problems of uprooting and selling properties. The factors considered above and the legal process surrounding these issues help to understand and explain why it is likely to be a generation before there is a full functioning mobile labour force across Europe.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine what could be achieved through workforce mobility in Europe.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach taken is a literature and case review.\nFindings: - Findings indicate that full mobility of a European workforce is largely permitted and tolerated though a complex web of legal policy and constraints which need to be reviewed if full mobility is to be achieved within the European Union (EU).\nPractical implications: - The paper draws on integration and trade theory to highlight the issues of mobility within the EU. The paper may prove useful to policy makers and researchers.\nOriginality/value: - This paper allows researchers to gain an understanding of the issues in workforce mobility within the EU and build a conceptual portrait of the challenges faced by policy makers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information as signs: A semiotic analysis of the information concept, determining its ontological and epistemological foundations	[ "Semiotics", "Ontology", "Epistemology", "Information concept", "Semiotic gab", "Semiotics of information" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A man denotes whatever is the object of his attention at the moment; he connotes whatever he knows or feels of this object, and is the incarnation of this form or intelligible species; his interpretant is the future memory of this cognition, his future self, or another person he addresses, or a sentence he writes, or a child he gets(CP 7.591)[1].\nIntroduction: The concept of \"information\" is complex and has been and still is the subject of a philosophical debate that in its core is related to the nature and status of experience. Is it objective? Is it subjective? Do we perceive the world as it is, or to what degree are our perceptions conditioned by our senses and intentions?\nThe information concept: To define a concept of information within the context of LIS is by no means a rare endeavor. The information concept and its conceptual presuppositions have been the subject of inquiry and debate among scholars on numerous occasions (see e.g. Buckland, 2005; Capurro and Hjorland, 2003; Floridi, 2011; Brier, 2006a, b; Belkin, 1978). And, as demonstrated by the following discussion of paradigmatic definitions, we are dealing with different concepts based on different formal philosophical and practical conditions. By paradigmatic, we mean that a conceptual view has influenced a particular development of the theory and methodology within LIS.\nSome characteristics of the semiotic-inspired concept of information: The third quote provided by Boell & Cecez-Kecmanovic suggests that information involves only an epistemological dimension. We disagree with this view as it clashes the ontological being into the epistemological realm of meaning and interpretation.\nInferences: It seems fair to say that inferences begin at an unconscious level as hunches or retroductions. When dealing with Peirce's concept of abduction, we can see that he gives the concept many names (cf. Paavola, 2014). One of these names is retroduction. We believe Peirce used retroduction instead of abduction or hypothesis when he wanted to stress the element of time within the inferential processes:Retroductions is the passage of the mind from something observed or attentively considered to the representation of a state of things that may explain it. Its conclusion is usually regarded as a more or less likely conjecture; but it may be a mere suggestion of a question or, on the other hand, it may be the most confident of convictions. The essential point is that the consideration of what is observed or known produces some representation of something not so known(MS [R] 842: 29-30)[3].\nConclusion: As stated in the beginning of this paper, the concept of information is complex and has been discussed within LIS on numerous occasions, and the debate has, as demonstrated, evolved around information seeking/searching, communication and knowledge. Our semiotic analysis has demonstrated that part of the confusion of a clear information concept is due to a mismatch between subjective and objective perspectives. Also, our analysis has shown that a focus on the objective or subjective side leads to either ontological or epistemological fallacies. In our view, an information concept should be defined ontologically having certain epistemological consequences.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to formulate an analytical framework for the information concept based on the semiotic theory.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is motivated by the apparent controversy that still surrounds the information concept. Information, being a key concept within LIS, suffers from being anchored in various incompatible theories. The paper suggests that information is signs, and it demonstrates how the concept of information can be understood within C.S. Peirce's phenomenologically rooted semiotic. Hence, from there, certain ontological conditions as well epistemological consequences of the information concept can be deduced.\nFindings: The paper argues that an understanding of information, as either objective or subjective/discursive, leads to either objective reductionism and signal processing, that fails to explain how information becomes meaningful at all, or conversely, information is understood only relative to subjective/discursive intentions, agendas, etc. To overcome the limitations of defining information as either objective or subjective/discursive, a semiotic analysis shows that information understood as signs is consistently sensitive to both objective and subjective/discursive features of information. It is consequently argued that information as concept should be defined in relation to ontological conditions having certain epistemological consequences.\nOriginality/value: The paper presents an analytical framework, derived from semiotics, that adds to the developments of the philosophical dimensions of information within LIS.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Collaborative emergency management and national emergency management network	[ "Disasters", "Emergency measures", "Leadership", "Decision making" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The public increasingly expects better public sector leadership before, during, and after catastrophic disasters (emergencies) and extreme events (crises) than it has seen in the past (Boin et al., 2005; Kapucu and van Wart, 2006). High standards of responsiveness and the ubiquitous media compel political leaders and administrative heads to coordinate resources effectively. The massive numbers of public, nonprofit, and private organizations involved in catastrophic disasters require extensive ability to have horizontal, as well as vertical, communication, and coordination. High performance in managing disasters and emergencies requires an ability to assess and adapt capacity rapidly, restore or enhance disrupted or inadequate communications, utilize uncharacteristically flexible decision making, and expand coordination and trust of emergency response agencies despite the hurly-burly of the response/recovery efforts. These requirements are superimposed on conventional bureaucratic systems that rely on relatively rigid plans, exact decision protocols, and formal relationships that assume uninterrupted communications. Yet:[...] in crises circumstances the disparities between demand and supply of public resources are much bigger, the situation remains unclear and volatile, and the time to think, consult, and gain acceptance for decisions is highly restricted (Boin et al., 2005, p. 11).Scholars of public administration see much utility of network analysis and network theory perspectives in analyzing recent developments in collaborative public management and governance (Bingham and O'Leary, 2008; Fountain, 1994; Kilduff and Tsai, 2005). Fountain (1994, p. 273) specifically states that \"the network perspective offers both rich descriptive capacity and rigorous methodologies for study of both micro- and macro-level organizational and interorganizational phenomena of great importance to public management.\"The following research questions are examined by the study:RQ1. What is collaborative emergency management (CEM)?RQ2. What are the benefits of collaborations in managing disasters and emergencies?RQ3. Why we need collaboration in managing emergencies and crises?RQ4. How do emergency management (EM) networks select objectives and meet the mission of the network?RQ5. How are CEM principles applied in National Emergency Management Network (NEMN)?The research will compile previous research on CEM research, identify widely used cases, identify research questions and common hypotheses tested and their results, and conclude with future research and practical implications. Contributions will be noted to public management networks, specifically to CEM.Literature review was conducted using three popular search data bases, Academic Search Premier, Academic OneFile, and Info Track OneFile. Key words or phrases selected for search are the following: CEM, collaborative and emergency and management, collaborative networks, emergency networks, emergency network, interorganizational networks, interorganizational and networks, and intergovernmental and networks. Key words or phrases were searched in all text, not limited to title or abstract. Papers found were written on various subjects including but not limited to computer science, business administration, industrial engineering, meteorology, nursing, medical science, and sociology. Then, relevant papers were selected based on the judgment of the researcher. After this selection \"snow bowling\" technique was used and other relevant sources cited in the papers were reached.\nCollaborative emergency management: Bardach (1998, p. 8) defines collaboration as \"any joint activity by two or more agencies that is intended to increase public value by their working together rather than separately.\" Communication speaks to how people understand each other and how information (not just \"facts,\" but policies, prospects, rumors, feelings, failures, and all other human experiences) is transferred in organizations. Coordination, like communication, begins with an assumption of differences (Axelrod and Cohen, 1999). Different persons and different units create overlap, redundancy and/or separation without coordination. Coordination is about efficacy. Cooperation is now a hallmark for not just corporate behavior, but corporate culture. The message is clear: get with the group (Mandell and Keast, 2007):Coordination is most likely to emerge from crisis-induced chaos when crisis leaders nurture the right conditions. One such condition is that actors should be motivated to share their information with others in the emerging node (Boin et al., 2005, p. 61).Scholars researched the reasons that have led the formation of networks (Raab, 2002; Khator and Brunson, 1999). In business world, corporations formulate ties in order to eliminate market constraints and gain access to resources (Burt et al., 1980). Common cause may not be sufficient in the formation process of networks; also, willingness of members to collaborate is another must (Walker and Goodyear, 1999).Interoperability is defined as having two elements, an operational element that involves how resources from different organizations work together, and a technical element that involves how resources from different organizations talk to each other. Interoperability is a critical function during large-scale catastrophic events that require the response of a large number of resources from different organizations. While technology is recognized as a critical element of interoperability, technology only supports operational systems and practices. Technology itself cannot solve the interoperability problem because the core of the problem lies with how people in different organizations choose to work together rather than how they choose to talk to each other. In order to study interoperability from this perspective, we have developed a model of the process of responding to large-scale incidents. In this model, the operational culture of the responding resources has an effect on the level of integration of the organizational structure used to organize resources, and on the decision processes used to decide how those resources will be deployed and what tasks they will be assigned. The level of integration of the incident command structure and the level of coordination in decision making can be measured and used to describe the incident outputs. These outputs are used as indicators for the overall effectiveness of the response.Partnership in CEM is a vital element. Emergency managers need to reveal the partners that will help them in their job. These partnership is not limited to only one sector, rather includes all sectors, even nonsectoral partners like communities. Main partners in for the emergency managers are public, private, and nonprofit sectors, media, and citizens/communities. The partnerships cannot only be horizontal but also vertical as well. Intergovernmental, interjurisdictional cooperation is an important parameter for emergency managers (Patton, 2007).Process of CEM networks\nNational emergency management network: Disasters can cause trouble in local level emergency responders very easily (NEMN.net, 2008a). Local emergency responders might stay behind to response, recover from, mitigate, and prepare for a catastrophic disaster. Waugh (2003) underlines the need for broader perspective to EM. Waugh (2003) suggests the enhanced implementation of NEMNs to fully utilize the capabilities and capacities of nation. International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) have established NEMN to overcome these problems. ICMA is an organization that provides professional education and training for managers, administrators, local and regional governments. PERI defines its mission as \"to serve public, private, and nonprofit organizations as a dynamic, forward thinking resource for the practical enhancement of risk management\" (NEMN.net, 2008a).NEMN is founded as an initiative of PERI and International ICMA. NEMN aims to attract concerned stakeholders from all sectors: communities, businesses, nonprofit organizations. With this nationwide network, participants will be sharing their resources with disaster-strickens area and with each other (NEMN, 2006).A complete EM perspective includes many aspects of response, recovery, mitigation, and preparedness. Consequence management, a broader EM perspective, is defined with assessment tools, planning tools, communication and alert tools, medical response tools, recovery tools, and command, control, communication, coordination, information tools by DHS (Smith, 2008).In an emergency situation ICS and national incident management system (NIMS) offer certain response and recovery patterns to emergency responders. However, there are question marks about the successful implementation of these systems (Smith, 2008). In two conferences, needs of the EM system were discussed by ICMA (Smith, 2008).NEMN was created after the Hurricane Katrina as a response to needs of local governments (NEMN.net, 2008b). ICMA and PERI formed NEMN in order to fulfill the needs of consequences management in local level governments. NEMN is basically a pack that includes an EM software program and several trainings and education opportunities for public and private organizations (NEMN.net, 2008b). Once participants become the member of the network, they are able to use a common platform with other participants. NEMN establishes bridges between regional and local governments and organizations from other sectors. It establishes these bridges with information sources and specific trainings (NEMN, 2006). It helps local governments for better preparation to local and regional disasters by enhancing network relationships with local and national governments, and organizations from other sectors (NEMN, 2006, 2008a). It is also:[...] available both for local incident management and catastrophic event planning and for Mutual Aid on a regional and national scale where assets can be shared, accessed, and/or deployed via our national database (NEMN, 2006).NEMN uses a software technology in preparing a database for human and physical resources. NEMN system collects demographic data and contact information. Later on users are matched with affiliates, subsidiaries, advertisers, or partners according to their specifications (NEMN, 2006). This database also includes credentialing system, mission planning, and full incident management functionality (ICMA and PERI, 2006). This software has a flexible structure that a member of NEMN can connect this software with another system or internally developed programs, and share with third parties and other members of the organization (NEMN.net, 2008b). In addition to these features, NEMN provides geo-mapping and situational awareness tools to identify, activate, track, and coordinate response assets.NEMN (2006, p. 5) system contains:[...] bulletin board services, chat areas, news groups, forums, communities, personal web pages, calendars, shared storage spaces, physical and human resource databases, graphical resource and incident management facilities, and/or other message, communication, information sharing, and/or collaboration facilities designed to enable you to communicate, share information, and collaborate with individuals, a group of individuals, or the public at large.NEMN gives its users the flexibility to use the system to get the communication and information at any point. The NEMN (2006, p. 3) policy document details this as:The NEMN Website gives users the opportunity to opt-in to receive communications and information from NEMN at the point where NEMN requests information about the user. This website also gives users the options listed below for removing their information from NEMN's database in order to stop receiving communications, information, or services; for reviewing, changing and modifying information previously provided. In addition, the NEMN Online Resource and Incident Management System give authorized users the opportunity to opt-in to access and utilize the software.Emergency Visions and Georgia Tech Research Institute are supporting the technological background of these networks. Emergency Visions (n.d) \"delivers software, consulting, and training solutions to those involved in homeland security and other emergency preparedness and response initiatives.\" It establishes a catalogue for human resources and physical assets. Catalogue is based the specifications of FEMA, DHS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Defense, Department of Education, and Environemtal Protection Agency (Emergency Visions, 2004). Resource vision follows the FEMA resource directives, supports national mutual aid and resource management initiative and tries to keep the organizations in track of NIMS (Emergency Visions, 2004). Georgia Tech Research Institute is the nonprofit organization that is technological research initiative of Georgia Tech University. Organizations that have an EM agenda can benefit from this system. This is not limited with specific types of organizations, sectors or regions; it is nationwide and any organization from any sector can be part of this network. NEMN aims to enhance and facilitate interagency collaboration for better sharing of human and physical resources. NEMN members have opportunities to feed from newsletters, training forums, and other information flows.\nConclusion: High expectations in EM require effective and wise use of resources. Massive participation from public, private, and nonprofit sector to disasters make EM a joint effort. The combination of the efforts with efficient use of resources needs collaboration among all stakeholders. CEM includes several items like coordination, communication formation of network, partnerships, and interoperability. Coordination, mainly, is an effort to eliminate redundancies in EM environment, while communication helps coordination via enhancing mutual understanding of people and transfer of information within and among organizations. In order to eliminate constraints and increase the available resources, organizations form networks and partnerships. Finally, interoperability is the understanding of how different partners come together and use their resources together, how do they work together, and how do they talk together. All these parameters form different functions within the CEM equation. Decision making, intergovernmental and interorganizational coordination, leadership, and ITs are larger pieces of CEM.CEM can basically be defined as joint activity of two or more agencies that aim working together in order to create better public good. It aims to eliminate waste of resources and efforts via communication, coordination, establishing partnerships, and interoperability. Perception of cooperation in EM may be different in every agency. This is due to the goals, objectives, and culture of collaborating agencies. On the other hand, in order to overcome these challenges, ICS and NRF provide roadmap to partnering agencies and identify their tasks.Since a broader perspective is necessary for EM issues, ICMA and PERI formed NEMN to bring a fresh view to EM. NEMN stands as a great example for collaborative approach in EM. It is private sector initiative that aims to establish collaborative network among stakeholders from all sectors. It utilizes technology, communication tools in the system, and provides trainings for its participants. It is also compatible with NIMS and ICS which allow its members to be able to follow the road maps provided by governmental authorities. Projected consequence of this effort is better utilization of both material and human resources within not only one specific region or one single sector, but also the whole nation and all sectors.Based on the vast literature examined, this paper clearly concludes that almost all scholars agree on the necessity of collaboration in EM. One obvious practical application of this fact is that practitioners should be able to adopt their organization culture, structure and processes to the collaborative environment of EM. The only limitation of this study is the subjectivity of researchers investigating the literature's findings. But, of course, this subjectivity is not a major threat what this meta-analysis puts forth due to the fact that social science itself is subjective rather than objective. By exhibiting what has been found in CEM field this study provided base line for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyze scholarly discussions and findings regarding collaborative emergency management (CEM). Several aspects such as leadership, decision making, intergovernmental and interorganizational relations, technology applications in CEM have been investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Literature review was conducted using three popular search data bases, Academic Search Premier, Academic OneFile, and Info Track OneFile using the following keywords: CEM, collaborative and emergency and management, collaborative networks, emergency networks, emergency network, interorganizational networks, Interorganizational and networks, intergovernmental and networks, and National Emergency Management Network (NEMN).\nFindings: - The paper emphasizes that high expectations of public and stakeholders in emergency and disaster management require effective use of resources by collaborative networks.\nPractical implications: - Emergency and disaster managers should be able to adopt their organization culture, structure and processes to the collaborative nature of emergency management.\nOriginality/value: - The paper focuses on a very important subject in emergency and disaster management using NEMN as example.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Residents' educational attainment and preventive care utilization in China	[ "China", "Education", "Prevention", "Policy", "Public health service", "National health service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Mainland China, also known as the People's Republic of China, is a country with approximately 1.4 billion citizens. China's societal aspects, i.e., social infrastructures, have been transformed in recent decades, notably a significant change is its educational system. Since the late 1970s, with its economic reform and open-door policy, China has sought to westernize its higher education (Huang, 2003). Higher and early childhood education have been transformed. Nowadays, approaches have aligned the education system with Chinese society's increased diversity (Zhu and Zhang, 2008). Educating citizens has become and continues to be emphasized. Strong education leads to increased human capital, providing positive returns in the long run. Wang and Yao's (2003) economic growth study in China found that an accumulation in human capital was a significant contributor to welfare and growth. One way the Chinese government tried to improve its education system was to focus on teacher development (Paine and Fang, 2006). China has invested in its education system as well as educators and education is used to solve crises and challenges faced by society. Education, if designed properly, goes hand in hand with disease prevention.\nMethods: Data - China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS)\nResults: Sample observations\nDiscussion: We investigated the association between education and access to preventive care services before and after the initiation of the 2009 Chinese health reform using 2004 to 2011 CHNS data sets. Our analyses showed that education background was associated with preventive care utilization, and higher education was associated with higher OR of preventive care utilization in 2004, 2009 and 2011. Based on our observations, higher education is a key factor in individual behavior accessing preventive care services in general. Interestingly, respondents' education level was not associated with preventive care utilization in 2006 after we adjusted covariates in our statistical models; we were not able to make a conclusive claim for this year.\nConclusion: Our study investigated the association between education level and preventive care utilization before and after the 2009 health reform between 2004 and 2011. Based on our results, a social gap exists after the improvements on both health reform and education system in current Chinese society. Although China's health reform could provide valuable lessons for low-income and some high-income countries (Blumenthal and Hsiao, 2015), lacking a robust preventive care system may thwart further healthcare improvements and negatively influence people's health, as NCD prevalence in China is increasing. All citizens should have equal access to basic preventive care, regardless of their education level and socioeconomic status. Further studies should continue to investigate the association between education level and preventive care utilization, and reforms should be launched with a focus on preventive care services for all Chinese residents.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: China launched a comprehensive health reform in 2009 to improve healthcare quality. Because preventive care utilization in China has not been frequently discussed, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the association between education level and preventive care before and after the initiation of the reform. Education has been referred to as the best health outcome indicator and China's educational reform has been progressive, such as the health reform.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors analyzed data from four China Health and Nutrition Surveys (CHNS): 2004 (n=9,617); 2006 (n=9,527); 2009 (n=9,873); and 2011 (n=9,430). Variables were selected based on Andersen's healthcare utilization model (predisposing, enabling and need factors). Multivariable logistic regression models, odds ratios (ORs) and 95 percent confidence intervals (95 percent CI) were conducted and reported.\nFindings: In the adjusted multivariable logistic regression models, the authors found that general education was associated (p<0.05) with access to preventive care in 2004, 2009 and 2011, but not in 2006. Individuals with higher education had higher ORs for utilizing preventive care, compared with lower education (primary school education or none).\nPractical implications: Policy implications include providing educational protocols regarding preventive care's significance to residents educated at lower level schools, especially younger individuals.\nOriginality/value: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first comparative assessment on education level and preventive care utilization before and after the implementation of the Chinese health reform.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effect of hydrocolloid addition on batter properties and quality of deep-fried banana (Musa spp.) fritters	[ "Oil absorption", "Quality", "Banana fritters", "Pectin", "Whey protein isolate", "Soy protein isolate" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that in the year 2016, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the leading causes of death globally (WHO, 2018). Heart disease is often linked with sedentary lifestyle and high consumption of saturated fat in daily diet. Fried foods especially, contain high fat content reaching up to 45% (Oke et al., 2017) and continuous consumption of fried foods is often associated with diseases such as obesity and high cholesterol levels (Varela and Fiszman, 2011). Nevertheless, fried foods remain people's favourite (Barbut, 2013). Widely consumed banana fritter was chosen as the deep-fried sample product for evaluation in this study. Deep-frying is a common cooking method used to fry wide array of foods where flavour, texture and appearance of food products are enhanced.Different approaches can be employed to decrease the amount of oil uptake in fried foods which includes the use of pre-frying methods (coating, osmotic dehydration, air drying and blanching), modification of frying techniques and application of post-frying techniques (super-heated steam drying) (Bouchon, 2009; Oke et al., 2017). The use of hydrocolloids in the form of edible coating or batter ingredient in fried foods to reduce oil uptake (Albert and Mittal, 2002; Kurek et al., 2017; Varela and Fiszman, 2011) is considered more feasible for commercialisation purpose compared to the use of expensive equipment (Lumanlan et al., 2019). Hydrocolloid is a term used to refer various native and modified starches, non-starch polysaccharides and proteins that can hold water and form gel under different conditions.To date, non-starch polysaccharides such as hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, xanthan gum, guar gum and carrageenan were extensively studied and few studies reported on the use of proteins such as soy protein isolate (SPI) and whey protein isolate (WPI) to reduce oil uptake in fried foods. Most recently, Ajo (2017) highlighted the use of xanthan gum to reduce oil uptake by 57% in potato chips, however xanthan gum is not suitable for all products as the gum confer high viscosity even at very low concentration that may result in poor organoleptic properties of final product. Angor (2016) reported that 10% SPI reduced oil uptake by 18% in fried potato pellet chips. A review by Brannan and Pettit (2015) showed that application of 10% of WPI in various deep-fried chicken meat products significantly reduced the oil absorption from 15% to 37%. However, the aforementioned literature applied hydrocolloid in the form of thin coating solution onto food surface before deep-frying. Limited studies are available on application of hydrocolloid as a batter ingredient alongside other common ingredients such as salt, flour and water in batter formulation. Adhesion type batter coating containing hydrocolloid is more uniform with less puncturing problem and can be easily applied in contrast to solution of single or multi-layer hydrocolloid coatings.In general, thin coating solution or thick batter coating of hydrocolloids controls the migration of moisture from food surface to frying oil and absorption of oil from frying medium into the food surface based on condensation effect or/and capillary effect (Mellema, 2003). Immersion of food coated with hydrocolloids (proteins or/and polysaccharides) into heated frying oil induces thermogelling of hydrocolloid layer that protects the food surface hence reducing moisture loss from the food surface. Reduced moisture loss would lower the oil uptake to maintain the mass balance. In addition, stronger coating results in small amount of wide puncture formation with low capillary pressure limiting the oil uptake (Garmakhany et al., 2008; Mellema, 2003). Proteins specifically form films that can act as oil barrier (Ananey-Obiri et al., 2018). Meanwhile, protein-polysaccharide complex can promote synergistic effect in reducing oil uptake where intermolecular interactions such as covalent, electrostatic, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic may take place upon heat treatment depending on polymer characteristics (Nazir et al., 2017) forming a new network and influence the batter coating and final product properties.Pectin (PCN), SPI and WPI were selected as hydrocolloids of choice in this study considering their solubility, viscosity, sensory acceptance, cost and findings from previous studies related to effect of hydrocolloids in reducing oil absorption. PCN which is a family of galacturonic acid rich polysaccharides is widely used as a food gelling agent and has potential to reduce water loss from fried product surface and oil migration to food product (Kurek et al., 2017). SPI and WPI mixed coating was recommended as best fat barriers during frying by Albert and Mittal (2002) out of 11 hydrocolloids screened. SPI, a protein isolated from dehulled and defatted soybean contains 90% or more protein content, rich in lysine, has bland flavour and has film forming and gelling properties (Ananey-Obiri et al., 2018; Singh et al., 2008). WPI, a by-product from casein and cheese manufacturing consists of globular proteins (a-lactalbumin and predominant b-lactoglobulin) (Fitzsimons et al., 2008). WPI was reported to form more elastic gel upon heating compared to SPI (Comfort and Howell, 2002). According to Amado et al. (2019), PCN-SPI complex formation was attributed to electrostatic interactions between the carboxyl group of PCN and the amine group of SPI. Meanwhile, PCN-WPI interaction is caused by hydrogen bonding between carboxyl groups of PCN and peptide linkage of WPI (Kovacova et al., 2009). Research by Amado et al. (2019) and Kovacova et al. (2009) focused on the pure PCN-SPI and PCN-WPI solution properties but not food characteristics as affected by PCN-SPI or PCN-WPI inclusion and was not reported elsewhere. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the individual and combination effects of PCN and protein isolates (SPI/WPI) addition on batter properties and physicochemical and sensory characteristics of banana fritters.\n2. Materials and methods: 2.1 Materials\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Batter properties\n4. Conclusion: In this study, the effect of batter with hydrocolloid addition on physicochemical and sensory qualities of banana fritters was investigated. Highest batter viscosity and batter pick-up were found in batter with combination of 2% PCN and protein isolate (10% WPI/10% SPI). This resulted in the highest moisture content, lowest moisture loss and oil content in banana fritters with batter formulation containing combination of 2% PCN and protein isolate (10% WPI/10% SPI). Hydrocolloid addition in the batter system significantly affected the colour values of banana fritters. In terms of oiliness and overall acceptability, panelists preferred banana fritters with batter formulation with combination of 2% PCN with 10% SPI. The findings indicated potential application of 2% PCN and 10% SPI in the batter system for oil reduction, moisture retention and good physicochemical and sensory properties of fried products.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Deep-fried banana (Musa spp.) fritters is one of the frequently consumed fruit based snacks in Southeast Asian countries despite its substantial amount of oil content. Consistent with the demand for low fat food with maintained palatability, this study aimed to determine the quality of banana fritters as affected by batter system containing selected hydrocolloids such as pectin (PCN), whey protein isolate (WPI) and soy protein isolate (SPI).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Banana fritter batters were prepared with individual addition of 2% PCN (w/w), 10% WPI (w/w), 10% SPI (w/w), combination of 2% PCN and 10% WPI, combination of 2% PCN and 10% SPI and control (without hydrocolloid addition). Batter viscosity (Pa.s) and batter pick-up (%) were determined. Banana fritters were analysed for moisture and fat contents, moisture loss, colour, hardness and sensory characteristics.\nFindings: Hydrocolloid addition in the batter system resulted in a higher batter pick-up and viscosity in comparison to control batter system. Moisture loss from banana fritters with batter formulation of 2% PCN and 10% SPI was the lowest while the reduction in oil content (55%) was the highest. Banana fritters with inclusion of hydrocolloids in the batter formulation were equally accepted as the control sample by the sensory panelists with a score range between 6 and 7 for most of the sensory attributes evaluated except for oiliness.\nOriginality/value: Application of PCN and SPI in batter system to develop banana fritters with low oil content, moist fruit core and crunchy crust is reported for the first time. Batter premix containing PCN and SPI can be produced for fresh and frozen fritters preparation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge sharing relevance in social responsibility partnerships	[ "Organizational learning", "Brazil", "Knowledge sharing", "Cross-sector partnerships", "NGO-business relationships", "Oil and gas" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The oil and gas sector has invested heavily both globally and locally in social and environmental issues. Those in the industry view the relationships between company and civil society organizations (CSOs) as partnerships in which the company provides funds to the CSO in exchange for developing a specific environmental or social project. This study examines other exchange flows that can occur in these relationships, using the concept of knowledge sharing.\n2. Partnerships as inter-organizational relationships: Some scholars (Child, 1976; Gomes et al., 2010; Greening and Gray, 1994; Oliver, 1991) advocate using resource dependence and institutional theory as a basis for the relationships between a company and the various actors in its environment. In this line of thinking, inter-organizational relationships refer to any kind of contact between two or more organizations. It can involve anything from competition, antagonism or cooperation among similar or dissimilar organizations and it can involve transactions, flows and resource links (Oliver, 1990). For this study, the author considers the terms inter-organizational relationship, alliance, interaction and collaboration as synonyms for partnerships.\n3. CSR is related to partnerships: Profitability is strongly influenced by the corporation's ability to anticipate and react to social and political changes that occur in the business environment. Ignoring these trends has cost many companies large amounts of money and damage to their institutional images.\n4. Knowledge sharing in interactions between organizations: Wierzbicki (2007) claimed the diversity of knowledge as a value, arguing that although common sense knowledge provides an idea of inheritance and experience accumulated by individuals (individual knowledge) or humanity (social knowledge), knowledge engineering has a more specific concept of information, which is organized and synthesized through models. Alternatively, Balestrin (2005) argues that while these different definition streams generate discussions for developing organizational knowledge theory, they also \"provoke ambiguities for both academics and business people\" (Balestrin, 2005, p. 51, freely translated from Portuguese).\n5. Methods: Corporate partnerships with universities and CSOs generally involve payment in exchange for assistance with project development. The CSO usually contributes to the social or environmental component, and universities often provide technological or innovation support. Considering that there is a gap of understanding in knowledge sharing in corporate partnerships, the current research aims to investigate other potential sources of exchange in partnerships. For that, the authors devised a theoretical framework embedded on the concept of knowledge sharing. Researchers have used this theory mostly in studies related to new product development or in research related to team knowledge assimilation.\n6. Petrobras in context: Petrobras is a joint capital company, in which the Brazilian Government is the major stockholder. According to its by-laws, the corporation is controlled by the Brazilian Federal Government, which also owns at least 50 per cent plus one share of the corporation's voting capital. In addition to the federal government, individuals or legal entities, both Brazilian and foreigner, resident in the country or not, may own stock that is available for sale on the stock market (Petrobras, 2014a).\n7. Conclusion: This study analysed some of Petrobras' partnerships seeking to identify and understand aspects that can enable knowledge sharing among partners and consequently promote organizational learning. Through organizational learning, CSOs can know better how to deal with business when engaging in partnerships and, therefore, they will be empowered to develop more of these interactions in the future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments are often involved with civil society organizations (CSOs) through partnerships in order to develop projects. There are valuable exchanges and adaptation experiences involved in the process that goes beyond a project's expected outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to show how knowledge sharing in a company's CSO partnership occurs and explain the main drivers and the kind of value that could emerge from both sides.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a case study and analysed it according to its contribution by depicting the main drivers to boost knowledge sharing. The authors conducted interviews and supplemented them with documents and reports.\nFindings: The study revealed learning issues from corporate and CSO sides. The authors found asymmetry in management education between companies and CSO employees. This study highlights the relevance of adjusting vocabulary to promote knowledge sharing benefits in partnerships. The presence of a \"third party\" in the partnership successfully helped management understand the importance of adjusting vocabulary to ease the project lifecycle flow.\nOriginality/value: The authors demonstrate how knowledge sharing as a CSR outcome improves managerial knowledge and boosts CSOs to seek opportunities for greater cooperation. The partnering possibilities become more apparent as a CSO learns how to deal with business, understands its vocabulary, context and interests. Additionally, corporate organizational learning relies on more knowledge about how CSOs operate and more information about the local community. Knowledge sharing efforts improve an organization's commitment to develop social projects and improve the impact and legitimacy of CSR.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Outside director-shareholder agency conflicts: evidence from bank consolidation	[ "Corporate governance", "Financial services", "Mergers and acquisitions", "Shareholders", "Directors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Since the bankruptcy of Enron in December 2001, the perceived importance of corporate governance has surged on Wall Street, Main Street and in the halls of Congress. While academic research has long recognized that Boards should serve as a check and balance mechanism to monitor management and decrease the agency costs of equity1, it is only recently that market and regulatory pressures have demanded significantly improved corporate governance practices. This paper focuses on a potential problem associated with outside directors that has only begun to receive serious academic attention; a problem we refer to as \"board entrenchment.\" We define board entrenchment as a situation in which outside directors' personal incentives, including a desire to retain their board seats, may trump making decisions that are in shareholders' best interests. This creates a potential agency conflict, which is particularly distressing given outside directors presumed role in mitigating stockholder-manager agency problems.\nI. Hypotheses: A. Director incentives\nII. Sample and data: A. Sample\nIII. Results: Our study seeks to determine what characteristics are associated with banks being acquired, and in particular whether director incentives play an important role. However, accurately defining target banks is difficult because it is not obvious how to best define the takeover horizon (the period during which a bank must be acquired to be deemed a target). A two-year horizon, for example, will classify banks acquired in 1999 and 2000 as targets, but will miss banks acquired in January 2001, which is unfortunate. Longer horizons capture more targets, increasing our tests' statistical power, but make our data increasingly stale. Our tests implicitly assume that bank characteristics do not change dramatically over the horizon. The longer the horizon, the less likely this is to be true, especially for variables like bank size or board age. Consequently, we focus on an intermediate four-year takeover horizon and later evaluate the impact different horizons have on our results.Our comparison group - our non-targets - consists of the 330 sample banks that are not acquired within five years. Limiting non-targets in this way reduces our sample size over shorter takeover horizons, but makes the non-target group cleaner (by preventing, for example, a bank acquired in January 2002 from being categorized a non-target when using the three-year horizon). This choice is not crucial to our findings - letting the non-target comparison group vary with takeover horizon does not change our basic results. However, our approach is unavoidably ad-hoc, and misclassifying some banks is inevitable.Table III presents a univariate comparison of the sample banks that are subsequently acquired to those which are not. As expected, target banks are typically smaller (with targets and non-targets having median assets of $390 and $470 million, respectively) and tend to underperform non-target banks (median ROE among targets and non-targets is 9 and 11 percent, respectively). Target banks have, on average, fewer branches, which stems from target banks being smaller institutions (the average branch is actually larger among targets than among non-targets).Although not reported in Table III, we find that 7.5 percent of target CEOs have previously sold a bank versus 4.0 percent of non-target CEOs6. This difference is modestly significant (kh2=2.8, p=0.09) using a frequency test.There are minor differences between the target and non-target banks' board composition and director ownership. The most significant difference found in Table III is that target banks' boards are typically older: the median average age of outside director on target and non-target boards is 61 and 59 years, respectively, with the difference being significant at the 1 percent level. While this two-year difference may appear to be a small in the context of a lifetime, the difference is much larger relative to the number of years to retirement. For example, a 59 year-old director that intends to retire at 70 has 22 percent more time remaining on the board than a similar 61 year-old director.That targets typically have older boards is consistent with older boards valuing their director position less than younger boards, perhaps because their shorter horizon reduces the director fees they will potentially lose post-takeover. However, director fees do not differentiate target and non-targets. Target directors stand to lose lifetime (annual) director fees averaging $93,801 ($12,886) while non-target directors stand to lose $92,418 ($12,174). Although it is not reported in Table III, the frequency of option grants to the board does not differ between target (44.8 percent) and non-target (43.4 percent) sample banks.These univariate governance and director compensation comparisons are potentially confounded by the significant differences in size and performance between target and non-target banks in our sample. To conduct our multivariate empirical tests, we estimate logistic regressions in which the dependent variable is 1 for target banks. The first model in Table IV includes only our four control variables. Consistent with Palepu (1986) and Song and Walkling (1993), smaller banks are more likely to become targets. Consistent with Brook et al. (2000), target banks have relatively large branches, on average. A bank is more likely to be a target when its CEO has prior merger experience, but performance does not differentiate target banks in the first regression model. Overall, the control variables offer modest predictive power, yielding a pseudo r-squared under 5 percent.The second model in Table IV adds three director incentive variables, average outside director age, our estimate of the per-director present value of future fees, and an equity-based compensation dummy variable. Consistent with our univariate results, an older board is associated with a significantly greater likelihood of a bank being acquired. This result does not appear to be the result of younger outside directors forgoing greater future fee income in the event of a merger - our estimate of the present value of future cash compensation receives a positive coefficient in the regression, although it lacks statistical significance. The incentive compensation dummy variable also receives a positive, but insignificant, coefficient. While higher compensation clearly gives directors an incentive, however modest, to avoid an acquisition, we note that our tests do not attempt to control for outside director quality. \"Better\" directors being both more highly compensated and more likely to act in shareholders' best interests would likely lead to a non-causal positive relation between compensation and the likelihood that a bank sells.The third regression model in Table IV adds two board characteristics, an outside-dominated board dummy variable (in this case indicating that outside directors make up at least 85 percent of the board) and outside director stock ownership, that are commonly considered relevant to board performance. Including these variables is largely an attempt to improve the logistic regression's specification. Only the board dummy is significantly related the likelihood that a bank is acquired, with an outside-dominated board significantly increasing the probability that a bank sells. Including the additional board characteristics does not substantially change the estimated coefficients received by any of the variables from the second logit model. Small, low-ROE, large-branch sample banks with older outside directors and a CEO who has previously sold a bank continue to be more likely to become targets. Neither director fees nor outside director stock ownership appears to play an important role in determining which of our sample banks sell.In addition to being highly statistically significant, a higher average outside director age has a meaningful impact on the likelihood that a sample bank is acquired. Based on the estimated coefficients from the third model in Table IV (and sample medians), the implied probabilities that a bank with a 50, 55, 60, and 65 year-old board will be acquired are 16.7, 21.2, 26.6, and 32.7 percent, respectively. This suggests that a bank with a 65 year-old board is roughly twice as likely to sell as the same bank with a 50 year-old board.Harford (2003) suggests that the takeover gains from director ownership may be too small relative to cash pay to provide directors with a meaningful incentive to support a takeover offer. Our results suggest that director fees, roughly $12,000 per year in our sample, may suffer from the same shortcoming. The lack of a negative relation between future cash compensation and bank sales combined with the strong positive relation between board age and target banks suggests that a more general status value, not director fees, provides the incentive for bank boards to support being a buyer rather than a seller despite this being contrary to shareholder interests.\nIV. Robustness: Our logistic regression results are not particularly sensitive to different takeover horizons: using a three-year horizon, for example, gives virtually identical regression coefficients. Two- and five-year horizons also yield similar results, although average outside director age is less significant in these regressions. We are not alarmed by this diminished significance, attributing it to less power (fewer targets) when using a two-year horizon and increased noise from stale data when using a five-year horizon. Furthermore, in both cases average outside director age's significance remains better than the 0.05 level.We are more concerned with potential omitted variable problems. First, using averages to measure board age may conceal important information: it is not obvious that a board of eight 60 year-olds should be considered identical to a board of four 50 year-olds and four 70 year-olds, despite the two boards having the same average age. Second, while there are no studies (to our knowledge) that examine the role that director tenure plays in acquisitions, it is likely that board tenure is correlated with board age. Consequently, it is possible that board age simply proxies for director tenure, and that longer-tenure outside directors are more likely to support a sale (perhaps because new directors are loath to give up their board seat soon after acquiring it). Alternatively, longer-tenured outside directors may wield more influence on the Board, allowing them to successfully advocate an acquisition where newer directors would lack the clout to do so. If time spent on the board translates into influence, we hypothesize that director tenure relative to the bank's CEO's tenure may influence the probability of a bank being acquired. To examine these possibilities further we calculate the variance of outside director age, average outside director tenure on the Board, and the ratio of average outside director tenure and CEO tenure.In Table V we explore the impact that these additional outside director characteristics have on the probability that a sample bank becomes a target. By doing so we hope to reduce any omitted variable problems. None of the additional variables receive significant coefficients or meaningfully alter the tenor of our Table IV results. In each model average outside director age remains significant at better than the 0.05 level.Like much of the empirical corporate finance literature, our study has an endogeneity issue because while each director's age is exogenous, banks with different goals potentially strategically select their directors to acquire a younger or older board. Board age being endogenous does not, however, seem to be driving our results. Our basic findings maintain when the analysis is limited to longer-tenured boards, which were relatively young boards when the directors originally joined. The fact that these tend to be older boards in 1999 seems likely to be the result of time passing rather than any strategic decision on the part of the bank.While we do not report the results in this paper, we also examine three CEO-related governance variables - CEO age, Chair/CEO duality and CEO ownership - along with two additional common governance measure, board size and block ownership. None help differentiate targets from non-targets in our analyses, nor does their inclusion impact our central results.\nV. Summary and conclusion: Takeover offers create a conflict of interest between shareholders and directors: although mergers generally create value for shareholders, directors often lose their board seats. The takeover market, therefore, provides an opportunity to test whether outside directors' personal incentives influence board decision-making. The banking industry provides a particularly good forum for this experiment because this sector's long-running consolidation creates an ongoing opportunity for bank boards to \"choose\" to sell their institution. If they do, target shareholders can expect to receive a premium for their shares. Buyer shareholders cannot, but these banks' directors (and managers) stand a far better chance of retaining their positions. Board choices in this environment should help reveal how and when director incentives matter.Starting in 1999, we identify banks and thrifts that were acquired and compare them to those that were not, with a particular focus on board compensation and the average age of outside directors. Highly-paid boards stand to lose more in a takeover and we reason that older directors being closer to retirement, will be less sensitive to the personal costs more generally associated with losing their board seat. Our results suggest that this is the case: in our sample target banks' outside directors tend to be older than the outside directors in non-target banks. We are unable to document a similar result when comparing director fees, suggesting that board members may not be primarily motivated by cash compensation.Our study makes several important contributions. This paper is the first, to the best of our knowledge, to document board age as an important governance characteristic (other research, e.g. Anderson et al. (2004)), has examined board age in different contexts). Our results complement and extend recent research (e.g. Harford (2003) and Becher and Campbell (2005)) that suggests board incentives matter, and that director incentives may be all too parallel to managerial incentives. Furthermore, to the extent that board age proxies for the indirect status value (both financial and non-pecuniary) that a directorship conveys, our findings suggest that these indirect benefits are important and should be considered in an analysis of director incentives.Finally, young directors being reluctant to sacrifice their board seats - being entrenched - has policy implications. For example, it may be optimal to institute some form of golden parachute for directors who lose their board seat in a takeover. Of course, if directors cherish their board seats primarily for non-financial reasons, some form of director term limits may be more effective, although it is an open question whether the benefits of board term limits would offset possible costs (e.g. lost experience from forced retirements)7. In particular, our results suggest that while increasingly-common director age limits may add value (being a form of director term limits), they are likely off-target8. Efforts to reduce outside director entrenchment might be better focused on sun-setting younger directors (who may be overly attached to their board seats) than eliminating older directors who are likely already considering retirement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Takeovers create a potential conflict of interest between target shareholders and directors. While mergers generally create value for the target shareholders, their directors will typically lose their board seats and likely face a financial loss or loss of prestige. The purpose of this paper is to examine evidence to support or refute that directors may act in their own best interests at the expense of shareholders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors reason that if directors act in their own best interests, then acquiring firms will seek targets with older board members who are closer to director retirement and are therefore less reluctant to give up their board seats. The paper uses data of 528 banks between 1999 and 2004 to estimate logistic regressions controlling for variables relevant to takeover probability. In the hypotheses, the authors test for the significance of the average director age on a board.\nFindings: - The paper finds a highly positive significant relation between the average age of a board of directors and the probability of takeover. Furthermore, this variable is more robust and has greater explanatory power in predicting takeover targets than all other financial, ownership and governance variables commonly controlled for and included in this study. This suggests that older directors are less prone to agency problems and more willing to make decisions that will likely result in the loss of their board seat.\nPractical implications: - These findings have important policy implications on director retirement policies such as director age versus term limits. The results also have implications on the use of director golden parachutes. Finally, the authors highlight a strategic consideration for acquiring firms seeking takeover targets.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is the first, to the best of the authors' knowledge, to document board age as an important governance characteristic.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tea and hospitality: more than a cuppa	[ "Canada", "Tea", "Hospitality services", "Tourism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Tea, as a beverage and as a meal service relates to the provision of hospitality. For the contemporary hospitality industry, an important trend is to add value to services, thus forming a competitive advantage for the organization. Here tea has much to offer, as tea services can add value to traditional meal or refreshment services in the hospitality sector. Tea, with its ability to reflect local cultures and food ways may offer an opportunity for the hospitality industry to blend new specialty products and services, with positive results for investors.This article explores the potential use of tea by hospitality managers to increase profits for their organizations. It reflects related literature on tea and contemporary hospitality as well as practitioner views, including that of resort managers and the author (a former tearoom proprietor), regarding the provision of tea in commercial hospitality establishments. The view is that tea can be more than a \"cuppa\" for the hospitality industry. The word cuppa is a British colloquialism for a cup of tea (Oxford English Dictionary, 2002, p. 578).\nView of tea from the hospitality literature: Despite being the most consumed beverage in the world after water, there has been little written on the role of the beverage of tea in hospitality provision. Hospitality is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary (2002, p. 1213) as \"the friendly and generous reception of guests or strangers\". Researchers readily admit that the nature and characteristics of hospitality is a relatively under researched area (for example Lashley and Morrison, 2001). Brotherton and Wood (2001) describe hospitality as a contemporaneous human exchange designed to enhance the mutual well being of the parties concerned through the provision of any combination of accommodation, food and drink. Lashley (2001, p. 5) indicates hospitality takes place in three domains; social, private and commercial and furthermore observes; \"the commercial provision of hospitality activities is chiefly driven by the need to extract surplus value from the exchange\" (p. 13).The fact that researchers are delving into the meaning and concepts behind hospitality has practitioner significance. For example, Ingram (1996) notes that managers are interested in research that helps to identify new market segments and products. This view is collaborated by others indicating that much hospitality management research has been geared to informing practitioners and improving industry performance. Nykiel (2005) indicates the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry creates an environment where new ideas and concepts influence current offerings. Medlik and Ingram (2001) note it is the role of hotel management to revaluate the services and facilities on a continuing basis, to ensure that they meet the needs of the future market. A key management strategy for success is the ability to adapt the changing internal and external environments and here tea and its related services offer the opportunity to develop something \"old\" into something that is \"new\" again. After a period in which tourists desired similarity in the provision of facilities, the contemporary visitors crave authenticity, particularly in terms of the food supply (Pitte, 2002).\nTea in hospitality settings: The offering of a cup of tea is a universal sign of hospitality, in either a home or commercial hospitality setting (Walton, 2001). Practitioners acknowledge that tea offered in the lodging setting is an \"experience\" and that the current evolution of tea into a \"trendy\" product is not a surprise. Tea meal services add in particular to resort properties where consuming tea can be a leisure experience and to city centre properties where working in tea settings can nurture business dealings. Interest in tea also relates to its potential role in health and wellness.For hospitality, tea consequently serves as both a symbol and a resource with considerable potential for the provision of commercial hospitality. Home based traditions transfer over to the offering of tea in commercial hospitality settings. The idea of the English tea room and its related hospitality is pursued by those Boniface (2003, p. 116) refers to as \"tea room enthusiasts\" noting that such commercial settings are dedicated to recreating cosy and home like characteristics, observing that \"...afternoon tea has come to occupy an almost sole role as a leisure, away from home, activity\". Tea services should reflect the appropriate culture of the lodging establishment or its food service. Cross-cultural adaptation of tea cultures and traditions in lodging food services is reflected by the hotels around the world that offer the afternoon tea service that has its origins in Britain. Media reports (Kelly, 2001) indicate that both large and small hotel properties are now adopting the afternoon tea service as a lure for diverse clienteles that include corporate groups and cruise passengers.From a management perspective, tea services offer benefits. Both beverage and meal services related to tea can function in the same way that room service is viewed as both an additional service for guests and as an added product that may relieve pressure in the restaurant, contributing to a more efficient food and beverage service (Medlik and Ingram, 2001). Practitioners also acknowledge that tea services contribute to maintaining \"market share\" by attracting new and repeat clientele to their properties (Jolliffe, 2004). Today's hoteliers are stretching the afternoon tea hours into the evenings to meet demand (see for example Kelly, 2001). The web site of Fairmont Hotels (2004a) notes \"Premium tea business is soon to become the new lunch\". Profit may be a partial motive for the extension of traditional afternoon tea hours, as the tea meal service affords hoteliers the opportunity to utilize dining facilities beyond the traditional hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner.Hospitality media sources note an expanded role for tea provision as a meal service in relation to corporate and business functions (Whitmore, 2000). Other sources report the fact that the hours for traditional afternoon tea services extend to accommodate emerging tourism market segments, such as cruise and conference markets. Tea is also used in spa settings. Here it is both a beverage and a wellness treatment (Rosen, 2004).For the hospitality industry, there are therefore advantages gained by the offering of unique tea services, for example by:Extending to guests a basic hospitality service;increasing guest satisfaction by providing added service;creating a positive guest experience;developing additional products to attract guests to the property;adding and altering services to retain market share;utilizing existing property facilities to create added revenue for the business; and*to contribute to the generation of profits.An educational component can be part of the tea experience. Towards this end, some properties employ tea sommeliers, experts in the tea service. These sommeliers specialize in the pairing of tea with food, overseeing tea selection, presentation and service. The luxury services report, The Robb Report (Wemischner, 2003), compares such tea service to wine service noting the similarities of fine teas to fine wines.\nIndustry trends in the offering of tea: An example of the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts illustrates the role of tea in hospitality provision; the types of tea services provided and the business rationale for offering them. At the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, 115,000 afternoon teas are reported to be served annually, more than that served by any hotel in London, England. The hotel offers three forms of afternoon tea; Traditional Afternoon Tea, West Coast Tea, and Asian Tea, served in the grand lobby. The hotel has extended the tea service beyond the traditional afternoon service into the evening, in part to accommodate cruise ship passengers coming for evening teas (Creighton, 2004). The Toronto Globe and Mail reports a high season set price of $49 (CDN) for the afternoon tea. The Empress has had a special tea blended for them called \"Tea at the Empress\". The hotel also offers a Morning Spa Afternoon Tea package, combining several of the hotels signature experiences.The Fairmont Royal York located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada indicated that a new tea service might be the \"new lunch\" when they launched the new tea menu in their Epic Restaurant in October of 2003 (www.fairmont.com). The hotel reported having Canada's only tea sommelier on staff. Afternoon tea offerings here include pairings of tea with food, herbal, and flower tea offerings for children. The Fairmont Algonquin located in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick provides the Algonquin Afternoon Tea for individual guests and groups. It often caters to cruise ship passengers who bus in from Saint John for afternoon tea. An increasing number of port calls at nearby Saint John (60 in 2004) has augmented the demand for this type of product. Additional offerings at the Algonquin include an Empire Tea and a Chocolate Tea and a Mad Hatter's Tea Party geared towards parents and children.Fairmont Hotels (2004b) publicized \"Tea time for tots\", noting availability at a number of properties in Canada and the USA. These offerings demonstrate market segmentation of tea services and offerings customized to individual properties. This reflects the trend of increased specialization in hotel restaurants predicted by Howarth and Howarth (1988). Fairmont has succeeded in developing tea services that are unique to each property, reinforcing the local attributes and trends. The Fairmont Group has recently entered into an agreement to manage the Savoy Hotel in London England, a property with a strong tradition and long history of offering tea services (Edelman, 1999.)The author of this note operated Mrs. Profitt's Tea Shop at the Orient Hotel in Victoria-by the-Sea, Prince Edward Island, Canada for a number of years during the 1990's. As a manager the experience here with using tea to create products and to maximize revenues was similar. A signature line of teas was created as an added revenue stream, augmenting the yield from accommodation and food. The Tea Shop created media reports in national newspapers and magazines which had immense marketing value for the property (see for example Nebenzahl, 1997). Tourists seeking out a tea experience and arriving at the tea shop often booked into the hotel for the night. The tea shop and the tea line became the signature product for this inn, inspiring the author of this note to undertake dedicated research on tea tourism, defined as \"tourism that is motivated by an interest in the history, traditions and consumption of the beverage, tea\" (Jolliffe, 2003, p.136).\nConclusion: In conclusion, tea and hospitality connect in commercial hospitality settings. The traditions of home, whereby a welcoming \"cuppa of tea\" offered in a cozy setting transfer over to the commercial domains of today's food service and lodging industry. For the latter industry tea as a beverage and meal service offers opportunity for developing appealing products and service that also have the ability to extend the use of dining facilities, attract new market segments and create new revenue streams. This viewpoint has offered insight into both the theory and the practice of commercial hospitality provision connected with tea. Further research could collect more in depth information from the hospitality sector, to assess in more detail the tea's role in providing hospitality, contributing to guest satisfaction and service quality and increasing profits.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to show how tea relates to hospitality in both the home and commercial contexts. Tea, when taken out of the home situation, represents a service product with a resultant revenue stream that has the potential to be more than a \"cuppa\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This viewpoint reviews related literature and management strategies.\nFindings: - Identifies from a practitioner viewpoint the possibilities for using tea to increase profits within the hospitality business.\nPractical implications: - Argues that tea drinking is pivotal to a wide array of hospitality events and that its potential to generate revenue is often underestimated.\nOriginality/value: - An original look at a very old service.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cournot's model applied to cellphone service in Colombia, 1995-2001	[ "Telecommunication services", "Service levels", "Colombia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In 1994, the Colombian Government divided the country's cellphone market into the eastern, western and coastal zones. In each of these zones, two cellphone providers were to compete with each other.Market equilibria in each of the three zones are analyzed by means of Cournot's model. Since, the series have unit roots, vector error correction (VEC) is used. The long-term equilibria and adjustment velocities are calculated by Johansen's method. According to Fisher (1961), the use of adjustment velocities in Cournot's model is justified since \"... no seller is ever assumed to look once and for all at other outputs and then never to look again.\"The results show that the adjustment velocities are statistically significant and there are constant marginal costs for Comcel and Celumovil in the eastern zone.This paper is divided into five parts. The second part analyzes the stability in each of the three zones. The third part discusses equilibrium in Cournot's model through vector autoregression (VAR), and the VEC is derived. The fourth part provides an empirical analysis, and in the last part conclusions are presented.\n2 The Colombian cellphone market: Colombian cellphone service began in 1994 with a public bidding process. The objective was to establish two service providers in each zone so as to assure competitiveness, rapid growth and low prices to the consumer. The state-run monopoly in the telecommunications sector was thus brought to an end (Rumie, 2000).Comcel and Celumovil (BellSouth Oriente) were to compete in the eastern zone, while Celcaribe and Celumovil de la Costa (BellSouth Costa) were to compete in the coastal zone. Lastly, Occel and Cocelco (BellSouth Occidente) were to compete in the western zone[1].In order to explore the market behavior, we analyzed the market stability using the Heggestad and Rhoades (1976) instability index (II): Equation 1 Where Si,z,t is the market share of company i in zone z at time t. Si,z,t is defined as the number of cellphone minutes sold by the firms in any given quarter. This index is developed from the absolute value of the change in market share of each service provider. It is used to indicate both positive and negative changes in market share, since both are indicative of market instability (Heggestad and Rhoades, 1976). The stability index in each zone is shown in Figure 1.As you can see, the II in the eastern zone is above zero during the entire year. In some cases, firms take two or even three quarters to regain their position. The longest recovery time registered was from the first quarter of 1997 to the second quarter of 1999. Although the index has at times strayed from zero, in general, the firms have confirmed stability by maintaining their respective market shares. In the western zone, the II shows an increasingly unstable market since 1996. In the coastal zone, the II indicates that the firms do not maintain their market share throughout the year. In certain cases, firms need five quarters to recover market share (1996:1-1997:3), while in other cases, they have regained it within only three quarters (1997:3-1998:2). The value of 0.86 in the third quarter of 1998 is due to Celumovil Costa's market share drop from 63 to 42 percent.\n3 Stochastic version of Cournot's duopoly model: Let qti stand for the number of minutes of cellphone communications offered by service provider i during quarter t. Let P(Q) stand for the inverse demand function [P(Q):R+-R+ is C2]. Let us further assume that C(Q) is the cost function [C(Q):R+-R+ is C2] and P(0)>C'(0). The cost function is ci(qi)=gi+ciqi+1/2dqi2. Where gi>=0 and if d>0, there are increasing marginal costs, if d<0, then there are decreasing marginal costs; and if d=0, there are constant marginal costs. Each seller expects that the output of every other seller will not change from t-1 to t. On this assumption, he expects pt to be a function of this output alone in the t period (Fisher, 1961). Then the price is pti=a-bqti-bqt-1j. The profit function is [?]ti(qi,qj)=qti[a-bqti-bqt-1j]-g-ciqi-1/2dqi2. And the profit maximization under incomplete information is: Equation 2 Equation 3 Where eti is a random variable that shows an aspect of incomplete information of the cost function for the i-firm or demand uncertainty (Dutta, 1999). The reaction function in matrix form is: Equation 4 The reaction function in Cournot's duopoly model is also expressed as: Equation 5 where: Equation 6 Rearranging equation (4), we obtain the following VAR: Equation 7 The VAR in equation (5)[2] has a single equilibrium point if the characteristic roots lie within a unit circle, which is in fact true as long as {qt1} and {qt2} are I(0). If we further assume that {qt1} and {qt2} are I(1), then the VAR will be represented by the following VEC: Equation 8 Where P=-(I-O) is a 2 x 2 matrix. If we let r be the range of P then r is also the number of co-integration vectors. Thus, if r=1, there is but one co-integration vector, and each sequence of {qti} can be described in terms of error corrections. By normalizing with respect to qt1 and letting a1=P11yb1=P12/P11 one obtains: Equation 9 Equation 10 In the long run, the following conditions must be met: Equation 11 and [1 b1] being the normalized co-integration vector. On the other hand, if there are constant marginal costs, then b1=-0.5. Observe that b1=-b/(2b+d) and if d=0 (constant marginal cost) then b1=-0.5[3].Following Johansen's (1988, 1991, 1995) method, if the range (r) of matrix P is equal to r<n (n being the number of variables), then matrix P can be written as: Equation 12 where b' is the co-integration vector and a is the resultant vector of the adjustment velocities that ensure long-term equilibrium. With regard to these adjustment velocities, we bring on the work of Fisher (1961):... all discussions of Cournot's model allow sellers to receive new information about the outputs of their rivals. No seller is ever assumed to look once and for all at other outputs and then never to look again. Rather, he is assumed to look, then adjust, then look again, and so forth.Thus, adjustment velocities tend towards equilibrium. That is, \"... they are the fractions of the distance from the actual to desired output which are covered in one time period\" (Fisher, 1961). When ai=1, the adjustment is complete - as indicated by Theocharis (1960). Therefore, if ai=1, then 100 percent of the disequilibrium is corrected within a single period.\n4 Empirical analysis: The empirical analysis of Cournot's model, as represented by equation (6), begins with a unit root test of all variables. The data - from the fourth quarter of 1995 to the second quarter of 2001 - were provided by the Colombian Ministry of Communications. Since, we are dealing with a series of quarters, we use the HEGY test (Hylleberg et al., 1990) to compare unit root, I(1), at zero frequency, at a semiannual frequency and at an annual frequency. The method is as follows: Equation 13 where Y1,t-1=(1 + L+L2+L3)Yt-1, Y2,t-1=(1-L+L2-L3)Yt-1, Y3,t-1=(1-L2)Yt-1. Then test the following hypothesis:H0:g1=0 I(1) at zero frequency.\n5 Conclusions: When one analyzes the market stability of cellphone service within the three zones into which the Colombian Government divided the market, one finds a high level of stability in the eastern zone in the 1996-2001 period. Stability in this zone is achieved in just two or three quarters, although at times it has taken longer (as occurred from the first quarter of 1997 to the fourth quarter of 1998). The western zone has been increasingly unstable since 1996. As for the coastal zone, in the second quarter of 1998 the II has shown an increasing tendency to stray from zero.The relative market stability (or instability) must be taken into consideration in analyzing the equilibrium conditions of each zone. In fact, the only zone that has equilibrium between the competing firms is also the zone with highest market stability - the eastern zone. Since, market stability (or instability) results from the behavior of individual firms, the connection with equilibrium in Cournot's model is intuitively logical.In particular, the results of Cournot's model, as applied to the eastern zone, indicate that the model should take the form of a VEC. This is because there is a cointegration vector and the adjustment velocities are statistically significant. The results also indicate that the VEC may be restricted by (1, -0.5) and show the existence of constant marginal costs. The results also indicate that while Celumovil corrects 22 percent of the disequilibrium in its cellphone minutes within one quarter, Comcel corrects 34 ercent. This result is of importance to us because the statistical significance of the adjustment velocities - being a stabilizing factor - reflects constant marginal costs within the cellphone service providers in the eastern zone.In terms of welfare, the existence of equilibrium in Cournot's model implies that cellphone customers in the eastern zone enjoy a small consumer surplus. In Cournot's duopoly, with positive costs for both firms and inverse demand functions p'(Q)<0[?]Q>0, the market price is above the perfect competition price, yet lower than a monopoly price (Mas-Colell et al., 1995). See Hann and Maks (1996) for a comprehensive discussion of price and welfare in Cournot's model with constant marginal costs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test the conditions that describe adjustment velocities to reach equilibrium under Cournot's duopoly model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper uses a vector error correction (VEC) framework as the basis for determining and testing adjustment velocities using data about cellphone service in Colombia in the time period from 1995 to 2001.\nFindings: - Empirical evidence suggests the following: first of all, companies operating in the cellphone market behave as cournot's competitors and have constant marginal costs; secondly, cellphone companies operating in the eastern zone of Colombia are in long-term equilibrium; and lastly, equilibrium adjustment velocities are statistically significant. As predicted by theory, in terms of welfare, the existence of equilibrium in Cournot's model implies that cellphone users in the eastern zone of Colombia enjoy a small consumer surplus.\nOriginality/value: - Testing the microeconomic implications of the equilibrium dynamics of Cournot's model, using a VEC framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Development of probiotic yogurt by incorporation of milk protein concentrate (MPC) and microencapsulated Lactobacillus paracasei in gellan-caseinate mixture	[ "Microencapsulation", "Gellan", "Lactobacillus paracasei", "Milk protein concentrate", "Yogurt functionality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The world probiotics market is 30 percent of the global functional market, which was approximately $50bn share a year (Ribeiro et al., 2014). Among these products, yogurt and fermented milks are the most popular food carriers for the delivery of probiotics. This potential carrier could be related to the capacity of the different food matrices to deliver the probiotics into the intestine. According to Lollo et al. (2013), high protein content of fermented dairy products can act as buffers against the stomach acidity, thus favoring the survival of the probiotic species. They reported that probiotic yogurt was appeared to be more efficient in weakening the immune depression caused by exhaustive exercise than the probiotic whey beverage (Lollo et al., 2013). However, there are some technological barriers in probiotic yogurt production like interaction with starter cultures, low proteolytic activity, post-acidification, oxidative and acid stress and low temperatures during storage which have negative effects on probiotic viability (Cruz et al., 2013; Batista et al., 2015), yet yogurt presents the advantage of being a consumer preferred product (Cruz et al., 2012; Lollo et al., 2013). Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host (Hill et al., 2014). Probiotic live culture promotes the balance of microbial population in the digestive tract of hosts, which perform not only as a source of nutrients, but also as health and wellness promoters such as improvements in immune system and resistance to intestinal infections (Lollo et al., 2013), stimulation of intestinal mobility and diarrhea treatment, increase of nutrient bioavailability, improve lactose intolerance, reduction of cholesterol, anti-carcinogenic effects, stimulation of antibody production, reduction of intestinal pathogens and production of antimicrobial compounds (Cruz et al., 2007; Granato et al., 2010). The viability of probiotics in fermented dairy products is a crucial requirement for their efficiency, as they must retain during the processing and storage time (Korbekandi et al., 2009; Ghasempour et al., 2012; Ehsani and Mahmoudi, 2013). About the therapeutic minimum case, there are some conflicts in the exact determination of therapeutic minimum amount, while several researchers suggested to be 1x106 CFU per g (Kailasapathy and Chin, 2000; Granato et al., 2010; Karimi et al., 2011); however, few investigations suggest a 109 CFU per gram of serving for the therapeutic minimum (Hill et al., 2014). Microencapsulation of probiotic cells is nowadays gaining too much care to increase viability of these bacteria in acidic products such as yogurt (Prisco and Mauriello, 2016). Microencapsulation protects the cells from adverse environments (post-acidification, high molecular oxygen, H2O2, acetic acid amount and poor texture leading to lack of firmness and serum separation), thus potentially reducing cell injury; also there is a critical demand for entrapment of probiotic bacteria in order to improve their survival during their passage through the human gastric system, where the pH suddenly drops (Iravani et al., 2015; Heidebach et al., 2010; Nag et al., 2011). By application of a polysaccharide-protein mixture as an encapsulation shell of probiotic, it may be possible not just increase their viability but also improve viscosity/gel properties of yogurt.\nMaterials and methods: Materials\nResults and discussion: pH profile\nConclusion: Addition of sodium caseinate-gellan gum as shell material for microencapsulation was not only provided the better protection for probiotics, but also enhanced qualitative characteristics of probiotic set yogurt. Also, incorporation of MPC enabled an improved syneresis and viscosity during the storage at 4degC during three weeks. Our results revealed that simultaneous application of MPC and gellan-based microcapsules positively influenced functional properties of yogurt as a fermented dairy product. Samples containing microencapsulated L. paracasei showed higher survival rate than free type, which was above therapeutic minimum level (>106 CFU/g). So, usage of microencapsulation via pH induced gelation method for probiotics in combination with MPC in yogurt matrix could be considered as a suitable probiotics delivery, and introduces a product with favorable functionality characteristics and sensorial aspects.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate effects of simultaneous supplementation of milk protein concentrate (MPC) as texture modifier and microencapsulated Lactobacillus paracasei (L. paracasei) (entrapped in gellan-caseinate) on physico-chemical, sensorial and microbial characteristics of yogurt during storage time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: L. paracasei cells were encapsulated through unique pH triggered gelation technique using combination of sodium caseinate-gellan gum as protective shell material. MPC was also used to improve physico-chemical indices of probiotic yogurt at different levels (0-3 percent).\nFindings: The results showed that yogurt samples containing encapsulated L. paracasei showed lower post-acidification and higher viability. Samples containing encapsulated L. paracasei showed less syneresis amount, due to possible hydration of shell material, also application of MPC could reduce this attribute during storage time. The numbers of probiotic bacteria were remained above the recommended therapeutic minimum throughout the samples.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest a practical ingredient in probiotic dairy product. Simultaneous usage of this kind of encapsulation via MPC enhanced sensorial and physical properties of probiotic yogurt while of no reduction in viable counts survival.\nOriginality/value: This study revealed usage of microcapsules of L. paracasei prepared by the gelation of sodium caseinate-gellan gum could be a suitable manner for delivery of probiotics in fermented dairy products like yogurt.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A social network analysis of healthcare professional relationships in a French hospital	[ "Social networks", "Health services", "France", "Quality improvement", "Intergroup relations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Understanding management decision-making behaviour is critical to successfully leading healthcare organizations. Conflicting demands, priorities, opportunities and threats present leaders and managers with bewildering choices, which can lead to deteriorating relationships and trust between healthcare professionals and managers. Poor relationships between healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, psychologists and social workers) and managers for whom they work are a common feature of many healthcare systems, affecting professional satisfaction and patient care (Edwards, 2003; Edwards et al., 2003). Working effectively in teams is about building relationships and developing trust between clinicians and patients but also between practitioners and managers. Research shows that trust has a beneficial impact on many working life aspects, including job satisfaction and organisational effectiveness. Both factors can affect the quality of patient care (Firth-Cozens, 2004).In this context, the French health system launched a reform plan in 2006 to improve hospital efficiency and management (Or and De Pouvourville, 2006). One measure aimed at creating large clinical departments, under the \"trio\" responsibility: doctor, head nurse and administrative manager. The concept behind French clinical departments is to control healthcare costs by consolidating services and facilities, and improving coordination between professionals, strengthening service quality, access and availability. The \"trio\" enjoys organisational and administrative autonomy, subject to an internal contract with hospital managers. Their work is based on shared reflection, collegiality and transparent decisions to promote management legitimacy. Multidisciplinary training focused on leadership and management skills were proposed to nurses, doctors, managers and other healthcare professionals. The concept behind this hospital sector reform is similar to French managed care programs (MCPs), which moved from informal co-operation between health professionals to formalised co-operation with coordination rules, practice standards, etc. (Boyer et al., 2006, 2008). These improve communication, relationships and cooperation between healthcare professionals to guarantee service continuity and coordination.Our focus is on evaluating new governance modes in France, which could ultimately lead to better outcomes through a coordinated service where managers understand each others' roles and have ongoing relationships. While the main information source on this topic is outcome indicators from professional satisfaction surveys or work environment scales (McCusker et al., 2005), we focus on relationships themselves. A social network is defined as a set of actors and relations that hold people together (Wasserman and Faust, 1994; Degenne and Forse, 1999; Scott, 2000; Chanut et al., 2005). The social network analysis (SNA) helps to examine individual positions within the network and provides information on whether there are connections between people. Our aim was to describe healthcare professional relationships in a French public hospital using an original method - SNA and to improve health service quality by strengthening health service management and leadership.\nMethod: Setting and population\nResults: A total of 104 (69 per cent) questionnaires were returned and analysed. Socio-demographic and professional characteristics were no different for responders (n=104) and non-responders (n=46): age, sex, job, and ward (all p-values >0.05, data not shown). Among responders, 73 per cent were female, 23 per cent were <45 years, 91 per cent were care providers (physicians, nurses and psychologists or social workers), 52 per cent had worked in psychiatry for >=10 years and 9 per cent worked in several locations (transverse working) (Table I).Centrality\nDiscussion: Our approach, based on analysing network structures, is useful for examining relationships in a French context and more generally in hospital organizations. Our study revealed which individuals are more \"central\" or \"prestigious\", probably owing to their more influential positions, by virtue of their position in relation to other actors in this network locale. But this method uncovers little about how people value these relationships, which requires that relationship quality is explored as seen in Lewis' work (Lewis, 2005; Lewis et al., 2008). The social network analysis indicators are more important than this work indicates. The many and varied measurement techniques can be found in the growing literature (Wasserman and Faust, 1994; Degenne and Forse, 1999; Scott, 2000).One limitation concerns representativeness and generalizing our results. This study of one psychiatric department means that it is difficult to generalize about the impact of France's new governance modes in other hospital departments. This \"case study\" of one hospital should be complete by additional studies in other hospital departments. However, the random sample and the absence of difference between responders and non-responders ensure that our results are probably representative. Moreover, our sample is more effective than other studies on this subject, which may enhance its scope. For example, a study was conducted on 45 Australian hospital staff (Creswick and Westbrook, 2008). In another study, 15 health care organizations were analysed (Gold et al., 2008). Studying the link between network analysis and service quality is new in this context so it would be useful to explore reliability and validity.Social network analysis has emerged as a key technique in modern sociology, organizational studies, economics and biology but little health service data exists. Despite these limits and perspectives, our research has produced an original way of analysing relationships by examining network structures. A survey conducted in California in 2001 investigated physician relationships and concluded that specific strategies may improve relationships but more work is needed to assess strategies' actual impact (Gillies et al., 2001; Nash, 2003). Social network analysis provides an objective view of research in an institution and is a baseline for efforts to facilitate trans-disciplinary collaboration (Bales et al., 2008).Our study identifies several characteristics in French health departments under the responsibility of doctor, head nurse and administrator. Concerning a department's overall functioning, the high correlation between centrality, prestige and clique suggests that professionals who contact many other professionals are themselves also contacted by many others, which could legitimise department management. Factors associated with \"good\" overall functioning include:1. Physicians had the highest centrality, prestige and clique scores, underlining their role as leaders. This result is coherent with several surveys. Strong and high quality clinical leadership is a key element of improved relationships and organisational success (Firth-Cozens and Mowbray, 2001). The importance of good clinical leadership is becoming increasingly apparent within healthcare because it affects quality in different ways. Stress or professional wellbeing, for example, seems to be related to service quality (Vahey et al., 2004).2. We did not find a disconnection between administrators and healthcare professionals, which usually described in healthcare organisations (Glouberman and Mintzberg, 2001). The absence of significant centrality and prestige discrepancy between administrators, nurses, psychologists and social workers suggests that they occupy an equivalent position in the department, which could facilitate effective partnerships between them.3. Interestingly, middle managers have emerged. A total of 9 percent of professionals are transverse workers, who are associated with high centrality, prestige and clique levels. They are in a pivotal position to form key links between groups. Valentino (2004) noted that middle managers are change agents. They make sense of, unite and transmit the organisation's culture. One characteristic is to get deep inside a new organisation's culture and come to know its needs, and people to weld them into a smoothly functioning entity. Middle managers are able to attract and energize people in a new organization. This could explain why experienced professionals (>=45) seems to be more implicated in this type of management.Several factors may explain these results. Our study suggests that a multidisciplinary shared leadership (doctor, head nurse and administrator trio) implemented in a hospital setting can empower all staff to participate in decision making, even if doctors have more influence than other professionals. This is coherent with several surveys that underline multidisciplinary leadership's importance. Inter-professional and trans-disciplinary teamwork continues the evolutionary process of continuous quality improvement (Vyt, 2008; Perry, 2000). This type of leadership seems to be associated with participative management, which has an important role building good relationships. These leaders represent all professionals and their values and beliefs are important. Facilitating dynamic interactional processes between leaders and non-leaders regarding mutual expectations was emphasized by Gabel (1998). Two examples in healthcare underline this point: first, continuous improvement quality theory and studies show that quality improvement is often associated with a participative rather than a bureaucratic and hierarchical culture (Shortell et al., 1995). Second, managed care networks in France, which are also based on such teamwork, enable healthcare professionals and managers to work together constructively (Boyer et al., 2006, 2008; Francois et al., 2008).Our study also suggests that specific training focused on leadership and management skills, open to nurses, doctors, managers and other healthcare professionals, also can strengthen cooperation between professionals, which may explain the middle managers' emergence. Dialogue between doctors, nurses and managers is critical to efficient and effective health system functioning, but they present a cultural diversity that can be a barrier to good relations (Atun, 2003; Krogstad et al., 2004). Giving formal, multidisciplinary management training can help them to work together.\nConclusion: Our study illustrates social network method's usefulness for evaluating relationships in a French hospital. Social network analysis is a useful means for assessing partnership strengths and weaknesses. The aim of SNA is to improve healthcare quality and staff well-being through better relationships between professionals. Clinical leadership, administrator partnerships, emerging leaders and their implications for experienced manager-professionals play a major role in improving relationships. In perspective, SNA can provide a systematic way of studying specific interactions and relationships that exist within complex communication that occurs between healthcare professionals. Quantitative measures could allow comparisons across time, which may be useful for determining changing communication patterns following interventions such as clinical information systems or other initiatives.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe relationships among healthcare professionals in a French public hospital using social network analysis (SNA) and to improve health service quality by strengthening health service management and leadership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study was based on a questionnaire sent to randomly selected French public hospital professionals and administrators. Network composition measures were obtained using a name generator. Analysis focused on three main indicators: \"centrality\", \"prestige\", and \"clique participants\". The SNA was carried out using UCINET(r) and statistical analyses were performed with SPSS version 15.0.\nFindings: - A total of 104 questionnaires were returned and analysed. Centrality, prestige and clique indicators were highly correlated (all p-value were less than 0.01). Physicians had the highest scores for the three indicators. Older age (>=45 years) was associated with higher centrality and clique numbers scores. Transversal activity was associated with higher scores than other specific activities (hospitalisation, ambulatory care), except for emergency care.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows how networks and SNA techniques provide novel and useful means to understand communication and collaboration between hospital professionals.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Entrepreneurs' network evolution - the relevance of cognitive social capital	[ "Social capital", "Start-ups", "Entrepreneurs", "Case study", "Network evolution", "Cognitive dimension" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research has pointed to the importance of entrepreneurial networks and of building social capital to the new venture creation process (e.g. Baron and Markman, 2003; De Carolis and Saparito, 2006; Greve and Salaff, 2003; Jack et al., 2008; Johannisson, 1996; Klyver and Hindle, 2007; Lechner and Dowling, 2003; Liao and Welsch, 2005; Ostgaard and Birley, 1996; Walker et al., 1997). Entrepreneurial networks change over time (Larson and Starr, 1993). Network change is seen as a response to changing entrepreneurial requirements because establishing and developing a business requires different contacts and resources over time (Casson and Della Giusta, 2007; Johannisson, 1988). It is important to understand not only how social networks of entrepreneurs influence outcomes but also how entrepreneurs' networks change and evolve over time because the evolution of a network is likely to affect outcome variables such as venture performance (Batjargal, 2006; Batjargal et al., 2013) and flow of resources (Hite and Hesterly, 2001; Jarillo, 1989). In this paper, the term network evolution is defined as the establishment of new network relationships that support the business development of the new venture - for example, through the provision of resources or support (cf. Hite and Hesterly, 2001).\nBackground: Social capital is an umbrella concept used in a variety of disciplines (Adler and Kwon, 2002). Bourdieu (1986) frames social capital as the aggregate of actual or potential resources, which are linked to the possession of a durable network of relationships, mutual acquaintances and recognition. Coleman (1990) shares this view of social capital and claims that social capital is a variety of different entities with two characteristics in common: They all consist of some aspect of social structure, and they facilitate certain actions of individuals who are within the structure. In a similar vein, Fukuyama (1995) defines social capital as the ability of people to work together for common purposes in groups and as the existence of a certain set of informal values or norms shared among members of a group that permits cooperation among them. This notion is similar to Putnam's (2000) definition of social capital as norms and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for the mutual benefit of social organisations (e.g. networks) and to Woolcock and Narayan's (2000) definition of social capital as the information, trust and norms of reciprocity that are inherent in social networks. Lin (2001) suggests a \"resource-based definition\" and defines social capital as the resources embedded in social networks that are accessed and used by actors. In this paper, I adhere to the view expressed by Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) that social capital is the sum of its actual and potential resources that are embedded within, available through and derived from the network of relationships (internal or external) in which an individual or social unit is engaged. Social capital thus comprises both the network and the assets that may be mobilised through that network. Furthermore, this paper focuses on entrepreneurs' external social capital - and, therefore, on the relationships developed by entrepreneurs with actors not employed at the firm - as opposed to internal social capital developed with, for example, their employees. This external focus is consistent with the definitions of social capital found in the entrepreneurship literature (e.g. Baron and Markman, 2003;\nMethod: Research design\nFindings: The analysis examined the type and character of the relationships that entrepreneurs had used since firm registration to achieve a firm's goals (e.g. growth in sales turnover, number of employees, number of markets). The findings are presented in three sections. The first section describes the network entry process and how entrepreneurs draw on various dimensions of social capital to initiate relationships that are important in achieving firm goals. It describes with whom the entrepreneurs initiate new relationships and the rational for such initiation. The establishment of these new relationships corresponds to a development of the structural dimension. The second section describes the development of the established relationships and how they provide resources important in achieving firm goals. It outlines how the different dimensions used in the network entry process affect the development and value of initiated relationships, how relational dimensions, such as trust, are developed and how consequential access to fine-grained information is forthcoming. The third section describes how the different relationships contribute to further development of the structural dimension: It outlines the extent to which different relationship provide referrals to third party actors.\nDiscussion: The aims of this study are to investigate how dimensions of social capital affect network evolution in the start-up phase, to increase the understanding of actors with whom entrepreneurs in the start-up phase establish new relationships, to explain why they establish relationships with these actors and to identify which resources they thereby gain access. Specific attention is given here to the understudied cognitive dimension (cf. Lee, 2009; Zheng, 2010). The findings reveal that entrepreneurs create structural social capital (i.e. initiate new network contacts) through the display of cognitive attributes. This display of cognitive attributes in turn promotes the establishment of relationships with actors who perceive these attributes to be attractive (e.g. a venture capitalist who wants to be part of the fashion community). The cognitive dimension leads to the formation of embedded relationships, and interactions in these relationships provide the entrepreneur with proprietary information that includes referrals to a third relationship (e.g. an investor); hence, the continued development of the structural dimension is promoted. To conclude, the cognitive dimension of social capital has a relevant impact on network evolution in the start-up phase.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate entrepreneurs' network evolution in the start-up phase.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the case studies of six fashion start-up firms, this study uses a three-dimensional perspective on social capital (structural, relational, cognitive) to investigate entrepreneurs' network evolution (i.e. initiation of new relationships) in the start-up phase so as to acquire resources and support for firms' goals. The study focuses particularly on the understudied cognitive dimension of social capital. The fashion industry provides a relevant research setting because it is characterised by changes in demand, which generate opportunities for entrepreneurship.\nFindings: The findings show that the display of cognitive attributes is important for the creation of structural social capital (the establishment of new relationships). The findings also indicate that relationships initiated based on the cognitive dimension have a high probability of developing into embedded relationships, thereby becoming high in the relational dimension and providing access to private information containing referrals to other actors. Thus, these relationships also promote the continued development of the structural dimension.\nOriginality/value: The findings imply that the entrepreneurs' sets of cognitive attributes constitute an important asset in the creation of social capital. They also point to the importance of signalling these values to potential resource holders. Relationships initiated through the display of cognitive attributes can provide resources without requiring immediate economic remuneration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Principals' perspectives of social justice in public schools	[ "United States of America", "Principals", "Leadership", "Social justice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and framework: Social justice is at the core of democratic communities. Blount (2006, p. 1) recently noted:Within the field of education, the term \"social justice\" has been used quite extensively over the past decade in particular, and to a more limited degree over the past half-century.However, Cambron-McCabe and McCarthy (2005, p. 201) raised specific concerns \"about the extent to which social justice issues are being considered in the development of new approaches and standards for preparing leaders\". Grogan and Andrews (2002, p. 250) recommended the reorganization of principal programs in order to prepare aspiring principals to \"understand their ethical and moral obligations to create schools that promote and deliver social justice\". Furthermore, Cambron-McCabe and McCarthy (2005, p. 204) maintain the need to prepare aspiring principals to become advocates for social justice by noting the need for \"school leaders to take an activist stance in making deep structural decisions around issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and exceptionalities\".Two recent themes for the annual University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA) conference have included the term social justice. While papers and sessions abound with the words in the titles, not all professors are in complete agreement about how social justice should be used or defined. At a 2005 UCEA session, a number of professors (personal communication, November 12, 2005) stated that the term social justice was ill defined and often not used in a proper academic manner. Thus, we begin this paper with the conceptual framework for social justice that guides this paper taken from the research of Furman and Shields (2004) and Dantley and Tillman (2006). These scholars challenge us to focus on questioning inequities based on social power. Social power is defined as \"the power to influence behaviors of others\" (Brey, 2008, p. 76). While Brey posits that social power can be exercised by individuals, groups, and organizations, French and Raven (1959) suggest that social power may act as a resource that people use to exert influence on others. These resources form the bases of power over others. Furman and Shields (2004, p. 12) include power in defining social justice as \"a deliberate intervention that challenges fundamental inequities that arise, in large part, due to the inappropriate use of power by one group over another\". They added, \"educational leaders for social justice embed an explicitly moral practice in values that undergird an ethic of a deeply democratic community\" (p. 13). Dantley and Tillman (2006, p. 19) noted, \"Social justice scholarship includes concepts such as the impact of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability on the educational outcomes of students\".These conceptualizations of social justice (i.e. in the inappropriate use of power by one group over another group) may impact academic outcomes for students. Thus, an understanding of the complexity of social power is important for educational leaders who may need to adopt a transformative leadership style to alter inequities. Shields' (2004, p. 111) research on social justice calls for transformative educational leaders who:[...] foster the academic success of all children through engaging in moral dialogue that facilitates the development of strong relationships, supplants pathologizing silences, challenges existing beliefs and practices, and grounds educational leadership in some criteria for social justice.English (2006, p. 2) makes the argument that \"unless social justice is anchored to a specific theory it consists of little more than protest of schooling practices that are symptoms instead of causes\". He suggests school leaders use a specific theory, such as social power as elaborated by Mann (2003) to discuss how to help \"leaders to become transformative agents\" (English, 2006, p. 2). English encourages educational researchers to go further to pursue:[...] a line of inquiry regarding creating a theoretical framework which moves beyond finding ways and means of erasing them (i.e. socially unjust practices) to more fully understand whether (socially) unjust practices are built into the brick and mortar of society\" (p. 5). English recommends Mann's framework because he argues that it acknowledges the complex realities in which administrators function and can be used to bring more rigor to the study of social justice.Gerstl-Pepin's (2006, p. 145) acknowledged the importance of understanding the use of power in policy analysis, by stating, \"To understand policy stories, it is important to understand power - the ability of a group, individual, or structure to exercise control or authority\". Gerstl-Pepin (2006, p. 143) \"juxtaposes national educational policy dialogues against the stories of educators working within an elementary school that serves a high-poverty community\". For example, an elementary teacher is quoted as saying:There's a perception that people living in poverty are not working hard enough. We live in a culture that blames the victims. It blames poor people and the teaching profession (p. 143).She summarized the position of then-President Bush as \"No other factors (such as economic inequities or geographic segregation of high-poverty communities) intrude on his narrative: failure is the result of not being held accountable\" (p. 148). What is notable is that silence (i.e. a lack of voiced opposition) about inequities provided support for the Bush perspective that accountability is the only thing that needed to be discussed.\nStudy methods and design: This qualitative study is part of a national research effort to study the perceptions of practitioners, both superintendents and principals across the USA, about their leadership practices. The data from principals were used for this paper. The purpose of this qualitative paper was to obtain principals' perceptions of issues related to their educational experiences and leadership practices. The research question that guided this paper was: how do educational leaders relate to the concept of leadership for social justice?\nInstrument development and pilot process: The Voices 3 project coordinators developed a standardized focus group protocol through a process of reviewing current literature, including Salsberry's (1999) review of the original Thousand Voices From the Firing Line and soliciting input from:* the originators of Voices;* UCEA's Executive Committee;* UCEA Centers for the Study of the Superintendency and the Study of School Site Leadership;* Ohio school leaders at the UCEA Convention 2001;* colleagues at the American Educational Research Association 2002 Annual Meeting; and* colleagues at the UCEA Convention 2002.From this input, Voices phase 3 researchers drafted two sets of focus group questions. These questions were piloted with principals and superintendents (for each of the three concepts: school improvement, democratic community, and social justice). After the pilot, questions and methods that appeared to be particularly useful were integrated into a protocol for a larger scale study involving more UCEA researchers and focus groups discussions.The protocol for the focus group discussions was based on Krueger and Casey's (2000) work on how to conduct effective focus group interviews. Each focus group carefully followed the protocol, which was designed to give voice to the informants and not to be led by the moderator in preconceived directions. This procedure provided a framework to maintain consistency in eliciting and collecting information and was not structured to lead participants in the direction of discussing social justice issues.The protocol included opening, transitioning, key, and ending questions. Key questions dealt with three main areas of concern to principal, which were:1. involving people in decision making (or what we term democratic community);2. what has No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act meant to you as a principal (or school improvement/accountability issues - NCLB is an acronym that American principals know stands for the NCLB Act which passed with bipartisan support and which attached accountability strings to federal dollars that states and the local educational organizations called districts now must deal with); and3. principals talk about what is best for students.The researchers felt that the question \"what is best for students\" would elicit comments about social justice in a broader conceptual approach. This broader conceptual approach is described in Furman and Starratt's (2002) research, which discusses social justice as respect for individuals, communities, and their cultural traditions. There was a final question that asked, \"Of all areas we talked about today, which one is most important to you?\" The protocol questions did not specifically use the concept of social justice nor did the questions inquire about the leaders' attitudes toward addressing inequities, power relationships of any group, or moral practice of speaking out against undemocratic practices involving social power. We believe it is important to note that by not including the topic of social justice in the questions, the comments that were made can be implied to be important to the participants and not simply giving the researcher what they want to hear.Participants\nFindings: As the data were examined, themes based on issues related to social justice emerged. The three themes reflecting the use of social power include leadership experiences, NCLB (positive and negative aspects of this important US federal legislation), and \"doing what's best for students\". In general, most of the principals agreed that schools can no longer ignore some students as they did before and that principals needed to use power available to them to intervene on behalf of students. This sentiment is summarized by one Illinois principal who noted:We can't ignore the sub groups, we can't say that if we are doing OK overall, that is fine. We can't ignore the African American subgroups or the special education population or any other minority populations.Some focus groups clearly had discussion that the majority (if not all) were deeply concerned about issues involving some groups (for example, minority groups, lower socioeconomic groups, or special education students) that needed to be in schools which would assist them in dealing with injustices that principals stated they were experiencing. This discussion focused on the impact of the possible injustices that race and class had on the educational outcomes of these groups of students (Dantley and Tillman, 2006).In contrast, other focus group discussions did not explicitly address social justice; they may have responded differently had the discussion explicitly covered the topic of social justice, but as noted, the facilitators were trained to not lead the discussion in ways that may lead to specific answers about their view of social justice as we defined it in this paper. While this could be viewed as a limitation, it could also be viewed as support for the findings that at least some principals were focused on the issues of social justice that they chose to discuss. In other words, it was not the protocol questions that led the principals to discuss social justice; these issues truly seem to be central to their leadership practice.Leadership experiences\nDiscussion: It appears that some US principals are definitely concerned with issues of social justice. However, the initial analyses of the data from these structured focus groups also indicate that some US principals do not have social justice issues, which are explicit in the discussions analyzed. Many seem to have concern for students in general; however, in this paper, we did not consider a general concern for the whole child to be a good fit for our adopted definition of social justice. School leaders must stress the values of equity and excellence and ensure that it is embedded in the vision. The difficulty in doing so is often because values of equity and excellence often conflict. Providing excellence situations for some students may result in inequitable situations for others. However, school leaders must articulate actions of intervention and use of social power to remedy inequitable situations for children while maintaining high standards for all. Scheurich and Skrla stated, \"It is our responsibility, even our sacred or spiritual responsibility - to create such schools\" (as cited in Cunningham and Cordeiro, 2006, p. 55).Today, principals are faced with increasingly diverse student populations; therefore, equal treatment for all students may be inherently unequal. A principal noted, \"We must put the right teachers in with the youngsters who are struggling. They need teachers who get in their hearts before they get in their minds\". In other words, these American principals felt that leaders should be courageous enough to make decisions that are best for children even though they may not be popular. Banks (2004, p. 143) acknowledged the increased diversity in our nation's schools by noting, \"Racial, cultural, ethnic, language, and religious diversity are increasing exponentially throughout the Western world, including the United States\". Despite this increase in diversity, Banks (2004, p. 144) noticed that there continues to be \"a wide cultural gap between teachers and students. While 40 percent of the nations' students are ethnic minorities, most of the nation's teachers are White and speak only English\". The discrepancy may make it difficult for these leaders to advocate for some children. This seems to be a time in the USA when we need principals who are advocates for all children and who are not afraid of doing what is best for all students. English (2010, p. 46) warns that:[...] we will face the same assortment of opponents with the vested interests and agendas for retaining their own political power and social privileges as educators before us have faced. They will resist using the schools as levers for social change [...] Then as now, the struggle for justice, fairness and respect for all students continues.Leaders for social justice recognize that there are situations where application of the same rules to unequal groups can generate unequal results. Thus, treating everyone the same does not necessarily mean fairness of treatment (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 33). Courageous implementation of social justice principles provides substantive equality to marginalized groups by recognizing past disadvantages and existence of structural barriers embedded in the social and political systems that may perpetuate systemic discrimination. Therefore, we believe that principals need to create a vision of equity of excellence, that is equal outcomes for all children. One way to accomplish equity of excellence is for educational leaders to attend to both academic excellence and social justice principles because one implies the other (Shields, 2004). This vision of equity of excellence calls for a moral purpose of leadership that seeks to \"enhance the education and life chances of poor and minority children\" (Larson and Murtadha, 2002, p. 150).It was not clear in relation to social justice issues if there were any instructional level differences (i.e. elementary, middle, or high school) or geographical location differences. As with all research, this effort raised a number of questions that the authors would like to further explore with others. Bogotch (2002, p. 154) notes that while:[...] no view of social justice can ever receive universal agreement. Nevertheless, the concepts of social justice and educational leadership provide for socially constructed agreements to emerge around specific problems, solutions, and courses of action.The paper has both confirmed that principals are concerned with social justice as well as raised questions about what the voices of principals have to say that relates to social justice.English (2006) and Shoho et al. (2005) have suggested we need to explore whether there can be an enough of a consensus reached among academics on a common language concerning social justice to move preparation programs and research forward on the issue. In addition, the perspective of practitioners in the field needs further exploration and examination.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to focus on social justice issues identified by American principals. A research question that guided this qualitative study was: do educational leaders relate to the concept of leadership for social justice?\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The standardized protocol for focus group discussions was based on Krueger and Casey's work on how to conduct effective focus group interviews. Each focus group carefully followed the protocol, which was designed to give voice to the informants and not to be led by the moderator in preconceived directions. This procedure provided a framework to maintain consistency in eliciting and collecting information but not leading participants to discuss social justice issues just to please the researchers.\nFindings: - This paper both confirmed that principals are concerned with social justice and identified that some principals do not explicitly discuss issues that relate to social justice. Principals who raised social justice issues felt that leaders should be courageous enough to make decisions that are best for children, even though they may not be popular.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Qualitative research such as this adds to the breadth and depth of human understanding, but findings cannot be generalized to any larger population.\nOriginality/value: - The term social justice has become pervasive in US academic discussions, yet there has been little dialogue with practitioners and even less data examined concerning if the term has any relevance to practitioners. This paper explores the voices of practitioners in relation to a pervasive term in US academic discourse.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Vendor selection strategy for IT outsourcing: the weighted-criteria evaluation technique	[ "IT outsourcing", "Outsourcing vendor", "Price assessment", "Qualification assessment", "Vendor selection", "Weighted criteria" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The global outsourcing market in 2011 was US$ 95 billion consisting of US$64.2 billion for information technology outsourcing (ITO) and US$30.9 billion for business process outsourcing (Franz et al., 2012). It was also reported that most of ITO firms deployed new contracts and used multi-sourcing strategy in 2011. This indicates that outsourcing firms continue using IT services from the service providers/vendors. Many service providers are available to offer various IT services in the market. Not only large service providers (e.g. Accenture, CSC, and IBM) but also small emerging service providers are offering ITO services particularly IT application development and maintenance service. However, the wrong selection of outsourcing vendors can lead to the ITO failure. Outsourcing firms must cautiously evaluate the vendors' proposals and select the right vendor (Fink and Shoeib, 2003). Common evaluation techniques for vendor selection include the adjusted low bid technique, the fixed price with best qualification, the meeting qualification with best price technique, and the weighted criteria technique (Ali-Karam, 2005). Each evaluation technique relies on the objectives, values, and scopes of outsourcing transaction.\n2. ITO process and vendor selection strategy: According to the previous studies of ITO methodology (e.g. Dibbern et al., 2004; Lacity and Willcocks, 2001; Klepper and Jones, 1998; Greaver, 1998), the generic ITO process can be categorised into three main parts; making the sourcing decisions, selecting the service providers, and implementing the project. Each part consists of three subparts as shown in Figure 1. To make the decision whether to outsource IT services, firms must identify outsourcing criteria, nominate the IT services to be outsourced, and justify whether to outsource these services. To select the service providers, firms have to prepare the governing documents necessary for the outsourcing arrangements (e.g. request for proposals (RFP), service level agreement (SLA)) and determine the tender strategy followed by the evaluation of vendors' proposals and the project award. This section is further discussed in the following section. Finally, to implement the outsourcing arrangement, firms transfer their existing IT assets (i.e. hardware, software, and personnel) to the service providers and manage the outsourcing vendors according to their contracts and relationship strategies. They also prepare a plan to deal with the contract termination.\n3. Weighted-criteria evaluation technique: The weighted criteria technique uses the weighting system to ensure each evaluation criterion to get its proper rating based on its utility to the whole project (Ali-Karam, 2005). It consists of two main assessments, a qualification assessment and a price assessment. The outsourcing firm accumulates the qualification assessment score to the price assessment score and awards the ITO project to the vendor who has the highest total assessment score as shown in the following equation:\n4. Methodology: This empirical study employed the experimental research method to identify cause-and-effect relationships (Odle and Mayer, 2011; Shavelson and Towne, 2002). The spreadsheet template was developed to test the weighted criteria technique with the qualification assessment and two price assessment methods (i.e. QS-LBHPS and QS-ABMPS) and compare the results of vendor selection under three conditions; the equal weights of qualification and price, the qualification weight is higher than the price weight, and the qualification weight is lower than the price weight.\n5. Results and discussions: Based on 1,000 experimental tests, the selected vendor (vendor A, B, or C) under the QS-LBHPS method is significantly associated with those under the QS-ABMPS method (kh2=1,939.887, p<0.000). Table IV shows the vendor selection results of the two evaluation methods. There are 982 cases provided the same results (vendor A=125, B=557, C=300) and 18 cases yields the different results. The correspondence map, visualizing the relationships among categories spatially on dimensional axes, indicates that the same vendor selection results under the QS-LBHPS and QS-ABMPS are closely related (Figure 4).\n6. Implications for theory and practice: This study is relatively new in the area of vendor selection strategy for ITO. It provides significant implications for theory and practice.\n7. Conclusion: This experimental study develops the spreadsheet template to test the weighted-criteria evaluation technique with the two different assessment methods; the QS-LBHPS and the QS-ABMPS. In all, 1,000 experiments with a number of random evaluator's scores and identical data are used to test the two methods under the three conditions of the different qualification and price weights (i.e. bx=by, bx<by, bx>by). The vendor selection results under the two methods of the weighted criteria technique are significant correspondence. However, there is a chance of selecting different vendors between the two methods at <2 percent (Table IV). In addition, the results show that the different proportions of qualification and price weights under the weighted criteria technique (QS-LBHPS or QS-ABMPS) can yield the different results of vendor selection (Tables VII and VIII). This study fills the gap in ITO literatures by comparing the vendor selection results of the two methods of the weighted-criteria technique. It also enables a firm's selection team to effectively use the two methods of the weighted criteria technique and realize the effects of the proportional weights of a vendor's qualifications and bid price on the vendor selection results under the weighted-criteria evaluation technique.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Most firms select their information technology outsourcing (ITO) vendors based on the two methods of the weighted-criteria evaluation technique - the \"qualification score plus the lowest bid price for the highest price score (QS-LBHPS)\" and the \"qualification score plus the average bid price for the middle price score (QS-ABMPS).\" This paper aims to understand whether these two methods provide the same or different results of vendor selection and how the proportional weights of a vendor's qualification and bid price affect the vendor selection results under the two methods.\nDesign/methodology/approach: -In total, 1,000 experimental tests were carried out using the developed spreadsheet template to examine vendor selection results of the two methods (QS-LBHPS and QS-ABMPS) and compare the vendor selection results under three conditions of vendors' qualification and price weights. A correspondence analysis was also used to determine the proximal relationships among the selection results of the weighted criteria technique under the comparable methods.\nFindings: The results indicate that, when using the two methods of the weighted criteria technique for a vendor selection, the selection results are significantly correspondent. In addition, the proportions of qualification and price weights affect the selection results under the two methods. The different proportions of qualification and price weights under the two methods yield the same selection results rather than different results.\nOriginality/value: This study fills the gap in ITO literatures concerning the vendor selection strategy. No empirical studies have been undertaken to compare the results of vendor selection under the two methods of the weighted-criteria evaluation technique. The findings enable a firm's selection team to apply the weighted-criteria evaluation technique effectively and realize that vendor selection results are altered based on the predefined proportions of qualification and price weights.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Introducing artificial intelligence into a human resources function	[ "New technology", "Employee training", "Managing change", "Artificial Intelligence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper explores the attitudes of employees in a strategic recruitment company towards the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) and discusses the implications for approaches to preparing employees for this kind of technological change.\nTechnological change in organisations: Recent and rapid technological changes are likely to have a significant impact on the way in which work is undertaken in the future (Brougham and Haar, 2017; Schwab, 2015). Employees may react positively or negatively to proposed changes depending on their assessment of the likely outcomes of the change for the wider organisation, self-interest and politics, responses to the way in which the change is introduced and psychological and emotional factors (Balogun et al., 2016). Congdon (2016, p. 12) argues: \"The challenge with technology in the workplace is making it meaningful to the employee. It should help them cognitively off-load some of the tasks they have to think about today, and leverage new technologies [...] to make their work lives easier and more productive\". Mariani et al. (2013) suggest that organisations need to develop customised training strategies when introducing new technology, including taking into account age and gender, as well as levels of \"tech-savviness\" and education.\nResearch methodology: This is a case study of attitudes of employees of a single organisation towards the introduction of AI. It is a mixed methods study, combining interviews and questionnaire returns, gathering and analysing both qualitative and quantitative data.\nFindings: Approximately 12 months before the field research for this study was carried out, Cielo introduced AI into some of its high-volume recruitment activities (defined as recruiting several thousand candidates per year for one client). The introduction of AI had significantly reduced the time taken to process each individual application to the scheduled interview with a hiring manager, from up to two weeks, when many of the processes were carried out manually, to an average of seven minutes when using AI.\nConclusions: In this study, the introduction of AI into a high-volume recruitment process resulted in significant improvements in efficiency and productivity. The successful introduction of the new technology could be attributed to: the design of a robust system with a simple and intuitive interface; careful planning of a pilot project with a major client; involving the team leader of the pilot from an early stage in the process; enrolling individuals to the team to implement the pilot who were seen to be flexible and open to innovation; and providing suitable training for the pilot team. The TAM factors (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000) of the value of the new technology (in terms of productivity and quality of applicants), ease of use of the technology, management intent and a positive team and team leader were all supportive of successful adoption. Training is a key part of the successful introduction of a new technology, and influences perceived ease of use: on the basis of the experience within Cielo, it would seem appropriate to design a range of different training provision for operators, who can draw on it based on their needs and to seek feedback from the trainees to constantly improve the training process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes of employees in a company dedicated to strategic recruitment towards the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into their work processes and to consider the implications for training and development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven employees who were using the new technology. Survey data was gathered from 109 employees who had not, at the time of the research, used the new technology.\nFindings: The introduction of AI considerably improved the speed and efficiency of the work processes. The research found that those employees who had used the new technology were positive about its effects, indicating that it was easy to use, robust and highly productive. A proportion of employees who had not, at the time of the research, used the new system, were less sure that it would improve their ability to do their job. Implications for introducing such a system and for employee training are discussed.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is a relatively small sample in one organisation; further research should be undertaken to assess whether these findings apply more widely.\nPractical implications: If these attitudes are found elsewhere, there are a number of simple, practical suggestions for how to introduce AI into similar work processes.\nOriginality/value: The use of AI is a topic attracting increasing interest and speculation, but there is as yet little empirical research on factors affecting its introduction and use.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customers' perception of service quality of banking sectors in Bangladesh	[ "Gender", "Service quality", "Education", "Bank", "Age", "Occupation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Service quality is crucial in any business, as it helps create the promise between the business and its clients (Blem, 1995). In today's competitive business environment, service quality is very important to attract and retain customers. This is because of the fact that customers descend their perceptions of service quality on the levels of satisfaction they experience with a particular business. Businesses need to be able to satisfy customers and meet their expectations of service quality to gain competitive advantage (Gagliano and Hathcote, 1994). Thus, marketers need to continually assess customers' expectations of service quality to avoid customer dissatisfaction (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003). A service can be offered by any business whose main aim is to meet or satisfy customer needs. All retailers provide a service to their customers. The service quality has become a major competitive weapon in the banking sectors. Services are intangible and are also not easily duplicated. Quality on the other hand, is differentiable and stems from the expectations of the customers. Hence, it is necessary to identify and prioritize the customers' expectations for service quality and incorporate these expectations into a service process for improving quality. The key variables in meeting customer expectations begin with identifying the specific characteristics of service quality as perceived by the customer who defines the nature and importance of service quality.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses development: 2.1 Service quality\n3. Research objectives: The main objective of the study is to customer perceptions regarding the service quality of banking sectors in Bangladesh. Specifically, the objectives of the study are:\n4. Methodology of the study: 4.1 Questionnaire design\n5. Analyses and results: 5.1 Perception level on service qualities in five dimensions\n6. Conclusion: The main purpose of this study is to find out the customer perception of service qualities of banking sectors in Bangladesh with regard to the customer personal characteristics. Random sampling survey method has been used as the research method, and the questionnaire has been developed and used as the key instrument. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation have been used in addressing the general characteristics of sample. ANOVA and t-test have been used in comparing the personal characteristics with the level of customer perception. The sample size was 177 customers of different banks in Dhaka region. Out of five dimensions of customer perception, four dimensions like tangibles, reliability, responsiveness and empathy are at neutral and assurance falls in satisfied level. Finding of the hypotheses test indicates that there are significant differences between the customer perceptions of the age groups, gender and occupation regarding the service quality of banking sectors in Bangladesh but there are no significant differences between the customer perceptions of the educational level regarding the service quality of banking sectors in Bangladesh.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The main purpose of the study is to find out the customer perception of service quality of banking sectors in Bangladesh and measure their relations with regard to the customer personal characteristics like gender, age, education and occupation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research method applied in this study is random sampling survey method. The data are analysed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, t-test and f-test.\nFindings: The findings indicate that the overall customer perception is neutral level. Aspect like gender, age and occupation are found to be statistically significant, and education is not statistically significant.\nOriginality/value: The findings of the study will be a benchmark or the board for policymakers and implementers in torching the avenues of improvement in raising the level of customer satisfaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Which IC is more important? A life-cycle perspective	[ "Intellectual capital", "Taiwan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is commonly observed that a company's market value is well above its book value. This might suggest that the values of intellectual capital (IC) or intangible assets are not fully reflected in the balance sheet, and thus financial statements seem to lose their value relevance and information effectiveness, leading to the popularity of issues relevant to IC. Many researchers have suggested that IC or intangible assets outside financial statements are the value drivers (Amir and Lev, 1996; Lev and Sougiannis, 2000; Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; Stewart, 1997; Barth et al., 1998). The main influential factors of company market value have gradually evolved from tangible assets to IC or intangible assets (Lev and Sougiannis, 2000); that is, customer, innovation, process, and human capital have become the core competitive advantage for a company's development as well as the key factor of value creation or performance (Brooking et al., 1998; Bassi and Van Buren, 1999; Bontis et al., 2000; Lynn, 2000).\"Life cycle\" refers to a cyclic status with stages recurring in sequence. Generally speaking, every product must undergo stages of growth, maturing, and stagnation (Anthony and Ramesh, 1992; Black, 1998). Due to the impact of factors such as the rapid development of technology in the information technology (IT) industry and the shortening of product life cycles, as well as the increased internationalization of production and sales, enterprises are now confronted with more intense competition than ever before (Rink and Swan, 1979; Balkin and Gomez-Mejia, 1984). Recently, many academic studies have also begun to apply life cycle in the value relevance analysis between operating strategy and performance (Beldona et al., 1997; Robinson, 1998). Companies in different life cycle stages (i.e. growth, maturing, and stagnant stages) would devote themselves to the innovation of products, techniques, services, and other value creation activities, so as to continuously enhance company market value (Mueller, 1972; Wernerfelt, 1985; Beldona et al., 1997). However, conservative accounting practices restrain a company's investment in IC from being reflected in the financial statement, resulting in a growing gap between company market and book value (Amir and Lev, 1996; Stewart, 1997; Sveiby, 1997; Ittner and Larcker, 1999; Deng et al., 1999). Consequently, IC is expected to provide important information other than financial performance in different life cycles. However, none of the prior studies have investigated value-relevant information provided by IC for the IT industry under different life cycles.The purpose of this study is to investigate the value-relevant information provided by IC beyond financial performance under different life-cycle stages. To the authors' knowledge, there has been no study yet that provides direct evidence for this subject. The results indicate that IC elements provide significant value-relevant information in relation to the gap between company market value and book value under different life cycles. These results have implications for managers and investors.The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The next section presents the conceptual framework and develops testable hypotheses. The following section briefly develops the empirical formulation of the residual income model, and depicts the classification methodology and samples used to test hypotheses. The penultimate section presents and discusses the research findings' implications, and the final section concludes with the research summary.\nConceptual framework and hypotheses: The conceptual framework of this study is developed and presented in Figure 1. Financial statements face an unprecedented challenge in terms of explaining company market value. Particularly, they are limited in explaining company market value due to the fact that the source of economic value is IC - customer capital, process capital, innovation capital, and human capital (Stewart, 1997; Bontis et al., 2000; Bontis, 2002). Nevertheless, according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), most intangible assets or IC, which are substantial economic assets, are typically unrecognized in financial statements as accounting assets (Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; Stewart, 1997). Therefore, in the past, investors or managers often used the financial performance reflected in financial statements to assess company market value at different life-cycle stages. Otherwise, Beaver et al. (1989) stated that heterogeneity in production functions across firms usually makes it difficult to aggregate sample evidence in a statistically powerful way; that is, samples in given life-cycle stages are relatively more homogeneous across multiple financial/non-financial characteristics than those in a pooling of all samples. Barth et al. (1998) suggested that for companies in the growth stage, the effects of intangible assets on company market value are greater than those on the book value of equity. If one ignores the influence of life-cycle stages on the value drivers, an incorrect analysis will be generated by the heterogeneity in financial/non-financial characteristics across firms (Black, 1998).Based on the above argument, if one assesses company market value under different life-cycle stages considering only the effect of financial performance on company market value, this will only result in insufficient information due to the neglect of incremental information content provided by IC (Johnson and Kaplan, 1987; Nanni et al., 1988; Collins et al., 1997; Rappaport, 1999; Liang and Yao, 2005). However, if the capital market is efficient, investors will place a higher value on companies with greater investments in IC (Ahmed, 2003; Firer and Williams, 2003).Based on the above discussion, the authors expect IC to play an important role in enhancing company market value and providing different value-relevant information beyond financial performance under different life cycle stages. Therefore, the following hypotheses are proposed:H1. Customer capital is expected to provide value-relevant information beyond financial performance.H2. Process capital is expected to provide value-relevant information beyond financial performance.H3. Innovation capital is expected to provide value-relevant information beyond financial performance.H4. Human capital is expected to provide value-relevant information beyond financial performance.H5. Overall IC is expected to provide the most value-relevant information beyond financial performance.\nResearch design: Theoretical and empirical models\nEmpirical results: Tables IV-VI present the results of the growth, maturing, and stagnant stages, respectively.The growth stage\nConclusions: This study aimed to investigate value-relevant information provided by IC beyond financial performance under different life cycle stages. In the samples, there was strong evidence that the explanatory power provided by IC is incremental to financial performance for companies in each life cycle stage. Because the samples in a given life cycle stage are relatively more homogeneous across multiple financial/non-financial characteristics than those in a pooling of all samples, an aggregation of evidence in a statistically powerful way was facilitated. The authors thus believe that their research makes a significant contribution to the existing literature by exploring customer, process, innovation, and human capital, which have significantly different value-relevant information in different life-cycle stages.Furthermore, the companies selected in this study are confined to Taiwanese IT companies. However, due to the knowledge-intensive nature of the high-technology industry, the weight ratio of tangible assets is lower among all the assets to create company market value. Meanwhile, those of intangible assets and the value of knowledge creation are higher. Nevertheless, traditional financial statements that are based on an evaluation of tangible assets are incapable of fully evaluating the telecommunications, biotechnology, software, chemical, and electricity industries, which results in a significant gap between company market value and book value (Amir and Lev, 1996; Deng et al., 1999). Therefore, it would be appropriate to infer that the findings of this study could be applied to other industries. Otherwise, due to the globalization trend of business operations, and with the aim of preventing investors from erroneously interpreting financial reports written in terms of the accounting rules of other countries, many regions such as Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and the European Union have moved to adopt International Accounting Standards/International Financial Reporting Standards to mitigate differences in accounting rules (Tan et al., 2007). Accordingly, researchers in another region of the world might be able to apply the conceptual framework of this study to conduct similar research.This study is not without limitations. The research data used in this study were collected from 1998 to 2003 at the height of the dot.com boom. The economic downturn that faced every country in 2000 affected the whole world with the bursting of the internet bubble, and Taiwan was no exception. After reaching its highest point in March 2000, the US NASDAQ index began to fall, and naturally this drop affected Taiwan. Therefore, the market-to-book value ratios and the financial performance of the IT industry were declining dramatically during the research period. The internet downturn in the mid-2000s might have likewise affected the categorization of life cycle stages and the value-relevant information provided by intellectual capital during the \"bubble\" period.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate value-relevant information provided by intellectual capital (IC) beyond financial performance under different life-cycle stages.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The life-cycle classification method and the residual income model are used to examine the information technology industry.\nFindings: - The empirical results show that the value-relevant information provided by IC under the growth, maturing, and stagnant stages can be ranked in order (from high to low) of custom, innovation, process, and human capital. Specifically, the empirical results indicate that overall IC provided the most value-relevant information in the stagnant stage and the lowest value-relevant information in the growth stage.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This paper reveals that evaluating the company market value merely by financial performance involves a number of limitations, thereby requiring IC to supplement the process. The internet downturn in the mid-2000s might have likewise affected the categorization of life-cycle stages and the value-relevant information provided by intellectual capital during the \"bubble\" period.\nPractical implications: - Managers and investors should not merely focus on financial performance as the main value-relevant information, but a thorough review of IC in different life-cycle stages should be made in order to avoid making incorrect decisions.\nOriginality/value: - This paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring customer, process, innovation, and human capital which, significantly, have different value-relevant information in different life-cycle stages.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organising in-house cleaning services in public FM	[ "Public sector", "Organizational structure", "Management", "Facilities management", "Case studies", "Cleaning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Clean facilities are vital to the health and satisfaction of their occupants. Cleaning is also one of the costliests services to provide when operating a building. At the same time, it is one of the least-researched facility management (FM) services (May and Pitt, 2012; Klungseth and Olsson, 2013). To add value, improve quality or reduce costs, we must know more about how cleaning services are structured, managed and operated. Optimisation, which aims at improved service quality and reduced costs, relies on thorough knowledge of the actual service. Thus, this study aims to provide deeper knowledge of cleaning services by investigating how the work is actually managed and organised.\n2. Facility management organisations as formal structures: In descriptions of FM organisations, there is not much emphasis on internal organisational models, design and structure. However, some exceptions can be found. They are often based on the early works of Cotts (1990, 1999) and IFMA Foundation (2001). These are the factors that this article addresses. The main emphasis is on cleaning, yet cleaning is placed into the context of the FM organisation. According to Friday (2012, p. 180), \"Organisational structure comprises the organization components, their relationships and hierarchy, as well as determining where formal power and authority are located\". Organisation models - and perhaps chart models in particular - are related to structural approaches (Busch and Vanbebo, 2003; Christensen et al., 2007, 2009; Friday, 2012) and can be described in the following terms:\n3. Methodology and data collection: This article includes two single and descriptive case studies from two different national contexts - one from Norway and one from the UK. The subject under investigation in these descriptive case studies is in-house cleaning services in internal FM organisations in LAs. The intention and motive have been to describe and discuss these services to facilitate a deeper understanding of in-house cleaning in LAs as limited research exists on this topic. Case studies have been chosen as the research method, as they are understood to be valuable when existing knowledge is limited, and as they involve \"in-depth investigation of particular instances of a phenomenon\" (Fellows and Liu, 2008, p. 110). They are also preferred when \"how\" or \"why\" questions are posed, as is the case of this article.\n4. Split facility management service: The UK case: The UK case involves one of the larger LAs in the UK. This LA owns approximately 260 buildings, half of which are educational buildings. The LA serves its building portfolio through an FM organisation which is split into two departments, hard FM and soft FM. These departments support one another by jointly addressing changes in the use of buildings. The hard FM department consists of five operators who manage the buildings on behalf of the LA. This FM team is responsible for ensuring that the buildings are fit for their purposes - that services such as heating, lighting and alarms work and that the fabric of the buildings functions properly. This team inspects the LA buildings every month.\n5. Fully integrated facility management service: The Norwegian case: The Norwegian LA is one of the largest in Norway. The LA owns buildings comprising 867,000 m2 (as of 1 January 2010), but the FM department manages more than 1m m2. School buildings represent almost 40 per cent of the building portfolio.\n6. Cross-case discussion and conclusion: This article aimed to provide deeper knowledge on cleaning services by investigating how the work is actually managed and organised. As limited knowledge existed on this topic, the exploration was facilitated by descriptive case studies of in-house cleaning organisations in LAs. It was the internal environment of these case organisations that was studied, and nine factors of interest were highlighted in the theoretical part. This knowledge was brought forward to increase the understanding of in-house cleaning services. The presented cases are considered examples of how such services can be structured and managed in internal FM organisations in LAs and should as such not be considered as guidelines for how cleaning services should be structured and managed. The information brought forward is merely intended to increase our understanding so that future research, benchmarking and service optimisation can be improved with regards to this service. The studies illustrate several differences and similarities between the cases, some related to the following nine factors:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to describe and discuss in-house cleaning services in local authorities to gain a better understanding of current practices. These descriptions are intended to increase researchers', practitioners' and educators' understanding of the studied issue, as there at present does not exist a solid understanding of in-house cleaning services in local authorities. Previous studies provide little detailed information regarding the internal environment of facility management (FM) organisations, in particular with regard to FM organisations' individual services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is based on two descriptive case studies, one from Norway and one from the UK. The case studies are based on semi-structured, face-to-face in-depth interviews and document reviews.\nFindings: The cases demonstrate that in-house cleaning services can be structured and managed in different ways, particularly with respect to the split in services, the management of staff and customer contracts, the span of control, the chain of command, self-managed leadership, cleaners' hours of duty and the use of outsourcing.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the previous research on particular FM services is limited, this paper's detailed descriptions may stimulate further development and research within the field. The knowledge brought forward is part of bridging a knowledge gap on cleaning in FM research. This knowledge can contribute to advancements in the way this service is discussed and measured across contexts by encouraging more rigour and specific studies on cleaning.\nOriginality/value: This paper constitutes one of the first detailed descriptions of in-house cleaning organisation in local authorities. This is a type of service supply that is common in certain contexts and identified as beneficial to cost-saving in other contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does relationship communication matter in B2C service relationships?	[ "Relationship marketing", "Communication", "Trust", "Commitment", "Language", "Stimulus-organism-response model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Building long-term business-to-customer (B2C) service relationships is critical to attaining relational benefits and achieving sustainable competitive advantage for firms (Dagger et al., 2011). Research evidence suggests that communication is vital for fostering relationship development and maintenance (Gronroos, 2004; Finne and Gronroos, 2009; Dagger et al., 2011). Communication is considered as the quintessence of customer relationship management, as it provides an understanding of the exchange partners' intentions, and fosters trust and information exchange needed to promote long-term customer relationships. Bleeke and Ernst (1993) contend that even a well-crafted relationship will fail without good communication between the buyer and the seller. Thus, communication is considered as a \"necessary process\" and an important aspect from the managerial perspective. While the importance of developing an effective communication strategy is recognized in the marketing literature, limited research exist which offers theoretical and empirical insights into the role of communication in B2C service relationships.\n2. Theoretical background: 2.1 Relationship communication\n3. Research model and hypotheses development: The research model advanced and tested in this study (Figure 1) has its foundations in Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) Model (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974), Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969), Commitment-Trust Theory (Morgan and Hunt, 1994) and Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964). According to the S-O-R framework, external environmental stimuli impact the emotional states which in turn affect the behaviour of individuals. The organism is referred to as the internal states and processes which intervenes between external stimuli and behavioural responses (Bagozzi, 1986). Based on the S-O-R model, we propose that relationship communication (i.e. external stimulus) influence customers' cognitive and affective states of trust, image and intimacy (i.e. organism). These internal states influence the customers' commitment towards the firm (i.e. response). Thus, the present study emphasizes the significance of communication in customer relationship performance.\n4. Methodology: A multi-phased research approach was used for the study. In Phase 1, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was carried out to identify the specific dimensions of relationship communication. In Phase 2, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the factor structure of relationship communication, as well as to provide evidence of dimensionality and scale reliability. In Phase 3, we examined the hypotheses with partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using a two-country sample.\n5. Discussion and implications: Customer commitment is recognized as the key variable in relationship marketing (Dagger et al., 2011), so it is critical for managers to have a thorough understanding of the strategic drivers of customer commitment. While the importance of customer satisfaction and trust in driving commitment are well established, the role of communication is not clear. According to Herington et al. (2009, p. 1103), communication is the \"lifeblood of relationship marketing\". Therefore, this study makes a timely and significant contribution. The results of this study indicate that relationship communication is multi-dimensional consisting of clarity, pleasantness, responsiveness and language which enhances customer commitment via the cognitive and affective states of trust, image and intimacy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Given the role of communication in relationship development and maintenance, the purpose of this study is to examine the multidimensional nature of relationship communication and examine its association with customers' cognitive and affective states (consisting of trust, intimacy and image) and relationship commitment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A set of hypotheses is developed based on review of the literature. The hypotheses are tested empirically using partial least square path modelling on survey data collected from users of retail banking services.\nFindings: Results show that relationship communication is a second-order construct consisting of the first-order factors of clarity, pleasantness, responsiveness and language. The findings suggest that service firm's communications influence customers' cognitive and affective states, which, in turn, affects customer's commitment towards the firm.\nPractical implications: The study provides useful insights to both researchers and practitioners on the role of relationship communication in relationship development and maintenance. Through investigation of the relationship communication dimensions, an optimum communication mix can be achieved to deliver messages in an effective way to the customers.\nOriginality/value: The contribution of the study lies in proposing and testing relationship communication as a higher-order construct and explicating its role in developing committed customers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Validating and extending the sport brand personality scale	[ "Generation Y", "Favourite athlete", "Scale validation", "Sport brand personality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Athlete endorsement strategies have emerged as profitable and valuable communication strategies for firms (Stevens et al., 2003), despite the high costs associated with this type of communication (Stone et al., 2003; Sukhdial et al., 2002). Many of the world's most recognised brands choose athlete endorsements as part of their marketing communication strategies. These include Michael Jordan for Nike, David Beckham for Adidas and Maria Sharapova for Canon (www.athletepromotions.com/). It has also been documented in the literature that athlete endorsement strategies are a more successful cut-through technique for the Generation Y consumer segment than traditional communication strategies (Buksa and Mitsis, 2011; Bush et al., 2004; Dix et al., 2010).\nTheoretical background: Brand personality\nMethodology: Generation Y\nResults: Measure validation procedure\nDiscussion and implications: This paper makes three major contributions. First, we validated Tsiotsou's (2012) sport team brand personality scale with an Australian Generation Y sample. Validation is critical for the development of quality measurement (Schmitt and Klimoski, 1991). Second, we successfully extended the sport team brand personality scale to an individual athlete level. Finally, we tested the predictability of the favourite athlete brand personality scale on role model influence.\nManagerial implications: The scale's validity across different countries and level in terms of \"team\" vs \"favourite athlete\" brand personality provide important managerial implications. First, Tsiotsou's (2012) sport team brand personality scale is applicable within the Australian Generation Y consumer segment. This implies that sport marketers are able to use this simple and reliable measure to gauge brand personality within the sport domain. Second, this study identified that Tsiotsou's (2012) scale is also applicable at the favourite athlete level. Sport marketers can use the favourite athlete brand personality scale in their branding, advertising and positioning strategies to effectively target the lucrative Generation Y consumer segment.\nLimitations and further research: The process of scale validation is continuous since scales are often modified, adapted for use in various contexts and refined to improve psychometric properties (Finn and Kayande, 2004; Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). There are two limitations of this study. The first is related to the nature of our sample. Within our sample of Australian Generation Y's, although every attempt was made to gain a representative sample reflecting the heterogeneity of Australia, the majority of our respondents stated that their language of instruction was English. Another limitation of this paper is limiting our sample to the Australian Generation Y population. Acknowledging the limitations of our study, we discuss some future research avenues to further validate the favourite athlete brand personality scale. First, further research can examine the favourite athlete brand personality scale in larger, wider population segments. Another further research avenue is to replicate and test the favourite athlete brand personality dimensions through larger international Generation Y comparative studies. Thus, comparison across national culture and the measurement invariance test can be employed (Steenkamp and Baumgartner, 2000).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to validate Tsiotsou's (2012) sport team brand personality scale in a new country (Australia) and segment (Generation Y) and extend its use from sport teams to individual athletes. This paper also explores the scale's predictive power in an athlete's role model influence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online panel survey with 560 responses from Australian Generation Y consumers was obtained. Structural equation modelling was used to test and validate the scale.\nFindings: This paper confirmed the sport team brand personality scale can be applied to an individual athlete. Three dimensions of the scale, namely, competitiveness, morality and authenticity, were found to have predictive power in an athlete's role model influence. Authenticity was the strongest predictor, followed by morality and competitiveness.\nPractical implications: Individual athlete brand personality is powerful in influencing how Australian Generation Y consumers identify with their favourite athlete as a role model. These insights assist brand and marketing managers to use athletes as part of their communication strategies regarding brand and product endorsements.\nOriginality/value: This research addresses Tsiotsou's (2012) call to test the robustness and external validity of the sport team brand personality scale and to empirically test how the scale can predict outcomes. The authors succeeded in validating and extending the sport brand personality scale to an individual athlete level in a new country and consumer segment. The scale was found to have predictive power in an athlete's role model influence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate governance and its reform in Hong Kong: a study in comparative corporate governance	[ "Corporate governance", "Company law", "G34, P16, G28" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: What does corporate governance reform (and the lack of reform) teach us about our theorising about corporate governance over the years? Theory has filtered into concrete changes in financial law and listing requirements on many stock exchanges[1]. As the discipline narrows, more and more empirical studies look at very specific features of corporate governance (Harford et al., 2008; Brown et al., 2012). Legal- and policy-related studies look at normative issues of corporate governance reform[2]. Yet, the brunt of thinking about corporate governance as a topic in itself involves looking at reform at the country level. Country studies make up the bread-and-butter of an area of study increasingly dominated by regression analysis or textual analysis of financial regulation[3]. This study of Hong Kong hopes to add another piece of the puzzle that comprises \"comparative corporate governance\"[4].\nWhere does Hong Kong stand in the ratings?: Corporate governance practices in Hong Kong worse than other international financial centres\nFamilies control much of Hong Kong's corporate life: Hong Kong has grown out of family-controlled capitalism\nReducing self-dealing by connected parties: Connected parties do more harm than good\nReducing concentration in Hong Kong shareholding: No doubt that shareholding concentrated in Hong Kong\nTwo non-issues in Hong Kong corporate governance: Trends in Hong Kong compensation show pay is not an issue\nConclusions: Corporate governance in Hong Kong has improved over the past decade. Hong Kong's corporate governance compares favourably with some of its IFC rivals. Yet, many parts of Hong Kong's corporate governance severely discourage the flow of funds to its companies (directly and through financial intermediaries). In this brief, we illustrate - using data - how family control and high levels of investor concentration lead to self-dealing. Such self-dealing (either real of imagined) acts as a severe brake on domestic and foreign investment in Hong Kong's companies. But what does Hong Kong teach us about comparative corporate governance?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to determine to what extent Hong Kong's experience proves (or disproves) theories from corporate governance in the areas of family ownership, concentration, self-dealing in Hong, executive compensation and other issues. This paper - written in the comparative corporate governance tradition - uses data from Hong Kong to discuss wider trends and issues in the corporate governance literature.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use the comparative corporate governance approach - exposing a range of corporate governance theories to the light of Hong Kong data. The authors purposely avoid over-theorising - leaving the data to speak for themselves for other researchers interested in such theorising.\nFindings: The authors find that Hong Kong presents corporate challenges that are unique among upper-income jurisdictions - in terms of potentially harmful (shareholder value diminishing) family relationships, shareholder concentration and self-dealing by insiders. The authors also show that excessive executive compensation, accounting and audit weaknesses do not pose the same kinds of problems they do in other countries. The authors provide numerous comments on theoretical papers throughout the presentation in this paper.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors chose a relatively unused research approach that eschews theory building - instead, the authors use data from a range of sectors to build an overall picture of corporate governance in Hong Kong. The authors subsequently affirm or critique the theories of others in this paper.\nPractical implications: The original analysis conducted by the authors provided 22 recommendations for revising listing rules for Hong Kong's stock exchange. Others - particularly Asian officials - should consider Hong Kong's experience when revising their own corporate governance listing rules and regulations.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers new and original insights in four directions. First, the authors use the empiricist's method - presenting data from a wide range of corporate governance areas to comment on and critique existing studies. Second, the authors provide a system-wide view of corporate governance - showing how different parts of corporate governance rules work together using concrete data. Third, the authors provide a new study in the comparative corporate governance tradition - another brick in the wall that is \"normal scientific progress\". Fourth, the authors pose tentative resolutions to highly debated questions in corporate governance for the specific time and place of Hong Kong in the early 2010s.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Global-local consumer identities as drivers of global digital brand usage	[ "Hedonic motivation", "Global digital brands", "Global-local identity", "Social networking sites usage" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research on conceptualizing consumers' disposition toward global brands is burgeoning, with a number of researchers focusing on the effect of global-local consumer identities (e.g. Zhang and Khare, 2009). A global identity implies that a person identifies with all of humankind and consequently feels like a citizen of the world (Cannon and Yaprak, 2002). Consumers with a global identity have been found to have a more positive view toward globalization, to perceive people around the globe as similar to one another, and to show more interest in global events (Guo, 2013). A local identity derives from the overall awareness of belonging to a community that shares similar national values and cultural norms (Thompson, 2001). In an increasingly globalized marketplace, global and local identities co-exist, with consumers identifying simultaneously with both the global and their local community, and adopting whichever identity is more salient at a given time, based on contextual factors (Erez et al., 2013; Steenkamp and de Jong, 2010; Zhang and Khare, 2009). Past studies suggest that a positive disposition toward global brands is boosted by a global identity, since consumers with a more accessible global identity are more likely to hold positive attitudes toward global brands (Alden et al., 2006; Steenkamp and de Jong, 2010; Zhang and Khare, 2009).\nTheoretical background: The global digital brand\nMethod: Data collection and sample\nAnalysis and results: Measurement validation\nDiscussion and implications: Evidence exists that a large share of consumers around the world reveal a preference toward global brands (Steenkamp et al., 2010), with researchers in the field providing theoretical explanations as to why. For instance, global brands have been shown to be associated with high perceived quality and prestige, especially in developing countries (Steenkamp et al., 2003). Other studies go further and claim that global brands have the ability to provide consumers with a desired identity (Dimofte et al., 2008), with a number of researchers focusing particularly on the role of global-local consumer identities (Tu et al., 2012; Verlegh, 2007; Zhang and Khare, 2009). Researchers of the field claim that global and local identity can co-exist within an individual, with one of the two becoming occasionally salient and triggering favorable attitudes toward brands that are identity-congruent (Zhang and Khare, 2009). Despite the growing academic focus on consumers' location-based identities and their impact on consumer decision making, research on this topic has exclusively focused on physical products. Consequently, evidence is lacking regarding the effect of consumers' global-local identities on brand preferences in the digital context, thus overlooking how the digitalization and dematerialization of our digital possessions has transformed the international marketing landscape. To address this notable research gap, this study investigates the role of location-based identities in predicting usage of global SNS. Facebook and Instagram, being globally available and desirable SNS, are profound symbols of global consumer culture. As such, they have the ability to promote and diffuse global values and lifestyles among their users worldwide. Through their participation in global SNS, consumers from all around the world acquire knowledge, skills and behaviors that are characteristic of the global consumer culture and are encouraged to express their global identity (e.g. Cleveland and Laroche, 2007). That said, extending relevant research on digital products and digital offerings can provide significant insights for both academics and digital managers.\nLimitations, future research directions and conclusions: Our research endeavor has limitations that offer avenues for future studies. First, our study, being the first to investigate the effect of location-based identities on global digital brands, focuses on the very specific product category of SNS. In order to mitigate any potential confounding effect arising from this specificity, future research should aim to replicate findings for other categories of digital products, such as video-streaming platforms, search engines and internet browsers. Second, we should also note that the student nature of our sample may not have been representative of the population at large. While one would expect the relationships uncovered in the present research to apply to the general population as well, some caution should be taken with regard to the generalizability of the findings. Third, the cross-sectional survey-based method used to conduct our study imposes some inherent limitations to our results. Different methods and samples in future studies should aim to verify the generalizability of the present study. For instance, experimentally priming global and local identities could examine the sequencing and causality of relationships more confidently. Moreover, more countries should be included for more insightful cross-country research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to represent the first empirical attempt to explore global-local consumer identities as drivers of global digital brand usage. Specifically, this study considers a unique category of digital products, social networking sites (SNS), and develops a set of hypotheses to assess the mechanism through which location-based identities influence the actual usage of global SNS (Facebook and Instagram). Moreover, cross-country variations are investigated under the lens of developed vs developing countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Cross-country surveys in a developed (Austria) and a developing country (Thailand) were conducted. Data collected from 425 young adults were analyzed using SEM techniques in order to test a set of hypotheses.\nFindings: Results show that in Thailand, users with a global identity enjoy participating in global SNS more than their counterparts in Austria. In addition, consumers with a local identity in Thailand demonstrate less pleasure when participating in global SNS than their counterparts in Austria, and consequently are less inclined to use global SNS.\nPractical implications: Findings provide digital marketers with useful insights into important strategic decisions regarding the selection and potential adaptation of global digital brands according to the country context.\nOriginality/value: This research is the first to extend the location-based identity research in the context of global digital brands, explain how global-local identities predict SNS usage through an engagement mechanism and investigate cross-country variations of this mechanism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ownership structure, board of directors and firm performance: evidence from Taiwan	[ "Firm performance", "Board of directors", "Ownership" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Poor corporate governance has been cited as one of the major reasons that led to the global financial crisis. Furthermore, prior to a number of corporate debacles, corporate governance was not considered as an important issue in many jurisdictions outside the USA and Europe. In Taiwan, corporate governance became a major and controversial issue only at the beginning of the twenty-first century when the Taiwanese authorities started to introduce and implement a series of corporate governance reforms. These reforms are aimed at strengthening Taiwan's corporate governance, and amongst others include the amendment of the Company Act, the Securities and Exchange Act and other related regulations, the introduction of an independent director system and audit committee and the promotion of shareholders' rights. Using a data set of listed firms domiciled in Taiwan, the main aim of this paper is to empirically assess the effects of ownership structure, board of directors on firm value.\n2. Institutional setting: corporate governance in Taiwan: Corporate governance became a major and debatable issue in Taiwan only at the beginning of the twenty-first century when the Taiwanese authorities, having learnt the lessons from the Asian financial crisis of 1997, as well as many corporate scandals around the world, started to introduce and implement a series of corporate governance reforms. Due to the considerable attention on public companies, the reform laid emphasis on the improvement of the monitoring function that prevents self-dealing and deceptive misconduct by boards of directors and management (2009). These reforms, aimed at strengthening Taiwan's corporate governance, and including amongst others the amendment of the Company Act, Securities and Exchange Act and other related regulations, the introduction of an independent director system and an audit committee[1] and the promotion of shareholders' rights, were initiated in early 2002 by the Securities and Futures Commission, the predecessor of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), and were co-sponsored by other official institutions.\n3. Literature review and hypothesis development: 3.1 Board characteristics and firm performance\n4. Research methodology: To investigate the hypotheses developed in the previous section, this study uses a data set of firms listed on the TWSE with fiscal year ending on 31 December for the years 1997-2015. Financial statements, stock prices, board characteristics and ownership structure data are drawn from the Taiwan Economic Journal database. Table I provides details about the sample selection process. The preliminary sample size for firms listed on the TWSE from 1997 to 2015 is 12,680. We then exclude 645 observations for firms in the financial, securities and insurance industries, and 186 observations for foreign firms issuing depository receipts in Taiwan, because their regulatory and reporting regimes are considerably different from firms in other industries. We further exclude 625 observations for firms listed less than one year or firms with incomplete financial, stock price and corporate governance data. In addition, we exclude 1,073 observations for firms representing the lowest and highest 1 per cent in the sample (i.e. outliers). The full sample size after this selection process thus consists of 10,151 firm-year observations, an unbalanced panel data of different numbers of firms from 1997 to 2015.\n5. Results: Table III reports the descriptive statistics of the research variables used in this study for the full sample. In addition, we present the yearly mean values of the research variables in Table IV. With respect to firm performance variables, the results show that the average ROA is 5.26 per cent, the average ROE is 7.18 per cent, the average Tobin's Q is 1.34 and the average market-to-book value ratio (MBVE) is 1.52. In addition, the mean values of these performance variables show a downward trend from 1997 to 2000 due to the Asian financial crisis and the dot-com bubble, and then an upward trend until the financial \"tsunami\" in 2008. Given that Taiwan is an export-oriented country, it is plausible that the profitability of most Taiwanese firms is deeply affected by the global economic conditions.\n6. Conclusion: This paper assesses the impact of board characteristics, the internal corporate governance mechanism, and ownership structure, the external corporate governance mechanism, on firm performance. In contrast to prior evidence on Western developed countries that show no linkage between independent directors and firm performance, our findings indicate that for both accounting-based measures and market-based measures, board independence has a significant and positive effect on firm performance in our study on Taiwanese firms. In addition, according to the Taiwanese context, we observe that firms with a two-tier board structure, composed of board of directors and supervisors, perform better than those with a one-tier board system. We also find that firm performance is positively related to block-holders' ownership, institutional ownership, foreign ownership and family ownership. In contrast, consistent with the agency theory arguing that larger board and CEO duality are ineffective in monitoring the firm due to a free rider problem and failure of internal control mechanisms (Jensen, 1993; Lipton and Lorsch, 1992), our evidence points out that board size and the separation between chairman and CEO are negatively associated with firm performance in the context of Taiwan.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Using a data set of listed firms domiciled in Taiwan, this paper aims to empirically assess the effects of ownership structure and board of directors on firm value.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a sample of Taiwanese listed firms from 1997 to 2015, this study uses a panel estimation to exploit both the cross-section and time-series nature of the data. Furthermore, two stage least squares (2SLS) regression model is used as robustness test to mitigate the endogeneity issue.\nFindings: The main results show that the higher the proportion of independent directors, the smaller the board size, together with a two-tier board system and no chief executive officer duality, the stronger the firm's performance. With respect to ownership structure, block-holders' ownership, institutional ownership, foreign ownership and family ownership are all positively related to firm value.\nResearch limitations/implications: Although the Taiwanese corporate governance reform concerning the independent director system which is mandatory only for newly-listed companies is successful, the regulatory authority should require all listed companies to appoint independent directors to further enhance the Taiwanese corporate governance.\nOriginality/value: First, unlike most of the previous literature on Western developed countries, this study examines the effects of corporate governance mechanisms on firm performance in a newly industrialised country, Taiwan. Second, while a number of studies used a single indicator of firm performance, this study examines both accounting-based and market-based firm performance. Third, this study addresses the endogeneity issue between corporate governance factors and firm performance by using 2SLS estimation, and details the econometric tests for justifying the appropriateness of using 2SLS estimation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate responsibility in the Italian banking industry: creating value through listening to stakeholders	[ "Stakeholder analysis", "Banks", "Corporate social responsibility" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years, ABI has paid great attention to the issues involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR). The role that ABI has taken up, in keeping with its organizational functions and objectives, is twofold: contributing to the discussion and divulgation of the issue at various levels within the banking community through a series of surveys and studies that interested banks can use for self-aware development of their own scenarios and prospects; and giving its member banks the instruments needed to integrate social responsibility into their business strategy.In a recent work (Zappi, 2005)[1] CSR has been defined as multi-stakeholder-oriented strategic corporate management: a notion related to the global strategies of the bank, rather than an ad hoc activity added to the traditional functions of the organizations that operate in the credit sector. In other words, CSR should not be seen as a new, specific area of activity for the bank; more generally, CSR is a different way of being a bank.The outlined position is based on the inter-bank working group on corporate social responsibility set up by ABI several years ago[2] as a forum dedicated to the analysis and investigation of CSR issues, including through specific working documents. The working group has been supported also by the collaborative effort of one ABI team with specialized skills in the different areas and subject matters addressed by the proposed CSR framework; a group of experts representing authoritative professions and specialties related to the subject matter of the discussion, comprising academicians and university research centers, consulting firms, rating agencies and sustainability research companies.The coordination of the work was carried out by ABI and the coordinators[3] who were willing to help with this task. ABI has set up a sort of editorial committee operating throughout the progress of the initiative. Despite numerous specifications and difficulties in harmonizing different experiences and manners of working, the team has agreed upon the fundamental objectives of the work and on the qualifying aspects of corporate social responsibility needing to be translated into a practical toolkit.The logical framework provided is not \"closed-ended\": it is intended to be a practical contribution by the banking system that is hereby disclosed to the public at large. Indications, suggestions, investigations and comments are most welcome.The aim of the work was to provide practical guidance to support banks (of any size) in taking CSR forward. The document is not intended to be a reference standard for corporate social responsibility but a toolkit that addresses those who, irrespective of their discretional power, are involved with: starting, managing and implementing CSR at different organizational levels and in specific corporate functions and dedicated resources interlinking the many corporate nodes involved.There has been proposed a \"modular approach\", in that social responsibility is conceived as a non-univocal path, the design of which varies depending upon how mature the CSR culture is within a bank and the initiatives already taken (ethical code, socially responsible funds, etc.).The qualifying aspect is not that of projects or activities per se, but rather their relying on a single, well-defined and well-structured strategic design. Though this project does not need to go through stiff preliminary steps, it does follow a logical avenue that stems from the definition of the \"fundamental strategic orientation\" on the issues of corporate social responsibility knowingly undertaken by top management. It is exactly because CSR is about this orientation, which guides and steers the policies to be pursued in the mid-to-long term and orients the daily operational choices of the enterprise and its staff at all levels of the organization, that social responsibility involves a set of decision-making processes and initiatives that have an impact on the bank viewed as an enterprise.Starting the reflection with CSR and fundamental strategic orientation, strategy and policies, indicators, the choice of devoting an appendix to a number of selected tools is not by chance. Indeed, this ensues from the need to clarify that these tools are the means that support the strategy outlined and that banking corporate social responsibility is far from being limited thereto.This logical framework is set against a much wider frame, i.e. the description of the weight and forms of stakeholder engagement activities that glue together the various levels.The management of the relations that a bank establishes and maintains with its stakeholders characterizes the bank's social responsibility.As compared to the ordinary formulation of a corporate strategic plan, the different standpoint from which objectives are identified, strategies are formulated, operational plans are defined and commitments undertaken are accounted for and reported, places stakeholder engagement at its very core.Stakeholder engagement signifies the complex process of dialogue and interaction with stakeholders as those who:* have multiple, diverse interests - of an economic, social and environmental nature - in the enterprise;* contribute towards the implementation of the mission of the enterprise;* are capable of influencing, through their multiple decisions (relating to expense, investments, collaboration, regulation and control) attainment of corporate objectives; and* are impacted by the choices and activities of the enterprise.Though there is no single definition of stakeholders that works for all enterprises, as a rule, stakeholders of a bank are: shareholders/members, employees, corporate and retail customers, suppliers, partners, institutions (including control and supervisory authorities and public authorities), local communities and the territory. This general segmentation needs to be tailored to the circumstances of the individual banks giving due consideration to their size, geographical location, history and the operating, political and economic context of the same.Each enterprise has its own specific stakeholders. The various stakeholders of the bank are linked to it by relationships varying in levels and intensity and do not always have the same relevance, including in consideration of the issues that the bank has to tackle at a given time (e.g. launch of new products, M&A transactions, selection of suppliers, etc.).\nSome thoughts on the representatives of stakeholders: Once the decision has been made to start a dialogue with a given stakeholder, one realizes that the generic definition of stakeholder (be it a shareholder/member, employee, customer, etc.) refers to a group of persons that may be difficult to reach and consult directly for a number of reasons, such as their number; blurred distinction amongst the different categories of stakeholders (e.g. a customer can also be an employee or member/shareholder of the bank or he/she can be a member of an environmental organization); distribution on the territory; stakeholder knowledge of the subject-matter and issue under discussion; inclination to establish/maintain/nurture a relationship with the bank.To solve this issue, one might think of addressing (having regard to the relevant subject-matters) the intermediate bodies that represent the categories of stakeholders such as trade unions, consumer associations, organizations of the civil society and environmental associations, suppliers' associations, territorial networks, etc.At the same time, however, this cannot completely solve the issue of representation and attain the objective of stakeholder inclusion that CSR aims at: indeed, the problem remains of how to identify - and establish a dialogue with - the stakeholders who, for a number of different reasons, are not members of - or do not feel fully represented by - any representative organization.In its process of interplay with stakeholders, the enterprise is faced with a dual problem: on the one hand that of inclusion and on the other, that of representation of interests. Having regard to this, some general considerations apply to all stakeholders and refer to:Inclusion\nSome possible practical steps: Bearing in mind that practices are in any case connected with the fundamental strategic orientation of a bank, as the criterion to which the different corporate policies should refer, a number of possible steps can be proposed:1. Select stakeholders from time to time on the basis of the issues addressed, on the basis of the interests at stake and the influence of the stakeholder on a specific issue addressed:, e.g. to discuss the methods of implementing an ethics code, the enterprise can opt for consultation with individual members of the staff and/or special staff groups of interest; to discuss the issues related to the environment, the enterprise can decide do consider a list of organizations that, each in its own province, deal with the different aspects of environmental performance;2. Identify people and organizations regarded as representative in that they:* demonstrate that they represent the interests of those they represent in a widespread and comprehensive way, or have a history or pattern of relations with those they represent that demonstrates their seriousness and effectiveness (representativeness). With these pre-requisites, the outcome of dialogue with the bank can be effectively transferred to those they represent thus contributing towards creating and nurturing the reputation of the enterprise;* show willingness to be engaged, with a view to CSR, in the process of dialogue with the bank; and* manifest a propensity to undertake the commitment of a constructive interplay in the mid- and long- term relationship with the bank.In order to verify this intention, it could be useful to propose the issue of \"stakeholder identification\" as an issue to be discussed during the meetings organized by the enterprise with its stakeholders. This way, the bank poses to interested parties the issue of representation and representativeness, stimulating reflection and raising the awareness of the need for innovative solutions to include in this process the representatives, those represented and the individual stakeholders not represented by any organizations:* Engage those who can represent different, non-organized demands (see the issue of armaments above).* Facilitate engagement of those stakeholders that are not members of any representative organizations, e.g. via the use of champions and/or making available to them direct channels to contact the enterprise (telephone lines, mail boxes, dedicated corners, etc.).* Analyze the existing relations between the enterprise and organized groups. One way to do so is to establish a list of departments, functions and individuals within the bank that have formal or operational contacts or relations with individual stakeholder groups.* Facilitate dialogue on such interests as are not expressed by one given stakeholder, e.g. weapons and the environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to offer the Italian Banking Association's view on corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the strategic management of a firm that is multistakeholder-oriented and that is careful to produce value for all those with whom the firm has relationships and daily interchange.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The strategic approach outlined, which gives rise to a variety of activities in different firms, is shared by the banks that have worked on the subject. This contribution falls within the logical framework on CSR developed by ABI, interested banks, and stakeholders that have been provided, analyzing the central role of stakeholder engagement.\nFindings: - The paper presents the modular approach given to CSR and the need for integrating CSR into the \"fundamental strategic orientation\" of a bank, in order to mainstream CSR into the heart of business theory and practice.\nOriginality/value: - The paper contains a brief reflection on stakeholder engagement, its main challenges and open questions. Finally some possible practical steps are suggested.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A longitudinal analysis of data breaches	[ "Data breach", "Identity theft", "Computer security", "Data security", "Personally identifiable information", "Security breach", "Computer crime" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Data breaches harm both the company and the consumer. Companies may lose both consumer confidence and market share as a result of a breach. According to the Security Director's Report (2010), breaches can cost more than $200 per record. These costs might include customer notifications, changes to prevent future breaches, and loss of revenue. Data breaches are a primary source of identity theft. According to a study conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research and supported by the Better Business Bureau, there were more victims of identity theft in 2009 than in any other year since 2003 (Vamosi, et al., 2010). Based on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (2010-2011) Congressional Budget Justification Summary and the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book January - December 2009, identify theft has been the top consumer complaint for ten consecutive years through 2009 (FTC, 2010-2011, 2010-2012).The purpose of this research is to provide information to companies and consumers about the nature of data breaches. A study by Gupta and Hammond (2005) found that small businesses use security technologies that may be ineffective. Forrester Consulting recommended businesses use company specific threats, the data at risk, the source of the risk, and the probable method of attack to properly allocate their security budgets (Security Director's Report, 2010). According to Granade (2008), identity theft usually occurs within two weeks of a security breach; therefore, companies need policies in place to quickly respond to such a security breach. As the economy continues to struggle, both large and small businesses are seeking to streamline their budgets. The analysis of data breach risks by industry can help businesses focus shrinking security budgets and introduce the most effective policies.1.1 Efforts to reduce security breaches through education\n2 Methodology: We obtained our data for this study from the chronology of data breaches maintained by the PRC. The PRC (2010a) is a non-profit organization that seeks to educate consumers about privacy issues. The PRC provides services to consumers and policymakers including a hotline to report abuses and a referral service of victims. The PRC records breaches of personal information that could lead to identify theft. The PRC began tracking data breaches in 2005.The breaches included in this study had an identified number of breached records. The data breaches in this study cover a five-year period, 2005-2009. The dates obtained from the PRC refer to the date the incident was first made public. The breach may, and, in many cases, did occur months earlier.The descriptions of the breaches were analyzed to determine breach types and to classify the institution by type. In some cases, the descriptions were inadequate to make a determination. In those instances the web site attrition.org or datalossdb.org, the stated primary source, was analyzed or a general search for information about the breach was conducted to locate additional information. A breach category could not be determined for one breach; therefore, it was excluded from this analysis. Table I displays a sample of the data used for this study.Based on the analysis, the breaches were divided into five categories: stolen, hacker, insider, exposed and missing. The stolen category includes stolen hardware such as desktop computer, laptop, server, flash drive, and hard drive. The hacker category covers unauthorized remote computer break-ins. Insider involves misuse of access/authority of computer usage by an employee or former employee. The exposed category involves unprotected data that may be publically accessible and includes records exposed in e-mail, regular mail, online and through disposal. The missing category includes missing disks, files, hard drives, flash drives, tapes, laptops, computers and servers. The breached data consisted of personal information, such as social security number, about current, former, and potential employees, customers, parents, dependents, guardians, and other individuals that used the services of the affected institution.The data are analyzed using six institution types: business, education, federal/military, financial, local/state government, and medical. The Open Security Foundation's DataLossDB uses four categories: business, education, government, and medical (Open Security Foundation, 2010-2011). The ITRC uses five categories: banking/credit/financial, business, education, government/military, and medical/healthcare (ITRC, 2010-2012). This study separates the federal government from state and local government because of its potential for a breach to affect a broader population than state and local government.Statistical analyses were performed on the data to determine relationships between and among categories. The following questions were considered: is any particular breach more or less likely to occur than another, is an institution type more vulnerable to breaches, and is a particular institution type more susceptible to a particular type of breach. We also analyzed breach record sizes and breaches by state. We use the p-value to make inferences about the significance or non-significance of the questions being considered. The p-value is the probability of obtaining a sample more extreme than the one observed in the data, assuming that the null hypothesis is true. The null hypothesis is a hypothesis which the researcher tries to disprove or nullify. For example, to test if a particular breach type is more likely to occur, we assume they are equally likely to occur. The p-value method is commonly used in scientific research. We use the kh2 statistic to determine differences in distributions of categorized variables, institution and breach types in our study. kh2 is used when investigating the significant or non-significant difference between the observed values and the expected values. If the differences between what we observe and what we expect is large, then we conclude independence, otherwise we conclude the opposite is true.\n3 Findings: The findings are based on 947 incidents which compromised 336,148,017 records. There is a possibility that the number of affected individuals could be lower than the number of breached records. That is, an individual could have multiple records containing their information compromised by the same breach or by multiple breaches.3.1 Breach types\n4 Conclusions and recommendations: An analysis of data breaches across a five-year period provides information useful for businesses and consumer education and action. The analysis of data breach risks by industry can help businesses focus possibly shrinking security budgets and introduce the most effective policies. The analysis highlights the vulnerability of the consumer to possible breaches of their data:* The breach types stolen and exposed are statistically more likely to occur. These are areas that could be reduced by decreasing carelessness, increasing training and quality assurance and instituting appropriate policies. Sensitive data should never be removed from a secured worksite without taking precautions such as encrypting files or shredding documents.* Consumers must exercise caution in providing their sensitive information because the possibility of a breach exists in all institutions. Though a breach does not necessarily translate to identity theft the threat does exist.* Educational institutions are statistically more likely to have a breach. A balance must be found between the autonomy offered by some educational institutions and the need for security. In addition, the importance of personnel that focus on computer security should not be overlooked. A study of data breaches at universities, a subset of education, found the largest proportion of incidents in the hacker category (Ncube and Garrison, 2010).* Educational institutions are more likely to have breaches of type hacker and exposed. Business, financial and medical institutions had a greater number of stolen breaches than any other breach type.* Of note, the proportion of insider incidents, 7.18 percent, is smaller than the other categories and statistically less likely to occur. In addition, the number of insider records breached is the smallest at 4.51 percent. Similarly, the Identify Theft Research Center reported that human error exceeded malicious attacks for the two years prior to 2009 (Information Management, 2010). Malicious attacks include the insider and hacker breach types of this study. This does not say that employees do not pose a greater risk of other types of security threats as seen in the large percentage of incidents of Exposure.* The number of records is not highly correlated to the number of incidents. Though we found a positive correlation, 59 percent, a single incident can compromise one or a million records. However, decreasing the number of incidents minimizes the likelihood of having a mega-breach. The stolen category had the highest number of incidents, 32.1 percent, but represented a distant third of the number of records, 13.96 percent. The financial sector had the least number of incidents, 6.23 percent, but compromised over 68.4 million records or 20.37 percent of the total records breached.* The number of records breached is independent of institution and breach type. The greatest number of incidents contained 10,000-99,999 records.The breaches also suggest the following additional recommendations:* Install software that will scan all e-mails before they are sent for numbers that could be SSNs or other personally identifiable information.* Inventory physical information that is to be shipped from one location to another, on both ends. At a minimum, make sure the number of containers is the same.* Institute and repeat mandatory employee computer security training.* Regularly scan web sites and linked files for sensitive information.* Encrypt sensitive information on computers and servers inside the company and on portable devices: laptops, flash drives, and discs.* Do not return hard drives that have been used to store sensitive data before destroying the data, using approved software.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to provide companies and consumers with information about the potential connections between data breach types and institutions. This study also aims to add to the body of knowledge about data breaches.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study analyzes a chronology of five years of data breaches. The data were classified and analyzed by breach and institution type, record size, and state. Multiple statistical tests were performed.\nFindings: - Breach types stolen and exposed are statistically more likely to occur. Educational institutions are more likely to have a breach and it is more probable that educational breaches will be of type hacker or exposed. The proportion of insider incidents is smaller than the other breach types. The number of records breached is independent of institution and breach type.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Only those breaches with a specified number of records are included. The information used may have been updated after our analysis, usually a change in the number of records identified.\nPractical implications: - Additional knowledge about characteristics of data breaches and the relationship between breach types and institution types will enable both businesses and consumers to be more effective in protecting sensitive information. Businesses will be able to create security budgets based on risk factors and consumers will be more aware of the risks of providing sensitive information.\nOriginality/value: - This study provides a longitudinal analysis covering five years of data breaches and analyzes the relationship between five breach types and six types of institutions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizational citizenship behavior in teaching: The consequences for teachers, pupils, and the school	[ "Teachers", "Career development", "Organizational behaviour", "Employees", "Israel" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The research on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), i.e. behaviors in the workplace that are discretionary, non-formally prescribed and of high benefit for the organization (Chompookum and Brooklyn, 2004; Kidwell et al., 1997; Organ, 1988, 1997; Podsakoff et al., 2000; Van Scotter, 2000) has been receiving increasing attention in recent years, both in the management literature and the education one.Generally speaking, OCB denote \"those organizationally beneficial behaviors and gestures that can neither be enforced on the basis of formal role obligations nor elicited by contractual guarantee of recompense\" (Organ, 1990, p. 46). It is considered to be a positive organizational behavior of employees that contributes largely to organizational effectiveness and performance (Kidwell et al., 1997; Organ, 1988, 1990; Podsakoff et al., 2000).The current paper focuses on the outcomes available to employees who perform OCBs based on an interpretative, qualitative study conducted among elementary and high-school teachers. One of the purposes of the reported exploratory study was to obtain a greater understanding of the consequences of teacher OCB to the teachers who perform OCBs as well as to their classroom and school, as these results are perceived by the teachers themselves.The present study has both theoretical and practical contributions. On the theoretical level, this study provides insight into the impact of OCB upon the teacher him/herself and the organization in which the teacher performs OCB. Researchers of OCB have long asserted that this sort of behavior is critical to organizational functioning because it reduces the need to allocate scarce resources to the maintenance function within organizations (Bolino, 1999; Organ, 1988). Yet, the benefits for teachers (like service providers) who perform OCB have been marginalized in past research.On the practical level, due to schools' dependency on teachers who are committed to school goals and more willing to exert considerable effort beyond minimal formal role expectations, as Somech and Bogler (2002) postulated, it is becoming important to trace the benefits of OCB for teachers and schools. After all, what happens to an employee after performing OCBs may affect his/her propensity to perform them again (Reed and Kidder, 2005). In this sense, the current study might provide policy makers and school principals with the perceived benefits of teacher OCB, thereby enabling them to devise a system of moral and personal \"incentives\" to persuade them to perform OCBs in school.The paper commences by presenting the literature background of this study. It then goes on to outline the qualitative methodology used in this study and the major research findings. In closing, major findings are discussed and empirical and practical implications are suggested.\nLiterature review: In its early stage, the emphasis of the research on employee OCB was on discretionary, unrewarded behavior, for which employees do not receive training to perform. These kinds of behaviors were further defined by contrasting their nature with that of in-role performance. Whereas the latter includes behaviors that are formally required for fulfilling the role or job and are typically assessed and rewarded through the formal performance evaluation, the former are neither part of the formal reward system, nor a part of an employee's job description, as Wayne and Green (1993) indicated. OCB is perceived as being more discretionary and less constrained by work process technology and other task features than role activities (Diefendorff et al., 2002).In his comprehensive and most prevalent definition of OCB, Organ (1988, p. 4) highlighted the positive implications of this behavior for the organization. In his classic book OCB is defined as:Individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system which, in the aggregate, promotes the effective functioning of the organization. By discretionary, we mean that the behavior is not an enforceable requirement of the role or the job description, that is, the clearly specifiable terms of the person's employment contract with the organization; the behavior is rather a matter of personal choice, such that its omission is not generally understood as punishable.According to this definition OCB is performed with the intention of promoting the welfare of the individual, group or organization toward which it is directed. It seems to be desired by managers who may encourage their subordinates to perform this behavior, but, as Motowidlo (2000) maintained, cannot require them to perform. The managers cannot use sanctions or formal incentives when an OCB is performed (Organ, 1990).In recent years, Organ (1997, p. 91) ended up redefining OCB \"as contributions to the maintenance and enhancement of the social and psychological context that supports task performance.\" Based on Organ's revised definition of OCB, Haworth and Levy (2001) claimed that employees will enact and sustain OCBs only when they believe that their managers will fairly reward such behaviors. Needless to say, this study was impossible using the previous definition that OCB must be unrewarded.In the light of the above definitions, it is apparent that OCB has been defined as those behaviors which are not formally prescribed, but yet are desired by an organization, such as punctuality, helping other employees, volunteering for things that are not required, making innovative suggestions to improve a department, not complaining about trivial matters, responding promptly to correspondence and not wasting time (Ackfeldt and Coote, 2003; Organ, 1988; Schnake, 1991).Based on the incorporation of past conceptualizations of OCB, the working definition of OCB in this study refers to several elements:* voluntary, beyond what is required, formal task behaviors;* behaviors based on personal choice;* behaviors directed towards others or the organization; and* avoidance of behaviors that are harmful to the organization.To put it more clearly, consistent with Organ (1997) and Borman and Motowidlo (1993), OCB is not part of the formal role requirement, nor is it a part of the mandatory, prescribed functions of the job. It is not explicitly or formally rewarded by the organization, nor is it intended to consciously impress others. Yet implicitly unintended, non-formal rewards are not necessarily in contrast with the essence of OCB. For example, a teacher who reported performing OCB without seeking rewards may be intrinsically rewarded by her superior, who views her behavior in a favorable light. OCB is not synonymous with altruistic behavior in my view.Consequences of organizational citizenship behavior\nMethod: The qualitative study described in this paper represents one part of a wider study that aimed at understanding the elements, determinants and outcomes of teacher OCB.Participants\nFindings: the perceived outcomes of teacher OCB: Prior to presenting the perceived outcomes of teachers' performance of OCBs, a few words are needed about the expressions of OCB revealed in the reported study to provide the reader with a sense of the multiple aspects of teacher OCB. Generally speaking, the teachers in this study pointed to a wide variety of OCBs including innovative instruction, comprehensive evaluation of achievements, student-tailored instruction, teaching during vacations for no additional wages, helping students in non-contact time, taking on new responsibilities with no financial compensation, creating personal attachment to disadvantaged students, helping new teachers, and guiding teachers professionally (Oplatka, 2006, 2007).For the purpose of this paper, the inductive analysis of the teachers' interview data revealed three major areas of OCB consequences for the teacher, the pupil and the school. Teachers subjectively constructed an association between the teachers' propensity to perform OCBs in school and their self-fulfillment, job satisfaction and positive feedback from stakeholders, peers and superiors. Pupils were also considered to benefit from a teacher who accomplishes OCBs in his/her work in terms of high achievements, well-being and behavior in class. In addition, an unexpected link was made between the teacher's OCB and pupils' internalization of helping and civic behaviors in school and community. Finally, the school as a whole was also considered to benefit from teachers' OCB, although only a few respondents referred to this arena; school image, and climate were connected to teachers' OCB by the interviewees.The outcomes available for teachers who perform OCBs\nDiscussion and implications: This paper focused on the potential outcomes of teachers' OCB as they were perceived subjectively by teachers who tend to perform these kinds of behaviors at work. Notably, the performance of OCBs is subjectively related to teachers' self-fulfillment, enthusiasm and well-being. Whereas past research on OCB has suggested correlative relations between OCB and better scores on managerial evaluations of performance and employee's increased positive image in the workplace (Van Scotter, 2000; Lovell et al., 1999; MacKenzie et al., 1993), the current study extended the definition of \"evaluation\" to comprise informal evaluations from colleagues, students and parents. Teachers' OCB is assumed by the interviewees to result in positive responses from stakeholders and colleagues, not only from superiors.In conjunction with previous studies that pointed to a correlation between OCB and organizational performance (Bolino, 1999; Motowidlo, 2000), the teachers in this study felt that OCB leads to better students' achievements, positive emotions towards class and school, and improved discipline in school. These subjectively-held associations align with some writings on the emotional aspects of teaching, suggesting that teachers' emotional care for students might result in students paying more attention to learning and academic achievements (Moore, 2004; Nias, 1989; Noddings, 1984). Likewise, the current study also showed that teachers' OCB is considered to generate pupils' and graduates' dispositions to engage in civic and helping behaviors, an interesting link that needs further examination.Finally, according to Podsakoff et al. (2000), OCB helps coordinate activities between team members and work groups, and makes the organization a more satisfying place to work. Similar findings were inductively revealed in this study, suggesting that teachers' OCB is related to the school's image and a cooperative, collegial school climate.The question arising from the teachers' constructions of the outcomes of OCB refers to the implications of teachers' performance of OCBs for senior teachers' personal development, self-renewal and prevention of burnout and frustration in their career. Senior teachers who extend the meaning of their teaching career to accommodate a wide variety of OCBs, in fact, diversify their performances. Their \"extended\" role includes innovative and multiple tasks, which in turn, make their work challenging, self-fulfilling, and non-routine. By performing OCBs, the teachers are likely to feel enthusiasm, energy-replenishing, and well-being, all of which are elements of self-renewal (Hudson, 1991; Oplatka, 2004), rather than routine and stagnation, although they have not been transferred to higher level roles in the school.Add to this the positive feedback they assume to gain from colleagues, students and parents (probably including superiors), that seems to increase their self-confidence and image, and a success-career development cycle might emerge. The performance of OCBs leads to a sense of success, work satisfaction, and fulfillment of their professional calling (e.g. the high achievements of their students). Future research on the career development of teachers should focus, at least in part, on the impact of OCB upon professionals' career growth and development.Evidence concerning the outcomes of OCB in schools is relatively thin. Subsequent research ought to explore the personal, organizational, and contextual outcomes of professionals' OCB in other countries, as OCB is seen to be affected by cultural and social rules and scripts in any society. In addition, OCB was not related by our interviewees to positive outcomes solely. In fact, OCB may bring about some negative outcomes for employees, such as increased family-work conflicts and colleagues' negative attitudes and emotions towards employees' OCB, as is evident in the current data. Further research ought to examine these and additional potential negative influences on teachers and other school members who perform OCBs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Professionals and employees have been documented to perform a wide variety of extra-role activities (also called organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB)) for which they are neither paid, nor obliged to accomplish by superiors. The paper aims to obtain greater understanding of the consequences of teacher OCB to the teachers who perform this kind of behavior as well as to their school.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Fifty Israeli elementary and secondary schoolteachers (40 female, ten male) participated in this study. Ages ranged between 28 and 64, with teaching experience in years ranging between 8 and 38. Open-ended questions were used to gain the respondents' subjective conceptualizations of OCB and its outcomes for the teacher and the school.\nFindings: - The paper shows that the performance of extra-role, non-obligatory, and unrewarded tasks and activities in teaching is perceived by teachers who perform these tasks to have some influence upon themselves (e.g. a sense of self-fulfillment, higher levels of job satisfaction), their students (e.g. higher students' achievements) and the whole school (e.g. improved school discipline and school image). Implications for further research on teacher OCB are suggested.\nOriginality/value: - The paper offers insights into the implications for teachers, pupils and schools of OCB in teaching.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of experiential augmentation on product evaluation	[ "Product evaluation", "Brand familiarity", "Experiential augmentation", "Store atmospherics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Product success hinges not only on technical and functional product attributes but can also be brought about through experiential attributes that provide hedonic or symbolic product value (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Schmitt, 1999). Experiential augmentation refers to efforts made to enhance hedonic and symbolic value of offerings (Candi et al., 2013; Voss et al., 2008). Experiential augmentation can involve a range of components, such as product esthetics, product packaging and atmosphere design (scent, music, color, etc.). For example, the Rainforest Cafe is a themed restaurant that bases its experiential augmentation on creating the ambience of a safari adventure, which appeals even to those whose feelings about adventure are only aspirational.\n2. Theory and hypotheses: 2.1 Experiential augmentation\n3. Research methodology: The hypotheses were tested using two experiments, referred to as Study 1 and Study 2. The experiments, conducted in The Netherlands, involved getting people to try out and evaluate a new coffee product under conditions of experiential augmentation applied to the product, experiential augmentation applied to the evaluation environment, no experiential augmentation or both types of experiential augmentation. The coffee was presented as belonging to either a well-known brand or an unknown fictitious brand. The same coffee was used for both the familiar and the unfamiliar brand conditions to eliminate variability due to actual differences in coffee taste.\n4. Study 1: In the first study, the effects of product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the environment were tested for both the familiar and the unfamiliar (fictitious) brand. This results in a 2 (brand) x 2 (experiential augmentation of product) x 2 (experiential augmentation of environment) between subjects experimental research design. The total number of subjects was 213, split about equally among the eight groups. Of those subjects, 210 completely filled in the questionnaire and were included in data analysis. Their ages ranged from 19 to 66 years, with a mean age of 42 years. The percentage of male subjects was 52.4.\n5. Study 2: In the second study, a condition including experiential augmentation of the evaluation environment was compared with a condition with no experiential augmentation for both the familiar and unfamiliar brand used in Study 1, thus constituting a 2 (brand) x 2 (experiential augmentation of evaluation environment) between subjects experimental research design. Experiential augmentation of the evaluation environment was implemented as described in the research methodology section.\n6. Discussion: 6.1 Summary of findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of experiential augmentation on product evaluation by consumers. An important distinction is made between product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the environment. Furthermore, the research examines how brand familiarity moderates the effect of experiential augmentation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In two experiments (N = 210 and N = 70), both product-related and environmental experiential augmentation were varied. Participants tasted and evaluated a new coffee product from either a well-known or a fictitious brand.\nFindings: The findings of the first experiment indicate that product-related experiential augmentation contributes positively to product evaluation for both an unfamiliar and a familiar brand. Experiential augmentation of the environment influences product evaluation negatively, but only in the absence of product-related experiential augmentation. The second experiment tests some possible explanations for this negative effect and shows that it occurs only in the case of a familiar brand.\nPractical implications: The findings offer implications for marketing managers seeking to positively influence consumer product evaluations through experiential augmentation. First, marketing managers are advised to make a distinction between product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the evaluation environment, and, second, they should take brand familiarity into account when employing experiential augmentation of the environment.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to the literature by showing that product-related experiential augmentation and experiential augmentation of the environment differ in the impact they have on product evaluation and providing insight into the relationship between brand familiarity and experiential augmentation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intermediate imports and innovation performance: do family firms benefit more?	[ "Spain", "Product innovation", "Process innovation", "Family firms", "Intermediate inputs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Innovation has become one of the most important strategic decisions for firms in order to maintain or improve their competitive position in current global markets (Uzkurt et al., 2013; Kumar and Sundarraj, 2016; Roach et al., 2016; Fabio de Oliveira and Ferreira da Silva, 2017). Indeed, in recent years OECD countries and also some major non-OECD economies have started to emerge from the recession and are increasingly investing in innovation (OECD, 2015). As a result, firms are seeking new sources of competitive advantage to ensure they are successful in their innovation strategy.\n2. Background and hypotheses: More and more firms have decided to innovate in order to maintain or to improve their competitive position in today's markets. Although R&D expenditure is one of the major inputs into generating innovation performance, there are no guarantees that it leads to the results expected (Almeida and Fernandes, 2008). Thus, firms are also looking for other sources of innovation knowledge or advantages such as through international trade.\n3. Sample and variables: To analyze the import-innovation performance relationship for family and non-family firms, the Spanish Survey on Business Strategies (Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales) is selected as an information source because it enables identification of whether a firm imports, innovates or belongs to a family group. This database is conducted by the SEPI Foundation with the support of the Spanish Government. This is an anonymous annual survey that collects information for manufacturing firms with more than ten employees that is representative of the manufacturing firms located in Spain. In 1990, first year of the survey, firms with 10-200 employees were randomly sampled by industry and size strata and firms with more than 200 employees were surveyed on a census basis. During the following years the information collected is consistent with the information in the previous years. Those small firms that exit the original sample were replaced by firms with similar characteristics drawn from the population. Thus, this database pays special attention to retaining representativeness with respect to the population of reference[7].\n4. Results: The results of the analyses are presented in Table V. As two different innovation performance measures (product and process innovation) are used because each one represents a different dimension of the innovation, though their decisions may be reciprocally related (Hullova et al., 2016), both models are tested jointly and simultaneously.\n5. Discussion: Our analyses are conducted to empirically support the importance of the intermediate input imports in the innovation performance of family and non-family firms. We combine three lines of research (imports, innovation performance and family firms) that can contribute with new explanations to define an integrative picture of the state of the art in innovation activity.\n6. Conclusions: The current highly competitive global environment forces firms to become more competitive in order to survive. As innovation is a source of competitive advantage, more and more firms are looking for new sources of ideas, knowledge, cost advantages or higher quality inputs, among other advantages in order to improve innovation performance, not only in domestic markets but also in foreign markets, for example by importing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of imported intermediate inputs on innovation performance, differentiating among types of innovation output (product and process innovation) and considering both family and non-family firms in the Spanish context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses an unbalanced panel of 1963 firms in the Spanish manufacturing sector (13,155 observations; 2006-2016) that can be identified as family or non-family firms. The authors apply a recently developed methodology (conditional mixed process model) that takes into account the possible relationships among the dependent variables to a panel bivariate probit model with robust standard errors.\nFindings: Importing intermediate inputs is an important source of process innovation for all firms, but not of product innovations. Significant differences were found between family and non-family firms in favor of the family type.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper breaks down the family state into two categories (belonging to a family group or not) because the database does not contain information regarding the percentage of family ownership or the number of family members in the management structure. Moreover, the research is context specific.\nPractical implications: These results will be useful for firms that are considering the value of importing intermediate inputs as a strategy to improve their process innovations, particularly for family firms.\nSocial implications: Family firms are more successful in the utilization of imported intermediate inputs to achieve greater innovation performance. If family firms are more competent in leveraging their intermediate input imports in innovation performance, it should contribute to increasing business performance.\nOriginality/value: The research on imports takes into account the different impacts of intermediate imports depending on innovation performance (product innovation vs process innovation) and the nature of the firm (family firms vs non-family firms).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Advancing women's careers	[ "Women workers", "Career development", "Glass ceilings" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In the mid-1980s, the phrase \"glass ceiling\" was coined and has since become an established part of our vocabulary. The glass ceiling refers to an invisible but impermeable barrier that limits the career advancement of women. Since then, terms such as \"sticky floors\" and \"concrete walls\" have been used to refer to similar and related obstacles - the difficulties talented women experience in advancing in their careers in medium and large organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This collection seeks to examine the various challenges women face in advancing their careers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In the mid-1980s, the phrase \"glass ceiling\" was coined and has since become an established part of our vocabulary. The glass ceiling refers to an invisible but impermeable barrier that limits the career advancement of women. During the last two decades, women have made progress: there are now more women in senior-level executive jobs, more women in \"clout jobs\", more women CEOs, and more women on corporate boards of directors. But real progress has been slow with only modest increases shown at these levels.\nFindings: - The slow progress made by talented, educated, ambitious women is now having some negative effects on women's views of management and the professions as a career. However, artificially limiting the career possibilities of women is a luxury organizations can no longer afford. Organizations are facing an impending shortage of qualified leaders. The aging of the workforce, a smaller number of new workforce entrants, and the war for talent, makes it imperative that organizations utilize and develop the talents of all their employees.\nOriginality/value: - This collection examines the various challenges women face in their careers. The contributors come from a number of different countries, indicating the widespread interest in this topic in all developed and developing countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leader inclusiveness, psychological diversity climate, and helping behaviors	[ "Diversity", "Leadership", "Inclusion", "Helping" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Recruiting and selecting diverse individuals has been increasingly recognized as important but insufficient to realize the full potential of today's workforce (Bilimoria et al., 2008). Increasingly, research has highlighted the importance of inclusive practices (Mor Barak and Levin, 2002) as a means for organizations to welcome the contributions of a broad range of employees (Mor Barak, 2005; Shore et al., 2011). Miller (1998, p. 151) described inclusion as the extent to which diverse persons \"are allowed to participate and are enabled to contribute fully.\" More recently Shore et al. (2011) conceptualized inclusion as involving treatment at work that satisfies individuals' needs for belongingness (the need to develop and maintain strong interpersonal relationships) and uniqueness (the need to preserve a differentiated self-perception). Such treatment can be provided by leaders and organizations, as both are critical elements of the context in which employee perceptions of inclusion are shaped.\nLeader inclusiveness: Although leader inclusiveness captures the diversity-friendly notion of welcoming and valuing the contributions of employees, it has not received much attention, even in the diversity literature. Moreover, there is a lack of agreement about what leader inclusiveness involves and how it should be measured. We draw on Nembhard and Edmondson's (2006) conceptualization because their focus on individual-level perceptions of leader inclusion in the work group is consistent with our study goals and the Shore et al. (2011) framework on which this study is based. Nembhard and Edmondson focussed on a leader's interest in others' contributions which taps into individuals' desires to both belong and to be valued for their uniqueness. Thus, inclusive leaders attempt to include others in decisions in which their voices might otherwise be absent.\nPsychological diversity climate: Since racioethnic minorities and women often experience discrimination in the workplace and may experience fewer opportunities for upward mobility in internal labor markets (Landau, 1995), psychological diversity climate is particularly important to these individuals. Racioethnic minorities and women place greater value on an organization's commitment to diversity than racioethnic majority members and men (Kossek and Zonia, 1993). For instance, diversity climate reduces turnover intentions for racioethnic minorities (McKay et al., 2007), and the mediating effect of psychological diversity climate on the relationship between reactions to performance appraisals and employee engagement is pronounced for racioethnic minorities (Volpone et al., 2012). We thus explore psychological diversity climate as a moderator among racioethnic minority vs majority members and among women vs men.\nHypotheses: Building on Shore et al.'s (2011) reasoning that social exchange theory provides a theoretical basis for outcomes related to inclusion, group members who perceive their leader to be inclusive should experience a sense of obligation and should reciprocate with helping behaviors directed toward the leader (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). Consistent with this, research has found a strong relationship between citizenship behavior and authentic leadership (Walumbwa et al., 2010) and servant leadership (Ehrhart, 2004). This reciprocity also could be manifested in helping behaviors toward the work group in that a leader who values group members and demonstrates inclusion encourages group members to do the same, yielding work group-directed helping (Tyler and Lind, 1992). Relatedly, Wayne et al. (1997) showed that employees who reciprocate beneficial treatment provided by the organization and leader sometimes do so by helping other employees.\nMethods: Sample\nResults: Table I shows descriptive statistics and correlations among the variables. Collinearity statistics for all regression analyses were within acceptable ranges (tolerance\nDiscussion: We examined the combination of leader inclusiveness and psychological diversity climate as they relate to self-reported helping behavior, building on Shore et al.'s (2011) theoretical inclusion framework. Our results indicate that inclusive leadership in the context of a positive psychological diversity climate is associated with enhanced leader-directed and work group-directed helping behavior. This relationship was stronger for racioethnic minorities and women with respect to leader-directed helping behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychological diversity climate and leader inclusiveness relate to an employee's self-reported propensity to engage in helping behaviors toward the leader or work group. The authors also tested whether these elements operate differently for women and racioethnic minorities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of 534 respondents completed electronic surveys. Hypotheses were tested with hierarchical multiple regression.\nFindings: Results indicate a positive relationship between leader inclusiveness and leader-directed and work group-directed helping behaviors, particularly when accompanied by a positive psychological diversity climate. These relationships were stronger for racioethnic minorities and women relative to racioethnic majority members and men for leader-directed helping.\nResearch limitations/implications: Data were self-report. Future research should incorporate data from other sources and additional outcomes.\nPractical/implications: Leaders who act inclusively can obtain measurable benefits with respect to employee helping by reinforcing a diversity climate.\nSocial/implications: Leaders should act in ways that demonstrate that they are inclusive; coupled with a positive diversity climate, this may encourage all members to engage in helping behaviors, which may have a positive impact on society at large.\nOriginality/value: The authors addressed the call in past research for sending consistent signals across the organization regarding the value of diversity and inclusion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving passwords: influence of emotions on security behaviour	[ "Education", "Information security", "Security", "Psychology", "Training", "Emotions theory", "Passwords" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper reviews Information Systems Security (ISS) topics in Information Systems (IS) literature. The lack of theory and theory testing in the literature about IS security training is still prevailing (Puhakainen and Siponen, 2010, pp. 759-761). The problems of inappropriate research designs and diversity of experimental tasks are methodological and thus easier to fix. Both can be mitigated by standardization. In medicinal psychology, it is widely accepted to develop an \"exciting\", new theory or treatment, etc., but it is tested with a \"boring\", standardized methodology, so others can verify the findings (Anonymous, 2010, pp. 29-32). The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Society (Anonymous, 2010)[1] teaches about the methodology for experiments with human participants. Such standards have already been transferred to information technology (IT)-related fields, such as human - computer interaction (MacKenzie, 2013) but have yet to be transferred to IS.\n2. Literature review: We develop a search query in the EBSCO academic search engine[2] to find out about security topics in Information Systems literature. From the search string, the names of the queried journal can be seen: SU \"security\" AND (JN \"MIS Quarterly\" OR JN \"Information Systems Research\" OR JN \"Journal of the Association for Information Systems\" OR JN \"Journal of Management Information Systems\" OR JN \"Journal of Strategic Information Systems\" OR JN \"European Journal of Information Systems\" OR JN \"Information Systems Journal\" OR JN \"Journal of Information Technology\"). Security as a subject term results into 115 papers among 4,851 papers published in the Senior's Scholar basket[3] since 1977. Sixty-one papers deal with security as their main topic and only 17 deal with security behaviour as their main topic.\n3. Conceptual background: Recent breaches of databases show the low quality of passwords still chosen by users. Passwords are too short and too simple. An analysis of one million passwords in the breach of the Sony password database showed that 50 per cent of the passwords were less than eight characters long and only 1 per cent contained non-alphanumeric characters (Hunt, 2011). Although new authentication mechanisms like combining passwords and possession of tokens increases security, passwords are almost always required for access and often solely required to authenticate oneself (Whitman, 2003). Therefore, attempts to discover methods to improve password quality without loosing memorability are still valuable. If one enforces random, system-generated passwords, users find those passwords difficult to remember (Yan et al., 2004) and as a result may start to write them down. Users do not believe that the chances of being attacked outweigh the extra work to choose a strong password (Adams and Sasse, 1999, 44). A large-scale study of password use and re-use habits came to the conclusion that providing instructions on how to create secure passwords, password managers or providing tools such as strength-meters to enforce the strength of a password had only limited success (Florencio and Herley, 2007). Many investigations tried to mitigate this. Forget et al. (2008) built an application that increases the security of a chosen password by inserting random characters. Ross et al. (2005) developed a browser extension that mingles the website to the password of the user, enabling him to reuse the same password for different sites. One of the most cited papers on passwords is Zviran and Haga (1999). He defined key issues regarding password security (Figure 2): length, composition, lifetime and selection method. One finds that increasing the length enhances the strength of a password exponentially, whereas increasing composition enhances it only linearly: cl where c denotes complexity, meaning possibility for each position, and l denotes the length of the password.\n4. Training: choose strong but memorable passphrases: Ninety-three per cent of passwords have ten characters or less (Hunt, 2011). Therefore, we assume that passphrases are seldom used by the general public. We assume that most users are not familiar with it. Therefore, they can come up with a new, individual, not yet used passphrase. We replicate the methodology of Johnston and Warkentin (2010, p. 556) to test H2 from the last chapter; drawing upon research in marketing, psychology and economics, we apply concepts of goal framing and self-view to investigate how attitudes and norms can be manipulated. The overarching theories are positive and negative emotions (Izard, 2002). In the context of this study, framing of a message serves to focus the individual either on preventing the threat and associated negative outcomes of a security violation (negative) or on the utilization of effective coping responses to create a safe, reliable internet environment (positive). The training can be accessed online[6]. It was pre-tested with five relatives of the author. Subjects were asked to participate via email, social media, etc. Self selection bias occurs but is constant among the groups. In Figure 3, one can see the training that allows to learn about passphrases in a few sentences that are built on insights about passphrases taken from Keith's (2009) study and other Internet sources[7]. A pre-and post-test survey is used to evaluate the knowledge of the user, both before and after the training.\n5. Discussion and conclusion: As stated by Dennis and Valacich (2001, p. 17), the best research designs tend to accept flaws and highlight their strengths. Our study suffers from several limitations. The sample is only 22 participants and although we had a slightly significant result (p < 0.1), a smaller value for p would be more reliable to prove the relationship between emotions of the users and passphrase strength. It is not clear how long the participants looked at the smiley, how carefully they read the message and, thus, how bad or good they felt. Moreover, it was assumed that more words lead to stronger strings, without distinguishing between short, long, rare or frequent words. Thus, negatively triggered participants may use fewer but more complicated words. Finally, our findings can only be applied to password-choosing behaviour and more studies are needed to confirm the findings or to extend them to security behaviour in general.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to study the influence of emotions on security behaviour by reviewing Information Systems Security (ISS) topics in Information Systems (IS) literature. Researchers in ISS study how to motivate people to adhere to security policies; they mainly focus on cognitive models such as the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1985), innovation diffusion theory (Brancheau and Wetherbe, 1990), theory of planned behaviour (Mathieson, 1991) and social cognitive theory (Compeau and Higgins, 1995). Applying positive emotions such as joy and interest is feasible by adding emoticons and positive messages; we use this approach to improve password choosing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: We apply differential emotional theory (Izard 2002) from psychology to the context of ISS. Twenty-two participants took part in an experiment with the task of choosing strong but memorable passphrases. The dependent variable is the strength of the chosen passphrase. The task for the user is to come up with a passphrase that is both strong and memorable. We choose a between-subject design. The independent variable is the emotional interface that the user is confronted with.\nFindings: We found that 5.35 words was the mean when participants were shown positive smiley faces and messages. When exposed to negative emoticons, the mean was only 4.35 words. Through ANOVA, we find the differences to be statistically significant (F1; 20 = 3.16; p < 0.1). We derive from the experiment that positive emotions should be used in ISS when making users start a habit (e.g. developing a new, individual password strategy), and we conclude from our literature review that negative emotions should be used when reinforcing a habit (e.g. taking care of shoulder surfing).\nOriginality/value: We contribute to practice by developing a user script that can be installed in all established Internet browsers. The script supports the user to choose a good passphrase strategy when registering for a new service. We find that trainings should not rely on facts only but must make use of emotions, which are crucial for human motivation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An empirical investigation of efficiency and productivity in the Indian non-life insurance market	[ "Data envelopment analysis", "Efficiency", "Productivity", "Bootstrapped Malmquist index", "Indian insurance sector" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past two decades, the insurance industry in India has undergone significant changes due to deregulation and market liberalisation. The industry's landscape has significantly changed due to the establishment of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) under the IRDA Act, 1999. IRDA opened the Indian insurance market for private insurers in the year 2000 to promote competition, grow insurance penetration and increase consumer choice. Since then, the Indian insurance industry witnessed the entry of foreign insurers through joint ventures with national private companies. The changes in the regulatory environment and restructuring of the market create challenges as well as opportunities for the insurers to improve efficiency. The efficiency of the insurers is a key concern of regulators and is of interest to managers, customers and investors. From the perspective of regulators, inefficient insurers are more prone to insolvency risk. The standpoint of the managers is that the inefficient insurers will not survive in the market because of their inability to maintain a market share. The customers have a perspective that inefficient insurers cannot offer better and trusted services at reasonable prices. Similarly, investors believe that inefficient insurers are riskier and cannot guarantee consistent returns.\n2. Overview of the Indian insurance sector: Studies on the contemporary Indian insurance sector have outlined the history of the insurance business in India (Parida and Acharya, 2017; Mandal and Dastidar, 2014). Also, an overview of recent regulatory developments in the general insurance sector is reported in Sinha (2017a, b). Therefore, we provide a brief overview of very recent changes in the Indian insurance sector. After the establishment of IRDA, the regulatory, controlling and developing authority for the insurance and reinsurance business in India, the insurance industry showed significant growth. In the year 2000, there were 12 insurers operating in India of which 4 were in life and 8 were in the non-life insurance sector. Currently, there are 57 insurers (including the 4 new non-life insurers registered in the year 2017) operating in India of which 24 are life insurers, 25 are diversified non-life insurers, 2 are specialised insurers and 6 are standalone health insurers. Moreover, there is one state-owned reinsurance company and recently in the year 2017, 10 foreign reinsurers also opened their branches in India. The Indian insurance industry market structure and its characteristics are shown in Figure 1.\n3. Related literature and hypotheses development: 3.1 Related literature\n4. Methodology and data: 4.1 Methodology\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 First-stage result: efficiency levels\n6. Discussion and policy implications: After reviewing the literature on efficiency and productivity in the insurance industry, we identified few methodology issues in the prior studies. Although few studies (Luhnen, 2009; Eling and Luhnen, 2010b; Alhassan and Biekpe, 2015; Biener et al., 2016) have employed a robust approach to measure the technical efficiency of insurers over the extended time period, they are specific to the context of different countries and/or regions and, thus, external validity of the policy implications of these studies is questionable. Our review found that in the Indian context, most of the studies on insurance sector fail to encourage any strong policy implications for regulators, policy makers and management due to methodological issues and selection of data. In this regard, this study utilised a robust approach to measure the performance of insurers in Indian context over an extended time period. We found that the average technical efficiency and CE for the complete observation period are 0.792 and 0.818, respectively. It indicates that on average the insurers are moderately efficient and there is a large scope to improve these measures of efficiency. The finding is supported by Eling and Luhnen (2010b) and Huang and Eling (2013). Eling and Luhnen (2010b) found that the insurers operating in developing economies of Asia are not highly efficient. In a comparative study on BRIC economies, Huang and Eling (2013) evince that the Indian non-life insurers are not highly efficient than other BRIC non-life insurers. The returns-to-scale economies results reveal that during the period 2006-2016 all the insurers irrespective of size and ownership type operated under IRS. This finding is in contrast with the results of Luhnen (2009), Cummins and Xie (2013), Alhassan and Biekpe (2015) and Biener et al. (2016). These studies found that large insurers mostly operate with DRS, whereas small and medium insurers operate with IRS. As the Indian insurance sector is its nascent stage of development, the average size of the insurers operating in India is relatively small than the average size of the insurers operating in developed economies. This could be the reason that unused economies exist for all sizes of insurers in the Indian non-life insurance market.\n7. Conclusion: This study analysed efficiency, productivity and returns-to-scale economies in the Indian non-life insurance sector using frontier efficiency methodologies for the period 2005-2016. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the insurers, bootstrapped DEA technique is employed. The bootstrapped Malmquist index is used to assess productivity changes over the observation period. In the second stage, the truncated bootstrap regression is employed to examine the effect of contextual variables on the technical and CE. Moreover, the Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test are used to investigate the difference in productivity growth of public and private insurers. The DEA results divulge that the insurers are moderately efficient and there is a large room for improvement. Also, the fact that the insurers are benefitting from economies of scale is revealed. The Malmquist index results show an improvement in the TFP during the observation period 2005-2016. Furthermore, evince that due to the financial crisis efficiency was relatively less in the year 2008 than the other years, but the effect of the crisis was not severe and protracted. The truncated regression results reveal that size and reinsurance utilisation have a negative effect on efficiency, whereas efficiency and age have a positive relationship. Mann-Whitney test results show that state-owned insurers are cost efficient than private counterparts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the performance of the Indian non-life (general) insurance sector in terms of efficiency, productivity and returns-to-scale economies. In addition to this, it identifies the determinants of efficiency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study employs a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) bootstrap approach to estimate the level and determinants of efficiency. In the first stage, the DEA bootstrap approach is employed to estimate bias-corrected efficiency scores. In the second stage, the truncated bootstrapped regression is used to identify the effect of firm-level characteristics on the efficiency of insurers. Moreover, the bootstrapped Malmquist index is used to examine the productivity growth over the observation period 2005-2016.\nFindings: The bootstrapped DEA results show that the Indian non-life insurance sector is moderately technical, scale, cost and allocative efficient, and there is a large opportunity for improvement. Moreover, the results reveal that the public insurers are more cost efficient than the private insurers. It is also evident that all the insurers irrespective of size and ownership type are operating under increasing returns to scale. Malmquist index results divulge an improvement in productivity of insurers, which is attributable to the employment of the best available technology. Bootstrapped DEA and bootstrapped Malmquist index results also show that the global financial crisis of 2008 has not severely affected the efficiency and productivity of the Indian non-life insurance sector. The truncated regression results spell that size and reinsurance have a statistically significant negative relationship with efficiency. It also shows a statistically significant positive age-efficiency relationship.\nPractical implications: The results hold practical implications for the regulators, policy makers, practitioners and decision makers of the Indian non-life insurance companies.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first of its kind that comprehensively investigates different types of robust efficiency measures, determinants of efficiency, productivity growth and returns-to-scale economies in the Indian non-life insurance market for an extended time period.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Either/or	[ "Brain", "Personality", "Strategic planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: One of the most intractable problems in business strategy, and business generally, is the fact that here are two basic types of people in the world and within businesses: left-brain people who are logical, mathematical, and precise, and right-brain people who are creative, expressive, and generalist.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To provide the author's opinions about key issues in strategy and the future to the readership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Opinion column.\nFindings: - Discussion of the difficulty of reconciling different personality types in the strategy process.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Speculative, and based not on rigorous research but on the author's experience of planning engagements across a wide variety of private and public enterprises.\nPractical implications: - Warns strategists about the difficulties of getting disparate personality types to work together.\nOriginality/value: - Expresses several opinions that the author believes have not been expressed (or adequately appreciated) elsewhere.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What if the future never comes? Understanding consumer perceptions of future anticipatory efforts of brands	[ "Brand personality", "Ethnography", "Futurology", "Autobiographical memory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Brands are important for companies and consumers - the consumers establish their personal identity with the consumption of brands while the companies earn financial as well as relational equity which ultimately contributes to the profitability for the firm (Keller et al., 2011). The establishment of brands is also important for the motivation of internal stakeholders - employees in particular who feel pride as being a part of a well-reputed brand (Du Preez and Bendixen, 2015). In addition to that, the establishment of brands also contributes to the development of society - as brands innovate the livelihood of society improves with the passage of time (Kornberger, 2010). However, all these benefits derived by consumers, firms, and society are not easy to attain - brands and the associated companies need to invest in the future. That is also to say, a future-driven brand strategy needs to be articulated and executed to establish stronger brands and to reach a desired level which connects companies, consumers, and society (Hogstrom et al., 2015).\nBackground literature: Perceived future anticipation\nMethodology: Data sources\nResults and discussion: Semi-structured interview\nDiscussion: The findings of this phenomenological study are clearly related to the previous studies associated with the issues of technology acceptance and market performance (i.e. Golicic and Davis, 2012; Morales et al., 2005). There is also a noticeable response from the participants in terms of the perceived need for companies to anticipate in the future, especially in terms of their technological acumen. The comments range from dividends accrued like futuristic attributes to the provision of simplicity and usefulness. This fact reinforces the notion that companies can gain a resulting competitive edge (Curlo and Chamblee, 1998; Mische, 2009; Adam, 2008). The efforts made by the companies in terms of anticipating the future will also increase consumer expectations (DeRoo, 2009; Adam, 2008).\nConclusion: Future anticipatory measures and brand relationships which are developed by most companies (e.g. complaint response and after-sales service) or the product itself (e.g. high quality touchpad, portable/easily mobile) will be very powerful, because these are going to give a competitive advantage for the company, and surprisingly it will build the customers' brand loyalty, even when there are some weaknesses in that product. Then, these future anticipatory actions and brand relationships, which make the consumers satisfied, will be stored as an autobiographical memory. This autobiographical memory will create consumer perceptions, which will influence the customers' commitment toward that product or their next buying decision.\nManagerial implications: We found that most of the customers highly appreciate the efforts of the company to anticipate the future. This will create a positive autobiographical memory and potentially become an antecedent of brand loyalty. Therefore, every effort done by the company to anticipate the future should be communicated to the customers and should be improved continuously. If a company does not communicate its effort to anticipate the future, then all the investments will not be understood by the customers and it will be for nothing.\nLimitations and future research: There were several limitations in this study. First, there was a limitation caused by the product chosen, which is relatively small, because this study only used one product (Product X) from the industry leader (Company X). Second, there were only 14 participants in total, consisting of eight people from Semarang for the FGD and six people from Salatiga for the semi-structured interview, which also showed the small size of this study's participants. Third, we obtained our data from Indonesia, which is considered as a developing country. The data might be different since it was taken from a developing country. Further studies need to be performed to study the perceived anticipations of the future among developing countries. Since we used a qualitative approach, we only described specific phenomena in Indonesia. Broader perspectives from different countries need to be examined. Furthermore, we only took five weeks to observe the behavior of the participants using a digital ethnography approach. Observations with a longer time frame are needed to better capture consumer behavior.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The contemporary organizations invest a lot of funds to gain a better understanding of the emerging needs of customers in near future. However, customers sometimes do not appreciate these hard efforts which lead to some unanticipated results for the firm. The purpose of this paper is to identify the customers' perceptions about the future anticipatory measures done by a company.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors employed triangulation of methods to develop credibility of techniques and the findings of this qualitative research study. A semi-structured interview with six participants is used to explore the phenomena. After the authors gained a better understanding about the phenomena, a focus group discussion with eight participants was held to gain a better understanding of perceptions of future. Finally, the digital ethnography was employed to better explore customer behavior.\nFindings: The results show that future anticipatory efforts conducted by a company are highly appreciated by the customers. This, in turn, builds a positive autobiographical memory for customers that lead to the development of a brand relationship.\nOriginality/value: The application of futurology to study within a marketing context and the employment of autobiographical memory are unique products of this study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A knowledge management approach to data mining process for business intelligence	[ "Data mining", "Business intelligence", "Knowledge management", "Knowledge sharing", "Blogs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Data mining (DM) is the process of trawling through data to find previously unknown relationships among the data that are interesting to the user of the data (Hand, 1998). DM has been an established field (Fayyad et al., 1996; Chen and Liu, 2005; Wang, 2005). However, despite the maturity of DM, recent critiques state that DM does not contribute to business in a large-scale (Pechenizkiy et al., 2005). For instance, research in this area continues to propose incremental refinements in association rules algorithms, but very few papers describe how the discovered association rules are used (Wu et al., 2000). While DM has been perceived to be a potentially powerful tool, the real benefit of DM for business intelligence (BI) has not been fully recognized (Wang et al., 2007).The information technology community has found that many organizations are continuing to view DM as a magic tool for easy and quick fix (Kaplan, 2007). For instance, an article in InformationWeek (Preston, 2006) criticized US Government agencies over-estimated the power of predictive DM in rooting out terrorists, and wasted much resources and time. In fact, DM techniques can be more hazardous than helpful if the frontline users do not fully understand how to apply those techniques in pertinent context (Hall, 2004; Violino, 2004; King, 2005). The key to successful applications of DM as a BI tool is collaboration and knowledge sharing among frontline users and technology experts in the organization (Foley, 2001; Reingruber and Knodson, 2008). This paper is to investigate the relationship between DM, BI, and knowledge management (KM). It proposes a knowledge sharing model for business knowledge workers to make DM more relevant to BI.\nLinks between DM, BI, and KM: Distinction between BI and KM\nDM cycle models: The traditional DM cycle model\nKnowledge sharing system for DM collaboration process: This section proposes a model of knowledge sharing systems for DM collaboration process in the knowledge sharing and planning phase which is the intersection between the DM centered cycle and business insider centered knowledge development cycle. The focus of this case study is on the general structure of such knowledge sharing systems. The tool to implement the present model of knowledge sharing systems is well-known techniques of blogs for collaboration (Lu and Hsiao, 2007).The structure of blogs of knowledge sharing systems for DM\nConclusion: The mainstream DM research has been emphasizing techniques and algorithms. Little research into how DM can be more relevant to business has been done. To become a genuine BI tool for comprehensive knowledge discovery, DM must be integrated with KM for knowledge improvement in the organization.The paper has proposed a model of knowledge development through DM. This model adds a crucial business insider centered knowledge development cycle to the conventional virtuous cycle of DM. The involvement of collaboration between knowledge workers can make DM more relevant to BI. The paper has further proposed a model of knowledge sharing system that facilitates collaboration between business insiders and data miners. Through an illustrative case study, the paper has demonstrated the usefulness of the model of knowledge sharing system for DM in the dynamic transformation of explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge for KM.We believe that one of the most important aspects of effective DM for BI is the knowledge sharing and planning phase that connects business insiders and data miners in the organization. A greater understanding of context of DM and DM results will help business insiders to search actions. Similarly, a greater understanding of business context and outcomes of actions will help data miners to develop meaningful DM process for the business.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Data mining (DM) has been considered to be a tool of business intelligence (BI) for knowledge discovery. Recent discussions in this field state that DM does not contribute to business in a large-scale. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of business insiders in the process of knowledge development to make DM more relevant to business.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper proposes a blog-based model of knowledge sharing system to support the DM process for effective BI.\nFindings: - Through an illustrative case study, the paper has demonstrated the usefulness of the model of knowledge sharing system for DM in the dynamic transformation of explicit and tacit knowledge for BI. DM can be an effective BI tool only when business insiders are involved and organizational knowledge sharing is implemented.\nPractical implications: - The structure of blog-based knowledge sharing systems for DM process can be practically applied to enterprises for BI.\nOriginality/value: - The paper suggests that any significant DM process in the BI context must involve data miner centered DM cycle and business insider centered knowledge development cycle.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sex and position status differences in workplace aggression	[ "Coping", "Health outcomes", "Power imbalance", "Sex", "Hierarchical status", "Bullying", "Workplace" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Workplace harassment has been in the media spotlight and has generated much public attention. Research has found that certain segments of the workforce have been more frequently exposed to acts of aggression, which have been associated with chronic symptoms of ill-health, injuries, and assaults (Rospenda et al., 2005). A study in Ireland found that more women than men reported that they were targets of bullying (FinFacts, 2007). This finding is consistent with studies conducted in Western nations on workplace aggression (Lee, 2002; Rayner, 1997; Soares, 2001), and may be explained by the asymmetry in power existing between the sexes (e.g. Hoel et al., 2001; Keashly et al., 1994; Salin, 2001).\nDefinition: Workplace aggression is a pattern of negative behaviors that inflict physical and emotional abuse (Einarsen et al., 1998; cf. Hershcovis et al., 2007). Although the aggressor's intention to cause humiliation or harm is not always apparent, a consistent pattern of aggressive acts has been found to be associated with impaired health (Niedhammer et al., 2006, 2009; Rospenda et al., 2005). Such acts include interpersonal and organizational dimensions (Robinson and Bennett, 1995) that may be linked to sex and position status (Hershcovis et al., 2007). Aggression may evolve into bullying with repeated and habitual acts, where the \"social behavior has become part of an enduring arrangement [...] and persists through a self-maintaining social process\" (Aquino and Lamertz, 2004, p. 1027).Workplace aggression can be perpetrated either directly or indirectly (Neuman and Baron, 1997, 1998; Bjorkqvist et al., 1994b). Neuman and Baron (1997) define direct aggression as face-to-face delivery of harm, and indirect aggression as delivery of harm through an intermediary or by attacking something that the target values. Bjorkqvist et al. (1994b) found that indirect bullying typically involved subtle acts, such as excluding or isolating the target from coworkers. Neuman and Baron (1998) also identified covert acts, termed obstructionism, that are designed to impede the target's ability to perform his/her job and involve withholding behaviors or resources.\nPatterns of targeting: Although studies have determined which sex is generally more aggressive in the workplace (Archer and Coyne, 2005), few have documented how the mix of aggressor and target sexes and their relative status are associated with patterns of targeting among different groups (Hoel et al., 1999; Rayner, 1997; Salin, 2001).In research conducted in Europe, men reported that they were targeted by other men, whereas women reported that they were targeted by either sex (Einarsen et al., 1994; Rayner, 1997). Namie's (2000) survey of North American workers found that women reported targeting other women 84 percent of the time, whereas men reported targeting women 69 percent of the time. Hoel et al. (1999) suggested that same-sex aggression was more likely to occur in settings where men worked primarily with other men, and women with other women, whereas opposite-sex aggression likely occurred more often when women occupied subordinate positions relative to their male aggressors. For example, Soares (2001) found that among workers in Canada, women reported being targeted by either sex with higher status.This difference is partly explained by one's position in the status hierarchy (Einarsen et al., 2003; Hoel et al., 2001; Rayner, 1997). That the aggressors are aware of and take advantage of their victim's dependency, especially in times of uncertainty and conflict (Aquino and Lamertz, 2004), reveal the salience of power (Simpson and Cohen, 2004). For example, Rayner (1997) found that, among part-time working students in the UK, victims were mostly in staff/line positions, with very few in supervisory positions. Namie (2000) found that over 80 percent of bullies were bosses with the power to terminate their victims' employment. Although Keashly et al. (1994) also found that aggressive acts occurred mostly between a superior and a subordinate, Soares (2001) found that 31 percent of bullies were colleagues, whereas only 22 percent were superiors, and 20 percent were either students or patients of the respondents. Hoel et al.'s (1999) review concluded that bullying occurred mostly between a superior and a subordinate and among peers.The foregoing suggests that it may be possible to explain sex and position status differences in the experience of workplace aggression by the existence of a power imbalance between aggressors and their victims. Consistent with the power differential perspective, which has been used to explain the dynamics of sexual harassment (Cleveland and Kerst, 1993), workers in lower status positions have less influence and are less able to respond effectively to mistreatment compared with those in higher status positions (Aquino et al., 1999). Aquino et al. (1999, p. 263) believe that \"High status affords protection against becoming a victim of others' aggressive actions because the legitimate power inherent in the position allows the incumbent to exercise direct or indirect control over valued organizational rewards and punishments\".Along the same line of reasoning, Einarsen et al. (2003) posited that an imbalance of power between the parties reflecting the formal status hierarchy would predict who is likely to be victimized. The more that a victim is dependent on one for valued resources, the more susceptible the former is to negative acts from the latter (Aquino and Lamertz, 2004; Brotheridge and Keup, 2005; Simpson and Cohen, 2004). Hoel and Salin (2003, p. 204) observed that \"The power imbalance may reflect formal power relationships, or may refer to perceptions of powerlessness resulting from the bullying process itself\".\nForms of targeting: Men and women have been found to vary in their experiences of direct and indirect forms of aggression (Archer and Coyne, 2005; Hess and Hagen, 2006). Bjorkqvist et al. (1994a) found that, compared to men, women reported more frequent and severe exposure to face-to-face confrontation (see also Simpson and Cohen, 2004). Bjorkqvist et al. (1994b) found that adult aggressors reported using two types of indirect aggression: social manipulation (e.g. making insulting comments about a victim's private life) and rational-appearing tactics (e.g. reducing the victim's opportunity for self-expression or giving them unfair performance evaluations). Whereas both sexes reported using rational-appearing tactics, women reported relying on manipulation tactics more frequently. Similarly, studies by Campbell et al. (1997), and Hess and Hagen (2006) found that women scored higher than men on indirect expressive aggression. Conversely, a study by Rutter and Hine (2005) found that men reported greater frequencies of expressions of hostility, obstructionism, and overt aggression than did women.As for hierarchical position, Bjorkqvist et al. (1994b) found that higher status aggressors were more likely to rely on indirect acts, such as discrediting the victim's work, than those with similar status as the victim. In contrast, similar status aggressors were more likely to resort to direct forms such as belittlement and verbal confrontation either because they had less to lose if challenged or due to the absence of mutual respect among peers (Hershcovis and Barling, 2010). Simpson and Cohen (2004) found that, compared to men, proportionally more decisions made by women were overruled by higher status male aggressors, indicating the use of an indirect form of aggression. Salin (2001) found that, compared to men, women were more likely to report having to take on extra-heavy workloads and complete tasks outside of their job descriptions, and that aggressors threatened to make their life difficult. Thus, women reported more frequent exposure to both direct and indirect forms of aggression.Hoel et al. (2001) found that workers and lower-level supervisors reported more frequent exposure to derogatory or exclusionary behaviors, whereas managers reported more frequent expose to extreme work pressure. They also noted an interaction between status and sex, such that, the higher their position in the hierarchy, the more frequently women reported being exposed to negative acts, suggesting a \"glass ceiling\" effect (Baxter and Wright, 2000). Hoel et al. (2001) concluded that men who felt threatened by women managers resorted to bullying as a way of excluding them from advancement.\nResponse by target: To cope with aggression and bullying (Olafsson and Johannsdottir, 2004), many workers reported engaging in acts of aggression (Aquino and Lamertz, 2004; Hauge et al., 2007; Matthiesen and Einarsen, 2007). They may have experienced heightened sensitivity to others' hostile acts and either sought to exact revenge or restore justice (Beugre, 2005). However, it is unknown if their exposure to aggression came before or after they engaged in such acts themselves. Equally unclear is whether the aggression is displaced, as some have suggested (Bies and Tripp, 1996), or if it is a normal reaction to aggression being directed at them.Because expectations of mutual respect may be lower among coworkers than they are between a supervisor and a subordinate, aggression from similar-status perpetrators may lead to face-to-face confrontation from victims (Hershcovis and Barling, 2010). Where a balance of power exists in a coworker dyad, the victim will likely counter with direct acts of aggression after exposure to similar such acts from the perpetrator.Based on the preceding review of research that drew on the power imbalance thesis (Aquino and Lamertz, 2004; Einarsen et al., 2003), we posit the following:H1. (a) Men will report being targeted by another man, whereas (b) women will report being targeted by either sex.H2. (a) Men will report targeting either sex, whereas (b) women will report targeting another woman.H3. (a) Respondents will report being targeted by a person of higher or the same status, whereas (b) respondents will report targeting a person of the same or lower status.H4. (a) Respondents will report that supervisors use indirect forms of aggression more often than non-supervisors, whereas (b) respondents will report that non-supervisors use direct forms of aggression more often than supervisors.H5. (a) Respondents in supervisory positions will report using indirect forms of aggression more often than respondents in non-supervisory positions, whereas (b) respondents in non-supervisory positions will report using direct forms of aggression more often than respondents in supervisory positions.H6. After controlling for the aggressor's status, women will report exposure to both forms of aggression more often than men.H7. After controlling for the respondent's status, (a) men will report using direct forms of aggression more often than women, whereas (b) women will report using indirect forms of aggression more often than men.\nMethod: Participants\nResults: For H1, Table I shows that 85 percent of 66 men reported being targeted by another man, and 82 percent of 88 women reported being targeted by another woman. For H2, Table II shows that 88 percent of 60 men reported targeting another man, and 82 percent of 74 women reported targeting another woman. The aggressor and victim dyads were mostly same-sex dyads, regardless of whether the respondent was the victim or aggressor. In sum, H1(a) and H2(b) were supported; H1(b) and H2(a) were not supported.For H3(a), Table III shows that the position status of 75 percent of 100 aggressors was either higher than or same as that of the non-supervisory respondents, and the position status of 60 percent of 50 aggressors was either higher than or same as that of the supervisory respondents. The difference was that 14 percent of 100 aggressors of non-supervisory respondents were customers, whereas 22 percent of 50 aggressors of supervisory respondents were subordinates.For H3(b), Table IV shows that the position status of 78 percent of 86 victims was either the same as or below that of the non-supervisory respondents, and the position status of 71 percent of 45 victims was either the same as or below that of the supervisory respondents. The difference was that 76 percent of 86 non-supervisory respondents reported targeting same status coworkers, whereas 38 percent of 45 supervisory respondents reported targeting lower status workers. These differences notwithstanding, both hypotheses were supported.For H4(a), Table V shows that respondents reported having their work being undermined more often when the aggressor was a supervisor than when the aggressor was a non-supervisor. For H4(b), respondents also reported being subject to belittlement more often when the aggressor was a supervisor, which is the opposite of what was predicted. No significant status difference was found for verbal abuse. Thus, H4(a) was supported; H4(b) was not supported.For H5(a) and H5(b), Table VI shows that the victim's position status had no effect on how often the respondents reported using either form of aggression. Hence, neither hypothesis was supported.For H6, Table VII shows that after controlling for the effect of the aggressor's status, no sex difference was found for any of the three forms of aggression. Hence, this hypothesis was not supported.For H7(a), Table VIII shows that, after controlling for the effect of the respondent's status, men reported creating a scapegoat in the victim more often than women did. For H7(b), after controlling for the effect of the respondent's status, men also reported undermining other's work more often, which is the opposite of what was predicted. H7(a) was supported; H7(b) was not.\nDiscussion: Our study's major contributions were in documenting:* the pattern of same-sex targeting;* the status of the aggressor relative to his/her target;* the forms of aggression received based on the aggressor's status; and* the forms of aggression perpetrated on others based on the respondent's sex after controlling for his/her status.Because our measure provides two sources of information on the experience of aggression, it allowed for the possibility that the respondent was both victim and aggressor (Hauge et al., 2007; Matthiesen and Einarsen, 2007), which is a distinct strength of this research.Who was targeted?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to examine sex and position status differences in the experience of workplace aggression. Based on the imbalance of power thesis, the aim is to posit that: women would report targeting other women; men would report targeting either sex; supervisors would report targeting a peer or subordinate; victims would report that a supervisor more often uses indirect forms of aggression; a peer more often uses direct forms of aggression; and; after controlling for position status, men would report using direct forms of aggression more often than women who, in turn, would report using indirect forms of bullying more often than men.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A sample of 180 Canadian supervisory and non-supervisory workers from several industries completed a questionnaire that included measures of aggressive acts.\nFindings: - Most men reported being targeted by another man, and most women reported being targeted by another woman. Similarly, most men reported that they targeted another man, and most women reported that they targeted another woman. Most respondents reported that their aggressor had either higher or the same position status as them, whereas, if the respondents targeted others, their victim had the same or lower status. Compared to similar status aggressors, higher status aggressors were reported by the respondents as using both direct and indirect forms of aggression more often. After controlling for position status, compared to women, men reported using both forms more often as well.\nOriginality/value: - The findings have implications for how victims cope with workplace aggression and for developing organizational anti-harassment policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the opportunity of digital voice assistants in the logistics and transportation industry	[ "Transport", "Innovation and logistics service capability", "Smart logistic", "Analytic hierarchy process (AHP)", "Digital voice assistants (DVA)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged from the continuous development in the field of computer science and technology, which in turn has enabled a variety of applications. Information systems can be used for obtain quicker assistance in work, life and entertainment. Gartner Research (2018) predicted that with the rapid growth of AI, more advanced applications will be used for operational efficiency in manufacturing and business activities by 2020. An AI-based digital voice assistant (DVA), Google Duplex is a friendlier, real-time automatic feedback dialog system that allows ordinary users to communicate with it without seeming like conversing with to an AI system. Since its launch in May 2018, it has expanded the scope for AI to replace voice assistants in commercial activities such as customer relationship management, voice movie booking, and other works, hence, reducing the need for actual manpower (Google AI Blog, 2018). For instance, Barata et al. (2018) develop Android-based voice assistant for help blindness and low vision. In fact, in present-day scientific and technological applications, DVA is utilized in various business activities. Siri, released by Apple as early as 2011, helps mobile phone users to get things done by voice. Amazon Echo Dot, a commercial product based on Amazon Alexa, can support a restaurant's ordering activities. AI enables DVA to support diversified work and improve operational efficiency.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Digital voice assistants\n3. Methods: 3.1 Data collection and design\n4. Statistics analysis: 4.1 Sample demographic\n5. Implication: 5.1 Implication for academic\n6. Conclusion: In present-day commercialization, the delivery speed of is faster and faster. Consumers are purchasing more types of goods in smaller quantities when shopping through the internet. Different types of goods are being purchased, such as room temperature or frozen products, fragile products, large-size products and so on. In a diversified society, the manner and time in which consumers receive the goods are not the same. Various circumstances make the logistics service industry face more diversified customer demands under increasing operating pressure. DVA is a tool that can improve the deliveryman's work and operational efficiency. However, the research results show that industry operators expect DVA to improve their service ability to customers before operators adopt it.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The logistics industry has benefited hugely from the growth of e-commerce. The logistics and transportation industry operators have realized that higher-quality service and logistics management provides the competitive edge as the primary channel of communication with consumers. Digital voice assistants (DVA) is an information system based on an artificial intelligence framework that can interact through voice, such that a deliveryman can query for or use information in a relatively short time. The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of DVA in logistic service.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study aims to develop a framework for innovation and logistics service capabilities of logistics and transportation services to structure a model based on the analysis hierarchy process method to discuss the factors considered when adopting DVA.\nFindings: The results of this study implied that common problem and expectations of current operators in the delivery of goods and their expectations of DVA.\nPractical implications: Innovative operations and planning are possible with information technology-enabled logistic services. It is important to identify relevant DVA development avenues.\nOriginality/value: The purpose of this study is to show which factors are significant to the logistics and transportation industry using DVA to aid the deliverymen, and it provides guidance for manager evaluating adopted DVA and its object.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainability reporting and assurance in Portugal	[ "Portugal", "Sustainability reporting", "Corporate sustainability", "Sustainability reporting assurance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate sustainability (CS) - the engagement in activities leading to sustainable development - and the reporting thereof have become major dimensions of large corporations' voluntary practices. A recent survey of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Accenture to over 1,000 chief executive officers (CEOs) (UNGC and Accenture, 2013) reported that 93 per cent of them view sustainability as an \"important\" or \"very important\" factor for its success.\n2. Background and relevant literature: SR has evidenced a remarkable development over the past few decades. Junior et al. (2014) report a steady increase in the percentage of organizations in the Fortune Global list which have issued a sustainability report. The \"KPMG International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2011\" (KPMG, 2011) analyzed more than 3,400 of the world's largest companies and reported that CS reporting has at the time become mainstream among the top 250 from the Global Fortune 500 (G250) companies and is fast moving to find place among the top 100 companies in 34 nations (N100).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample\n4. Findings: For the entire period, the main sectors in terms of the percentage of companies having their reports assured are technology (100 per cent), basic materials (88 per cent), utilities (82 per cent) and financials (74 per cent) (Table I). The sectors with lower percentages of companies with assured reports are oil and gas (50 per cent), consumer goods (47 per cent), consumer services (22 per cent) and industrials (19 per cent).\n5. Concluding remarks: This paper provides a descriptive analysis of current practices in SR and the assurance thereof by Portuguese companies, comparing results with previous studies. Our results are not consistent with those from the majority of other recent studies which analyze resembling periods of time (Garcia-Benau et al., 2013, 2012; Junior et al., 2014; KPMG, 2011; Sierra et al., 2013; Zorio et al., 2013), which report increases in the publication of sustainability reports and increases or stagnation in the assurance of said reports. It is, however, partially consistent with some of the findings of Branco et al. (2014), who detected a decrease both in SR and in its assurance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a descriptive comprehensive analysis of sustainability reporting (SR) and assurance in Portugal after the onset of the most recent economic crisis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors analyze 290 sustainability reports for the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and find those that include assurance statements and characterize them.\nFindings: The authors present evidence supporting the view that the Portuguese sustainability reporting assurance (SRA) market follows the international trends and suggest that the most recent economic crisis had a negative effect in terms of publication of sustainability reports but not in terms of its quality and assurance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors merely provide descriptive evidence of SR and the assurance thereof in Portugal.\nOriginality/value: The authors contribute significantly to the literature on SRA in peripheral countries and in the period of crisis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Estimation of non-catastrophic weather impacts for retail industry	[ "Store traffic", "Fashion retail industry", "Food retail industry", "Non-catastrophic weather", "Retail sales", "Weather impact assessment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Marketing research usually focusses on understanding customer buying decisions such as why, what, where and when to purchase, for products and services. Although the retailers are generally able to expect demand, demand influencing factors have significant impacts on customer buying decisions. Among the demand influencing factors, weather is an uncontrollable external factor. Dealing with this uncontrollable factor is often considered as a difficult and uncomfortable task by the retailers. Being not properly analyzed, the weather was commonly used to blame for poor sales performance. However, volatility in weather have a significant impact on a retail company's business from supply, demand and operational activities. For example, according to Lazo et al. (2011), the influence of routine weather variations on US economic activity could be 3.4 percent, or $591 bn per year of the 2014 gross domestic product. The weather variability produces two types of retailing problems (Agnew and Thornes, 1995): overstocking and understocking. The overstocking results in problems of shelf-space management, price reductions and food wastage (especially in perishable food). The understocking result in lost sales, lower customer confidence and deterioration of market image. Therefore, it is important to analyze the impacts of weather on retail activities to improve management decision making. Although a constant discussion takes place about the relationship between weather and retail business based on theoretical knowledge and anecdotal evidences, only limited academic works have been carried out and published so far. Some studies, however, attempted to reveal the impact of weather on the retail sector (Agnew and Thornes, 1995; Bahng and Kincade, 2012; Clemmons, 2001; Firth and President, 2009; Mirasgedis et al., 2014; Murray et al., 2010; Starr-McCluer, 2000; Stulec, 2013; Toeglhofer et al., 2012). Apart from these retail applications, there were many number studies on the effects of weather in different fields of application like health (Ferreira Braga et al., 2001; Hii, 2013), agriculture (Subak et al., 2000), horticulture (Behe et al., 2012), tourism (Becken, 2010; Shih et al., 2008; Steiger and Stotter, 2013), economics (Chikobvu and Sigauke, 2013; Schmittmann et al., 2014), energy (Ellithorpe and Putnam, 2000; McMenamin, 2008), construction (Lee et al., 2008), real estate (Goodman, 1987) and transport (Nokhandan et al., 2008; Oslakovic et al., 2013), etc.\n2. Literature review: The impact of weather on the retail attributes is an evergreen topic of discussion. Some of the earlier studies did notable reviews to explain the significance of weather in retail sector of supply chain. Agnew and Thornes (1995) explored weather sensitivity of food and drinks sector within the UK retail and distribution industry. In their study, they elaborately answered and explained the following questions: how have recent developments made food retail industry more weather sensitive? how does weather sensitivity of products affect managerial decisions? and how does management benefit from weather related business studies? Niemira (2005) reviewed literature on shifts in weather, climate and seasons, and their impact on the sales. He also provided some of the empirical evidences for long-term climate or weather effects on consumer spending. Stulec (2013) reviewed some of the general theories and the important studies about weather and their impacts on retail industry.\n3. Data description: In this research study, the total number of daily transactions is used as a proxy to daily store traffic. The store traffic data set for this research study is collected from two food retail stores (Store-A and Store-B) and a fashion retail store (Store-C) in Lower Bavaria, Germany. As a limitation for this study, sales and promotion data are only available for Store-C. All these three retail stores are located in same geographical location. The summary of collected store traffic and sales data from the retail stores is shown in Table II.\n4. Research methodology: In this process of developing a research methodology to assess the effect of weather on retail business, the research gaps that are identified from the past literature, considered in this section.\n5. Application of methodology: In this section, the developed MLR-AR model in Section 4 is applied to a German case-study retail stores (Store-A, Store-B and Store-C) to examine the weather effects. As a first step of this model, augmented Dickey-Fuller test confirms that the time series of store traffic and sales for Store-A, Store-B and Store-C are stationary (Hyndman and Athanasopoulos, 2013), i.e., differencing of these time series are not required. In second step, the store traffic and the sales data of case-study retail stores are investigated using spectral analysis to identify the orders of auto-regression. In spectral analysis, the store traffic and the sales data are transformed with Fourier transformation and decomposed into waves of different frequencies (Coshall, 2000). Figure 3 shows the spectral densities associated with daily store traffic of Store-A, Store-B and Store-C and sales of Store-C. In this figure, the higher spectral densities at 0.165, 0.33 and 0.5 show that there are periodicities of 6, 3 and 2, respectively. Autocorrelation function and partial autocorrelation function plots also suggest the same. Therefore, AR(6) is selected as relevant function and autoregressive coefficients for the retail stores are estimated. Based on Equation (1), the AR models can be written as follows.\n6. Results and discussion: The estimated regression results of control and weather variables for Store-A, Store-B and Store-C using MLR-AR are presented in Table IV. Here, the level of significance is 95 percent. As mentioned in Section 4.1, a unit change in an independent variable produce (100xb) percent change in dependent variable approximately. For the purpose of easy interpretation, in Table IV, all the coefficients of the independent variables (b) are multiplied by 100 and expressed in terms of percentage points (percent).\n7. Conclusion: The strength of this research paper lies in integrating earlier research gaps and highlights. As a contribution, this study considers store traffic as dependent variable, autocorrelation in time series, temperature deviation and lagging effects of snow depth in its model. In this study, the potential impacts of the weather on the customers' buying behavior which is indicated in terms of daily store traffic and sales in food and fashion retail stores have been investigated and applied to German case-study retail stores. For this purpose, a methodological framework was developed comprising an AR model regressed with the external variables such as day-of-the-week seasonality, monthly seasonality, holidays and weather variables. The proposed MLR-AR overcomes the disadvantage of the traditional application of MLR model to estimate the effects of weather. The distinct advantage of the MLR-AR model lies in its explanation of seasonal and autocorrelation properties of retail data, and consideration of external variables, which were not done by the earlier studies. A hierarchical approach was used to recognize the importance of considering weather variables in the proposed model. Using this hierarchical approach, the comparison between adjusted R2 values of MLR and MLR-AR models with and without the weather variables firmly confirms the improvement in fitness of the model (~4-6 percent) by considering the weather variables. The results of the analysis also confirm that the effects of weather in fashion retail store are higher than food retail store. The regression results clearly show that main and interaction effects of weather variables such as maximum temperature, precipitation, sunshine hours, relative humidity and fresh snow depth significantly influence the customers' buying behavior. From this study, it has been proved that the fresh snow depth is the most influential weather factor among others, and has significant effects ~1 and ~2 percent in the selected food and fashion retail stores, respectively. The effect of snowfall varies according to the location of retail stores. Moreover, the postponement of purchase also occur due to the lagging effects of snowfall in the fashion retail store. The precipitation reduces the store traffic by ~0.8 percent in the food retail stores. The maximum temperature has a non-linear effect on the customers' buying behavior and it increases the store traffic in the food retail store and the sales in the fashion retail store. The sunshine hours and the PD6MA decrease the sales in the fashion retail store. But, the sudden temperature shocks produced by the PD increase the sales of fashion products. For the purpose of application, the retailers can extend these results from the MLR-AR model to use in sales planning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Weather is often referred as an uncontrollable factor, which influences customer's buying decisions and causes the demand to move in any direction. Such a risk usually leads to loss to industries. However, only few research studies about weather and retail shopping are available in literature. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model and to analyze the relationship between weather and retail shopping behavior (i.e. store traffic and sales).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data set for this research study is obtained from two food retail stores and a fashion retail store located in Lower Bavaria, Germany. All these three retail stores are in same geographical location. The weather data set was provided by a German weather service agency and is from a weather station nearer to the retail stores under study. The analysis for the study was drawn using multiple linear regression with autoregressive elements (MLR-AR). The estimated coefficients of weather variables using MLR-AR model represent corresponding weather impacts on the store traffic and the sales.\nFindings: The snowfall has a significant effect on the store traffic and the sales in both food and fashion retail stores. In food retail store, the risk due to snowfall varies depending on the location of stores. There are also significant lagging effects of snowfall in the fashion retail store. However, the rainfall has a significant effect only on the store traffic in the food retail stores. In addition to these effects, the sales in the fashion retail store are highly affected by the temperature deviation.\nResearch limitations/implications: Limitations in availability of data for the weather variables and other demand influencing factors (e.g. promotion, tourism, online shopping, demography of customers, etc.) may reduce efficiency of the proposed MLR-AR model. In spite of these limitations, this study can be able to quantify the effects of weather variables on the store traffic and the sales.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the field of retail distribution by providing significant evidence of relationship between weather and retail business. Unlike previous studies, the proposed model tries to consider autocorrelation property, main and interaction effects between weather variables, temperature deviation and lagging effects of snowfall on the store traffic or the sales. The estimated weather impacts from this model can act as a reliable tool for retailers to explain the importance of different non-catastrophic weather events.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of perceived carrier-ingredient fit on purchase intention of functional food moderated by nutrition knowledge and health claim	[ "Functional food", "Health claim", "Nutrition knowledge" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increasing personal health concerns is making functional food one of the most popular emerging trends for the food industry (Siro et al., 2008; Verbeke, 2005). Although the general acceptance of functional foods is growing, not all such products, especially those innovative ones, had been accepted by broad segments of consumers or survived in marketplace (Marina et al., 2014; Annunziata and Vecchio, 2011; Verbeke, 2005; Hassan, 2011; Roe et al., 1999; Frewer et al., 2003). A specific functional food is typically designed as a conventional carrier food (e.g. yogurt) enriched or fortified with one or more functional ingredients (e.g. vitamin) (Doyon and Labrecque, 2008; Ovesen, 1999), thus some research suggest that consumers' acceptance of a functional food critically depends on the intrinsic characteristics of the carrier and/or functional ingredient. Another line of research focussed on nutrition knowledge (Ares et al., 2008; Wansink et al., 2005) and health claim (Kozup et al., 2003; van Kleef et al., 2005; Roe et al., 1999) suggest that functional food, as a healthier modification to conventional foods, is more likely to be accepted if the information about the health benefits of the product is readily available (health claim made by manufacture) or has already been understood by consumers (prior knowledge) (Urala and Lahteenmaki, 2004; Balasubramanian and Cole, 2002; Brecic et al., 2014; Rezai et al., 2014). Built on these findings, this paper aims to examine how consumers' purchase intention of functional food is jointly influenced by consumers' perceptions of the characteristic of function food as a carrier-ingredient combination, consumers' prior nutrition knowledge, and health claim regarding the health benefits of functional food.\nLiterature review and hypotheses: Perceived carrier-ingredient fit\nMethodology: This paper conducted a two-phase exploratory study to examine the influence of consumers' perceived carrier-ingredient fit on the intention to purchase hypothetical functional food (FF) products. One online experiment was conducted for each phase, in with the first phase of study (Phase 1) exploring the moderating effect of individual prior nutrition knowledge on the relationship between perceived carrier-ingredient fit and purchase intention, and the second phase of study (Phase 2) focussing on testing the moderating effect of health claim on the influence of perceived fit on purchase intention.\nResults: Phase 1\nConclusions: The results of both phases of this study consistently supported H1; the purchase intention to a FF product is positively influenced by one' perception on the carrier-ingredient fit. In line with H2, the first phase of the study found that a higher prior nutritional knowledge level was significantly associated with the decreased importance of perceived carrier-ingredient fit on its predictive power on purchase intention. Furthermore, the results of the second phase of study was consistent to H3 with the perceived carrier-ingredient fit being found more important to predict purchase intention in a condition without health claim than other conditions.\nDiscussion and implications: The results of this exploratory research demonstrate that having a \"superior\" carrier do not necessarily always lead to high acceptance; the perceived fit between carrier and ingredient is a critical determinant of purchase intention of FFs. This conclusion is consistent to and extends the findings from a recent study (Krutulyte et al., 2011) investigating European consumers' acceptance to FFs, in which most products were different from the present studies. In terms of innovative product development, the results suggest consumers' perception of carrier-ingredient fit should be considered as one of the major factors that determine the success or failure of market launch.\nLimitations and future study: Both studies consistently reveal that FFs taking yogurt or fruit juice as carriers tends to result in higher purchase intention than other products. This finding is consistent with previous research suggesting healthy products, especially yogurt, as credible carriers for FF products (Siro et al., 2008; van Kleef et al., 2005). However, with the intention of creating a wide-enough range of perceived carrier-ingredient fit for hypotheses testing, these studies employed hypothetical products with some are lack of technical feasibility. Therefore the generalizability of findings on \"superior carriers\" should be interpreted with limitation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how the purchase intention of functional food is influenced by the perception of carrier-ingredient fit, that is, to what extent the carrier product and functional ingredient are intuitively perceived to be matched, and how such influence is moderated by consumers' prior nutrition knowledge and provided health claim.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through two phases of experimental studies on 30 hypothetical functional foods, this paper analyzed the relationship between perceived carrier-ingredient fit and purchase intention which were reported by participants with different nutrition knowledge levels and in conditions that differed in the content of health claim.\nFindings: Phase 1 (n=62) found that the positive influence of perceived fit on purchase intention of functional products was moderated by one's prior nutrition knowledge; compared to those knowledgeable in food/nutrition fields, consumers with less knowledge relied more heavily on the perceived carrier-ingredient fit when making purchase decision. The results of study 2 Phase 2 (n=93) revealed that the perceived fit was more important to predict purchase intention in the condition without health claim. A further analysis revealed that health claim increased the purchase intention particularly for functional foods receiving poor perceived carrier-ingredient fit.\nPractical implications: For innovative functional foods, the product development and market penetration may be benefit from fine-grained segmentation and positioning strategies that are based on the understanding of interaction between intuitive perception and cognitive knowledge.\nOriginality/value: The present work highlights consumers' perception of the carrier-perception fit, interacting with nutrition knowledge and health claim, as a critical factor determining the acceptance of functional foods.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How blockchain technology can monetize new music ventures: an examination of new business models	[ "Blockchain", "Business models", "Infomediaries", "Music industry", "New venture finance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The paper examines how blockchain, as a disruptive technology, is leading to new business models for new venture finance, focusing on the roles of new emerging financial intermediaries. These are more correctly referred to as \"infomediaries\" (Hagel and Rayport, 1997), as they use new digital technologies to improve financing and payment alongside a range of associated support services. The focus is on emerging new recorded music artists, as this industry is in the vanguard of fundamental changes taking place in the creative sector.\nDigital and blockchain technology impacts on recorded music industry intermediaries: Blockchain, as a new and disruptive technology, can provide new ways for creative ventures to do business (O'Dair, 2019). This is particularly the case for the recorded music sector, as Elder (2017) proclaimed:\nLiterature review - forming a robust business model research structure: Since coming to the fore in the mid-1990s, business models have formed a growing theoretical framework to explain how technology influences and impacts on business activity (Teece, 2010). Here, the business model is simply defined as how to do business, relating to the strategic act of an individual venture within a system (Zott et al., 2011). Our perspective is necessarily systems-based, as it requires consideration of the role of intermediaries (or more precisely, infomediaries) within the business system and specifically focuses on the role of technology (Tumasjan and Beutel, 2018; Baden-Fuller and Haefliger, 2013; Chesbrough, 2003, 2010) - notably recent blockchain technology developments - as a fundamental driver in the evolution of intermediary business services in the recorded music industry (O'Dair, 2019).\nResearch methodology: Taking new infomediaries as our unit of analysis for this study of evolving business models of financial intermediation within the recorded music industry, we adopted a literature review and case study approach (Creswell, 2003). Step one required a search of academic and grey literature, the former revealing little evidence and the latter informed mainly by internet-based reviews and evidence from the infomediaries' websites. This provided a shortlist of 16 music-related infomediaries (Table A1) adopting blockchain technology including networking, streaming, digital rights and payments services. These represent the most established and high-profile cases globally on the internet, and therefore most accessible to find music artists. After reviewing these infomediaries, the case studies selected were those that were most aligned to assisting new and emerging recording artists and which use, or plan to use, blockchain technology to develop funding streams for artists. This encouraged purposively focus in this paper on the digital rights and payment services which are already engaged with blockchain technology and in some cases operating beta pilot testing in the market with recorded music artists (Table 2). Four case study infomediary businesses were interviewed (Mycelia, Blokur, JAAK and Dot Blockchain Media). Additionally, as a contextual industry control, a parallel key informant interview was undertaken with a former vice president of strategy from a major record label who is now a private music industry consultant.\nFindings: A profile of the four small infomediary business case studies is presented in Table 2. The study's key findings (summarized in Table 3) derived from the interview content analysis gave rise to a set of four headline themes within the technology-driven infomediary business model framework: new blockchain services; customer and monetization; blockchain-based business models; and external governance and regulation.\nDiscussion: The general trend in the recorded music industry, respondents agreed, is from small numbers of high-value units (vinyl and CDs) to much larger volumes of low-value uses (music streaming). Streaming, as the consultant pointed out, is a high-volume/low-value business in which revenue accrues over time. For individual artists and rights holders alike, income in the streaming era depends upon being able to efficiently collect micropayments from multiple streams all over the world. It seems very likely that technology (including blockchain and AI) will play a key part of the solution. AI tracking, facilitated by new recorded music metadata, will enhance streaming audience benefits alongside the promotion of new artists (Lyons et al., 2019).\nConclusions: The paper has explored the new emerging infomediary services at the vanguard of blockchain technology's potential transformation of the recorded music industry. In doing so, it has considered the development of a tiered business model approach to analyse these changes and provided novel insights into the future of the industry and wider repercussions for the creative economy. This provides a framework for further research and theory building. Four themes emerge from the case studies. First, that blockchain is enabling new infomediary services to develop. The case study evidence suggests that the most advanced of these new services, currently at alpha and beta testing stages, aim to ensure the rights and licensing of recorded music, incorporating artist creator details, smart contract payments and artistic expression into the digitized online streaming and wider artistic distribution mechanisms facilitated by the internet and blockchain. They not only offer vastly improved, secure payment mechanisms for artists, but also contribute to new forms of service (e.g. micro-metering of third-party music extracts for film, television and sampling) and artistic control over the increasingly fragmented distribution process (e.g. expression of how the music may be used) - and above all an immutable forever ownership and payment stream. Second, blockchain is enabling new infomediary customer services to monetize new recorded music far more efficiently through the new online streaming music distribution services. The main customers will be the artist creators, publishers and labels, and the online music streaming services, with the value creation in terms of greater efficiency (speed, accuracy and cost reduction) in establishing artists' rights and payments by using blockchain technology, digital encoding and AI search mechanisms to replace physical collection society activities. Third, the new business models are B2B services, with little cost directed towards the artist/creators. The expectations are that the publishers and labels and streaming distributors will pay for these enhanced services, either through licensing rights or small percentage service charges on transactions. Additionally, the streamlining services also have the potential to cover costs by third party advertising and listener memberships (e.g. for premium advertising free services). Finally, all new service providers are in favour of regulation as a means of gaining public recognition, trust and acceptance of the blockchain services - the main question here is the extent to which industry regulations can be adopted globally and the desire for a blockchain facilitating light touch approach. So, while blockchain is inherently disintermediating, it is also necessarily in need of legal enforcement of global rights and infomediary activities to ensure the promotion and more equitable payment of artists.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine how blockchain technology is disrupting business models for new venture finance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The role of blockchain technology in the evolution of new business models to monetize the creative economy is explored by means of a case study approach. The focus is on the recorded music industry, which is in the vanguard of new forms of intermediation and financialization. There is a particular focus on emerging artists.\nFindings: This paper provides novel case study insights and concludes by considering how further research can contribute to building a theory of technology-driven business models which apply to the development, on the one hand, of new forms of financial intermediaries, more correctly referred to as \"infomediaries,\" and on the other hand, to new forms of direct monetization by artists.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides early insight into the emerging potential applications of blockchain technologies to streamline music industry business service models and improve finance streams for new artists. The findings have far-reaching implications across the creative sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mere nip and tuck? Training and development's changing role	[ "Quantitative methods", "Operations management", "Training" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Debate about the role of training and development within organisations is a well-trodden road, with, as yet, no end in sight. Much of the literature suggests that training and development has been changing in significant ways in terms of its what it does and how it does it (Rainbird, 1994; Garavan et al., 1995, 1999; CIPD, 2001, 2006; Carter et al., 2002). The predominant view is that it has transformed itself from merely being a provider of training events into an agent of strategic organisation development and change (Buckley and Caple, 1995; McCracken and Wallace, 2000; Horwitz, 1999). This perspective seems to far outweigh the alternative viewpoint that in fact such change in role might be limited (Truss et al., 2002; Keep, 1989) and overshadows the concerns some have expressed about its approach (McMahon and Carter, 1990; Hamlin, 2002).Drawing on data from an empirical study of what training and development/HRD specialists within UK organisations are being asked to do, this paper aims to explore the extent to which the training and development role has changed over a seven year period. The study comprised an analysis of 763 training and development/HRD job advertisements over two periods, 1996-1997 and 2003-2004. The approach taken was based on the following assumptions. First, that employment vacancy advertisements would serve as a reasonable indicator of the main role of training and development/HRD jobs. Second, that the data would offer scope for comparing any changes in what was required of the training role between the two periods being studied.Overall, the data analysis confirms that some aspects of the training and development role have changed over the seven year period studied. However, this change has not been nearly as great as some of the literature suggests. In fact, there appears to have been a greater level of continuity than change. For example, the literature has increasingly emphasized the shift in terminology from \"training\" to \"HRD\" as both a title and as a indicator of the change in role (Mankin, 2001; Garavan et al., 1995). However, this study shows that \"Training\" and \"Training and development\" continued to be the most frequently used job titles. By comparison, as a job title, the term \"HRD\" was only used in a very small number of cases. In addition, \"Training\" remained the most popular task and the role continued to be described more as a provider and manager of training and development programmes than as a strategic change or organisation development agent. This is perplexingly at odds with what is espoused in much of the literature.\nResearch method: A job advertisement acts as the window display for a given post. It flags up what matters most to the organisation with regards to that particular post (Matthews and Redman, 1994). As such, 763 training and development jobs advertised in People Management, a leading UK human resources magazine, were analysed as a means of identifying the main features of the training and development role.The advertisements selected were featured in editions of the magazine from September 1996 to March 1997, and from September 2003 to March 2004. Each job advertisement was analysed on 18 dimensions including job title, job designation, sector, salary, location, reporting line, qualifications specified, key tasks, experience/expertise required, and qualities specified. The data was logged onto a tailor-made database.A number of assumptions underpinned the research methods used. First, that job advertisements would provide reasonable information about the main features of the training and development role. Second, examining similar job advertisements over two different blocks of time would serve as a reliable indicator of any change in these features. Third, a gap of seven years would be sufficient in allowing any change in role to have surfaced and to be reflected in the job advertisements.\nData analysis and findings: Numbers of posts and job titles\nTypes of qualifications: Each advertisement was scrutinised for four possible types of qualifications: academic, professional (human resources/CIPD), management and sector specific. 60.4 per cent of the advertisements specified some type of qualification as an entry requirement. Overall, professional qualifications had the highest frequency (47.2 per cent), followed by academic qualifications (26.5 per cent). Very few of the job advertisements asked for sector specific qualifications like finance or sales (3.1 per cent) and management qualifications had the lowest frequency (1.4 per cent).Between 1996-1997 and 2003-2004, the pattern for types of qualifications demanded was broadly the same with only small but notable changes. Professional qualifications remained the most frequently cited and increased in number from 44.1 per cent in 1996-1997 to 52 per cent in 2003-2004. By contrast, the demand for academic qualifications decreased from 30.2 per cent in 1996-1997 to 20.7 per cent in 2003-2004. Further, the demand for management qualifications virtually halved from 1.7 per cent in 1996-1997 to only 1 per cent in 2003-2004.The data analysis showed that for 1996-1997, 25.3 per cent of the posts did not specify any qualification requirement. This figure decreased to 14.3 per cent for 2003-2004, suggesting that a greater number of training posts specified a qualification as a requirement in 2003-2004 than in 1996-1997.\nDiscussion of findings: Job advertisements proved to be a useful source of information about the role of training and development within UK organizations and the ways in which it has changed over a seven-year period.Overall, there appears to have been a surprisingly high level of continuity between the descriptions of training and development jobs advertised in 1996-1997 and those advertised in 2003-2004. For example, \"Training\" and \"Training and development\" remained the two most popular job titles, \"Training\" remained the most popular task, and traditional training and development delivery skills and qualities continued to be emphasized.Specifically, the data analysis suggests the following trends:* A tendency to continue to define the training role primarily in delivery and the management of delivery of training and development terms.* Some broadening of its role to encompass human resource development activities other than training.* A notable emphasis on sector knowledge as desirable/required experience.* A continuing emphasis on qualities and abilities such as communication skills, influencing skills, and creativity/innovativeness.* Little change to the low emphasis given to tasks such as developing policy and strategy and skills such as strategic thinking, analytical ability, and problem-solving.* Little change to the modest emphasis on working with managers and senior managers.* A decrease in emphasis on management and leadership development.* A slight increase in the demand for professional training qualifications as an entry requirement.* A decrease in demand for academic and management qualifications as an entry requirement.* A decrease in the number of training posts being advertised.The fact that the change in the training role is not as evident or strong as some of the literature suggests could imply that:* significant change takes more than seven years to embed/surface, so while the training and development role might have changed considerably, it will take longer for this change to become visible and widely recognisable;* change in terms of organisational processes is uneven, that different organisational processes change at a different pace. It could be that the job advertisements process is slow to catch up with the changes to the training role and there is a tendency to use outdated descriptions of the post;* change has occurred within training and development practice (tools and methods) but not necessarily in terms of how the role is packaged and presented to the external world; and* change in the training and development role has largely been at the level of academic and professional rhetoric but not in practice.Now a brief comment on some other issues arising from the data. First, the use of so many (yet not entirely distinctive and therefore memorable) job titles raises questions about the impact this has on the identity and image of the training and development role. Authors have previously expressed concern about the profession being prone to a weak and ambiguous identity (Regalbuto, 1991; McGoldrick et al., 2001) and this could be contributing to the problem. While accepting the view that training and development practitioners would do well to embrace and harness the ambiguousness of its identity (Mankin, 2001), the alternative argument that this contributes to a sense of confusion about its role and this, in turn, undermines its professional image and credibility, is powerful and persuasive.Second, the absence of any significant increase, from 1996-1997 to 2003-2004, in the demand for professional qualifications, and the decrease in demand for academic qualifications, merit particular attention. Professional and academic qualifications are usually a baseline entry requirement for many professions. By placing a comparatively low emphasis on such qualifications for entry into training and development jobs, might the profession be limiting itself in any way, even if only in the perception of observant stakeholders?Third, the comparatively low emphasis given to such qualities as \"strategic thinking\", \"analytical ability\" and \"vision\" (commonly associated with being strategic) is curiously at odds with the push to present training and development as having strategic potential and value. Perhaps those putting together the job advertisements assume that these qualities are somehow taken for granted and/or implicit within some of the other skills and abilities asked for. Or, it could simply be that these qualities are not considered as high priority for or relevant to the needs of the training and development role.Finally, the data shows that the number of training and development/HRD posts advertised decreased significantly between 1996-1997 and 2003-2004. This appears to be consistent with the current organisational trend of cutting back human resources operations by merging \"back-office\" functions, devolving more responsibility for developing people to line managers (Gibbs, 2003; Morley and Heraty, 1995) and contracting out parts of the human resources function (Richbell, 2001).In summary, this study suggests that although the training and development role has changed, the change has not been as radical as some have claimed. This suggests an apparent gap between how the training and development role is being described in some of the literature and the way it is being described at the point of entry into the job - that is, in job advertisements. Job advertisements are presumed to be an accurate synopsis of a particular post. So, might the gap in the differing representations of the training and development role be explained by the following: that, in fact, job advertisements are not a true reflection of the training and development role in practice, or, that, in fact, some of the literature describes the role as \"more than it is\" and is painting a seductive yet idealised portrait of the training and development profession? These questions are worth mulling over.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to study the changing role of training and development over a seven-year period.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Quantitative analysis; comparative analysis of 763 training and development/HRD job advertisements featured over a seven month-period in 1996-1997 and in 2003-2004.\nFindings: - Change in the training and development role has been patchy and not as extensive as some of the literature has suggested.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study was confined to training and development/HRD job advertisements from one, albeit leading, UK HR magazine and only allowed a seven-year gap between the two sets of data gathered. It would have been interesting to have analysed job advertisements from multiple sources and over a longer period of time, and to have had a ten-year gap between the two sets of data. However, the data gathering was a very time-consuming process which limited the scope of the data gathered.\nPractical implications: - Practitioners need to consider how the training and development/HRD role is represented to the external world and the implications this has for the perceived image of the profession. Further, given the amount of resources invested in the recruitment process, those compiling job advertisements need to take care to ensure that the final product accurately reflects what is required of the post and incorporates any changes to the role over time.\nOriginality/value: - First study to use training and development/HRD job advertisements to examine the ways in which the role of training and development has changed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing a school-based preventive life skills program for youth in a remote Indigenous community in North Australia	[ "Australia", "Resilience", "Suicide prevention", "Community-based interventions", "School mental health", "Aboriginal health" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Among Australian Indigenous people rates of suicide have risen significantly in recent decades. Rates of suicide for Indigenous people peak at a younger age compared to non-Indigenous people (De Leo et al., 2011) and are higher in rural and remote areas than in capital cities (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2012). From negligible rates before 1990, the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia now has the highest rate of Indigenous suicide among persons aged under 25 years of any Australian jurisdiction, with an overall rate over twice that of non-Indigenous Australians (ABS, 2012). For many NT communities, youth suicide has reached the dimensions of a developmental, social and cultural crisis.\nApproaches to suicide prevention among school-aged youth: Reviews of the effectiveness of school-based suicide prevention programs suggest that suicide can be safely addressed in the classroom with appropriate teacher training, and well-designed, age-appropriate content in curricula that focus on positive life skills (Kalafat, 2003; Kirmayer et al., 1993). A systematic review of universal interventions found that such programs were able to improve help-seeking attitudes and behaviors without iatrogenic effects (Klimes-Dougan et al., 2013).\nApproaches to building life skills: social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools: SEL in schools can contribute both to academic outcomes and to well-being (Zins and Elias, 2006; Zins et al., 2004; Greenberg et al., 2001; Merrell, 2010). A meta-analysis of school-based universal preventive interventions found that compared with controls, students exposed to rigorous SEL programs showed significantly improved social and emotional skills and behaviors and substantial gains in academic attainment (Durlak et al., 2011). In addition, whole-school frameworks for behavior management, such as school-wide positive behavior support (Metzler et al., 2001) have been found to reduce behavior problems in the school environment, with some evidence that combined classroom SEL and school-wide approaches may be more effective than either alone (Cook et al., 2015; Wells et al., 2003).\nA pilot life skills program at Maningrida: Maningrida is a coastal town of approximately 2,500 persons in West Arnhem Land about 500 km to the east of Darwin, capital of the NT. Maningrida is a community on lands owned by traditional Aboriginal people through the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT), 1976, and over 90 percent of residents are Indigenous descendants of land-owning groups in Maningrida and neighboring regions. A former welfare settlement, it is now one of the larger very remote Aboriginal communities of the NT. Aboriginal influence on governance is exercised through the Land Rights Act and through various representative boards constituted under NT and Australian government legislation. However, to some extent this is belied by the dominance of bureaucratic structures of management and service provision that are centrally managed and staffed by mainly non-Indigenous personnel recruited from outside the community.\nAims of the SFL pilot implementation project: The aims of the pilot implementation project were to develop a 12 week curriculum and resources that could address both general promotion of resilience and the need for specific prevention relevant to known risks in Indigenous communities, to trial a collaborative process for joint delivery in middle school classes and to gauge student responses to content and the program delivery process. Facilitators provided reports on perceived weekly outcomes in the classroom, and all sessions were videotaped to enable review of sessions to identify relevant student responses, instances of successful teaching and any difficulties or challenges encountered.\nCurriculum: The first phase of curriculum development was based on a review of existing models for social skills development including \"Stop, Think, Do\" (Peterson and Adderly, 2002), \"Mindmatters\" (Wyn et al., 2000), \"Friends\" (Barrett et al., 2001) and others. The implementation was also informed by a three year trial implementation of \"Exploring Together\" adapted for upper primary school children in remote NT communities (Robinson and Tyler, 2008; Hemphill and Littlefield, 2001). That program informed the incorporation of perspectives on the family context of children's social and emotional development and risk behaviors in the curriculum.\nEthics: Ethics approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Menzies School of Health Research and the NT Department of Health, approval number 2013-2120, March 31, 2014, and approval to conduct research was given by the NT Department of Education.\nUnderstanding the classroom: preliminary process assessment: All lessons were video recorded from two angles to enable thematic evaluation of activity, facilitation and student participation. This was combined with additional feedback from participating teachers. A number of conclusions about appropriateness and structure of content within the curriculum emerged from this preliminary analysis.\nConclusions: lessons from the SFL pilot program: Prevention programs for Indigenous people as yet remain caught between two poles: those based on psychological and educational theory with minimal or no adaptation to context and taught with limited cultural competence, and \"cultural programs\" delivered within communities by community members with minimal input from professionally developed, evidence-informed approaches to social learning and vulnerability to self-harm. The development work for this project aims to overcome some of these limitations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of development and the pilot implementation of a preventive life skills curriculum for Indigenous middle school students in a very remote community college in the West Arnhem region of North Australia. The curriculum integrates proven educational and psychological techniques with culturally informed notions of relatedness and was developed as a contribution to efforts to prevent alarming rates of suicide among remote Indigenous youth. In this paper, the term, Indigenous refers to Australians of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on reviews of research literature on school-based suicide prevention and social and emotional learning in both general and Indigenous populations, and following detailed community consultations, a 12 week curriculum was drafted and implemented in two middle school classes (combined years 7-9). Lessons were videotaped and later analyzed and detailed commentary was sought from participating school staff.\nFindings: The pilot program has yielded important insights into requirements of a curriculum for young people with low English literacy levels and with variable school attendance patterns. It confirmed the need to adjust both pedagogical approach and curriculum content for the program to have resonance with students from this linguistic and cultural background and with varying levels of exposure to multiple stressors in disadvantaged community settings.\nPractical implications: The project has identified and resolved key questions for sustainable implementation of a preventive curriculum in challenging community circumstances.\nOriginality/value: There are to date no examples of the systematic adaptation and design of a universal preventive intervention specifically for remote Australian Indigenous youth. The project is the first step toward the formal evaluation of the efficacy of a classroom-based approach to suicide prevention in remote community schools.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
More exposed but also more vulnerable? Climate change, high intensity precipitation events and flooding in Mediterranean Spain	[ "Adaptation", "Floods", "Precipitation", "Exposure", "Intensity", "Mediterranean Spain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (2019), between 1995 and 2015, 157,000 people died as a result of floods and US$2.3bn or 56 percent of all damages of weather-related disasters, were caused by flooding. Flood impacts respond to a combination of trends in the magnitude and frequency of natural events and trends in the human occupation and transformation of areas subject to periodic inundation. Increasingly however, flood occurrence and impacts are becoming more associated with the human component of the hazard equation. For instance, the recent emergence of pluvial flooding as a major risk obeys to an important extent to the rise of cities and the parallel expansion in sealed surfaces altering natural drainage and facilitating the concentration of water (Houston et al., 2011). Additionally, dense built environments multiply the potential for economic and infrastructural losses (Rosenzweig et al., 2018).\nData and methods: Precipitation data\nContext: New patterns of precipitation intensity\nCase studies: Alicante\nDiscussion, conclusions and policy recommendations: Precipitation patterns in the Spanish Mediterranean coast during the last two decades appear to indicate an increase of high-intensity events. The number of rainfall episodes discharging quantities between 50 and 150 mm in just 1 h has augmented causing mounting damages in the affected territories. The geography of intense precipitation events shows also a greater presence in the central sector of the Spanish Mediterranean coast which may be related to the warming trend in SST characteristic of this area. However, the accumulation of sensible heat in the rest of the Mediterranean coast, especially in summer months, also favors the formation of localized and intense storms in any area of Eastern Spain. Another observed phenomenon is that the seasonality of intense rains appears to have changed. These events can happen now during any month of the year and not only Autumn as was usual in past decades. This will force to review warning and emergency protocols that will have to stay activated all year round for this type of episodes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of high intensity precipitation events in increasing the vulnerability to floods in Mediterranean Spain. Precipitation intensity in this area appears to have augmented in the last two decades in association with warming trends of the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, intense urbanization processes, occupying and transforming flood prone land, have produced an important increase in exposure. The main objective is to assess whether higher intensity precipitation and changing patterns in exposure aggravate vulnerability to floods.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this paper, vulnerability is understood as the result of the interrelationships between exposure, sensitivity, impacts and adaptive capacity. Consequently, methods used involved the compilation and analysis of published and unpublished precipitation data, population and land use data, data on insurance claims, and media sources related to those variables.\nFindings: Changes toward episodes of more intense precipitation in the expanding urban areas of Mediterranean Spain increase exposure but not necessarily vulnerability, at least in terms of human deaths. However, adaptative capacity needs to be formulated. Actions that attempt to absorb and eventually reuse flood flows (as the flood park in Alicante) appear to be more effective than traditional hydraulic solutions (as in Majorca).\nOriginality/value: The paper provides a systematic and coherent approach to vulnerability analysis taking into account the changing dynamics of its components. Especially, it signals the limits of current adaptive approaches to flooding and advocates for changes toward a more circular and less linear approach to urban drainage.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The importance of the Whatsapp family group: an exploratory analysis	[ "Social support", "Attachment", "Openness to experience", "Exploratory study", "Parents’ use", "WhatsApp" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: WhatsApp: Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is a form of communication transaction that takes place through the use of computer networks and enables people to communicate with one another through different media, including face-to-face, telephone, and internet communication. CMC has become a popular sphere for social interactions and it continues to grow parallel to ICT development and modernization (Sheldon et al., 2011; Walther, 2011). The environment of CMC can be associated with the new theory of polymedia where the major concern shifts from the constrains each technological medium imposes to an emphasis upon the social, emotional, and moral consequences of choosing between the various media (Madianou and Miller, 2013).\nLiterature review: Attachment theory\nMethod: Data collection\nResults: In order to examine whether there are differences between males and females, and between students who live at home and those who do not concerning the importance of a family WhatsApp, a 2x2 ANOVA was performed. The ANOVA did not reveal a significant difference between males and females, F(1,175)=0.90, p\nDiscussion: Based on the premise of the attachment theory, openness to experience perspective and social support paradigm, the present study examined to which extent these variables explain the importance students' attribute to a family WhatsApp group.\nConclusions and limitations: The current study highlights associations between WhatsApp and attachment theory, the personality characteristic of openness to experience, social support, and family frequency use. Further, it makes a number of theoretical contributions:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on WhatsApp, a mobile messaging service for smartphones that began in 2009. The study uses attachment theory, a social support perspective and one personality characteristic derived from the Big Five theory of personality (\"openness to experience\") and attempts to predict how these variables influence the importance of the WhatsApp family group.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Research was conducted in Israel during the first semester of the 2015 academic year and encompassed 191 undergraduate communication students. Researchers used six questionnaires to gather personal details, WhatsApp use, WhatsApp importance, attachment, openness to experience, and social support.\nFindings: The findings confirm that the personality characteristic of openness to experience and social support significantly predict the importance of WhatsApp family group. Findings present a complex and ambiguous relationship between the attachment variables and the importance of WhatsApp family group.\nOriginality/value: The literature has not yet dealt with the issue of WhatsApp groups. Hence, the current study highlights associations between WhatsApp family group and attachment theory, the personality characteristic of openness to experience, social support, and family frequency use.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Will 'doing right' lead to 'doing well'? An examination of green behavior	[ "Attitudes", "Customer loyalty", "Subjective norms", "Level of education", "Lodging industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Firms are increasingly becoming green to respond to changing market trends (Cronin et al., 2010; Polonsky, 2011; Rahbar and Wahid, 2011; Richey et al., 2014). In the service sector, the trend to become green has been increasing lately (Choi and La, 2013). A survey conducted by TripAdvisor showed that 71 per cent of the US travelers reported that they plan to make more eco-friendly travel choices in the next 12 months, which was more than the 65 per cent who did so in the previous 12 months (TripAdvisor, 2012). Evidently, hotels must incorporate green practices to attract customers. However, to market green practices to the target market, hotels need to match the marketing strategies to meet customer expectations. This research aimed to study green consumer behavior in lodging industry to provide insights for academics and marketing practitioners.\nLiterature review: Corporate social responsibility and hotels\nTheoretical background: Theory of reasoned action\nModel constructs and hypothesis development: Attitude\nMethodology: After conducting an extensive literature review of the constructs, a structured survey was developed, which consisted of questions about attitude, trust, subjective norms, CSR beliefs, loyalty and sociodemographic variables including level of education. All questions were measured on a five-point Likert scale adapted from previous studies. Measures were modified to suit the purpose of the study. (Please see Table II).\nConclusion: In line with previous research, the results of Study 1 supported that attitudes positively influence consumer loyalty to green hotels (Han et al., 2011) (H1). The results of Study 1 also demonstrated that subjective norms have a positive influence on customers' loyalty to green hotels (H3). This is more so for people with higher levels of education as the results indicated in Study 2. This suggests that consumers who have higher levels of education are more influenced by important others in their lives when choosing for green hotels (H7). Additionally, results from Study 1 implies that customers' trust in hotels' attempts to be green affects their loyalty to those firms (H2). Thus, transparency in corporate green practices becomes crucial to win loyal customers. Consumer CSR beliefs found to have no direct influence on their loyalty to green hotels (H4). However, results from Study 2 showed that level of education affects the influence of CSR beliefs on loyalty such that people who believe that business should engage in green initiatives will have higher levels of loyalty to green hotels if they have higher level of education (H8). Study 2 did not find any support for the moderating role of level of education in the relationships between consumer attitudes and loyalty (H5) and consumer trust and loyalty (H6). This implies that higher attitudes need not lead to higher loyalty for people who have higher levels of education. On the same note, people with higher levels of education need not have higher levels of loyalty resulting from higher trust in green practices. This could be owing to the fact that trust and attitudes of more educated consumers are influenced by their awareness about corporate \"green washing\" practices, which makes them skeptical to green marketing. See Table IV for the results of all hypotheses tests.\nManagerial implications: An increasing number of companies in today's market are adopting green marketing as a facet of their CSR strategies (Marin et al., 2009). Hotels consume enormous amounts of electricity, water and other resources to offer optimal service to their guests. However, hotel guests are aware of the environmental effects of lodging facilities. This research is the first attempt to understand the underlying consumer judgments about proenvironmental corporate practices and their relationships to consumer loyalty. Hence, this research provides important implications about consumer marketing to hotel firms.\nResearch implications: Many studies have identified critical research gaps in the field of CSR (Carroll, 1999; Garriga and Mele, 2004; Lee, 2008; Secchi, 2007). However, there is a need of performance-oriented studies to continue theoretical enhancement in the field of CSR (Lindgreen and Swaen, 2010). Therefore, this research focused on identifying a comprehensive research model that includes consumer attitude, trust, subjective norms, CSR beliefs and loyalty.\nLimitations and future research: This research has some limitations, as follows.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research was to identify the drivers of customer loyalty in the context of green marketing. In particular, the extended theory of reasoned action model specified here added crucial constructs in consumer behavior, namely, consumers' trust and beliefs about corporate social responsibility, to increase the predictability of the model. Additionally, the moderating role of level of education in predicting customer loyalty to hotels was also examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mixed methodology was used for the study. A structural mixed methodology was used for the study. A structural model was developed to understand the theoretical relationships between identified constructs. Additionally, multiple regression analyses were used to identify the moderating role of level of education in predicting consumer loyalty. Data collected through an online survey from 446 hotel guests were used for the analyses.\nFindings: The results indicated that in addition to attitude and subjective norms, consumers' trust in hotels' intentions to be green influence their loyalty to green hotel enterprises. Further investigation also showed significant moderating influence of levels of education in their choice to be loyal to green hotels.\nResearch limitations/implications: Even though the majority of the study's sample has extensive travel experience, the data were collected from university employees, which might have limited the findings of this study.\nPractical implications: Consumers need to trust ethical claims in adopting green practices to become loyal customers. Hence, it is imperative for marketers to convey that their business believe in proenvironmental activities. Additionally, marketers should not neglect their level of education because it influences their loyalty to green hotels. Green marketing should target not only an individual customer but also his/her ties to significant others, because subjective norms influence customer loyalty to green hotels.\nOriginality/value: This research developed a comprehensive model to understand customer loyalty to green hotels, thus providing insights to marketers and academics about a timely subject, namely, green behavior. In doing so, this research added crucial constructs to extend the traditional model of theory of reasoned action as well as examined the moderating role of level of education in the identified model.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Some aspects of tsunami impact and recovery in India	[ "Tidal waves", "Disasters", "India", "South East Asia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Tsunamis are known to be destructive natural hazards caused mainly by large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions and landslips over the ocean can also generate tsunamis. Time to time, tsunamis cause colossal lose of life and properties mainly, in the littoral countries of the Pacific Ocean (Bradford et al., 2001; IOC, 1987). Other areas known to be affected by tsunamis are Indonesian region and eastern USSR. There are not many studies on Indian tsunamis as they did not cause significant impact along Indian coast earlier. In the past, however, a few cases of tsunamis have been reported from the Indian Ocean area as well. But, except for the tsunami of December 26, 2004, it seems, their coastal impacts were not severe as there is no authentic documented evidence of loss of life or properties in India associated with those events.A tsunami of unprecedented ferocity struck several countries of South East Asia on December 26, 2004 causing considerable loss of life and property. The tsunami affected several countries bordering the north and south Indian Ocean, mainly located south of 16degN covering India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The tsunami waves spread up to east coast of Africa and were recorded even in tide gauges placed as far as in New Zealand, Chile and California (USA). It was a trans-oceanic tsunami of worst kind.This paper presents the general aspects of tsunami in part-I and specific aspects related to tsunami impacts on Andaman and Nicobar Islands in part-II.\n2 Part I. General aspects: 2.1 The event\n3 Part II. Specific aspects related to tsunami impact in Andaman and Nicobar Islands: 3.1 Damage and recovery aspects in Andaman and Nicobar Islands\n4 Concluding remarks: The impact of tsunami of December 2004 has highlighted the vulnerability of the coastal areas of India in the Bay of Bengal, the Gujarat and Kerala coasts in the Arabian sea, as well as the islands. The multi-hazard situation existing on the sea coast of mainland as well as in the islands of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep require a holistic multi-hazard mitigation approach as a long term measure. The recovery programs presently in hand are being planned taking the multi-hazard situation in view, so as to provide protection from all the hazards in future. In all these measures, the environment friendliness of the projects as well as construction of habitats would have to be given due consideration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To provide a review of the general aspects of tsunamis and the specific aspects of the 2004 tsunami impacts on the coastal areas of India and surrounding islands.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach is a general discussion of the 2004 tsunami and its effects in areas in South East Asia, followed by the specific impacts in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, including the damage to water supply and power systems, and a situation analysis of the communities, land and housing.\nFindings: - The impact of the 2004 tsunami highlights the vulnerability of the coastal areas and islands of India. The multi-hazard situation existing on the sea coast of the mainland as well as in the islands of Andaman and Nicobar require a holistic multi-hazard mitigation approach as a long term measure. The recovery programs presently in hand are being planned taking the multi-hazard situation in view, so as to provide protection from such hazards in future.\nOriginality/value: - Provides a review of the effects of the 2004 tsunami in the coastal areas and islands near India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Retail services efficiency: impact of country-specific factors	[ "Retailing", "Efficiency", "Cross-national" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Companies are usually under the pressure of increasing their productivity and efficiency, particularly in mature markets. Their survival depends on their ability to improve performance in a context of growing competition and market globalisation. Productivity as a business concept should help firms to manage their economic profit (Gronroos and Ojasalo, 2015), and firms from services industries are not an exception. Despite its importance for every type of company, productivity potential gains in services companies are typically lower than in manufacturing firms (Bryson and Daniels, 2015). Besides, to understand productivity in service organisations as a means of managing profit, cost effects and revenue effects of changes in the productions system cannot be separated (Gronroos and Ojasalo, 2015), increasing the challenges of this type of analyses.\nLiterature review: productivity and efficiency in the service sector: Given the increasingly importance of the service sector in the last decades, productivity and efficiency have become an important issue within this sector. In this sense, numerous studies have analysed productivity and efficiency of service organisations (Sherman and Zhu, 2006), including banks (Berger et al., 1993), insurance companies (Jarraya and Bouri, 2014), hotels (Assaf and Josiassen, 2016), real estate agents (Anderson et al., 2000) or health-care organisations (Gupta, 1995), among others.\nMethodology, sample and data: Methodology: efficiency estimation\nResults: Table III shows the results regarding estimations of efficiency, i.e. average efficiency estimate based on the standard DEA model (Effic.), the average efficiency estimate based on the stochastic DEA model (Effic.-BC), the bias of the standard DEA model and the confidence intervals for the bias corrected efficiency estimates. Average efficiency was 0.817 and 0.774 based on the non-stochastic and the stochastic models, respectively. This implies that the countries in our sample could reach the same output using on average respectively 18.3 and 22.6 per cent less of productive resources. The analysis also revealed that efficiency varied across countries. Three groups can be distinguished. First, one group of countries had high efficiency indexes (>0.90) (Finland, Slovenia, France, Belgium, Germany, UK and Sweden). A second group of countries had low levels of efficiency (<0.70) (Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Croatia, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria). Finally, a third group of countries had medium levels of efficiency (Spain, Austria, Estonia, Holland, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Greece, Poland and Italy). The differences between the mean indices of these three groups are significant (ANOVA test: F=216.83, p=0.000) (Figure 2).\nConclusions: This paper analyses the efficiency of retail systems of EU countries over the period 2006-2015 and the impact of external variables on such efficiency. A double bootstrap DEA stochastic model is employed to measure retail efficiency and to assess the impact of its drivers. Retail efficiency is estimated in physical terms, hence eliminating the impact of prices on efficiency measurement. The results show that the average efficiency of European distribution increased between 2006 and 2015, partially due to external variables. This phenomenon was found to have occurred in most countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Efficiency in retailing companies is mandatory for survival. Literature acknowledges external factors impact on efficiency. However, this impact remains understudied, as previous research typically focuses on managerial decisions. The purpose of this paper is to partially fill this gap by exploring the influence of external factors on retailers' efficiency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research simultaneously measures retail efficiency and evaluates the impact of six potential drivers by applying bootstrap techniques in a sample of 25 European Union countries during the period 2006-2015.\nFindings: The efficiency of the retail system in the countries under analysis evolves at different paces during the observation period. This evolution can be explained by country population density, average store size within countries, foreign trade ratio, concentration, economic freedom and percentage of urban population.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research does not account for supply and demand restrictions that might affect retailers' efficiency, as well as other variables that influence their production process.\nPractical implications: This paper might help retail managers to comprehend and manage their companies' efficiency. Furthermore, it provides clues to evaluate market attractiveness in retailers' international expansion strategies.\nSocial implications: Policy makers can facilitate retailers' efficiency through regulations on external variables that influence retailers' performance, namely economic freedom and foreign trade ratio.\nOriginality/value: For the first time, this study analyses the impact of external factors on retail services efficiency across countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Knowledge management: a personal knowledge network perspective	[ "Knowledge management", "Personal knowledge management", "Organizational learning", "Personal knowledge network", "Knowledge ecology", "Personalization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since its introduction in the early 1990s, Knowledge Management (KM) has approached the challenge of increasing knowledge worker productivity and achieving organizational competitive advantage. Over the last two decades, the expectations have been that KM would be able to improve growth and innovation in organizations, productivity and efficiency, customer relationships, employee learning, satisfaction and retention, and management decision-making. Despite isolated achievements, KM, however, has not demonstrated a big competitive advantage to the organizations that have invested in it and most of the KM initiatives have failed (Davenport et al., 2008; Malhotra, 2004; McAfee, 2006; Nonaka et al., 2000; Pollard, 2003; Wilson, 2002).In response, in recent years, the importance of personal knowledge has been highlighted in various works and the interest in the topic of personal knowledge management (PKM) has steadily increased (Efimova, 2005; Grundspenkis, 2007; Jarche, 2010; Pauleen and Gorman, 2011; Pollard, 2008; Smedley, 2009, Wright, 2005). However, little significant conceptual work around PKM has been undertaken. In fact, most of the PKM models proposed in the literature lack a theoretical framework, thus hindering them from being more widely understood and adopted. Moreover, the existing PKM models do not address the relationship between personal knowledge management (PKM) and organizational knowledge management (OKM) (Gorman and Pauleen, 2011).Hence, we need to rethink how we design new theoretically sound KM models that can respond to the learning demands of the twenty-first century. The new knowledge era is defined by rapid knowledge development. \"It is the nature of knowledge\", Drucker (1992) stresses, \"that it changes fast and that today's certainties always become tomorrow's absurdities\" (p. 95). As a consequence, there is a crucial need for new KM models to meet the challenges of rapidly changing knowledge and increasingly complex work and learning environments.In this contribution, we take the challenge of investigating the flaws of traditional KM and PKM models; thereafter we develop the PKN model as a new vision of KM towards a new model of personalized and networked KM characterized by the continuous creation of personal knowledge networks (PKN) within open, emergent, and self-organized knowledge ecologies. In the PKN model, personal and organizational KM converge around a knowledge worker-centric work and learning environment.\n2. Knowledge management: Knowledge management (KM) is a term that has been surrounded by a lot of controversy and confusion ever since its introduction in the early 1990s. KM is hard to define in a precise way. In the KM literature, there are many definitions and interpretations of the term KM, pointing to different perspectives and models. Despite lack of agreement on what is meant by KM, definitions of KM revolve around two core views of knowledge:1. Knowledge as a thing.2. Knowledge as a process.2.1 Knowledge as a thing\n3. Deficiencies in traditional KM Approaches: There is a wide agreement that most KM efforts have failed to address the challenge of increasing knowledge worker productivity (Davenport et al., 2008; Malhotra, 2004; McAfee, 2006; Nonaka et al., 2000; Pollard, 2003; Wilson, 2002). Such failures basically result from the practice to see KM mainly as a technology issue (Davenport et al., 2008; Delmonte and Aronson, 2004; Malhotra, 2005) and the heavy emphasis on knowledge as a thing and/or process.3.1 Knowledge as a thing\n4. Need for new KM models: Obviously, traditional KM models have failed to cope with the increasing complexity and fast-paced change of the new knowledge environments. To summarize, the failures mainly result from the view of knowledge as a thing or process and the heavy emphasis on technology. Knowledge is, however, more than static content or predetermined process, and technology is just an enabler. In order to reflect the nature of knowledge and align with the rapid change of the new knowledge era, a new vision for KM is required. We need to rethink how we design new models for KM that meet the following challenges:* Leveraging knowledge involves a combination of both explicit and tacit knowledge. The major challenge is to properly address the tacit dimension of knowledge. At the heart of KM lie people. Consequently, traditional technology-push models of KM have to be replaced with new models that reflect the human side of knowledge. This requires a radical shift in emphasis from a focus on know-what to a focus on know-how and know-who. In the future, people-driven implementations of KM that harness tacit knowledge need to be the norm rather than the exception.* Knowledge is inherently complex and a knowledge environment is a complex adaptive system comprising many interacting identities in which cause and effect relationships are intertwined and cannot be distinguished (Holland, 1995; Snowden, 2002). A knowledge environment, thus, has a non-deterministic character and can evolve in inherently non-linear and unpredictable ways. Hence, the challenge is to propose KM models that can approach knowledge from a complexity perspective. In these models, knowledge should be regarded as a living entity rather than managed as a static object or a predetermined process. Recognizing that knowledge is complex in nature and that emergence and self-organization are the effective ways to cope with complex systems (Holland, 1998), the solution is to evade the control mechanisms of the institutions and let knowledge environments develop and emerge naturally, in a freeform way. KM models need thus to follow an emergent bottom-up approach, driven by the knowledge worker. This would mean a shift from command-and-control to coordinate-and-channel and from hierarchy to wirearchy, defined by Husband (1999) as \"a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority based on information, knowledge, trust and credibility enabled by interconnected people and technology\".\n5. Personal knowledge management: Knowledge is inherently personal. In his theory of tacit knowledge, Polanyi (1966) focuses on the tacit and personal dimension of knowledge. Polanyi's central thesis is that all knowledge is personal because all knowledge is either tacit or rooted in tacit knowledge. Echoing Polanyi in his view of tacit knowledge, Nonaka and Konno (1998) write: \"Tacit knowledge is highly personal [...] [It] is deeply rooted in an individual's actions and experience as well as in the ideals, values, or emotions he or she embraces\" (p. 42). Likewise, Drucker (1993) suggests that knowledge is \"embodied in a person; created, augmented or improved by a person [...] applied by a person [...] used or misused by a person\" (p. 210; cited in Wright, 2005, p. 156). And, Wilson (2002) points out that in contrast to data and information, knowledge can never be managed, except by the individual knower.In the last couple of years, recognizing that knowledge is personal in nature, there has been a growing interest in Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) as a new model to KM. PKM represents a bottom-up approach to traditional KM directed at the needs of individual knowledge workers (Pollard, 2008). It \"focuses on helping individuals become more effective in personal, organizational and social environments\" (Gorman and Pauleen, 2011, p. 1).There are only few PKM models discussed in the literature. Dorsey (2000), cited in Wright, 2005), for instance, proposes a PKM model encompassing seven components:1. Retrieving information.2. Evaluating information.3. Organizing information.4. Analyzing information.5. Presenting information.6. Securing information.7. Collaborating around information.Smedley (2009) suggests a PKM model based on Nonaka and Takeuchi's SECI model, relating traditional organizational KM to individual knowledge acquisition and management processes. In general, most of the PKM models discussed in the literature emphasize PKM processes in knowledge work, such as problem solving (Wright, 2005), sense-making (Snowden et al., 2011), finding and interpreting information, negotiating meaning, engaging in conversations with others and developing ideas (Efimova, 2005), information acquisition, information processing and social activities (Pollard, 2004), gather, classify, store, search, retrieve, and share knowledge (Grundspenkis, 2007), aggregate, understand, and connect (Jarche, 2010), anticipate, explore, find, connect, learn, and act (Gorman and Pauleen, 2011), scan and reinvent, vet and filter, invest in your networks, and get out of your office (Prusak and Cranefield, 2011).Generally, similar to traditional KM models, the PKM models proposed in the literature remain focused on knowledge as a process. As pointed out in section 3.2, organizing KM into a set of predefined processes is a clear view of KM as a simple or complicated linear process rather than a complex process. The linearity of the PKM process is not well adjusted to describing what is actually going on in KM in a world of increasing complexity and radical discontinuous change. A KM process that works for one knowledge worker may not work for another. In each new context, KM is a unique complex process and is the result of self-organized and emergent processes that do not follow any particular order.In light of the shortcomings of traditional KM and PKM approaches outlined previously, we discuss in the next section an alternative KM/PKM model that has the potential to align with the shifts and critical challenges of the new knowledge environments characterized by increasing complexity and fast-paced change. This new perspective aggregates the personal and network aspects of knowledge and views knowledge as a personal network rather than as a thing or process.\n6. Knowledge as a personal network: In this section, we introduce and discuss in detail the PKN model which represents an alternative perspective on KM and PKM. The PKN model meets the challenges outlined in section 4. It addresses the explicit as well as the tacit dimension of knowledge and approaches knowledge from a complexity perspective. The PKN model is driven by the concepts of:* personal knowledge networks (PKN); and* knowledge ecologies.6.1 Personal knowledge networks\n7. From PKM to PKN: In the previous section, we discussed the PKN model as an alternative perspective on PKM, based on the concepts of personal knowledge network (PKN) and knowledge ecology. As illustrated in Figure 1, unlike traditional KM/PKM models which view knowledge as a thing or process, the PKN model views knowledge as a personal network. The PKN model shares with the PKM model a core proposition, that knowledge is fundamentally personal in nature. However, the view of KM as a continuous creation of a PKN, at both conceptual/internal and external levels, encompassing theories-in-use, tacit knowledge nodes (i.e. people) and explicit knowledge nodes (i.e. information) is quite distinctive. Moreover, the PKN model puts a heavier emphasis on the network dimension of KM. In the PKN model, KM starts from the knowledge worker and occurs within knowledge ecologies, which are self-organized and emergent networks of PKNs. Knowledge ecologies house self-directed KM that occurs in an open and bottom-up manner, rather than KM that functions within a structured context shaped by command and control, such as working groups and CoPs. Furthermore, in contrast to the proposed PKM models, the PKN model, which is driven by organizational learning theories (i.e. double-loop learning), stresses the learning dimension in KM and provides a framework for the convergence of KM and organizational learning around a knowledge worker-centric work and learning environment. The PKN model suggests that learning is about work, work is about learning, and both view knowledge as a personal network.The PKN model further stresses the convergence of personal and organizational KM. In the PKN model, PKM and OKM are tightly intertwined. In practice, the PKN model to KM implies new roles for the organization. The application of the PKN model in a corporate context suggests that the organization needs to put the knowledge worker at the center and support a wide variety of self-directed knowledge work and learning experiences within and beyond the organizational boundaries and across different contexts. It further needs to act as an agile knowledge-networking organization that helps knowledge workers continuously build their PKNs in an effective and efficient way, by providing a freeform and emergent environment conducive to networking, inquiry, and trial-and-error; that is an open environment in which knowledge workers can make connections, see patterns, reflect, (self)-criticize, detect/correct errors, inquire, test, challenge and eventually change their theories-in-use, thus changing the organizational theories-in-use. We referred to these open, emergent, and self-organized work and learning environments as knowledge ecologies.\n8. Conclusion: In this article, we reviewed previous models of KM and PKM and explored their failure to cope with the fast-paced change and critical challenges of the new knowledge era. A major reason of this failure is that KM is more than static content and predetermined process, and technology is only a secondary issue. We further highlighted the crucial need for new KM models that have the potential to overcome the deficiencies of previous models. We then discussed the PKN model as an alternative model to KM and PKM that has the potential to align with the shifts and critical challenges of the new knowledge environments characterized by increasing complexity and fast-paced change. The PKN model views knowledge as a personal network and represents a knowledge ecological approach to KM. The PKN model suggests KM as a continuous creation of a personal knowledge network (PKN), at both conceptual/internal and external levels, encompassing theories-in-use, tacit knowledge nodes (i.e. people) and explicit knowledge nodes (i.e. information). At the heart of the PKN model lie knowledge ecologies, where personal and organizational KM can converge. In essence, a knowledge ecology is a complex adaptive system that emerges from the bottom-up connection of PKNs. As with complex adaptive systems, a knowledge ecology holds emergent properties, includes self-organized entities, and can evolve in ways that we may not expect or predict. Knowledge ecologies blur the boundaries of work and learning and harness the power of PKNs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article aims to introduce the personal knowledge network (PKN) model as an alternative model to knowledge management (KM) and to discuss whether personal knowledge management (PKM) is better adapted to the demands of the new knowledge environments. The PKN model views knowledge as a personal network and represents a knowledge ecological approach to KM.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - KM and PKM have attracted attention over the past two decades and are considered as important means to increase organizational and individual performance. In this article, the author reviews previous models of KM and PKM and explores their failure to address the problem of knowledge worker performance and to cope with the constant change and critical challenges of the new knowledge era. The author further highlights the crucial need for new KM models that have the potential to overcome the shortcomings of previous models. In light of these shortcomings, the article introduces and discusses the PKN model as an alternative model to KM and PKM that is better adapted to the demands of the new knowledge environments.\nFindings: - Unlike traditional KM/PKM models which view knowledge as a thing or process, the PKN model views knowledge as a personal network and represents a knowledge ecological approach to KM.\nOriginality/value: - The article focuses on personal knowledge and the links to networks and knowledge ecologies in an innovative way for consideration within KM.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A comparative analysis of managerial competency needs across areas of functional specialization	[ "Managers", "Competences", "Sri Lanka", "Management roles" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In a rapidly changing work environment, increased focus on customer and rapid response to problems and opportunities has made the manager a vital resource in guiding and directing front-line workers to success (Hay Group, 2001). The impact of outstanding managers on revenue and profit is well documented. Therefore, in a continuously changing environment, for a sustained personal development, an expansion of a person's capacity to be effective in managerial roles becomes vital (Davis et al., 2004; Jackson et al., 2003; Tubbs and Schulz, 2006). In this regard, the competency approach marks a new development and the importance given to competencies in the organizational context is continually increasing (Matthewman, 1995).Competency frameworks are commonly used at the organizational level to guide decision making; Lawler (1994, p. 6) writes:[...] competency-based organizations are organizational systems in which the capabilities of individuals are the primary focus, which cause them to be managed in a way that provides competitive advantage.Vertically, competency framework is a tool to delineate individual and organizational competencies from the mission and strategy of the organization. Horizontally, competency framework can be used for different purposes in human resource management (HRM), including selection, management development, career and succession planning, and performance management (Rothwell and Lindholm, 1999; Schippmann et al., 2000). Therefore, competencies are the common language, which enable an organization to match its human resources against the resources it needs (Antonacopoulou and FitzGerald, 1996; Harvey et al., 2000).When capturing and capitalizing on individual capabilities, it is important to understand whether managers working in different work environments require different sets of competencies in order to satisfy the different job demands that encounter or whether different job demands connected to different areas of functional specialization could be satisfied by a common set of management competencies. Though there is an enormous diversity in the scope of competency studies, a few empirical research studies have been conducted on management competency requirements for different functional areas. Findings of such studies have indicated that the variations in functions and contexts of managerial roles make a one-size-fits-all competency profile impractical (Barber and Tietje, 2004; Hayes et al., 2000; McKenna, 2002). The identification of competencies that match job requirements has become an issue in human resource development (HRD) in any context.In many instances, a vague list of desirable competencies provided by policymakers or advocated by scholars is used as a guide in making crucial decisions on HRD programs. Further, some academic literature proposes that competency needs should be identified in terms of gaps as a gap informs whether there is a deficiency in a competency while reducing managers' subjectivity and preference in identifying managerial competency needs. However, a few empirical studies have been conducted treating competency needs as gaps (Agut et al., 2003; Barber and Tietje, 2004; Chen et al., 2005; Hansson, 2001). Finally, a limited number of competency studies have been conducted in Asia and in many cases those were confined to identify requisite competencies for managers from a specific functional area, such as HRD (see- Chen et al., 2005; Han et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2000). Therefore, this research aims to partially fill this lacuna in literature by investigating whether there is a set of management competencies that should be possessed irrespective of the functional area to which they are attached to using quantitative methodology.For the study, the following research questions were raised:1. What are the current competency expertise levels across the areas of functional specialization?2. What competencies are perceived to be important for now and the near future by managers across the areas of functional specialization?3. Are there any differences among current competency expertise, current importance, and future importance? If so, what are current and future competency needs in terms of gaps across the areas of functional specialization?Based on these three research questions the following specific research objectives were developed:* to investigate managers' perceived competency levels across the areas of functional specialization;* to evaluate the perceived importance of competencies for now and near future across the areas of functional specialization; and* to analyze current and future competency needs across the areas of functional specialization.The perceived levels of current expertise, current importance, and future importance of 31 different individual work-related competencies were measured across three competency clusters - knowledge, skill and value across seven functional areas. Hence, the procedure adopted in this research not only allows the possibility of modeling competencies differently, but it also generates data that can be used to contrast the individual estimates. In order to provide the context for the paper, the next section briefly reviews the theoretical background of the study. This is followed by the methodology adopted. Subsequently, the main findings are presented and discussed. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of the findings and research areas for further inquiry and understanding.\nTheoretical background: In this section theoretical background related to the concepts of \"competency\", \"competency gaps\", and \"measurement issues with the competency approach\" are discussed.Competency\nThe empirical study - case company: The study is confined to a fully integrated telecommunication service provider, identified as X Company. It has become the leading company in the industry in Sri Lanka. According to the monthly human resource report as at July 2006, X Company has more than 6,000 employees in total. Specifically, there were 541 managerial level employees, 1,026 middle level technical employees, 1,279 clerical and aligned employees, 605 call centre employees, 2,232 technical employees, 358 non-technical employees and 290 drivers as the total number of permanent employees. Of the total employees (6331), 2,484 attached to headquarter while 3,847 attached to regional offices island wide. The average age of the employees is 42.Managerial level employees of X Company were considered as the population of the study. Of the 541 managerial level employees, 510 were contactable during September 2006 when the survey was conducted. The questionnaire was distributed through e-mail and printed form; it was voluntarily completed and returned by 203 subjects within four weeks of initial questionnaire distribution. A total of 198 usable responses resulted in a 39 percent response rate. The final sample covered all the fields of employment as shown in Table I. Of the 198 respondents, 70 percent were males and 30 percent were females. The mean age was 40 years; 85 percent were married while 15 percent were single. Of the sample, 85 percent reported having a Bachelor's or postgraduate level university education. The current job tenure in X Company was 13 years on average while the current job tenure in X Company in the current field of specialization was seven years on average. On average, there were nine subordinates directly reporting each respondent.\nMethod: In this section, measures used in the study, data collection procedures adopted and the methods of data analysis are presented.Measures\nResults: Table III summarizes the results for the highest expertise areas and the most important competencies for now and future across functional areas. As that can be seen in Table III, different functional areas emphasize different competencies as important for current and in future.Table IV summarizes the results for the significant differences in competency levels across seven functional areas. The results indicted that current expertise level of nine competencies have significant differences across functional areas. When it comes to current importance, three competencies showed significant differences across functional areas. With regard to future importance, seven competencies showed significant differences across functional areas. Overall, major perception differences existed in the legal group with compared to other six categories, including IT, Finance, etc. For the rest of the competencies investigated, the perceived competency levels were consistent across the respondent groups.Table V summarizes the results for the most needed competencies (with highest gaps) for now and future across functional areas. As that can be seen in Table V, different competencies are rated as the most needed for now and the future across functional areas.Table VI summarizes the results for the significant differences in current and future competency needs across three competency clusters (knowledge, skill and value) across seven functional areas. It was assumed that gaps represent the need for competencies. Therefore, the larger the mean difference, the more the competency would be needed. Though all most all competency gaps revealed either negative gap or adjustment margin, all the mean values were not statistically significant. Current competency needs for two competencies showed significant differences across functional areas while future competency needs for four competencies showed significant differences across functional areas. For the rest of the competencies investigated, the competency gaps were all most consistent across the respondent groups.\nConcluding remarks and implications: The study made an attempt to elicit competency requirements of managers working in different parts of the same organization that they thought were necessary for effective performance. The findings of the study led to reveal broad level competencies that are important for managers working in one of the seven functional areas. The findings suggested the importance of competencies from value and skill clusters than knowledge cluster across all functional areas. Further, in majority of the situations, there was hardly any congruent with the perceptions on current expertise and current importance across all the functional areas. Furthermore, managers perceived that technical competencies would be important in the future across all functional areas. This implies their awareness that they are expected to possess competencies associated with emerging technology, especially when attached to telecommunication industry. However, major perception differences could be found in the legal area when compared to the other areas of functional specialization. Though the respondents of the study were limited to the telecommunication sector most of the competencies investigated appear to be more useful across managerial domains. Therefore, whilst the findings of the study have a specific relevance to the managers in the telecommunication industry, the findings of the study could have a rather broader relevance. This study has several implications for management development initiatives.The study is based on an operative method to analyze competency needs in terms of gaps, as the academic literature proposes. As long as competency deficits are accurately detected, those could be addressed through the most appropriate strategy. However, the academic literature very often recognizes the integration of competency management with learning management systems (see Bartram, 2004; Hackett, 2001; Homer, 2001; Mumford et al., 2000; Naquin and Holton, 2003; Reio and Sutton, 2006). Although this could be criticized because a deficit in competency does not necessarily imply an adoption of a management development solution, the link between competencies and management development interventions add tremendous value to users who can immediately see what interventions that they need in order to acquire competencies. Therefore, competency based intervention is seen as an important strategic tool in addressing competency gaps (see McClelland, 1994; Jackson et al., 2003). In this research we also consider that to face a continuously changing environment managers' competencies need to be renewed on a regular basis. Therefore, management development interventions could play a major role in expanding a person's capacity to be effective in managerial roles and processes.However, the findings of the study imply the management development challenges in incorporating a proper balance of knowledge, skill and value competencies into managerial competency development programs. In this regard, once competency gaps have been identified, organizations have to decide whether there is a real need of addressing each and every competency gap; what would be the cost of ignoring a competency gap? In making such critical decisions, competency management has an important contribution as it ensures that individual competencies are linked to strategies of the organization. Here, the key integrative concept is that of occupational competence, especially managerial competence. Therefore, the identification of the set of individual competencies and competency gaps in terms of an organization's specific business strategies across the functional areas of specialization would be the most important.Having diagnosed the most important competencies, it is then necessary to target and develop them continuously and improvements must be measured. Hence, on one hand, this recognizes the importance of ensuring that the individual development plans are linked to business goals. On the other hand this recognizes the need of having performance measurement systems that are as objective and robust as possible. However, business pressures and uncertainty create needs for new competencies suggesting that organizations have to develop or acquire new competencies. Hence, there is a need of refining the lists of competencies continuously.In the organizational context where resources are scarce, an organization could also create a culture where individuals maintain their own personal competency profile along with their personal development plan. Individual managers can identify the most important competencies for the present and the future, and then use this information to design, develop and evaluate their jobs and roles. The outcome of this effort would be beneficial for both the individual and organization in designing careers and satisfying individual aspirations.The literature gives evidence of a growing tendency towards decentralization and a concomitant shift towards greater devolvement of responsibility to line management in the areas traditionally held to be the domain of HR specialists. Competency management is no exception. Line managers engage in selection, assessment, development and succession of individual employees under their supervision. All these four activities are influenced by competencies. Therefore, line managers have to ensure that individual competency requirements remain strategically focused. HR managers have to evaluate the competencies on a regular basis to become strategic and flexible and to support required organizational changes. This implies that when competitive advantage is largely based on competencies, organizations have to redefine the role of line managers and HR managers to meet the expectations of them. This leads back to the competency requirements of HR managers and line managers of other functional areas.Overall, the judicious management of competencies shows an orientation towards the future and could adopt a multiple constituency perspective, where, first, from individuals' standpoint, they have the possibility to develop a set of competencies that could be helpful in advancing their careers. Second, from an organization's standpoint, the identification of competencies could help align HR system vertically with the organization's strategic objectives by capturing and capitalizing on individual capabilities. It could also help align the HR system horizontally with other HR functions, where the results of the study provide a decision-making tool for several HR functions such as management of careers. Third, from management development professionals' standpoint, they could identify sound methodologies to address competency needs based on employer expectations.\nLimitations and further research: For the study purposes competencies were defined simply, as a headline plus a few sample behaviors; competency definitions used do not cater for multiple levels of detail and mastery. Therefore, though it was found that some competencies are equally needed for several functional areas, findings could be interpreted as there may be similarities at higher levels of abstraction but there may be differences at the level of detail. Further, the study relied on self-reporting method to assess competency levels. However, there could be situations where individuals consistently give higher (or lower) estimates of the importance of the items as well as higher (or lower) estimates of their own competency. Hence, future studies could also collect data from multiple sources, such as subordinates and peers. Furthermore, future studies could use qualitative data to obtain in-depth understanding. The future studies could also be conducted through a larger sample across an industry, rather than confine to a single organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there is a set of management competencies that should be possessed by managers irrespective of their areas of functional specialization using quantitative methodology.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - For the study, 31 individual competencies were analyzed. The study was confined to a fully integrated telecommunication service provider; 198 managerial employees participated in the survey.\nFindings: - The findings reveal broad level competencies that are important for managers working in one of the seven functional areas. The findings suggest the importance of competencies from value and skill clusters than knowledge cluster across all functional areas. Further, there was hardly any congruence with the perceptions on current expertise and current importance across all the functional areas.\nPractical implications: - While the findings of the study have a specific relevance to the managers in the telecommunication industry, they could have a rather broader relevance with implications for management development initiatives.\nOriginality/value: - Although there is an enormous diversity in the scope of competency literature, a few empirical research studies have been conducted on management competency requirements for different functional areas. A limited number of competency studies have been conducted in Asia and in many cases those were confined to identify requisite competencies for managers from a specific functional area, such as human resources development. Hence empirical research studies are needed to fill this lacuna in literature. This paper fills some of the gaps\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Methodology applied for maintenance technical audit in urban transport fleets	[ "Maintenance", "Auditing", "Transport management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: An audit, taking into account a general definition, could be understood as a systematic review process of an activity or situation to assess the compliance with the rules and the criteria established. From this definition, two main ideas arise; the need to acknowledge the real and the desired situation of the entity to be analyzed and the need for a systematic and rigorous audit methodology that ensures its efficiency.On the other hand, it is preferable that the audit be performed by external personnel, with experience in the topic, as they must question all aspects, without any preconceived ideas, avoiding the usual response of \"because it's always been like that\", without anyone knowing the real reason. Middle management and technicians are the people who have direct contact with the daily problems and therefore, it is important to hear their comments in order to achieve a successful audit, by insuring that the image of the auditor is portrayed as being a person who offers support, solutions and improvements, and not of one who detects problems and mistakes and criticises their work (Martinez Puerta, 2002).Once the interest and the meaning of audit have been reviewed, it is time to present our experience to the methodology used and the aspects to consider in order to efficiently evaluating the maintenance system in transport fleets.\nMethodology applied: The methodology applied consists of several stages briefly explained.1. Initial evaluation (contact with the company). In this first contact, the goals and targets have to be established. Basically these have to be the strengths and the weaknesses of the maintenance in order to improve and optimise it. A questionnaire is given out, in which general information of the company is asked, like facilities, personnel, maintenance procedures and the computerized information system. This questionnaire has to be filled in by the Maintenance Manager and returned to the auditor before scheduling new visits.2. First visit to the maintenance department of the company. In this first visit, the initial questionnaire is reviewed with the Maintenance Manager or Managers, focusing on those aspects that have not been well defined or those which reflected important deficiencies. Also, future visits are scheduled and the auditor team is introduced to the maintenance technicians.3. Detailed analysis of maintenance policies. In this third stage the audit takes place. As said previously, it consists of a detailed review of the different maintenance procedures; check lists, corrective, preventive and predictive. For each one of them, the strengths and the weaknesses of the real process followed by the operators need to be evaluated, including forms completed, real percentage of information introduced in the form, documentation to consult, management of all this information and the level of computerized systems. This process requires several visits and at different times, so all the garages should be visited and its working procedures analyzed, like cleaning vehicle procedures, refuelling, workshops, inventory control, etc. (Ballester et al., 2002).4. Evaluation and improvement proposals. Finally, a report has to be prepared with a description of the different maintenance procedures, indicating the strengths and weaknesses. Afterwards the corrective actions have to be established in a well-prepared work plan in order to optimise the maintenance.5. Control. Once the audit has finished, a follow up of the proposed actions should be performed, supervising its implementation by surveilling the appropriate indicators. Also, it is necessary to carry out, every year or two, new audits in order to obtain a continuous improvement.\nDescription of the methodology used to audit the maintenance in transport fleets: As stated previously in the introduction, the methodology consists of several stages that are going to be more detailed in this section.1.1 Initial evaluation (contact with the company)\nConclusions: To achieve with success a maintenance system audit in transport fleets, a well-designed methodology, based on experience, must be followed. This experience will contribute to detect the weaknesses and the strengths of the maintenance activities, to understand the possible problems that arise as the process completes each stage and finally to plan an improvement strategy throughout achievable goals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop a methodology for audit maintenance strategies and processes focused in urban transport fleets.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In response to this purpose, the main objective is to identify the strengths and the weaknesses of the maintenance system in order to establish actions that minimize the weaknesses and maximise the strengths. To audit properly, a well-structured methodology is required, in which analyses will be performed, from general to more specific plans and procedures.\nFindings: - It was found that the evaluation of other related aspects is also necessary. Aspects such as: facilities, personnel, computerised information systems and the accurate management of the information derived from the proper maintenance activities.\nPractical implications: - Using the methodology described in this paper will make it easier for the company to evaluate real maintenance performance and possible improvements.\nOriginality/value: - By using this methodology, a detailed situation of the fleet's maintenance is illustrated, and consequently different operations can be taken into account to achieve the established improvement objectives\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An integrated system based on fuzzy genetic algorithm and neural networks for stock price forecasting: Case study of price index of Tehran Stock Exchange	[ "Artificial neural network", "Fuzzy genetic system", "Fuzzy theory", "Genetics algorithm" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Nowadays, those who win are those who are able to predict the future, or at least some future information, upon which they can base their decisions.\nLiterature review: Tsang et al. (2007) offered a model for the prediction of stock prices, using a compound of wavelet transform, recurrent neural network and bee colony algorithm. First, they disintegrated the price time series using Haar wavelet, then the prediction was done by recurrent neural network, and the obtained weights of neural network were optimized by bee colony algorithm. The offered model was examined on data from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the FTSE 100 index, the London Stock Exchange (FTSE), Nikkei 225, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Nikkei) and the Taiex index, Taiwan Stock Exchange. The given model was compared to a compound model of neural network and bee colony algorithm, fuzzy time series and fuzzy neural network (ANFIS). The suggested model had fewer errors than the other models in the all examined cases.\nGenetic algorithm: Inspired by evolution theory and heredity and genetic principles, genetic algorithm seeks to find an appropriate solution for problems (Goldberg, 1989). To do so, first some accidental responses are produced for the given problem, and these primary responses are then evolved using genetic principles and are converted to the appropriate response.\nExtracting rule from neural network: The major and main disadvantage of artificial neural networks is their disability in explanation and analysis (Anderson, 1996). Neural networks are like continuous black boxes which make it difficult for neural network to perceive a solution (Mantas et al., 2006). Therefore, the information used by neural network to achieve the solution is not clear to the users and that may cause trouble in some cases (Huang and Xing, 2002).\nMethods of price index modeling: In this study, we extracted 15 economic variables using (Gan et al., 2006; Ibrahim and Aziz, 2003; Adam and Tweneboah, 2008; Gay, 2008) that explain the relationship between economic variables and the stock market, using the co-integration Johnson method considering the economic situation of Iran.\nConclusion: The general goal of the research is to offer an appropriate model for price index prediction of the Tehran Stock Exchange. Concerning the results of previous research, which confirms the relative superiority of non-linear models in price index prediction, an appropriate model has been offered in this research by compounding the non-linear methods including nerve net and genetics algorithm with fuzzy theory in order to predict the price index of the Tehran Stock Exchange. The fuzzy genetics algorithm used for price index prediction of the Tehran Stock Exchange has had a better result, as shown in Figure 8.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this research is to predict the total stock market index of the Tehran Stock Exchange, using the compound method of fuzzy genetics and neural network, in order for the active participants of the finance market as well as macro decision makers to be able to predict the market trend.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, the prediction was done by neural network, then the output weight of optimum neural network was taken as standard to repeat this prediction using the genetic algorithm, and then the extracted pattern from the neural network was stated through discernible rules using fuzzy theory.\nFindings: The main attention of this paper is investors and traders to achieve a method for predicting the stock market. Concerning the results of previous research, which confirms the relative superiority of non-linear models in price index prediction, an appropriate model has been offered in this research by compounding the non-linear method such as fuzzy genetics and neural network. The results indicate superiority of the designed system in predicting price index of the Tehran Stock Exchange.\nOriginality/value: This paper states its originality and value by compounding the non-linear method issues pattern to predict stock market, to encourage further investigation by academics and practitioners in the field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
"Lost births," service delivery, and human resources to health: Bringing maternal primary health care back to Canada's North	[ "Canada", "Services", "Rural health", "Midwifery", "First nations/Indigenous people health", "Inadequacies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: When a pregnant woman from a remote northern community reaches term, the current practice is to transport her, usually via medical air evacuation, to a larger medical facility that has an established obstetrical program. This has been an expected intervention since the 1960s and 1970s (Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), 2009, p. 110). The intention is to provide universal access to safe obstetrical care for both the mother and the baby she is delivering. Although this may appear altruistic and practical, it is rife with negative consequences. An expensive medical evacuation followed by a lonely delivery pales in comparison to the effects that this practice has had on Indigenous families and communities. Traditionally, Indigenous births embedded comprehensive midwifery practices in these communities, as well as community traditions, ceremonies, gatherings, and celebrations. The notion of \"lost births\" henceforth refers to the loss of this community knowledge and celebration regarding the birth of a new member. It can be argued that lost births are a result of historical, systemic oppression of Indigenous culture by the Canadian Government, and the monopoly of formal health education and services by the medical profession.\nBackground: History\nService delivery and human resources for health: The World Health Organization (WHO, 2010) identifies several key components of a well-functioning health system. Of those components, the most relevant to maternal primary health care in Canada's north are service delivery and human resources for health. Inadequacy of maternal health care service delivery is apparent when one considers the practice of evacuation/transportation. Service delivery is dependent on \"networks of close-to-client primary care, organized as health districts or local area networks with the back-up of specialized and hospital services, responsible for defined populations\" (WHO, 2010). As evidenced by Table I, close-to-client primary care is unavailable for a large proportion of pregnant women living in rural areas.\nThe Canadian midwifery situation: Education: university degree\nRecommendations to address service delivery and human resource inadequacies: Given the available information, it is time to approach recommendations that will address the issue of \"lost births.\"\nLimitations: For Indigenous community midwifery to be possible, a network of midwifery support must exist. There is also a need for the back-up of specialized and hospital services, in the event of a high-risk delivery or birth complications. The literature has shown nulliparous women (first-time mothers) to have more adverse perinatal outcomes. Labors tend to be longer, the woman is inexperienced and therefore may be more prone to fear or powers of suggestion, which can lead to more complications and/or interventions.\nSummary and conclusion: \"Lost births\" is a phenomenon that has plagued Indigenous communities only in the last century, but has caused much harm to Indigenous midwifery and birthing knowledge. Given the context of colonial history, and current midwifery practices in Canada, fascinating insights can be made as to how to begin addressing human resource and service delivery inadequacies in the North, specifically in regards to maternal-newborn care. In closing, continued support for Indigenous midwifery practice is essential if we are going to bring births home, and develop systems that will sustain them:I have a dream [...] of attending a birth in my own community at Nipissing, I will go to a woman's home where her extended family is there for support. Perhaps even my own daughter will accompany me to help with younger children. Perhaps the woman's mother is there to help prepare food and greet the baby in the Nishnawbe language. The father will light a fire outside and offer tobacco. We will boil cedar for the postpartum bath. [...] Nishnawbe women are the guardians of their culture, families and communities. They will want to be a leading force in the future development of midwifery on their homelands. The professional practice of midwifery reflects their traditional values. That is the compassionate and respectful care of the newly emerging mother and baby. This is the very future of our Nations. - Celebrating Birth.(NAHO, 2008, p. 2)\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advocate for improved service delivery of maternal-newborn care in northern Indigenous communities. This is done through critical examination of the loss of pregnancy and birthing knowledge and practice in these communities, from both a historical and contemporary lens. Supporting the return of traditional midwifery practices to the communities is the recommended solution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is a general review of the available literature regarding Indigenous birthing practices, historical and contemporary Canadian maternal health service provision, and midwifery.\nFindings: Current maternal health care practice in these northern communities is not resolving service delivery and human resource inadequacies, highlighting the need for a community-based and midwifery-driven primary health care approach. Potential recommendations include implementing a comprehensive birthing initiative, innovative midwifery training, and promotion and support of the role of the community midwife.\nOriginality/value: \"Lost births\" is a largely unrecognized issue in Canadian public health literature. The value of this paper lies in its potential to stimulate discourse and advocacy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Relationship investment and reciprocity: an empirical investigation	[ "Relationship marketing", "Banking", "Buyer–seller relationships", "Empirical study", "Financial services", "Business-to-Business marketing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Relationship marketing (RM) has been one of the dominant mantras in marketing strategy circles, yet there is a lack of empirical evidence to prove significant economic relationship investment and reciprocity between exchange partners (Palmatier et al., 2006). The existing literature measures the relationship investment mainly in form of sales people's time and effort in building the relationship (Smith and Barclay, 1997; Palmatier et al., 2009), or in form of small rewards or discounts toward retail customers (De Wulf et al., 2001). In addition, as the existing evidence relies mostly on surveys, the value of relationship investment and reciprocity is difficult to quantify in monetary terms. In this empirical research, the monetary amount of relationship investment is quantified in an international banking context, the drivers behind these relationship investments are investigated and evidence indicating reciprocity is found from the clients who receive these relationship investments.\n2. Relationship banking literature review and summary of results: In the finance literature, relationship banking has been studied extensively as a means to resolve the information asymmetry between borrowers and lenders (see Boot, 2000 for a comprehensive review). The financial intermediation theory suggests that banks can avoid the adverse selection of poor-quality borrowers by screening borrowers through costly information production and can overcome the borrower moral hazard of sub-optimal investment by monitoring the borrower's investment decisions (Diamond, 1984; Ramakrishnan and Thakor, 1984). Besides increasing the availability of credit to the borrower by removing information asymmetries, a banking relationship can also lead to better loan contract terms for the borrower (Berlin and Mester, 1992, 1999; Boot et al., 1993) due to the production of borrower-specific durable and reusable information (Boot, 2000). On the other hand, relationship banking can be costly to the borrower if the bank may \"holdup\" the borrower and extract informational rents due to information asymmetries between the borrower and other lenders (Sharpe, 1990; Rajan, 1992).\n3. Loan valuation: A loan with maximum committed limit L and maturity T comprises a drawn portion and an undrawn portion. The borrower pays commitment fee c on the undrawn portion of the loan and pays a fee m on the drawn portion of the loan. Assume that the bank funds the drawn portion of the loan at a funding cost j. Assume that the bank expects the average drawn portion on the loan to be U x L, where U is the expected drawn portion per unit of committed limit. This implies that the bank's expected revenue in each period net of its funding cost is given by L x l\n4. Data: The data come from four sources. The first data source is the loan database which contains all the investment grade loans issued by the bank between January 2004 and June 2008. This dataset contains all loan specific details such as committed limit, currency, issuance date, maturity date, expected recovery rate, funding cost, expected utilization and loan fees such as margin, commitment fee and facility fee. It also contains the loan lifetime shortfall which is the difference between the par value and the fair value of the loan. A total of 1,971 investment grade loans were issued to North American firms during this period. These loans include new loans and extensions or refinancing of existing loans. The types of loan include term loans, revolving credit lines, letters of credit and guarantees.\n5. Empirical specifications: It is easy to see from expression (1) that, if all else is equal, shortfall is increasing in committed limit L, decreasing in loan fees lf\n6. Summary statistics: As mentioned in the previous section, two alternative specifications are tested using shortfall from two different databases. For the first specification, each North American loan in the loan database is linked to the borrowing firm's accounting data from Compustat corresponding to the last fiscal year prior to loan issuance. The resulting sample of 433 loans is linked to the expected revenue data to obtain a sample of 164 loans which is hereafter referred to as loan database sample. The summary statistics of this sample are included in Table I. The median committed limit is around 52 million and the median loan tenor is five years. The average expected utilization is quite low at 16 per cent, as most facilities are liquidity lines or commercial paper back-up lines with 0 per cent expected utilization. The expected loan recovery rate varies to a very limited extent at around 40 per cent with a low standard deviation of 5 per cent. The CDS spread is higher than the net loan fees by 33 bps on average, which results in an average shortfall of around 0.8 million.\n7. Empirical results: Table III contains the results when specification (2) is estimated. All the regression coefficients are statistically significant at 99 per cent confidence and the signs on the coefficients are same as those suggested by the shortfall equation. In particular, CDS spread, loan tenor and facility limit increase the shortfall, whereas recovery rate and loan fees reduce the shortfall.\n8. Expected revenue as a proxy for reciprocity: In this section, it is investigated whether clients reciprocate relationship investments from the bank. Proving reciprocity is difficult because relationship investment and reciprocity are tightly interlinked through expectations. Specifically, it is difficult to prove whether relationship investment causes reciprocity or relationship investment is driven by expectation of reciprocity. Running a regression to explain future revenue as a function of shortfall would not prove reciprocity because it shows a correlation and not causality between relationship investment and future revenue.\n9. Conclusion: While numerous theoretical studies have identified the drivers of relationship banking benefits, empirical studies have been constrained in testing these theories by the availability of data. The crude measures of relationship strength and investment used in the existing literature has yielded mixed empirical support to the claims made in the theoretical literature and has not fully identified the drivers of relationship investment. This paper uses a proprietary dataset from a multinational bank to precisely measure relationship strength and uncover the true drivers of relationship benefits to borrowers.\n10. Limitations and future research: The research has several limitations. First, the study is based on the practice of one large multinational bank, which limits the generalizability of the findings. More empirical research quantifying the value of relationship investments in other industries would be illuminating. Second, by focusing on the monetary amounts of relationship investments and client reciprocity, I quantify the financial benefits of the relationship, which arguably is the most important benchmark of return on investment (Jackson, 1985). However, not all nuances of the buyer-seller relationship can be captured in the financial benefits. I look forward to future research that links the financial value of RM investment to the various bonds between seller and buyer as those investigated in the RM literature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to quantify the monetary amount of relationship investment in an investment banking context, investigate the drivers behind these relationship investments and look for evidence indicating reciprocity from the clients who receive these relationship investments. Relationship marketing has been one of the dominant mantras in marketing strategy circles, yet there is a lack of empirical evidence to prove significant relationship investment and reciprocity between exchange partners.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Relationship investment as the monetary amount by which the fair value of a loan at issuance is below its par value is measured. Regression analysis is used to study the drivers of relationship investment, including relationship depth, relationship breadth and relationship potential. Finally, reciprocity is studied as the extent to which bank's expectations are realized through future revenues.\nFindings: Based on 164 loans issued by a multinational investment bank, it was found that the bank provides significant monetary benefit to its corporate clients. The amount of monetary benefit provided to each client depends on the breadth and potential of the bank-borrower relationship. The author also finds evidence suggesting that the clients reciprocated these relationship investments and the bank anticipated the reciprocity by clients.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first to empirically show a significant monetary investment in a relationship-marketing context, with the intention of building stronger relationship with clients and earning future revenues through reciprocity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Satisfaction in e-learning: the context of supplementary instruction	[ "E‐learning", "Factor analysis", "Worldwide web", "Thailand" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Information and communication technology (ICT) can improve the operational processes of any business and the education industry is no exception. Today, ICT plays a major role in many pedagogical activities, such as instructional delivery, material preparation, class communication, and evaluation. E-learning, particularly web-based learning has become the accepted term for this new form of ICT-enhanced instruction. The market value of e-learning in Europe was close to US$4.7 billion by 2004 compared to the global corporate e-learning market assessment by International Data Corporation (IDC) which was an estimated US$30 billion for the same period (Watson and Ahmed, 2004). One of the key characteristics of e-learning contributing to such high growth rate is that it provides more flexibility to teachers and learners to participate in educational activities (Arbaugh, 2000b, 2002; McGorry, 2003; Oubenaissa et al., 2002) when compared to face-to-face instruction.In Thailand, e-learning has been adopted in education for a variety of purposes, especially in higher education. Most universities use e-learning as a supplementary tool to enhance in-class instruction (Siritongthaworn and Krairit, 2004). Students in this study learn mainly in the traditional classroom structure but also supplement this with e-learning. The role of e-learning in this context is rather different from the either/or approach, which looks at either e-learning or face-to-face teaching as the sole instructional method. The question of how to make effective use of e-learning is complex and far from definitive (Arbaugh, 2000a, 2002), especially in the context like this study.Satisfaction is widely accepted as a desirable outcome of any product or service experience. It is said that satisfaction is the most explored construct in the history of marketing scholarship (Fullerton and Taylor, 2002). Generally, satisfaction is a factor used to monitor the product or service quality (Oliver, 1993; Parasuraman et al., 1985; Swan and Bowers, 1998) and also to predict customer loyalty (Bloemer and de Ruyter, 1998; Mittal and Lassar, 1998; Selnes, 1993) and other behavioral consequences (Fullerton and Taylor, 2002). In education, satisfaction can determine not only the level of pleasure a student enjoys but also the effectiveness of the education that student experiences (Allen et al., 2002; Sherry et al., 1998; Wang, 2003). In this context, e-learning satisfaction includes aspects of the information systems as well as the more traditional understanding of customer satisfaction (Bailey and Pearson, 1983; Doll and Torkzadeh, 1988; Ives et al., 1983; Wang, 2003).It is difficult for stakeholders in higher education institutions to determine how e-learning can enhance the effectiveness of instruction if the evaluation tools available do not include all aspects of satisfaction in e-learning. The main objective of this paper is to develop a construct that can measure satisfaction in e-learning, which can be used in the context of supplementary instruction in Thailand.This paper begins with a theoretical background, which includes a review of the relevant research. Details of this study's context and the instrumentation process are then described. The measurement construct developed to assess satisfaction is analyzed to investigate the underlining factors, and is then tested for reliability and validity. Discussions, conclusions and implications are outlined in the following sections.\nTheoretical background: Satisfaction is recognized in the management and marketing literature as one of the indicative measures closely tied to product or service quality (Bond and Fink, 2003; Nowak and Washburn, 1998; Oliver, 1993; Zeithaml et al., 1996). Satisfaction is viewed as the perception of the pleasurable fulfillment of needs and wants (Shankar et al., 2003). It is a post-consumption judgment which is assessed based on the customer's evaluation of the attributes and performance of a specific transaction (Su, 2004).Satisfaction is measured in several different ways. Some earlier studies measured it based on the expectation-disconfirmation principle - the comparison between the product/service performance and customer expectation (Fullerton and Taylor, 2002; Gronroos, 1984). Apart from this approach, the multi-attribute scales and a single-item scale are often used in assessing service-encounter satisfaction and overall satisfaction respectively (Shankar et al., 2003; Su, 2004). The measure of service-encounter satisfaction is transaction-specific and includes different attributes of service; whereas overall satisfaction is the cumulative effect of the customer's evaluation of a set of service attributes.In the e-learning context, satisfaction includes both pedagogical aspects as well as the information systems. In education research, teaching effectiveness is considered to be an indicator of teaching quality, which results in student satisfaction (Wang, 2003). It was measured by a number of measurement instruments based on student evaluations of teaching effectiveness (SETE). Some examples of these instruments include Frey's \"Endeavor instructional rating form\" (Frey, 1978; Frey et al., 1975), \"Effective teaching\" by Feldman (Feldman, 1976, 1989), the \"Instructional development and effectiveness assessment\" (IDEA) (Hoyt and Cashin, 1977), and the \"Students' evaluations of educational quality\" (SEEQ) (Marsh, 1982).Feldman (1976) proposed three higher-order clusters of effective teaching that included presentation, facilitation, and regulation. Frey (1978) proposed two higher-order clusters of items from his endeavor instrument comprising of skill and rapport. SEEQ, which was developed by Marsh (1982), consists of nine dimensions, namely, learning/value, enthusiasm, organization, group interaction, individual rapport, breadth of coverage, exams/grades, assignments, and workload. Cashin and Downey (1992) studied the usefulness of global student rating items from the IDEA Survey Form in predicting weighted-composite evaluations of teaching. The result showed that each of two groups of items - the instructor and the course related items - accounted for more than 50 percent of variance in separate regression analyses; while the groups of student, class, and method items generally contributed much less variance.The prior studies of satisfaction in the field of information systems also provide a useful background to the e-learning context. Computer user satisfaction (CUS) was empirically explored to improve the productivity of computer services by Bailey and Pearson (1983). It contains 39 general factors that assess the condition of services. Ives et al. (1983) developed the \"User Information Satisfaction\" (UIS) measure from the work of Bailey and Pearson. There were 13 items (with two indicators per item) constituting three component measures - information product, electronic data processing (EDP) staff and services, and user knowledge or involvement - of the instrument. Later, UIS was re-evaluated. The revised UIS model consisted of four first-order factors (EDP staff and EDP services are separated into two factors) and one second-order factor (Doll et al., 1995). Doll and Torkzadeh (1988) have proposed the measurement of \"End-user Computing Satisfaction\" (EUC) to address the increasing user-oriented needs of the changing environment in computing and data processing. EUC is a 12-item instrument that measures five clusters of end-user satisfaction: content, accuracy, format, ease of use, and timeliness.Wang (2003) proposed an instrument called \"e-learner satisfaction\" (ELS) to assess learner satisfaction with asynchronous electronic learning systems. ELS items were generated from several research sources including user information satisfaction, end-user computing satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and student satisfaction. It was developed for both the organizational information systems and classroom teaching contexts where e-learning is the main method of instruction delivery. The scale is composed of 17 items with four first-order factors including the learner interface, learning community, content, and personalization. The study also evaluated the evidence of reliability and the various types of validity for the instrument.\nMethodology: Understanding the context: e-learning as a supplementary tool\nStatistical methods and results: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussion: The underlining dimensions of the satisfaction measure\nConclusions and implications: This study investigates how satisfaction can be measured in e-learning. The e-learning context in this study refers to the use of e-learning as a supplementary tool to the main classroom teaching. Full-time undergraduate students studying five courses in three universities were selected as the samples for this study. They were chosen according to specific criteria. The results confirm the reliability and validity of the four dimensions of e-learning satisfaction, which are as follows: delivery method, communication facilitation, systems operations, and content. These dimensions can be understood as the way the course content is delivered, the convenience of the means of communication, the ease of system operation for the learners, and the quality of content the students receive.The instruction delivery method is of critical importance to students who receive both face-to-face teaching and e-learning instruction. When e-learning is used as the sole mode of instruction, the delivery method focuses on how to convey a large quantity and high quality of content to students. But when e-learning is used as a supplementary tool, the delivery method should be very different from the way course material is presented in the classroom. Incorporating diverse presentation formats into the delivery method also helps improve a student's e-learning experience. In summary, the delivery method should consider the role of e-learning in a particular course's instruction.Communication facilitation is another aspect of student satisfaction. E-learning communication tools can enhance the connectedness between teachers and students as well as between students. Internet communication technology's flexibility and interactive capabilities can strengthen this connectedness by creating an environment that facilitates collaborative learning (Rovai, 2002). The range and quality of interactive dialogue in the e-learning process can facilitate critical discourse, reflective thinking, and higher learning through collaborative participation. The instructor should therefore integrate the practice of online communication into his/her e-learning pedagogy, regardless of the role e-learning plays.The next dimension of e-learning satisfaction is the system operation. Students expect an e-learning system to be dependable and user friendly. A consistent, dependable system will be recognized as reliable and will improve satisfaction as a result. A user-friendly system, or the ease with which a student can use a system, depends on the design. It should help users access the required web pages and perform the right functions with minimal effort. Some examples include the use of GUI as mentioned earlier or the menu/button design of a web page. It is advised that student suggestions regarding the system's operation be encouraged and regularly monitored.Lastly, the characteristics of content also contribute to e-learning satisfaction. Students view e-learning content that is intended for supplementary use differently from core course content received in a classroom. They expect e-learning content to be clearly presented in a lively format such as a web page which summarizes course content, web links to other learning resources, practical \"real-world\" examples, or a site where they can practice specific skills.\nSuggestions for further investigation: Future research should include more courses in the sample due to the expected increased availability of e-learning technology. Research in which study programs or course disciplines are controlled would be useful. The comparisons between the effects of different control variables, such as delivery methods, modes of communication, e-learning systems, and content formats, should also be further investigated.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to investigate how to measure student satisfaction and how its elements influence on its overall perspective earned in e-learning (EL). This study focuses on the context where EL is used as a supplementary tool to enhance instruction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study focuses on undergraduate courses that offer EL as a voluntary and supplementary form of instruction in Thailand. The measurement's instrument was adapted from scales widely accepted in management, information systems, and education research to fit the unique characteristics of the online education context. A few course characteristics are outlined to ensure the originality of the context. Survey is the main methodology of this study; reliability and validity of the measure are also tested and discussed in the paper.\nFindings: - The study highlights four dimensions of satisfaction in EL: delivery method, communication facilitation, system operation, and content. It is found from the study that elements of satisfaction measure are altered regarding to different contexts of EL. Each of these dimensions has been found to influence the overall satisfaction in EL.\nPractical implications: - Implications for instruction via EL are suggested in the paper according to the satisfaction elements. The course which the context is similar to this study should be designed differently from the traditional classroom or sole EL instruction methods.\nOriginality/value: - This study is conducted in the context where EL is implemented for augmenting the main classroom instruction. Students are satisfied with learning through EL channel differently from learning in either pure traditional in-class or sole EL instructions. This is what educators should concern in improving their instruction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dynamism between selected macroeconomic determinants and electricity consumption in India: An NARDL approach	[ "Electricity consumption", "Economic growth", "FDI", "Oil", "NARDL", "VECM" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In developing countries, such as India, the efficient and wider utilisation of electricity is desired, since 80 per cent of the total energy demand for country is fulfilled by imported energy. In the year 2016-2017, the Indian Government had spent a whopping $70.196bn on crude oil import, whereas in the year 2017-2018 the energy-import bill increased to $87.79bn. However, during this period, the domestic production of crude oil has remained stagnant (PTI, 2018) and persistent crude oil price fluctuations have imposed another set of challenges to the government. The literature suggests that the persistent increase in oil price may significantly influence other major macroeconomic indicators such as current account, inflation, and economic growth (Abdi, 2018). That is why, instead of relying on imported energy, the extensive use of electricity to meet the energy demand has been initiated across the world, as the supply of electricity is relatively more elastic and depends on endogenous resources (Ghosh, 2002). In 2003, the Indian Government passed an Act, which intends to ensure the comprehensive use of electricity for commercial and household use. For safeguarding the commercial viability of electricity, the Act had been amended in 2007. Notably, most of the developing and net energy importer countries have embraced it as a substitute for petroleum products. The persistent technological innovations have enlarged the scope of electricity usage at macro and micro-level (Jin et al., 2018). Besides technology, the growing population, urbanisation, globalisation and economic growth have also contributed to increasing the demand for electricity in the preceding years (IEE, 2016). As a result, the causality between electricity usage and other macroeconomic indicators has remained a burning topic in the recent past. However, these studies have ignored the nonlinear approach while examining the association between electricity and its macroeconomic determinants. In this regard, in a developing country like India, it becomes desirable to appraise the impact of negative and positive shocks of major macroeconomic determinants on electricity consumption. The positive and negative changes in these macroeconomic determinants may have a significant impact on the demand for electricity in the short run and long run. A common policy for measuring the negative and positive variations may provide misleading results. Therefore, in the present study, using NARDL estimation, the influence of GDP per capita, foreign direct investment and crude oil demand on per capita electricity consumption in India is examined. In the past, the studies have ignored this bifurcation and proposed an overall impact of these determinants on electricity demand.\nThe examination of existing literature: Since the 1950s, empirical studies have been examining the influence of economic determinants on energy consumption (Mason, 1955; Frank, 1959). However, the initial studies had dealt with the economic problems prevailing in the USA, which were concerned directly or indirectly with the energy issues (Solow, 1974; Janosi and Grayson, 1972). Gradually, the field has attracted international attention. Resultant, the empirical studies started using longer period with an increased number of macroeconomic determinants (Nguyen and Andrews, 1989; Abakah, 1990). In 1992, the United Nations organised a meeting at Rio de Janeiro where besides the constructive impact of energy consumption, its negative impact on the environment had also been discussed. After 2010, the World Bank has started updating the international energy data, which comprises the important World Development Indicators. Due to the availability of international energy data, the empirical studies have started reviewing the association between renewable and non-renewable energy with other macroeconomic indicators in a comprehensive manner. For understanding the widespread linkages of energy consumption, the literature review section has been bifurcated into two sections where the first section examines the nexus between energy and growth in general, and electricity and growth particularly. The second section would through light on other determinants of energy consumption where the empirical studies related to India have also been reviewed.\nElectricity-growth linkages: The outcomes of various empirical studies confirm the presence of growth hypothesis where electricity usage has widened the scope of national output of a country or a region in the long run (Shiu and Lam, 2004; Neeliah and Deenapanray, 2012; Enu and Havi, 2014; Abokyi et al., 2018). In other words, the increased use of electricity befits to other factor inputs such as labour and capital. Therefore, in such kind of setting, the reduction in electricity consumption may hamper the growth process (Muhammad Khalid and Nur-Syazwani, 2018). However, due to the change in the region or its applications within a country, the impact of electricity usage on production may vary significantly (Henderson et al., 2012). Besides the growth hypothesis, the studies support the possibility of a feedback effect where increased national production enhances the scope of electricity consumption through different channels. For example, in an empirical study conducted in Mexico, Gomez and Rodriguez (2016) found a bidirectional association between both, i.e. the increased use of electricity directs the economic activities, which further led to an increase in national production. Besides, the increased national output requires sufficient energy supply, which is to be met by the increased supply of electricity in the long run. Similarly, the results of Kasperowicz's (2014) study confirm that in Poland the increased use of electricity has contributed in promoting economic activities in the long run. Therefore, any decrease in the supply of electricity may have a negative impact on national output. The study confirms the causality between both variables.\nElectricity's linkages with other macroeconomic determinants: Globalisation endeavours have opened new avenues for market economies. As a result, the scope of energy consumption has increased considerably. Even in the succeeding years, its consumption is expected to increase persistently across the world. That is why, the interplay of energy with national output, financial sector development, FDI, urbanisation and foreign aid has been usually examined in the past studies. Intuitively, understanding the linkages between FDI and electricity consumption is vital, as the opened economies have embraced FDI and foreign aid to fulfil their financial and technological requirements (Puri and Misra, 2014). The literature supports that FDI contributes in improving the scale of production at both micro and macro levels (Chakraborty and Nunnenkamp, 2008). Therefore, examining its impact on electricity consumption may provide crucial insight. For example, the outcomes of Mavikela and Khobai's (2018) study approve the long run relationship between energy consumption and foreign direct investment in Argentina. Further, the study reveals that FDI has widened the scope of electricity consumption, which may be due to the rapid mobilisation of idle resources. On the other hand, in a panel data study, Omri and Kahouli (2013) found that compare to the high-income countries, the association between FDI and energy consumption has remained stronger in the lower and middle-income countries. Owing to the scope of mobilisation of economic resources, the positive spillovers of FDI in the lower and middle-income countries may become wider. Alam's (2013) study, while comparing the electricity-FDI linkages in India and Pakistan, found that in Pakistan electricity usage Granger causes FDI. Furthermore, the relationship between electricity, FDI and national output provides a stable long run equilibrium. For both countries, the study recommends the regular supply of electricity and cost-effective mode of electricity generation. Similarly, Ibrahiem's (2015) study conducted in Egypt confirmed that electricity consumption and FDI have widened the scope of national output in the region. Using ARDL bounds estimation, the study found a long run cointegration between comprised variables in Egypt over the study period of 1980-2011.\nResearch methodology and data sources: Except for oil consumption, all other data series (i.e. 1980-2015) have been conceived from the World Development Indicators (World Bank, 2017). The data related to oil consumption has been accessed from the official website of the international energy agency. Initially, electricity consumption, GDP, FDI and oil series are retrieved in kWh per capita, constant US dollars (2010), and 1,000bn barrel per day (total), respectively. As electricity series was already in per capita form, the remaining variables were also converted into per capita form by dividing with population. Further, by employing the natural log, the possible sharpness in the data has been controlled. Due to the possibility of the structural breaks in the time series data, Kim and Perron's (2009) unknown structural break test has been used. To check the significance of the structural break, the Wald test is performed. After performing both types of unit root tests, i.e. with and the without a structural break, the long run cointegration in the comprised data series has been confirmed.\nEmpirical results: Initially, using various types of descriptive statistics, the normality of the data set is examined. The results of the descriptive statistics are comprised in Table I.\nResults of the NARDL bounds estimation: The outcomes of Table IV exhibit the magnitude and direction of change in the dependent variable, which is driven by independent variables for the period of 1980-2015. A high coefficient value of adjusted R2 (0.786) reveals that 78.6 per cent variation in per capita electricity consumption is due to GDP, FDI and oil variations. The value of Durbin-Watson test (2.230) suggests that the autocorrelation problem is not severe in the system and the calculated results are reliable. Further, the kh2SEC and kh2HET values reject the possibility of serial correlation and heteroscedasticity, respectively. Ramsey Reset test's F-value suggests that the relationship between the dependent and independent variable is reliable. Moreover, the upper critical value of the bounds test is significantly less than the calculated value, which shows that the presence of cointegration is worth to examine and likely to have reliable results. The significant values of the short run and long run Wald tests reveal that while examining the relationship between electricity consumption with its determinants, the non-linearity approach may provide the extended information. Overall, the system possesses a long run cointegration where the impact of positive and negative shocks may differ with the time dimension. Therefore, the examination of electricity demand in the NARDL framework is worth to observe.\nThe outcomes of the long run: In the long run, due to an increase in national output, the demand for electricity consumption increases; this indicates that in India, electricity has been embraced as a vital source of energy. In other words, the additional output opens the scope for electricity demand and income elasticity of demand is found positive if national output shock is positive. However, the association between the negative shock of income and electricity has also been found positive in the long run. The positive impact of a negative income shock indicates that besides commercial activities, the demand for electricity by the non-commercial sector, i.e. household level has also remained significant in the long run. Notably, the urbanisation endeavours have widened the scope of electricity consumption in India (Ghosh, 2002). However, the present study has ignored the role of urbanisation while determining electricity demand, which leaves the scope for future research.\nThe outcomes of the short run: While considering the positive shocks in GDP and FDI, the short run results confirm that both variables have directly influenced the per capita electricity consumption in India. It is evident form the results that in both time periods, GDP and FDI are vital determinants of electricity consumption in the region. However, in comparison to FDI, the impact of GDP is found more significant. Therefore, the study proposes that the government needs to plan the energy policy carefully, as positive shocks in both periods are likely to generate the excessive demand for electricity. Further, the short run results reveal that the positive shock in demand for oil has a negative impact on per capita electricity consumption. It can be perceived from the short run relation that the increased demand for oil reduces the scope of electricity consumption not only in the long run but also in the short run. Therefore, the government has to develop the long-term energy policy where both energy sources can be established as a substitute for each other.\nResults of Granger causality estimation based on VECM: This approach may help in identifying the strength of causality across the variables in the short run and long run. Moreover, the error correction term if found negative and significant establishes the long run stable equilibrium with a speed of adjustment.\nImpulse response function: The outcomes of IRF corroborate the outcomes of Table IV where an increase in GDP leads to an increase in electricity demand in the long run (Figure 2(a)). Similarly, the increased FDI opens the scope of electricity consumption, which is explained by Figure 2(b). On the other hand, Figure 2(c) reveals that the relationship between oil consumption and electricity usage is found negative in India. Since the IRF is employed for forty years; therefore, in the long run, the electricity's responses become stable.\nConclusion and recommendations: The study is an attempt to deliberate on energy issue in the Indian context, as the country heavily relies on import to meet its energy demand. Examining the impact of electricity determinants, i.e. GDP, FDI and OIL in a nonlinear structure, may help in framing a reliable energy policy. Further, the inclusion of a dummy variable for structural break makes the electricity function more reliable, as for a country, the demand for energy is ever fluctuating, especially in the developing countries, such as India. Moreover, the various diagnostic tests also confirm that with the present set of variables, the considered study may provide reliable results.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: By disentangling the impact of positive and negative shocks of GDP, FDI and oil consumption on electricity consumption, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether this bifurcation significantly determines the level of electricity consumption in the short run and long run.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using the recently developed nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) bounds approach, the study investigates the changes in the level of electricity consumption over a period of 1980-2015. The inclusion of a dummy variable for the possible structural break makes the electricity demand function more reliable. After checking the stationarity of data series, the study has employed the bounds test, which confirms the existence of the long run stability in the system. Further, using the VECM, the causality among the comprised variables has also been examined.\nFindings: The findings confirm that not only the positive shocks but also the negative shocks in GDP have a positive and significant impact on electricity consumption in the long run. Similarly, the increased FDI has widened the scope of electricity consumption in the region, whereas the negative shocks' impact is found negative in the long run. In comparison to GDP and FDI, the influence of the increased oil consumption on electricity demand is found negative and significant in India, which reveals that electricity acts as a significant substitute for oil consumption in the long run.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the literature evidences available, none of the studies in the past has examined electricity demand in an NARDL framework. The study may help in estimating the demand for electricity consumption comprehensively, as this approach captures the separate influence of favourable and unfavourable changes while determining the level of electricity consumption. This approach may be crucial for policy makers, especially in an energy importer country, such as India.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Light touch, heavy hand: principals and data-use PLCs	[ "Principals", "Leadership", "Tools", "Professional learning communities", "Routines", "Data use" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Educational leaders at the school, district, and state levels have used data for years to identify and address student needs and narrow achievement gaps (Slavin et al., 2010). Indeed, we even see the use of data mandated for such purposes at the national level. For example, the federal No Child Left Behind Act intended to shed light on the performance of certain subgroups through disaggregation of student outcome data for English language learners, socio-economically disadvantaged students, and historically underserved ethnic groups (Linn et al., 2002). And under the recent Every Student Succeeds Act, schools are to be monitored using a broader collection of data types, including both academic and non-academic student measures. While these examples highlight how data-use practices have been widely embraced, one suspects that they do not look the same from district to district or school to school. Locally developed tools and routines related to data use may bring about different teacher responses, or trigger no response at all (Farrell and Marsh, 2016a, b; Olah et al., 2010). Tools - such as direct guides for data analysis, or disaggregated charts of school-level data - are intended to advance educators' use and understanding of data, as are routines such as regular \"data talks\" scheduled for content or grade-level teams.\nLiterature review: Many educators hope that teachers' engagement with student learning data will lead to more equitable outcomes for students. Some suggest that the disaggregation of student data (i.e. data gathered from state, district, school, or classroom-level assessments) will shine a light on the needs of students who have been underserved in the past (Datnow and Park, 2014). Data can be a critical part of reflective inquiry by teachers as they consider their own instructional practice (Marsh et al., 2015). Others suggest that looking at patterns in data can challenge teachers' prior beliefs or expectations about individuals or groups of students (Lachat and Smith, 2005). There is a widespread belief that the use of data to inform instructional decision making should be a \"best practice\" in education, particularly for closing performance gaps between groups of students (Mandinach, 2012; Mandinach and Jackson, 2012).\nConceptual framework: Organizational theory suggests that tools and routines are likely to play an important role in the implementation of interventions such as PLCs. Research suggests that these are important features of organizations, and they are often applied as a lens with which to understand stability and change in educational organizations (e.g. Conley and Enomoto, 2005; Sherer and Spillane, 2011). Here, we briefly explain how tools and routines have been established in the organizational literature and how leaders may be influential to their design and maintenance.\nMethodology: This paper draws from a larger study investigating data use through case studies of six low-performing middle schools located in four districts that were committed to developing teachers' data-use capacity. The focus of this study was on the role of data coaches, literacy coaches, and data-focused PLCs in informing teachers' use of student data to improve English language arts (ELA) instruction. The districts and schools were purposively selected (Eisenhardt, 1989) to reflect a number of conditions identified in prior research as supporting data-use interventions (i.e. ongoing professional development, guidance for lead educators) and to ensure that the intervention had been in place for a minimum of two years. The exploratory analysis in this paper takes a closer look at two middle schools, Tapiz and Victoria Middle Schools, in one of the participating districts, Quinta Imperial School District[2] (QISD).\nFindings: To understand ways in which leaders shaped the work of PLCs through tools and routines, we first explain the history of the district and schools' PLC initiative and background of the principals at the center of our inquiry. We then describe how the two school leaders designed and implemented different kinds of tools and routines at their sites. Principals' actions created two different sets of conditions for teachers' collaboration and likely had consequences for their opportunities to improve instruction based on data.\nDiscussion and conclusions: Research suggests that data can be a tool used to narrow achievement gaps (Johnson, 2002; Lachat and Smith, 2005). That alone may be strong motivation for districts to adopt data-use policies. However, in this study, the variation in PLC implementation between Tapiz and Victoria presents a potentially problematic outcome for QISD and the students in these two schools. Equity-oriented advocates have long argued that unequal access to quality \"inputs\" such as rigorous curriculum and high-quality teachers contributes to unequal opportunities to learn and ultimately, inequitable outcomes for students (Akiba et al., 2007). Being an educator who has time and structures to support reflective dialogue with colleagues around data (Farrell and Marsh, 2016a; Marsh et al., 2015) may be an important \"input\" for equitable outcomes for students in today's data-rich educational environment. So, if QISD teachers did not have similar opportunities to reflect on data collaboratively with peers, then their students may not have received equal opportunities to learn from data-informed instructors. Principals appear to play an important role in this story of uneven implementation via design and control over school-based routines and tools.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today's educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on tools and routines as mechanisms of principal influence on data-use professional learning communities (PLCs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected through a comparative case study of two low-income, low-performing schools in one district. The data set included interview and focus group transcripts, observation field notes and documents, and was iteratively coded.\nFindings: The two principals in the study employed tools and routines differently to influence ways that teachers interacted with data in their PLCs. Teachers who were given leeway to co-construct data-use tools found them to be more beneficial to their work. Findings also suggest that teachers' data use may benefit from more flexibility in their day-to-day PLC routines.\nResearch limitations/implications: Closer examination of how tools are designed and time is spent in data-use PLCs may help the authors further understand the influence of the principal's role.\nOriginality/value: Previous research has demonstrated that data use can improve teacher instruction, yet the varied implementation of data-use PLCs in this district illustrates that not all students have an equal opportunity to learn from teachers who meaningfully engage with data.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When change is not as good as a rest	[ "Public sector", "Healthcare", "New Zealand", "Stress", "Occupational wellbeing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nReview: Could the following proposition be true: the net effect of change programs is often miscalculated because they come from the point of view of managers, rather than the employees implementing the change. After all, the effect of change will be judged on increases in productivity, efficiency, outputs and ultimately the bottom line. These may well be positive, but could they be even better if the effect on employees has been taken into account and acted on?\nMasters and servants: Change programs such as the adoption of agile methodology are usually top-down affairs, where senior executives decide that change is required and implement it through employees. In the case of agile, project managers are known as \"scrum masters\", and adopt the role of a \"servant master\". That is, they act to serve the needs of the functioning development team, but in effect also run operations. But how does such change impact on both servants and masters in an organization when roles can alter rapidly for individuals and into new and strange forms?\nCalm before the storm: First, Smollan looked at the time before the change in the organization. Here, employees reported that things were business as usual, with common stresses and strains as part of the job. However, when change was mooted and then imminent, there were five stressors identified:\nTimes they are a-changin': The next phase to be studied was the period during the significant change, where employees were asked to describe how they felt and what in particular they found stressful. For many of us, the fear of the unknown may be the most stressful part of change at work, but for others, it is dealing with the day-to-day aspects of change; this phase in particular is where the psychological make-up of people comes into play, and for managers, understanding how their teams cope individually and as a group is a key part of the necessary preparation for implementing change programs.\nWas it worth it?: Finally, Smollan looked at the post-change phase to understand what lingering stress factors resulted from the period of upheaval. New procedures and roles were very stressful for many, while others found it difficult to understand or meet new expectations. The change period seems to provide more and varied stressors for workers, while they may not have been as intense as the period during the change. It is clear that managers need to plan early for the post-change period and start to communicate benefits as soon as possible. Key factors noted by employees were:\nComment: As a case study of what change looks like in a public sector organization, there can be few better examples than Smollan's research article \"Causes of stress before, during and after organisational change: a qualitative study\" Smollan (2015). It very clearly states, from the point of view of the managers and employees directly affected, what the problems were before, during and after major change, and as such any manager can look at these and try to pre-empt some of these problems when they are planning their own changes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: Could the following proposition be true: the net effect of change programs is often miscalculated because they come from the point of view of managers, rather than the employees implementing the change. After all, the effect will be judged on increases in productivity, efficiency, outputs and ultimately the bottom line. These may well be positive, but could they be even better if the effect on employees has been taken into account and acted on?\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Revisiting service quality through the lens of experience-centric services	[ "Service design", "Service quality", "Experience", "Customer loyalty", "Structural equation model", "Experience-centric service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Service experience has become a top priority for managers in a variety of industries, leading companies including Google, Amazon and KPMG to appoint chief experience officers (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). Since Pine and Gilmore's (1998) assertion that we have entered an experience economy, the term experience has become ubiquitous, but often used as a buzzword or measured inappropriately as a proxy for customer satisfaction (Zomerdijk and Voss, 2011). For example, universities seek to measure students' experience, while retailers request feedback on customers' shopping experience, even when they buy everyday household goods, e.g., \"If I have a transcendental experience with a bin liner, my supplier will be the first to know. But otherwise, forget it\" (Karpf, 2016).\n2. Background and hypotheses: The service experience is important because all services are experienced (Berry et al., 2002; Schmitt, 2003). This means that the value of any service is uniquely and phenomenologically determined by customers, who also participate in its creation (Smith et al., 2014). An experience is unique to each individual, but certain design features and methods can generate a positive experience (Beltagui et al., 2015). Indeed, the emotional and psychological aspects of a service can play a vital role in the value generated. For example, there is evidence to suggest that the success of hospital treatments is influenced not only by the clinical tasks performed, but also by patients' emotional experience (Berry et al., 2004; Doyle et al., 2013). Interactions between organizations and their customers have increasingly become mediated by technology (Froehle and Roth, 2004). Furthermore, stronger collaboration between functions such as service operations and marketing are required when experience is a strategic priority (Voss et al., 2008; Kwortnik and Thompson, 2009; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). These trends render established models and measures - in particular those used for service quality - inadequate.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data\n4. Findings: The structural model, shown in Figure 1, was analyzed to test hypothesized direct relationships. In Table III, we see that all five hypotheses about direct relationships are supported by the data.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Instrumental and expressive performance\n6. Conclusion: The contributions of this research are threefold. First, it develops a model of service quality that takes into account the customer experience by including a measure of expressive performance alongside instrumental performance. Second, it tests the mediating effect of outcome-achievement in experience-centric services, on the relationships between both types of performance and customer loyalty. This supports the notion that merely adding entertainment and novelty to a service results in an appealing exterior with a hollow core and is unlikely to lead to customer loyalty. Third, it tests the moderating effect of service character, demonstrating that for services that customers perceive as hedonic, the expected outcomes are more about the emotional experience than the functionality of the service.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revisit prevailing notions of service quality by developing and testing a model of service quality for experience-centric services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By problematizing the service quality literature, a model is developed to capture impacts of outcome-achievement, instrumental performance and expressive performance on customer loyalty. A multi-group structural equation model is tested to establish the moderating effect of perceived service character - utilitarian or hedonic.\nFindings: Outcome-achievement mediates the direct relationships between instrumental and expressive performance, respectively, and loyalty; the strength of these relationships is moderated by perceived service character.\nResearch limitations/implications: Emotional design to improve the experience is effective provided the expected outcome is achieved. However, for services that customers perceive as experience-centric, the outcome may be somewhat ambiguously defined and expressive performance is valued more highly than instrumental performance.\nPractical implications: Understanding customers' perception of a service - whether customers seek value related to outcomes or emotions - is crucial when selecting appropriate measures of service quality and performance. Creating a good experience is generally beneficial, but it must be designed according to the character of the service in question.\nOriginality/value: The research presents empirical evidence on how service experience contributes to customer loyalty by testing a model of service quality that is suited to experience-centric services. Furthermore, it identifies the importance of understanding service character when designing and managing services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The evolution of innovation management towards contextual innovation	[ "Research and development", "Innovation", "Contingency planning", "Management technique" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Understanding how to manage innovation successfully is crucially important in a time when innovation is an almost obligatory survival strategy (\"innovate or die\" (Drucker, 1999)) that at the same time is very risky because it may lead to the demise of a company (Olleros, 1986; Tellis and Golder, 1996). It is not surprising, then, that many innovation management studies have a normative nature and focus on how to innovate successfully. Given the fact that innovation management has changed over the last four decades, it appears that every time frame has its own notions of what successful or best practices are. These so-called innovation generations are descriptions \"... of what constitutes the dominant model of best practice ... \" (Rothwell, 1994, p. 23). However, although this historical division may have been accurate in the past, current innovation practices suggest that innovative companies do not automatically follow the best practices as prescribed by the dominant model of their time. In fact, innovation managers more often than not on how to manage their innovation process based on their specific context.Understanding the various innovation management approaches and their respective advantages and disadvantages is a prerequisite if one is to select the best approach in a given context. In this article, we provide an overview of the main developments in generations of innovation management over the last few decades, focusing on innovation management in large companies. We describe the context in which companies make their decisions concerning innovation management and the mechanisms that play a role in the decision-making process. Generally speaking, it seems that more and more companies are developing a contingency approach to innovation management, adapting their innovation management practices to their (business) context. We call this contextual innovation.In the next section, we provide a historical account of the development of innovation management after WOII, by describing four generations of innovation management and their societal and organizational context, including the advantages and disadvantages of the various generations. We argue that contextual innovation, in which innovation managers adapt innovation processes to their specific organizational and societal context, is emerging as a mainstream practice in innovation management. In the third section, we introduce the concept of contextual innovation, by defining contextual factors and describing different managerial choices with regard to innovation management, and we illustrate the mechanisms of contextual innovation based on two cases. We close with a summary and a few concluding remarks.\nFour generations of innovation management: Innovation processes describe the activities that are performed at each stage of the development of an innovation. Innovation management is the governance and organization of these innovation processes. research and development (R&D) management can be considered a broader term than innovation management, since it contains invention processes as well as innovation processes. However, because R&D management usually focuses on a specific approach to innovation management, innovation management may be considered the broader of the two terms. In this section, we describe the subsequent generations of innovation management, their respective societal and organizational contexts and their advantages and disadvantages (within their specific contexts).Introducing the generations\nIntroducing contextual innovation management: The historical development of innovation makes us curious about what will be the next development. Indeed, it would be foolish to expect this evolutionary process to stop, simply because the importance of innovation is increasing. However, despite the effort by some authors to establish a fifth and even a sixth generation, it is our view that the idea of a single set of dominant best practices of innovation management within a specific historical period no longer holds. Even an author like Henry Chesbrough, who is generally seen as the embodiment of the fourth generation, admits that his concept of Open Innovation is not the only available option for every company or industry:This is not to argue that all industries now operate in an Open Innovation regime. Some industries (...) continue to operate in a Closed Innovation regime (Chesbrough, 2003, p. xxvii).Indeed, it would appear that nowadays companies no longer feel obliged to apply the innovation practices of \"their\" generation (i.e. the fourth one), but instead adopt a more context-based approach. This is what we call contextual innovation. Below, we discuss this concept and present empirical research to support this point of view.First of all, not every company manages its innovation processes in a formal way contrary to what is assumed in the notion of innovation generations. Many companies continued to apply intuitive and informal ways to innovate as late as the 1990s (Griffin, 1997; Nessim et al., 1995), and some of these companies are (even) very successful (Griffin, 1997). Brown and Eisenhardt (1997) have shown that companies may adopt widely different approaches to innovation, even when they develop similar innovations.Secondly, empirical research indicates that different approaches to innovation may be adopted within a single company (see Van den Elst et al., 2006; Verloop, 2006). Between 1990 and 1995, the percentage of US firms using more than one product development structure increased from 53 percent to 62 percent (Page, 1993). The underlying idea is that different situations require different kinds of processes. Empirical research illustrates that they are right: a context-based approach usually yields the best results (Miller and Blais, 1993; Nessim et al., 1995). This indicates that a context-dependent approach is about to become the mainstream practice. The most successful innovative companies do not succeed merely by using one innovation approach more extensively or better, but by carefully selecting the right approach within a given context (Griffin, 1997). This in itself is an indication that the concept of innovation management generations has become outdated. The idea of a single mainstream approach to innovation management is simply no longer in accordance with the facts.Defining the context\nSummary and concluding remarks: Innovation management generations are considered \"historical bundles\" of best practices in innovation management. The historical development of innovation management is evolutionary in nature, whereby companies adapt innovation management to the changing societal and business environment to overcome the disadvantages of previous innovation management principles. The desire to overcome these disadvantages and the need to adapt to a changing environment are interrelated. For example, a technological approach to innovation (generation 1) works well when demand exceeds supply, but becomes a disadvantage when supply exceeds demand.Rather than suggesting a new mainstream approach to innovation (i.e. a fifth generation), we propose a contextual approach of innovation. We do not imply that the innovation principles of previous generations have become completely obsolete. In fact, one might argue that, for instance, a first generation approach (technology push) may turn out to provide the best solution in specific contexts. In a way, the historical development of innovation management has \"stopped\" and been replaced by a portfolio-approach that offers companies a wide range of ways to manage their innovation processes.Contextual innovation means that innovation practices and decisions have to be adapted. We draw a distinction between strategic and operational decisions, each of which is further subdivided into several decisions. In addition to the various types of decisions that have to be made, the complex interaction between the various parts of the context in their effect on the innovation approach has thus far made it impossible to identify a simple and widely applicable algorithm with regard to the application of contextual innovation. More empirical research is therefore needed, although suggesting that it would be possible to devise such an algorithm would lead to a paradoxical situation, since that algorithm would in itself be a best practice, which is something contextual innovation attempts to avoid. Although it is true that there are best practices, they vary with each different context. What is clear is that a contextual framework should meet the following requirements:* It should contain multiple levels of detail allowing for strategic and operational decisions to be made.* It should adopt a systematic approach, in which the various contextual factors are interrelated and which addresses complementary innovation processes simultaneously.* It should enable more flexible processes, for instance \"trial and error\", and acknowledge that in many cases a linear innovation process is a much too simple view on innovation.One of the advantages of contextual innovation is that it offers innovation managers the possibility to break away from normative approaches to innovation managers who are mainly advised by consultants inspired by normative scientific research in this area. A one-size-fits-all approach is much too rigid for a dynamic area like innovation. A meta-analysis on success factors conducted by Van der Panne et al. (2004) shows that it is difficult to find success factors that are valid in each situation (context), and that success factors that are indeed valid are often just too obvious, for example \"Adequate timing of market introduction\". The contextual nature of innovation simply means that \"adequate timing\" varies with each different context.A disadvantage of contextual innovation may be that having different approaches to innovation management within a single company may make innovation processes within that company more difficult. A lead customer-driven approach (e.g., business units of Philips operating in business markets) is incompatible with a technology push (e.g., incubators at Philips). This incompatibility problem may become bigger if companies from different industries are trying to realize Schumpeter's dream of Neue Kombinationen (see, for example, Berkhout and van der Duin, 2007).We see the contextual approach to innovation as a kind of contingency thinking. Contingency theories have been formed in many areas of management science, for instance strategic management (Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967) and consumer research (Kakkar and Lutz, 1975; Kechris, 1987). A contingency approach to consumer research postulates, for example, that situational aspects are important determinants of the needs and behavior of consumers.In general, a contingency approach in strategic management means that the best type of organization depends on how it is aligned with the market and societal environment, or \"a goodness of fit between its structural design and the conditions of its environment\" (Pennings, 1992, p. 268). A definition that is closer to contextual innovation is:Contingency theory suggests that there is no optimal strategy for all organizations and posits that the most desirable choice of strategy variables alters to certain factors, termed contingency.And although the contingency approach has been criticized, for example for having too simple a view on organizational reality (Schoonhoven, 1981) and for displaying a lack of conceptual clarity (Fry and Smith, 1987), in our view it is a promising alternative to the kind of one-size-fits-all approaches to innovation management that are often promoted by consultants, because it can underpin the diverse practices of many organizations and innovation managers. Indeed, although earlier attempts have been made to look at innovation management from a contingency perspective, they have tended to be based on an NPD point of view (Jin et al., 1997; Lynn and Akgun, 1998), the influence of factors such as leadership, work climate, and external contacts among employees on employees' innovative behavior (De Jong and den Hartog, 2007, p. 57), the type of technological change (disruptive, stable, or exploitation of existing technologies) (Drejer, 2002), or a or merely from the point of view of R&D (Balachandra and Friar, 1997). However, to bring in the contingency perspective on innovation management by designing a contextual approach to innovation management, greater insight is needed into the specific relationships between all these contextual factors. However, this should not just include the causality between these relationships, also show the dependencies between the various options regarding the organization of the innovation process. A contextual innovation management framework can provide an overview of alternatives choices in different contexts and assist innovation managers in their innovation-related decision-making process. Innovation is simply too important for an organization to put all its eggs in one basket.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - In recent decades, innovation management has changed. This article provides an overview of the changes that have taken place, focusing on innovation management in large companies, with the aim of explaining that innovation management has evolved toward a contextual approach, which it will explain and illustrate using two cases.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The basic approach in this article is to juxtapose a review of existing literature regarding trends in innovation management and research and development (R&D) management generations, and empirical data about actual approaches to innovation.\nFindings: - The idea that there is a single mainstream innovation approach does not match with the (successful) approaches companies have adopted. What is required is a contextual approach. However, research with regard to such an approach is fragmented. Decisions to adapt the innovation management approach to the newness of an innovation or the type of organization respectively have thus far been investigated separately.\nResearch limitations/implications: - An integrated approach is needed to support the intuitive decisions managers make to tailor their innovation approach to the type of innovation, organization(s), industry and country/culture.\nOriginality/value: - The practical and scientific value of this paper is that is describes an integrated approach to contextual innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
National health workforce regulation: Contextualising the Australian scheme	[ "Regulation", "Governance structures", "Health workforce" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: Health practitioner regulation in Australia began in 1837 when a Medical Council was established in the colony of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) (Thomson, 2006). This set the pattern of co-regulatory arrangements between the state and the professions. The Commonwealth (national) Government was established in 1901, and the responsibility for health practitioner regulation was maintained by the states and later additionally, two territories. Between 1901 and 2010, a patchwork arrangement for the registration of health practitioners developed across the country. By 2010, 15 health profession groups were regulated by legislation in one or more jurisdictions. In many cases, each jurisdiction had separate legislation for each practitioner group. Only the state of Victoria had multi-professional legislation, having introduced its Health Professions Registration Act in 2005. Some health practitioner groups (e.g. Chinese Medical Practitioners in Victoria (Zhou et al., 2012) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners in the Northern Territory), were only registered in a single jurisdiction prior to the introduction of the Scheme (Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council, 2009).\nStructure and governance arrangements: The Council of Australian Governments (the prime minister, state premiers and territory first ministers) gave the health ministers the task of bringing the Scheme into being. While the study of ministerial activity and the inter-governmental realm is familiar ground in federated nations like Australia, the specific mechanism where these forces are brought together - Ministerial Councils - are a site of limited academic inquiry (Botterill, 2007). In the case of the development of the National Scheme, there has been an insider account by Morauta (2011) as the official that led the process of the decision-making processes undertaken by Ministerial Councils. This account includes specific recognition that \"the ministerial council system in Australia has often found it difficult to achieve timely results and to reach consensus agreements\" (Morauta, 2011). In this instance, however, all efforts were made to achieve the agreed outcome, with only one jurisdiction (Western Australia) delaying their participation in the Scheme by three months. In Western Australia, there were also other differences. The mechanisms adopted to manage the legislation are different, adopting mirror rather than template legislation. Unlike other jurisdictions, amendments will not be automatically in force in Western Australia when passed in Queensland (where the legislation then passed in each of the other states and territories) was first passed, but will require them to be passed separately in Western Australia. The detail of the legislation also differs somewhat in Western Australia. An amendment was made to the legislation in Western Australia to deliver an exemption from mandatory reporting of registered health practitioners and students by another registered health practitioner when that information is obtained in the course of providing health care and thus mitigating a key barrier to the seeking of care for mental health conditions in particular (Goiran et al., 2014). Other differences in the operation of the Scheme in different jurisdictions are addressed below.\nRegulatory tasks under the scheme - standard setting and enforcement: The Scheme requires the National Boards to establish detailed standards for the registration of health practitioners in accordance with the legislative framework. The process of examining complaints or notifications relating to health practitioners is a demonstration of co-regulatory arrangements within the Scheme. In the case of New South Wales, the existing arrangement for the investigation of complaints, or notifications as they are referred to under the Scheme, by its Health Care Complaints Ombudsman was maintained. This has been described as having been a major deviation from national consistency agreed to by all ministers to ensure that the Scheme overall would proceed nationally (Morauta, 2011). From July 2014, complaints or notifications relating to health care received in Queensland are also being initially managed by their office of the Health Ombudsman. These arrangements (i.e. variation in the processes for notifications and subsequent investigations) have been described as increasing the complexity of the regulatory environment (Healy and Walton, 2016). Irrespective of in which jurisdiction a complaint is investigated, AHPRA and the National Board maintain the responsibility of removing practitioners or recording and policing restrictions on practice and recording these in the National Register.\nComparing regulatory tasks and governance arrangements in other national health bodies: The National Scheme, with its operating structure of National Boards for each professional group and the AHPRA that delivers the regulatory services, is certainly complex. In order to assess some of its unique elements, two other organisations - the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC), and Food Standards Australia and New Zealand - which share some similar traits, are examined in some detail.\nConsiderations in collective ministerial authority: In seeking consistency through national regulatory reform for patients and practitioners, compromises were required. Almost 80 organisations that were aligned to local legislation and community networks were disbanded and the influence of individual ministers within their respective state or territory was curtailed. This was the inherent compromise in pursuit of a single, national institution, and the change in ministerial activity from individual to collective activity provided some of the critical political and sociocultural risks that needed to be considered and managed during the implementation of the Scheme.\nDiscussion: specific requirements led to a unique outcome: Between 2010 and 2015, the National Scheme for the Registration and Accreditation for the health professions was embedded in the Australian health workforce and wider regulatory environment. Because health practitioner regulation rested constitutionally with the states and territories, and the National Law model adopted - much of the authority sits with the collection of health ministers, a group which does not have formal legal standing. While committees can (and have) undertaken inquiries, changes would require the consent of all ministers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In 2010, Australia introduced the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for the health professions (the Australian scheme) creating a legislative framework for a national system of health workforce regulation, delivering a model of collective (and multi-level) government involvement in regulatory activities. The purpose of this paper is to examine how its governance arrangement compares to different national systems and other health regulatory bodies in Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This qualitative case study is informed by documentary analysis in conjunction with policy mapping. This is part of a larger project investigating the policy pathway which led to establishment of the Scheme. The authors compare the Scheme with other Australian health standard setting and regulatory bodies.\nFindings: The Australian scheme's governance model supported existing constitutional arrangements, and enabled local variations. This facilitated the enduring interest of ministers (and governments) on matters of health workforce and articulated the activities of the new regulatory player. It maintains involvement of the six states and two territories, with the Commonwealth Government, and profession-specific boards and accreditation agencies. This resulted in a unique governance framework delivering a new model of collective ministerial responsibility. The governance design is complex, but forges a new way to embed existing constitutional arrangements within a tripartite arrangement that also delivers National Boards specific to individual health professions and an organisation to administer regulatory activities.\nOriginality/value: This study demonstrates that effective design of governance arrangements for regulatory bodies needs to address regulatory tasks to be undertaken as well as the existing roles, and ongoing interests of governments in participating in those regulatory activities. It highlights that a unique arrangement, while appearing problematic in theory may in practice deliver intended regulatory outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Citizens' perceived value of locally-provided services: Empirical study of a rural population in Southeast Finland	[ "Customer value", "Attitudes", "Survey", "Rural areas", "Local services", "Service availability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Ageing and rural-to-urban migration have raised new questions regarding the value of locally available services in European countries where rural populations have faced diminishing local services in the public and private sector (Andersen and Jensen, 2010). We define local services as service provided in physical locations within inhabitants' daily activity space which provide reasonable access in terms of geographical and human factors (Nemet and Bailey, 2000; Goins et al., 2005). Local services include municipality and private services needed for daily errands and health care which are relevant for ageing citizens in rural areas.\n2. Population, settlement and service provision in rural Finland: Northern Europe, and Nordic countries in particular, is one of the most rural and fastest-ageing regions in Europe (Lundholm, 2015; OECD, 2008). Settlement in Europe has also become sub-urbanised leading to unequal development between central and rural regions (Helminen et al., 2013; Grimsrud, 2011). As a result, populations have increased near major cities but decreased in rural areas at increasing speeds (Helminen et al., 2013; Helminen and Ristimaki, 2008; Grimsrud, 2011; Sireni, 2011). The population of Finland follows European megatrends and features similar rural-to-urban migration (Shaker, 2015). In Finland, the population is expected to grow slightly in the coming decades from the present 5.2 million. At present, the population is strongly urban with 80 per cent of people living in or near cities; the remaining 20 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, which cover most of the country.\n3. Citizens' value perceptions of local services: The theoretical model to explain the value perception of local services in rural regions is built on two blocks, the factors that hinder service usage and the influence of social interactions. The hindering factors emerge from service provision and person-related capabilities. Influence of a social network covers direct person-to-person interactions and secondary influence by authorities. The concepts selected for the study are perceived value, perceived availability of services, self-efficacy, subjective norms and governmental influence. We created the relations of the research model with the hypotheses presented in the following sections (Figure 3).\n4. Methodology: 4.1. Research approach\n5. Empirical analysis results: 5.1. Structural model for the main hypotheses\n6. Discussion and conclusions: The paper provided a study of rural residents' value perceptions of local services and explained attitude formation in communities. We explained the variation of perceived value by the research model which included influences of availability of services, subjective norms, a person's self-efficacy and governmental influence on individuals' behaviour. We also tested the hypothesised relationships through the moderation influences of living arrangements, distance from municipal centre and individuals' functioning status. The research data gathered with a postal survey in southeast Finland assessed respondents' perceptions of these concepts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Ageing and population movement from rural regions to regional centres have raised new questions regarding the value of locally available services. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of individuals' functioning status, housing arrangements and social context on services value. The authors approach the topic with the following research question: how do the personal capabilities and social spheres of rural residents influence demand for local services?\nDesign/methodology/approach: Results are based on a postal survey conducted in southeast Finland. Data were collected using a random sample of 3,000 people from age 60 to 90 years in rural areas surrounding a regional centre. A total of 1,121 valid responses were received.\nFindings: The influence of individuals' mobility on value depended on the travel distance between services and living arrangements. The authors find that subjective norms and social interactions influenced attitudes; meanwhile, the government indirectly influenced the perceived value of services.\nResearch limitations/implications: The self-efficacy of future rural populations in adopting new services would also be a worthwhile topic. Further research should compare different living arrangements and cultures.\nOriginality/value: The findings of this study highlight the importance of community-wide interventions. Governmental influence did not have a direct influence on perceived value of service but has significance for the subjective norm. The moderation effect, however, revealed that governmental influence is significant where community population density is high.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the effects of habit strength on scholarly publishing	[ "Research", "Publishing", "Attitudes", "TPB", "OA", "Habit" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: At present, there are two broad methods for research dissemination by scholarly articles, open access (OA) and non-open access (non-OA). While OA literature is freely available to consumers, non-OA literature is available only at a cost (e.g. for a journal subscription or single article download). The European Commission (2012) stated in the Europe 2020 strategy recommendation of 2012 that \"publicly funded research should be widely disseminated through open access publication of scientific data and papers\" (p. 2). Although the premise of OA seems reasonable and beneficial to the progress of science, adoption of this publishing model has been slow (Bjork, 2017). Researchers are reluctant to fully embrace the model due to insecurities about the overall quality of OA material and an apparent lack of incentives that would reward the switch from non-OA to OA, although some suggestions are in the pipeline (European Commission, 2017).Many actions performed on a daily basis are the results of habit (Wood and Runger, 2016), and these automated behaviours have the advantage of reducing the cognitive load of decision-making (Ouellette and Wood, 1998). Scholarly publishing activities are influenced by familiarity with journals, scope, impact factors, editorial boards and requirements that facilitate researchers' decisions on where to submit their articles (Knight and Steinbach, 2008; Watkinson et al., 2016). Research has shown that familiarity and experience are important factors in habit formation (Lally et al., 2011) and also pertaining to scholarly publishing (Knight and Steinbach, 2008). One contemporary challenge surrounding scholarly publishing is to shift how we think about dissemination, accessibility and funding. Digitalisation only shifted the medium of dissemination, while accessibility challenges how we think about the nature of dissemination itself. Habits, however, are firmly anchored in what we are used to, in this case, traditional non-OA publishing. Overall, the publishing climate remains favourable towards maintaining the status quo irrespective of increasing demands by governments and funders to enable OA for research. However, it should be noted that there are interdisciplinary differences, and some publishing cultures are more innovative and open towards, for instance, green OA than others (Fry et al., 2015). To our knowledge, no empirical studies have systematically investigated the role of habit strength (Verplanken and Orbell, 2003) in explaining or predicting scholarly OA/non-OA publishing intention and behaviour.Several theories and antecedents compete to explain the process leading up to submitting an article to a journal (Aksulu and Wade, 2010; Dulle and Minishi-Majanja, 2011; Khalili and Singh, 2012; Moksness and Olsen, 2017; Park, 2009). Attitudes (Xia, 2010), trust (Watkinson et al., 2016), quality (Craft, 2016), normative influences (Hammarfelt and de Rijeke, 2015; Migheli and Ramello, 2013) and incentives (van Dalen and Henkens, 2012) are among the frequently used explanations for publishing intention or behaviour. Even personality traits and identity are facets that, in certain dimensions, set researchers on different paths and underpin variations in decision-making (Busse and Mansfield, 1984; Feist, 1998). A line can be drawn between actions that are inherently elaborative and those that are automatic, of which attitudes and intentions are the former and habits are the latter (Ouellette and Wood, 1998; Wood and Neal, 2007). However, knowledge about how these factors influence or drive publishing intentions and behaviour in any larger sample of researchers is at best limited.The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is an influential framework for explaining a wide range of human activities and behaviours (Armitage and Conner, 2001; Fishbein and Ajzen, 2010), and habit is one of the constructs used to approach a deeper understanding of planned behaviour (De Bruijn, 2010; Verplanken et al., 1998). Prior works have investigated the multidimensionality of attitudes, norms and behavioural control, which subsequently lead to the expansion of the TPB (see Fishbein and Ajzen, 2010). The vast body of literature investigating the TPB ensures replicability of its basic structure, further enabling extensions to be tested with some measure of confidence (Armitage and Conner, 2001).Thus, the aim of this study is to contribute to the emerging research stream that systematically investigates the deeper attitudinal and behavioural structure involved in OA and non-OA scholarly publishing (Dulle and Minishi-Majanja, 2011; Khalili and Singh, 2012; Moksness and Olsen, 2017; Park, 2007). This article operates with broad definitions of OA and non-OA journals, and the TPB framework (Fishbein and Ajzen, 2010) is used to test alternative models within the context of OA intentions and behaviours. Subsequently, the traditional model will empirically test intention to submit to non-OA journals and non-OA publishing behaviours. We include an adapted habit automaticity subscale based on the Self-Reported Habit Index (SRHI; Gardner et al., 2011, 2012).Background and theoretical framework\nResearch methodology: Participants and procedures\nResults: Reliability and validity of measures\nDiscussion and implications: This study explored the role of habit strength and planned behaviour in relation to scholarly OA and non-OA publishing. Three main models were tested, which also included non-OA intentions and behaviour in the final model. The study used the TPB (Fishbein and Ajzen, 2010) and included habit strength measured by an SRBAI (Gardner et al., 2012), a subscale of the SRHI (Verplanken and Orbell, 2003). The frameworks were adapted to the research context of academic publishing attitudes and behaviours.This study contributes to the emerging research on publishing behaviour in several ways. First, we found that when measured alongside the traditional intentional antecedents, the effects of habit strength were rendered non-significant. A possibility is that the automaticity aspect of the decomposed habit subscale nullifies its direct effect on intentions in the presence of more rational attitudinal, normative and behavioural constructs. Especially if attitudes form the basis of intentions as well as the normative pressure (Honkanen et al., 2005; Migheli and Ramello, 2013), as is the case in the present study. Potential evidence for this was found in Models 3 and 4 wherein these constructs were tested as independent variables for habit mediating the effects on intentions. Habit was found to significantly affect intention only when it fully mediated the effects of the factors affecting intentions, albeit the model did not fit the data well. These results support the assumptions proposed by some prior studies (e.g. Amoroso and Lim, 2017; Limayem et al., 2007), which questioned the veracity of allowing habit to mediate any effects of the independent variables on intention.However, an interesting discovery that emerged, especially from forcing a full mediation (Model 3), was the superior contribution of norms over attitudes in the prediction of habit strength. Descriptive norms guide behaviour by suggesting to individuals what is considered normal or typical behaviour, and our findings indicate that this is an integral part of developing OA publishing habits. According to Cialdini et al. (1991), norms do not necessarily need to be active at all times and in all contexts, as they vary in how noticeable they are based on relevance and activation. This perspective fits with developing publishing habits, as the motivation to publish research papers likely is not salient with researchers at all times. Social and disciplinary norms are suggested to be important in forming intention and publishing behaviour include OA (Hammarfelt and Rijce, 2014; Massoro and Adewale, 2019; Migheli and Ramello, 2013; Moksness and Olsen, 2017). For instance, discussing the implementation of a new publishing policy is likely to trigger the activation of norms, leading to expressed intentions, possibly mediated by habit in some form. The analyses also showed that the researchers in this study significantly believed in their capacity to submit articles to OA journals; however, this belief only weakly contributes to habit strength. PBC directly affects intention in all models (i.e. Models 1-4).Our fifth model, the decomposed behavioural model (DBM), represented the simplest attempt at exploring habitual publishing behaviour by decomposing the model to isolate the relative contribution of habit on the dependent variables. Intention and behaviour for non-OA publishing were also assessed. Decomposing the model and isolating the effects of habit was a fruitful strategy in our research context. However, this approach is in contrast to traditional DTPB strategies (Dwivedi et al., 2017) wherein the belief structures of the independent variables are decomposed. It should further be noted that in Dwivedi et al. (2017), the fit indices indicated that DBM did not perform well. A key element of decomposition appears to be the increased focus the approach provides on the respective structures (Taylor and Todd, 1995b). In this sense, this present provides empirical evidence for this approach, albeit in a simplified structure.In our study, the results further revealed that when measured alone, habit strength does contribute to intentions, which is in line with other research (Amoroso and Lim, 2017; Honkanen et al., 2005; Ouellette and Wood, 1998). Habit strength OA was also found to reduce non-OA publishing behaviour, while the effect of OA behaviour was non-significant. The findings also confirmed the influence of OA intentions on behaviour, further suggesting that if habits are formed, this may indeed have a positive effect on publishing behaviour, albeit not directly. As expected, if researchers have developed a habit of publishing in OA journals, they appear to avoid non-OA journals, as evident by the non-significant effect of OA intentions on non-OA behaviour. A similar picture also emerges for non-OA intention, which only contributes to non-OA behaviour without being significantly associated with OA behaviour. OA habit strength, then, plays a part in forming intentions to publish in OA journals but reduces the intention to publish in non-OA journals. By contrast, the effects on behaviour are quite different. OA habit strength has no direct effect on OA publishing behaviour, which intuitively makes sense, given that they are different psychological outcomes (one cannot elaborate on doing something automatically). However, evidence that habit plays a part in publishing can still be found in its negative influence on non-OA publishing behaviour, which also suggests it contributes to OA publishing.According to Ouellette and Wood (1998), the manner in which habit directly contributes to future behaviours is determined by whether or not the domain in which the behaviour occurs is supportive of habits. They suggested that intentions mediate habits only when behaviour requires deliberate thought. This implies that a publishing habit is likely to influence behaviour directly if all of the subsequent actions leading up to the behaviour are habitual as well. Another point relates to whether the context remains stable over time (Gardner, 2015). Gardner (2015) noted that habit change interventions often fail given that people return to contexts whereby the implicit habit (automatic but performed infrequently) may be activated.There are some implications for researchers, administrators and policy makers. In the spring of 2018, the Research Council in Norway (NRC) signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA, 2012) (sfdora.org). This signals the NRC's desire, among other things, to evaluate research proposals based on the quality of the publications, not the journals in which they were published. However, the journal quality system, which also constitutes how funding is dispersed and thus incentivizes researchers to select high-level journals, is not being amended. This mismatch is likely to cause further discord among researchers and their institutions and funders, underscoring the importance of the present study. Few policy decisions that affect researchers appear to be founded on research, and to reduce friction in the upcoming transitional process, we not only need more research, but the research has to be implemented practically.In a national sample of researchers, OA publishing habits were found to predict intentions to submit to OA journals and reduce publishing behaviour in non-OA journals. The challenge herein is to allow habits the time to form, given that producing scholarly articles is an infrequent behaviour. While researchers' intentions do predict behaviour, our findings suggest that this holds true for both OA and non-OA behaviour, albeit comparatively more weakly for non-OA behaviour. Still, when the national (e.g. Norway) goal is to have all research openly available by 2024, it is worth considering that OA habit strength is the only predictor, in this study, that causes a reduction in the \"undesired\" behaviour. Also worth noting is that when it comes to OA publishing, researchers' attitudes and normative influences are potent and override any direct effect habit may have on intentions. However, when isolating habit from these predictors, habit explains a significant portion of the intentions. This shows that when working with researchers in relation to OA publishing, it is primarily their attitudes and norms that will dictate their intentions.It is worth considering that descriptive publishing norms, as measured in our study, may be pivotal components in facilitating the transition to open science by their direct path to habit strength. A typical approach to educate researchers about OA is by giving presentations and lectures, although this is usually done in single presentations and not at regular intervals. If a publishing habit that is connected to non-OA already exists, it is likely to remain dominant or at least reactivate when researchers return to their typical working context. A possible solution that may facilitate the development of an OA publishing habit could, therefore, be to schedule workshops or seminars at regular intervals. Indeed, in reviewing the habit literature, Wood and Runger (2016) found that habit formation is more likely to occur when the desired behaviour is repeated and there are interval reward schedules in place.Limitations and future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of habit strength in explaining intention and open access (OA) and non-OA scholarly publishing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A decomposed theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is used as the conceptual framework to investigate a sample of 1,588 researchers from the major universities in Norway. Different latent construct models are analysed with a structural equation modelling approach.\nFindings: The results show that the effect of habit was non-significant in an extended TPB framework where attitude was most important, followed by norms and perceived behavioural control in explaining intention to submit OA. Habit was only found to have a significant impact on intention to submit OA when it played a role as a full mediator for the effects of the intentional antecedents. In this modified model, norms were found to have a stronger effect than attitudes in explaining the habit to submit OA. OA habit strength forms intentions to publish in OA journals and reduces the intention to publish and publishing behaviour in NOA journals.\nResearch limitations/implications: Other individual forces (e.g. personality and personal values) and the role of habit strength should be included for future research.\nPractical implications: The results provide empirical insights to management, policy makers and research on scholarly publishing.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes not only to the understanding of OA scholarly publishing, but is also relevant for research on what drives (academic) data sharing, knowledge sharing, the sharing economy or the open source movement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determining factors of tourists' loyalty to beach tourism destinations: a structural model	[ "Destination loyalty", "Destination image", "Beach destination", "Attitudes to behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past couple of decades, coastal or island-based tourism attractions and activities have become preferred vacation highlights in the tourism industry (Houston, 2008; Birdir et al., 2013; Williams et al., 2016). Nowadays, alongside nature, sports and adventure activities, spending time at beach destinations has been conceived as a refreshing and relaxing break from the daily workload for the masses and working class (Onofri and Nunes, 2013). In marketing, one of the key focal points is identifying and creating loyal customers for future purchases (Sherrell and Bejou, 2007). The key reason from a tourism perspective is that repeat visitors make up more than half of the total tourists to a given destination (Wang, 2004). In addition, attracting and retaining repeat visitors is more cost-effective than gaining new ones (Shoemaker and Lewis, 1999; Lau and McKercher, 2004), and thus, a crucial contributor to the profitability of a business (Hsu et al., 2008). Therefore, retaining existing and prospective visitors and encouraging them to become loyal are crucial issues for destination marketers to make a destination successful (Chen and Tsai, 2007; Chang 2013). Despite the significance of tourist loyalty in destination marketing, the tourism literature shows sparse investigation into the antecedents of tourist loyalty in beach tourism contexts.\n2. Theoretical foundation and hypotheses development: In the travel and tourism literature, the quality-satisfaction-behaviour paradigm has been widely used to examine tourist behavioural intention and loyalty to travel destinations (Chen and Tsai, 2007; Kim et al., 2013; Allameh et al., 2015; Ranjbarian and Pool, 2015; Triantafillidou and Petala, 2016; Sangpikul, 2018). In addition, there are attitude-behaviour theories, such as the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975; Ajzen, 1991), which have also been used to examine tourist behavioural intention in various tourism settings. Moreover, researchers also have examined tourist behavioural intention - revisit, word-of-mouth (WOM), and loyalty in combination with both paradigms (e.g. Han and Kim, 2010; Kim and Han, 2010; Song et al., 2012; Choo et al., 2016). However, the empirical relationship between service quality, perceived value, destination image, tourist attitudes to visiting behaviour, and loyalty in a single model based on the aforementioned theoretical foundation has not so far been examined in the tourism literature even though some of these relationships have been examined separately in prior studies. Therefore, taking the abovementioned theoretical ground as well as the following empirical findings into account, the current study has developed hypotheses and a conceptual framework to examine tourist loyalty towards beach destinations.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Research setting\n4. Results of data analysis: In the current study, the Partial Least Square-based Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed using the SmartPLS software, version 3.2. According to Henseler et al. (2009), the PLS is a stronger and more robust statistical technique of structural model estimation that is effective in complex situations. The PLS-based SEM contains two models: the measurement model and the structural model.\n5. Discussion: The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of factors such as service quality, perceived value, destination image, satisfaction and tourist attitude to behaviour in the tourist loyalty process at a beach tourism setting. The empirical results of this study report that perceived service quality and perceived value have significant positive impact on the image of beach destinations (H1a and H1b). This means providing quality services and greater value can enhance tourists' positive perception of destination image. These results justify the role of perceived service quality and perceived value as strong predictors of destination overall image in a beach tourism context. These results are in line with the findings of Moon et al. (2013), in which spectators' perceptions of both the event value and the event quality were found to be significant indicators of destination image. Similarly, Jin et al. (2013) revealed that visitors' perceived value of sports events had a significant effect on the image of sports events, whereas Yamaguchi et al. (2015) argued place-based service quality significantly affects the image of a destination. Similarly, tourists' perceived service quality and perceived value were also found as strong predictors of tourists' attitudes for visiting beach destinations (H2a and H2b).\n6. Conclusions and research implications: The current study has specifically examined the effect of perceived service quality, perceived value, destination image and satisfaction on tourist attitude to behaviour and loyalty. The findings of this study indicate that perceived service quality, perceived value, destination image, and satisfaction significantly influence tourist attitude to behaviour, and likewise destination image, satisfaction, and tourist attitude to behaviour significantly affects tourist loyalty. The current findings provide significant research implications to extend the knowledge of the destination loyalty process, specifically focused on beach tourism destinations.\n7. Limitations and future research directions: The first limitation of this study is with the proposed loyalty model and its path directions. No model is completely efficient and globally competitive in all settings due to socio-cultural differences (Gomezelj and Mihalic, 2008; Allameh et al., 2015). Therefore, further studies are encouraged to re-examine the hypothetical relationship among the determinants used in the proposed model in other beach destinations. Secondly, the relationship of perceived service quality and perceived value and their direct relationship with tourist loyalty were ignored in this model due to reporting consecutive indirect relationships between them in prior studies in similar contexts (e.g. Chen and Tsai, 2007; Hossain et al., 2015). However, the perceived value was found as a strong indicator of destination image, attitudes, and satisfaction in this study. Therefore, future researchers are encouraged to include perceived value along with other factors to investigate tourist loyalty in similar contexts. Thirdly, the limited number of measure items in both perceived value and destination image could affect the representation of those constructs in the model. Therefore, more research is encouraged including more measure items related to personal values, social value, economic value for perceived value, and cognitive, affective, and conative image for destination image in different cultural contexts. Finally, all respondents were considered as individual units of analysis, and therefore, the effect of tourists' demographic profile and multi-group sample in the model was ignored. The immediate future research plan is to examine the data empirically using mediating and moderating variables in another loyalty model in this same context.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate and develop an integrated theoretical relationship by including destination image and attitudes into the quality-value-satisfaction-loyalty paradigm in the context of beach tourism.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A personal-administered survey was conducted using a convenient sampling technique to collect data from 601 tourists who had visited popular beach destinations in Bangladesh. Then, the structural relationships between the factors likely to affect tourist attitudes and loyalty were examined.\nFindings: The findings reveal that both service quality and perceived values have a direct effect on destination image, tourist attitudes and satisfaction. Additionally, destination image and satisfaction significantly affect tourist attitudes and loyalty.\nResearch limitations/implications: The direct relationship of perceived service quality and perceived value with tourist loyalty was ignored in the model due to reporting consecutive indirect relationship between them in prior studies.\nPractical implications: These findings contribute to the extension of theoretical and managerial knowledge, especially in a beach tourism setting, where little research has been done to investigate the proposed relationships.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this study lies in providing theoretical and empirical evidence regarding the effect of service quality and perceived value, especially on destination image and tourist attitude to behaviour in the loyalty model, which has been scarcely examined in the prior tourism literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Building a sustainable higher education sector in the UAE	[ "United Arab Emirates", "Sustainability", "Higher education", "Educational governance", "Market factors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Higher education (HE) is becoming an extremely important contributor to the economic development in many countries. The developed and some developing countries across the world are increasing their efforts to attract students from other countries to study in higher education institutions (HEI), thereby gaining revenues that can even compete with their export revenues. Now, countries in Europe, Australia and North America consider HE an important sector of the economy (Keller, 1983; Clark, 1983; Delanty, 2001; Kerr, 1987; Vaira, 2004). For example, Australia's education sector is attracting large numbers of international students and the revenue from international students contributes a whopping AU$17.5 billion to the Australian economy (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). Even countries that are traditionally dependent on a commodity-based economy are making this transition. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their vision 2021 document has outlined plans for a knowledge-based economy, providing an educated and qualified workforce, which will continue to drive the economic development of the country (Cedwyn et al., 2013). This shows that a sustainable model of HE could be a significant force in driving economic change. The pertinent question to be addressed is - how can the HE sector remain sustainable at the same time be competitive in a dynamic environment.\n2. Economic efficiency is the key pillar of sustainability in HE sector: According to the World Council for Economic Development, sustainable development meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. At the macro level it means addressing important issues such as: economic efficiency (innovation, prosperity, and productivity), social equity (poverty, community, health and wellness, human rights) and environmental accountability (climate change, land use, biodiversity). Thus, sustainability is a broad subject with varying objectives that focus on the development needs of present and future generation under varying conditions. For the HE sector one could argue that issues like social equity and environmental accountability are important social causes for this sector, however achieving economic efficiency should be given equal priority if not more along with other sustainability initiatives. The research in the HE sector has always focused on the social aspect of sustainability. However in the current economic climate where universities and other HE providers are faced with challenges like reduced funding (Khalifa, 2009), increase in competition and changing market demands (D'Alessio and Avolio, 2009), the economic efficiency is now emerging as the main pillar that contributes to the sustainable development of this sector. For the HE sector it may be feasible that adopting a strategic approach more in line with private business, with a sharper focus on efficiency and operating profit is inevitable, or perhaps even advisable (Curtis and Samy, 2014). Countries like UAE have invested heavily in the HE sector and they expect these institutions to contribute to the economy in the future (Mahani and Molki, 2011). However, the challenge is to come up with a sustainable model which addresses the important variables that contribute to the sustainability in HE sector in the UAE. The Triple bottom line theory identifies the three important pillars of sustainability, namely, environment, social, and economic. The argument behind the theory is that that the companies should focus on three bottom lines. The first and foremost is the profit line and second is focus on the people. The third line is planet which focuses on the environment. Triple bottom line theory is the way of expressing a company's impact and sustainability on both a local and a global scale. The theory and its relevance to the HE sector is discussed in detail in the next section. The paper is organized as follows: next few sections would provide a brief discussion of the Triple bottom line theory and then an overview of the HE sector in UAE. This is followed by the discussion on two key attributes which could affect the economic efficiency, namely, educational governance and market conditions. The final section provides recommendations and research limitations.\n3. Triple bottom line and sustainability: The Triple bottom line theory was put forward by Elkington (1997). He suggests that firms should engage in socially and environmentally responsible behavior and make positive financial gains. The theory argues that the organizations should strike a balance between economic, environmental and social issues. Environmental sustainability is often related to caring for the natural environment which includes measures like waste reduction, pollution reduction, energy efficiency, emissions reduction, a decrease in the consumption of hazardous/harmful/toxic materials, and a decrease in the frequency of environmental accidents. The social capital focuses on the betterment of internal and external communities, it could range from poverty alleviation to looking after your employees. Social sustainability means that organizations provide equitable opportunities, encourage diversity, promote connectedness within and outside the community, ensure the quality of life and provide democratic processes and accountable governance structures (Elkington, 1997). Economic sustainability is about having a steady cash flow and maintain an above average returns to the stakeholders (Dyllick and Hockerts, 2002). The three dimensions of Triple bottom theory are interrelated and they may influence in different ways (Elkington, 1997). Universities as discussed earlier strive for sustainability addressing the social dimension and environment dimension, namely, poverty reduction (Sanusi and Khelgat-Doost, 2008) green campus (Alshuwaikhat and Abubakar, 2008) and curriculum development (Lozano, 2010; Beusch, 2014). However, the key variable which should trigger the environmental and social dimension is the economic efficiency. Universities should prioritize this aspect of the Triple bottom line theory. The Triple-bottom-line concept suggests that firms not only need to engage in socially and environmentally responsible behavior but should make sure that positive financial gains can be made in the process (Gimenez et al., 2012).\n4. Overview of the HE in the UAE: HE in the UAE has witnessed significant development in number, diversity, and quality of programs and providers. The high pace of growth has been due to the growing number of college students in the UAE, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. According to the CIA World Fact Book, UAE has approximately 5.6 million residents and ranks 112th in population among nations of the world. UAE citizens make up 19 percent of this population and expatriates make up the remaining 81 percent. Approximately 50 percent of the population of the UAE is from South Asia, about 8 percent are from western nations, and the remaining 23 percent are expats of Arab and Persian descent. Almost 14 percent of the population in the UAE is of college age. The political instability and security concerns in the rest of MENA region have made UAE a choice location for students of that region attending higher educational institutions.\n5. HE regulatory agencies in the UAE: The HE sector in the UAE is in its infancy when compared to the east and the west. The oldest institution of higher education, the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) is only 40 years old. In addition, it has only been 45 years since the seven Emirates with individual nation status came together to form an economic and political union which is UAE. Thus, the regulatory agencies at the federal and state levels have different requirements for HEI. The federal authority overseeing HE in the UAE is the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHESR). However, there are free trade zones for HE in various Emirates that are not subjected to the MOHESR's requirements. For example, there are many international universities operating in the Emirate of Dubai who offer their home country degrees. These universities are licensed by KHDA and most of them are not accredited by MOHESR's CAA. The rule for the Emirati students is that their degrees have to be accredited by CAA for their educational accomplishments to be recognized in the government sector. Since the vast majority of UAE residents who belong to other nationalities do not have opportunities to work for the government this limitation is not of major consequence. Some of these KHDA licensed but not CAA accredited universities are highly popular with expatriate students and a minority of Emirati nationals. This is mainly due to the perceived prestige associated with obtaining degrees from western institutions. Similarly, many of the expatriate students from the Indian subcontinent choose to attend off shore campuses of Indian universities that are not CAA accredited due to their popularity/name recognition in India and for the most part the relatively lower fee structure. This diversity of nationalities, the differences in career opportunities for citizens and non-citizens, existence of different federal and emirate-specific regulatory agencies and the lack of clarity in HE governance in the UAE has created a very complex HE environment that is confusing at best for college-age students and their parents.\n6. Educational governance and market conditions: Our exploratory research through relevant secondary data reveals that economic efficiency in the UAE HE sector depends mainly on two aspects, Educational Governance and Market conditions.\n7. Market conditions: This variable refers to the external market conditions that could affect the sustainable development of HE sector. Our research has revealed a number of factors under market conditions that could affect the sustainability of the HE sector (Figure 2).\n8. Important parameters for the sustainability of HE in the UAE: 8.1 Expedite approval processes\n9. Summary discussion and conclusion: Its central location, high standard of living, economic vibrancy, acceptance of diversity, state-of-the-art infrastructure, safety and security of its residents have made UAE the commercial hub for the region. The same attributes make it a highly desirable location for it to be an educational hub. These attributes are the nation's greatest asset for its economic diversification. For continued economic vibrancy, UAE needs to ensure the sustainability and growth of its education sector by providing an environment that promotes continuous improvement in quality while ensuring innovation in educational infrastructure and programming. For the sustained growth of this sector it is imperative that educational governance within the country is well coordinated and incentivized to promote collaboration and sharing of resources among HEI. In addition, it is critical for the nation to educate its residents of the various categories of educational providers that operate within the UAE and clarify the various attributes and parameters to enable them have a clear understanding of the quality, standard and the value of HE available within the nation.\n10. Directions for future research, limitations and implications: The challenges identified in terms of educational governance, market conditions are based on secondary research. The variables identified from the model could be tested using appropriate methodologies in the future for their reliability. The sample for such a study should be selected using a sample comprising of academics, administrators and students in the HE sector. UAE is well set to be the hub of education in the Middle East region (Knight, 2013). The study provides some useful insights for relevant stakeholders by outlining the key factors that could influence the sustainability of HE sector in the UAE. From the theoretical perspective, the study examines the significance of economic variable in the Triple bottom line theory in the context of higher education.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevant economic aspects that could affect the sustainability of the HE sector in the UAE.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data are collected mainly through secondary sources and based on the relevant information. Two constructs, namely, market factors and educational governance are identified from the literature. An empirical model depicting the different factors that contribute to these two variables is outlined.\nFindings: Educational governance and market factors are identified as the key pillars which contribute to the economic efficiency in the HE sector in the UAE. These constructs are affected by relevant factors. Some of the issues relating to educational governance could be controlled. Though factors contributing to market conditions could be deemed uncontrollable, HE institutions could come up with better strategies to deal with those issues.\nResearch limitations/implications: The UAE HE sector could be a major contributor to the economy in the future, it is important to identify the main constructs and the associated forces which could impact the economic efficiency of the HE sector. The model proposed could be empirically tested in future studies.\nOriginality/value: This study is a novel attempt to examine sustainability in the HE sector in terms of economic efficiency, while previous studies have focused on the social and environmental aspect of the sustainability in the HE sector. Thus this study tries to address this lacuna in this domain by focusing on the economic efficiency aspect which is an important contributor to the sustainable development. The results may provide valuable insights for universities and regulators in developing appropriate strategies to improve the HE sector.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The distinct roles of dedication-based and constraint-based mechanisms in social networking sites	[ "User satisfaction", "Customer retention", "Social networks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Given the rapid growth in the number of social networking sites (SNSs), such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+, many peoples' lives have been changed in terms of social relations and leisure time. Facebook, one of the most popular SNSs, has become a core activity of online as well as mobile users. The web site has experienced remarkable growth, with more than 1.19 billion active users as of December 2012. A Facebook report stated that an average of 728 million users were estimated to log in to Facebook every day and over 800 million users accessed it through mobile devices such as smartphones and smartpads (Yahoo Finance, 2013). According to \"Teens, Social Media and Privacy,\" a report conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (2013), 94 percent of teenager users have a Facebook profile and 81 percent of them actively access it. Moreover, Facebook had 2013 third-quarter revenues of $2.02 billion due to its increasing online and mobile advertising revenue (Washington Post, 2013). Thus, understanding the mechanisms that lead to SNS users' post-adoption behaviors has become very important to both SNS researchers and providers.\n2. Research model and hypotheses: A dual model was suggested to account for the impacts of both the dedication- and constraint-based mechanisms on users' post-adoption behaviors. In particular, service-specific investments, such as learning and network size, play a critical role in users' decision-making processes (Kim and Son, 2009; Ng and Kwahk, 2010; Zhou et al., 2012). This is because this constraint-based mechanism creates a lock-in phenomenon that makes it hard to transfer to an alternative IS. Thus, this study postulates that SNS users' post-adoption behaviors are affected by two distinctive mechanisms: dedication based and constraint based. Figure 1 shows the theoretical model.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1. Instrument development\n4. Research results: A partial least squares method was used to test the psychometric properties of the measurement scales and to test the proposed hypotheses. This method is well suited for a research model with formative constructs and for complex models with numerous constructs (Chin, 1998; Hair et al., 2012). Moreover, it has several benefits in terms of minimal restrictions on sample size and residual distributions. We therefore adopt this method to handle formative indicators and a number of constructs. Analysis takes place in two stages: an assessment of the validity and reliability of the measurement model and an assessment of the structural model.\n5. Conclusions: 5.1. Implications for research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of dedication- and constraint-based mechanisms on users' post-adoption behavior in the social networking site (SNS) context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed framework uses user satisfaction and trust belief to capture the dedication-based mechanism and perceived switching costs and social norms to capture the constraint-based mechanism. Hypotheses were tested by applying partial least squares to data from 250 experienced Facebook users. A structural equation modeling was used to test the validity of the proposed research models.\nFindings: The analysis results show that SNS users' continuance intention is jointly affected by two distinctive mechanisms: a dedication-based one and a constraint-based one, the former playing a more critical role. The findings indicate that both perceived relative benefits and perceived enjoyment significantly influence user satisfaction. Learning and network size were found to be the key predictors of perceived switching costs.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study applies the dedication- and constraint-based models by incorporating numerous sets of antecedents. The framework provides a theoretical lens of how two distinctive mechanisms influence SNS users' post-adoption behaviors.\nPractical implications: The analysis results provide several insights that can aid SNS providers understand SNS users post-adoption behaviors. Moreover, the findings will help SNS providers effectively facilitate dedication- and constraint-based mechanisms by enhancing the key antecedents of two distinctive mechanisms.\nOriginality/value: SNSs have become an important component of individuals lives. However, few systematic works investigate the fundamental mechanisms leading to SNS users' continued usage. In an attempt to extend the horizons of SNS research, this study incorporates a set of antecedents to dedication- and constraint-based models.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Assessing the quality of disclosure on intangibles in the Spanish capital market	[ "Audit reports", "Intangible assets", "Intellectual capital", "Stock exchanges", "Spain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Intangibles or intellectual capital information can be defined as the knowledge, information, intellectual property and experience that can be put to use to create wealth. This information cannot be recognised within financial statements because identification, recognition and measurement problems, which have raised the dissatisfaction felt by specific groups of information users about the accounting system. In general, information providers and users agree that the published information is insufficient for making a reliable valuation of a company, mainly because they are dominated by financial performance output data and do not provide data on value creation. As a result, investors are provided with conservative estimates of the firm's current value and on its capability for the creation of wealth in the future, which implies that most of them will not be able to make efficient resource allocation (Canibano et al., 1999).As a consequence of the new role played by intangibles, that are now widely accepted as the major drivers of corporate value and growth in most economic sectors, and the obsolescence of the traditional accounting systems in the recognition, valuation and presentation of those new value drivers, a wide and systematic gap in financial markets between the market value and the book value of company equity has occurred from the second half of the 1990 s. According to the previous literature, indeed, the gap is largely explained by intangibles, because the firm value is measured to a great extent by intangible resources (Lev, 2001).As a result, during recent years managers have begun to provide, in a voluntary basis, information related to intellectual capital and its role in the company's value creation. By disclosing this voluntary information managers reduce the average cost of capital and increase liquidity in capital markets, accuracy in analyst forecasts and credibility among investors. Most of the studies about corporate disclosure on intangibles have been focused on public channels to analyse the disclosure strategy of a company, such as annual reports (e.g. Bozzolan et al., 2002), or IPO prospectuses (Bukh et al., 2001). However, a fuller understanding of this corporate disclosure behaviour requires a study of private disclosure as part of a larger disclosure process. In this sense, some studies document that firms with significant level of intangibles and inadequate financial statements provide additional voluntary disclosure to better communicate to investors through direct contacts.In the light of such developments, the fundamental purpose of this paper is to present evidence of the role of the information on intangibles in the voluntary disclosure to financial analysts.Prior research on intangibles does not present direct evidence of the quality of the disclosure on intangibles, but they refer the disclosure of non-financial information to the firms with significant intangible assets without providing information of its specificty. Nevertheless, it is important to take into account that when a company discloses voluntary information on intangibles, the ambiguous and tacit nature of them causes problems with how to agree in the reliability, objectivity and value relevance of the information reported. According to Botosan (1997), quantitative disclosure is understood to be a proxy of the quality of information, since numbers demonstrate reliability and function almost as a guarantee of facts; on the other hand qualitative disclosures are \"soft\" information leaving a great deal of flexibility in their content.This study contributes to the literature by analysing the disclosure of the information on intangibles beyond the commonly used disclosure/no disclosure dichotomy. Consequently, this study introduces different indexes in order to analyse not only the extent but also the specificity of disclosure. To enable the comparison with the findings obtained without examining the specificity of the disclosure, this study uses the same sample as the one used in Garcia-Meca et al. (2005). The study also extends the current literature by examining the disclosure through presentations to sell-side analysts. Compared to public channels, private sources such as presentations to analysts or conference calls, provide a clear vision of the key parts of complex published documents, offer the opportunity to establish an intensive dialogue in question-and-answer sessions, and involve a less formal atmosphere and much deeper analysis than public channels.In short, the study finds that there are differences in the specificity of the disclosure through presentations to analysts. The results show that there are several factors that appear to influence it. The probability of having a proactive, precise and transparent disclosure strategy on intangibles depends on firm size, profitability and leverage.Establishing the quality of overall disclosure on intangibles, as well as the categories on which the specificity is higher, should be relevant for management teams when they design their disclosure strategies. In addition, understanding why firms disclose information on intangibles to financial analysts and why its quality varies among them is also useful to the users of accounting information as well as to accounting policy makers.\nEmpirical study: the research methodology: The purpose of this study is, first, to analyse the quality of the disclosure on intangibles in the Spanish capital market. This quality is measured by examining if the information is quantitative, since quantification of the information provides a more precise and convincing message. Second, we will try to enhance our knowledge of the intellectual capital disclosure quality by assessing whether there is a relationship between certain characteristics of the firm and the disclosure specificity.Limitations of annual reports, as well as comparative advantages arising from the use of private means, have led many companies to use private channels when releasing information about intangibles, such as presentations to analysts or one to one meetings. Consequently, we analyse the reports of all presentations to financial analysts held by Spanish companies listed in the Madrid Stock Exchange (IGBM), during two time periods: 2000 and 2001. The sample contains 257 reports of analyst presentations obtained through the National Commission of the Stock Exchange (CNMV), which publishes them on its web site before the meeting in order to comply with the regulations of privileged information.We elaborate a list of 71 intellectual capital items that could be reported by the companies in meetings with analysts. This list of items is the basis for constructing different disclosure indexes in order to give a measure of the extent and specificity of intellectual capital information revealed. We based our choice in Bukh et al. (2001), which measured the disclosure on intangibles through Danish IPO prospectuses; literature about disclosure (Cooke, 1989), literature about intellectual capital (Sveiby, 1997), value relevance studies (Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, 2000), and disclosures recommended by the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB, 2001).The items were classified into six different categories or groups according their own nature: Human Capital (relates to the skills and knowledge of employees and managers), Customers (relates to a company's relations with customers), Processes (relates to organizational processes), Technology (relates to technology), Innovation, Research and Development (relates to a firm's ability to innovate, research and tackle new projects) and Strategy (relates to culture, firm's ethic, environmental investments or leadership). This classification includes the classical components of intellectual capital: human capital, organisational or structural capital and customer or relational capital.The disclosure indexes have most often been applied to estimate voluntary information, compulsory information or both in annual reports. In most cases, authors have tried to test the relationships between some firm variables and the disclosure indexes. The validity of a disclosure index as a measure of information cannot be accepted without question. Focusing on self-constructed measures, which is the method widely used in scoring voluntary disclosure practice, the major drawback is the subjectivity involved in constructing the index, with the consequent difficulty of replicating the analysis. However, a test of its usefulness as a research tool is the extent to which it is used.In the present study we take into account the specificity of the information reported given that an index which only measures the extent of the disclosure does not necessarily report on its quality. We follow previous studies where items disclosed in quantitative terms are awarded. In this sense, Buzby (1974) grouped the information into three different groups:1. items which are self-contained;2. items that could be disclosed under varying degrees of specificity, and3. items which represent categories that could be expressed in terms of sub-elements of information.In a similar way, Wiseman (1982) rated the disclosure giving a score of three for items disclosed in quantitative terms, two was awarded for specific but non-quantitative information and one was assigned for items disclosed in general terms. Wallace et al. (1994) also rewarded the depth of information provided in the Spanish annual reports accounted to give credit to the fullness of the information in each item. In the disclosure index employed by Botosan (1997), firms were awarded one point for each item disclosed and, in some categories of the disclosure index, one additional point per item was given if the information provided included quantitative data. Likely, the disclosure index elaborated by Bukh et al. (2001) gets one point for the general or qualitative disclosure and another point if the information is quantitative.According to previous literature, we calculate an index to simultaneously capture both levels of disclosure (quantitative and qualitative). We name this index, weighted index (WI). It measures not only the extent but also the specificity of the disclosure. A score of two was given to each item reported in quantitative terms and a score of one if it was only referred to in qualitative terms.In addition, we propose a specific index for quantitative information, called quantitative index (QTI), which only takes into account intellectual capital information revealed in a quantitative form; that is, it reports on the proportion (or percentage) of quantitative information disclosed in a presentation over the total information considered.In accordance with previous literature, we analyse some factors that can influence the specificity of intellectual capital disclosure measured by the above indexes. For the selection of the influencing factors it is taken into account some explanations based on the principal-agent problem in the context of asymmetric information; the proprietary costs, the information cost saving theory, and the signalling theory. Therefore, it is examined if the quality of disclosure on intangibles depends on:* Firm size: it is measured by the company's market value at the end of the year.* Listing status: this variable is indicated by a dummy variable with a value of one if the firm is listed in a foreign market listing.* Industry: the firms were categorised into financial industry and non-financial industry.* Leverage: this variable is measured as the book value of short- and long-term debt to the book value of equity.* Profitability: it is measured by the rate of net profit divided by book value of equity.* Market-to-book ratio: it is measured by the ratio of market value to book value of equity.* Objective of the meeting: we measure this aspect by using a dummy variable, which takes a value of one if the presentation is a result meeting and a value of zero if it is a company meeting. Results presentations are normally conducted after quarterly, half year or annual results announcements; company presentations are organised in order to further explore announcements of strategic issues such as mergers, new products, or changes in the firm's strategy.The expectations are that in normal conditions lower/higher quality of information on intangibles should be correspond to smaller/larger firms and lower/higher value of leverage, profitability and market to book ratio. Due to their particular characteristics, better disclosure could be expected for companies operating in the financial sector. It is also expected that the information on intangibles should be more specific in firms listed in foreign markets and reported through meetings celebrated to further explain strategic issues.\nResults: The section starts with the descriptive results of the extent and quality of disclosure on intangibles. Afterwards, in order to test our hypotheses, the explanatory factors of the disclosure are analysed using step-wise regressions.Descriptive analysis\nConclusions: The purpose of this paper has been to enhance our knowledge of the quality of private information about intellectual capital and its role in presentations to analysts. We have also assessed whether there is a significant relationship among several corporate characteristics and the disclosure specificity.The findings show that the specificity of intellectual capital disclosure varies by information categories. Customers, Strategy and Technology are the categories of intangibles most reported in quantitative form. On the contrary, when companies disclose information related to Human Capital to financial analysts, this is usually revealed in qualitative terms.The multivariate results indicate that the information about intellectual capital is more specific in larger firms, more profitable and with less debt. These kinds of companies are not only more proactive in their disclosure of intellectual capital information, but are also more transparent in their communication by reporting the information on intangibles in precise and convincing way. The type of meeting is also an important explanatory variable of the quality of disclosure on intangibles; it appears that in presentations not held after result announcements, companies disclose larger and more specific levels of intellectual capital information.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to analyse the quality of disclosure on intangibles in presentations to analysts held by firms listed in the Spanish capital market. Given that quantification of the information provides a more precise and convincing message than qualitative disclosure, the information is measured by two indices, which are focused on the specificity of the disclosure.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The reports of all presentations to financial analysts held by Spanish companies listed in the Madrid Stock Exchange are analysed during the year 2000 and 2001. The sample contains 257 reports.\nFindings: - Briefly, the study finds that there are differences in the quality of the information reported to financial analysts in Spain, and that several factors, such as firm size and the levels of profitability and leverage, highly influence it.\nPractical implications: - This study contributes to the literature by analysing the disclosure of the information on intangibles beyond the commonly used disclosure/no disclosure dichotomy. Consequently, this study introduces different indices in order to analyse not only the extent but also the specificity of disclosure.\nOriginality/value: - Establishing the quality of overall disclosure on intangibles, as well as the categories on which the specificity is higher, should be relevant for management teams when they design their disclosure strategies. In addition, understanding why firms disclose information on intangibles to financial analysts and why its quality varies among them is also useful to the users of accounting information as well as to accounting policy makers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
So much theory, so little practice: a literature review of workplace improvisation training	[ "Training", "Improvisation", "Innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Improvisation training has seen a substantial increase in popularity, featuring in high profile firms such as Google, PepsiCo, MetLife and McKinsey (Scinto, 2014) and renowned educational institutions such as Columbia, Stanford and Duke (Huffaker and West, 2005).\nImprovisation in the business literature: In the business literature, improvisation can range from the improvised solutions that saved firefighters (Weick, 1993) or the Apollo 13 mission (Crossan, 1998; Vendelo, 2009) to the improvised music of jazz performers (Barrett, 1998; Moorman and Miner, 1998).\nHistory of theatrical improvisation: Theatrical improvisation is a style of theatre performance where the actors perform without a script and make up the play as it is being performed. Although the actors may draw on existing tropes or scene patterns the bulk of the work is original and developed extemporaneously (Sweet, 1978). Theatrical improvisation, in the broadest sense, is rooted in the rituals of early man, being pre-literate ritual performances were frequently improvised rather than learned by rote (Pritzker, 1999). For the earliest form of organised theatrical improvisation historians point to Susarion the Ancient Greek comic poet who, around 580 BC, gathered a band of performers at Icaria and toured throughout Greece improvising comedic plays accompanied by music (Duchartre, 2012).\nDiscussion papers: The bulk of the literature on improvisational theatre training in a business setting is theoretical and not grounded in a specific application of the principles to actual participants. Some of the papers discuss the potential utilisation of improvisational theatre training to specific applications, such as: negotiation (Balachandra et al., 2005; Harding, 2004); public administration (FitzPatrick, 2002); computer engineering (Mahaux and Maiden, 2008); and organisational development consulting (Stager Jacques, 2013). Others consider theatrical improvisation in the broader context of the organisation with less specific application (Crossan, 1998; Koppett, 2002; Marren, 2008; Vera and Crossan, 2004; Weis and Arnesen, 2014; Yanow, 2001).\nThemes: Some themes emerge in the choice of concepts that theorists choose to draw from the theatrical improvisation body of knowledge. Themes were coded in Nvivo (Bandara et al., 2011) from the results of a peer-review-bounded search of the EBSCOhost database for the search terms: \"improvisation\"; \"theatre\"; and \"business\". These were then manually sorted to identify those that considered the effects of improvisation training interventions. The paper's date of publication ranges from 1996 to 2014.\nSuggestions for future research: An analysis of the literature leads to three recommendations for research: the need for quantitative research; research centred on the individual affects; and research in contexts with high intrapersonal and interpersonal skill requirements.\nConclusion: Although there has been wide ranging discussion on improvisation in the business literature, little of this has focused on the effects of improvisation training on workplace outcomes. The literature that does exist provides a helpful starting place for researchers to move improvisation training from the realm of theory to the empirical testing of practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to critically review the research literature on training interventions to increase the workplace application of improvisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A literature review was undertaken, work was considered in light of research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and discussion) and themes were identified and coded in Nvivo.\nFindings: Although there is a substantial body of research on improvisation as a workplace phenomenon, there is only limited empirical research on the workplace application of improvisation training.\nResearch limitations/implications: Further research is needed in the field, specific recommendations are made.\nPractical implications: This paper provides an in-depth briefing on the current state of the literature for trainers and HR professionals who are considering the merits of using improvisation training in their workplace.\nOriginality/value: Mintzberg (1973) suggested that up to 90 per cent of managerial behaviour is improvised. This paper provides a new depth of understanding on the workplace application of improvisation training and the paucity of knowledge in the field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does past failure inhibit future entrepreneurial intent? Evidence from Ghana	[ "Ghana", "Theory of planned behaviour", "GEM", "Entrepreneurial failure", "Entrepreneurial intent", "Probit regressions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) is an extension of the theory of reasoned action that links intention with behaviour under conditions of behavioural control (Ajzen, 1991). The theory argues that an individual's intention to undertake a particular behaviour is contingent on the attitude of the person to the behaviour, the subjective norms of the individual as well as the perceived behavioural control (PBC) of the behaviour sought. The theory predicts intention not actual behaviour but argues that there is a strong correlation between intention and behaviour (Ajzen, 2011). The theory has been utilised in understanding beliefs, attitudes, behavioural intentions and actual behaviours in a broad spectrum of academic fields such as marketing (Kim et al., 2013), healthcare (Fisher et al., 2013), procurement management (Kamarulzaman et al., 2013), computing (Ifinedo, 2012) and behavioural change communications (Tweneboah-Koduah, 2014). Another aspect of human behaviour to which TPB has been particularly useful is entrepreneurial behaviour (Engle et al., 2010; Kautonen et al., 2013, 2015). Entrepreneurial intentions have been proposed as the outcomes of attitude, subjective norms and PBC of the individual. Actual entrepreneurial behaviour is then proposed to have a strong correlation with entrepreneurial intentions. Empirical support for the relationship has remained fairly robust. Kautonen et al. (2013) utilising longitudinal data from Finland find that TPB is a very strong predictor of entrepreneurial intentions and actual behaviour. A 12-country study of all the global cultural clusters also finds that TPB fairly predicts entrepreneurial intent in all countries and subjective norms predict entrepreneurial intent in all the countries studied and was especially strong in Ghana (Engle et al., 2010). Schlaegel and Koenig (2014) indicate that the moderating role of contextual boundary conditions is relevant to the development of entrepreneurial intent. Furthermore, they have suggested that an integrated model can provide an additional explanatory power and a fuller understanding of the process through which entrepreneurial intent develops. The integrated model that Schlaegel and Koenig (2014) confirm in their paper shows that desirability mediates the relationship between TPB constructs and EI. However, that mediation is not a full mediation but rather a partial one. Consequently, while desirability maybe important it is not the only part to intention. In this study, we have sought moderate the direct paths with EI.\n2. Theory and hypotheses development: The relationship between TPB and entrepreneurial intentions has been established in several studies as has been argued above. Consequently, this study does not focus on the relationship between TPB constructs and entrepreneurial intent. Rather, this study focusses how past entrepreneurial failure conditions the relationship between TPB constructs and future entrepreneurial intent. The hypotheses will be developed in that direction.\n3. Research methods: 3.1 Data\n4. Results: 4.1 Descriptive Results\n5. Discussion of findings: In this section, we discuss the findings in relation to existing literature while highlighting its contributions to the literature. We will also discuss implications of our findings for theory and practice. We utilise Model 4 for our discussion since it is the fully specified model and has a better pseudo R2 of 0.039. The other models will help us understand the stability in our relationships and place the discussion within the context. In H1, we argued that past entrepreneurial failure can either lead to a self-preserving behaviour by an entrepreneur that can inhibit his or her future entrepreneurial intent (Gruenewald et al., 2004) or the entrepreneur can learn to process the failure and utilise the lessons learnt to improve future chances of success (Cope, 2003; Deakins and Freel, 1998; Minniti and Bygrave, 2001). Also, Ajzen (2011) has argued that past behaviour of which past failure is a subset significantly predicts future behaviour. Consequently, we stated that past entrepreneurial failure increases the likelihood of starting a future enterprise and find support for this claim in the empirical analysis.\n6. Conclusion, limitations and future research directions: This study sought to examine the relationships between past entrepreneurial failure, TPB constructs and future entrepreneurial intentions. We find summarily that the future entrepreneurial intent is 63.2 per cent while only 20.9 per cent of the entrepreneurs interviewed have failed in the past. This past entrepreneurial failure positively influences future entrepreneurial intent. This means that entrepreneurs learn from their past failures to develop intentions to start future businesses. The interaction between attitude and failure yields a positive effect on future entrepreneurial intentions. This means that social norms and positive attitude towards entrepreneurial intentions are not dampened by past failures but strengthened due to learnings from past failures. The same effects are observed for the interactions between subjective norms and failure as well as PBC and failure. What is more important is that we go further to show that this moderation is not significant at all levels of the TPB construct and the level of strength in the construct matters for the moderational outcome. From an entrepreneurial perspective, our findings show that Ghanaian society does not punish past entrepreneurial failure to the extent of self-preservation. Rather, past failure becomes a learning mechanism to re-enter entrepreneurship.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between past entrepreneurial failure and future entrepreneurial intentions. It also considers the moderating role of past entrepreneurial failure on the relationship between attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC) and entrepreneurial intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data from the Ghana Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey (2013) are used to test the hypotheses developed after an extensive literature review. The empirical specification was estimated with a probit of standard form and marginal derivatives estimated for the purposes of interpretation.\nFindings: The mean future entrepreneurial intent is 63.2 per cent of the sample with 75 per cent having failed in the past and 60 per cent never failed before. Also, only 20.9 per cent of the interviewed entrepreneurs have failed at a past entrepreneurial activity. Past entrepreneurial failure has a positive effect on future entrepreneurial intentions. The interaction between attitude and failure yields a positive effect on future entrepreneurial intentions. The same effects can be reported for the interactions between subjective norms and failure as well as PBC and failure.\nOriginality/value: In this study, the authors are able to show that the mean moderational effects are important but they can be deceptive. Rather, a decomposition helps the authors to disaggregate these effects to better understand the underlying mechanisms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Applying adult development theories to improvement science	[ "Change management", "Leadership", "Quality improvement", "Continuing professional development", "Quality healthcare" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge about change and development have evolved along with modern systems and organizations, but still, despite our health and wellbeing knowledge, there are many issues to address, and gaps between what we know and what we do (Institute of Medicine, 2001). Improvement science (IS) is an emerging research field, which tries to build knowledge on how to change for the better and create quality improvement (QI) in health and welfare organizations. We recognize that IS needs to be supplemented and supported by knowledge from other natural and social sciences (Bergman et al., 2015). We address what IS can learn and gain from adult development (AD) studies, a research area that analyses people's sequential evolution through life. AD and IS research areas, therefore, address change and development.\nIS: IS is an emerging discipline that explores how staff can change to improve performance. Even though IS is based upon knowledge created from existing QI strategies, the term was first used in 1996 (Langley et al., 2009; Bergman et al., 2015) and it has been applied to areas as divergent as the automotive industry and healthcare (Langley et al., 2009). Dividing knowledge is essential in IS. First, there is professional or subject matter knowledge on what is state-of-the-art in a context or area (e.g. what leadership is needed for a specific task in a unique context). Second, improvement knowledge is about what information is needed in an organization to produce changes that ultimately result in improvement (Batalden and Davidoff, 2007; Langley et al., 2009). This improvement knowledge is called a profound knowledge system by Deming, a pioneer in the discipline. Deming (2000) distinguished four improvement knowledge domains and many writings have taken his areas as a starting point for describing what IS is about: appreciating a system, knowledge about variation, knowledge theory, and psychology. These vary in scope, but the four domains need to be broadened with more recent knowledge from different domains. To understand IS, a distinction between IS and QI is needed. Both are about quality and development, but with different foci. QI is knowledge of models and methods developed to improve what is done in practice. IS focuses on the research aspect, trying to study and evaluate what QI methods and models work, where and why (Langley et al., 2009); in Deming's words \"gaining knowledge\" (Langley et al., 2009, p. 82). Thus, IS, as a research field, investigates QI efforts. Key terms are used interchangeably and that interpretation has changed over time. Several expressions are and have been used (e.g. QI, continuous improvement and quality assurance) and there is also a conceptual change in that what was previously called QI research, is now called IS (or improvements science).\nQI knowledge: QI has its origin in production organizations, where managers aim to produce more effectively. In health and welfare, QI has become an important aspect for service safety and effectiveness reasons while delivering better quality care (Riley et al., 2010). QI, or at least the idea, has become a competition issue. One established QI definition (in health and welfare) is \"to make the changes that will lead to better patient outcomes, better system performance and better professional development\" (Batalden and Davidoff, 2007, p. 2). This definition ties together the focus (better patient outcomes) with the necessary means (professional and system development). Donabedian, another healthcare QI pioneer, describes quality in health and welfare settings as combining science and technology with their application in practice (Donabedian, 2003), which agrees with the intention that IS research should be practical (Ting et al., 2009). New research findings and technology should be developed together with those who use them; thus, IS aims to find meaning and practical applications (Marshall et al., 2013) but also connects to organizational learning (Senge, 2000; Argyris, 1999).\nAD: AD is a subfield within developmental psychology, which traces development beyond adolescence. It provides research on systematic and qualitative changes following interaction with internal and external environments (Hoare, 2011). AD comprises several personality development theories and in recent decades, much empirical evidence has been assembled to support these theories (Kjellstrom and Stalne, 2017). Development in this field refers to sequential growth in consciousness complexity. Empirically based theories depict a transformational process in the organizing making meaning structures. This process involves qualitatively different changes in the way that a person organizes his/her own meaning-making. Various concepts are used to describe various stages and ways to interpret the world: meaning-making systems, action logics and leadership agility. We use action logics as a primary framework, following Torbert's (2004) work but using the labels from Joiner and Josephs (2006). A person's action logic influences his/her awareness and what that person can describe, influence and change. Personality development occurs along pre-conventional stages, to conventional and possibly to post-conventional stages (Kohlberg, 1971, 1981). Development has strong predictive validity in relation to wide ranging working life issues, e.g. competence and leadership agility (Joiner and Josephs, 2006; Kegan, 1994; Rooke and Torbert, 2005; Reams, 2016), views and attitudes, e.g. care, responsibility, tolerance and discrimination (Juujarvi et al., 2012; Kjellstrom and Ross, 2011; Sjolander et al., 2014).\nDiscussion: The simplest answer to why understanding personal development theory is important for facilitating organizational development and change, is that it provides fundamental insights into how differently people make meaning of change work. More fundamentally, there seems to be poor awareness of the mental demands and need for capabilities that care and improvement work put on people, which is a prominent theme in AD research (Kjellstrom and Stalne, 2017).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address how adult development (AD) theories can contribute to quality improvement (QI).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A theoretical analysis and discussion on how personal development empirical findings can relate to QI and Deming's four improvement knowledge domains.\nFindings: AD research shows that professionals have qualitatively diverse ways of meaning-making and ways to approach possibilities in improvement efforts. Therefore, professionals with more complex meaning-making capacities are needed to create successful transformational changes and learning, with the recognition that system knowledge is a developmental capacity.\nPractical implications: In QI and improvement science there is an assumption that professionals have the skills and competence needed for improvement efforts, but AD theories show that this is not always the case, which suggests a need for facilitating improvement initiatives, so that everyone can contribute based on their capacity.\nOriginality/value: This study illustrates that some competences in QI efforts are a developmental challenge to professionals, and should be considered in practice and research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Validating a model of strategic leadership practices for Malaysian vocational college educational leaders: A structural equation modeling approach	[ "Wisdom", "Strategic orientation", "Strategic leadership", "Malaysian vocational college leaders", "Strategic competence", "Strategic translation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The conception of leadership is not a new topic of discussion. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Plutarch and Caesar had discussed very much earlier about it (Bass, 1981; Nikezic et al., 2012). However, in today's modern world, leadership concepts are still being vigorously debated by scholars, especially those who are directly connected to school leadership fraternity. Indeed, they also mutually agree that the wisdom and practices of school leadership are vital to the successful functioning of a school (Bush, 2010).\n2. Profiling strategic leadership practices among Malaysian vocational college educational leaders: an exigency: In 2011, Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) (2013) successfully developed Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025. This long-term strategic plan outlines essential outcomes that need to be accomplished to enhance the performance standards of schools and students as well. One of the essential outcomes is the achievement of students' aspiration outcomes (SAO) which emphasizes the holistic and balanced development of students in six aspects particularly knowledge, thinking, leadership, bilingual proficiency, ethics and spirituality, and national identity. As it is constructively aligned with the National Philosophy of Education (NPE), the six SAO aspects aim to produce complete and well-balanced individuals who are physically and emotionally healthy, spiritually strong, and intellectually sound. While the SAO aspects are essentially noble and value-laden in terms of aims and propositions, having been articulated in every educational planning and policy since 1956, their achievement thus far is highly debatable. The SAO dimensions were echoed in at least five relatable documents such as the 1988 National Education Philosophy, the 1999 National Policy on Education, the Master Plan for Educational Development (2006-2010), the Ministry of Education Malaysia's Strategic Interim Plan (2011-2020), and the Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013-2025). Interestingly, the SAO had increased in its scope over the years, originating with just two dimensions in 1956 to a total of six dimensions in 2013 onwards. The broadening in scope and dimensions in Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013-2025), reflects the significance of SAO to the MOE in elevating the nation's educational outcomes to the level of international standards in the wake of preparing the Malaysian students for the needs of the twenty-first century (Inas, 2016).\n3. Conceptualizing and reframing strategic leadership practices in education: Cutting across cultures and organizations (House et al., 2013), strategic leadership is a critical component in effective school management and leadership (Davies and Davies, 2004; Adair, 2011). According to a recent study of school turnaround in USA, the principals of schools who had higher practices level of strategic leadership appeared to achieve significant improvements in the greatest number of areas (National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, 2014). In addition, orthodox perspectives of leadership development argued that leaders should concentrate on developing strategic future activities for their schools, rather than just focusing on current administrative and managerial issues. Parallel to the orthodox views, Davies and Davies (2009) assert that school leaders must work on improving their school performances and concurrently build strategic capability within the schools. The line of reasoning proves that strategic leadership is a substantial element in building successful schools.\n4. Research objectives, questions and hypotheses: This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the proposed strategic leadership practices model in light of the paucity of strategic leadership studies in the context of Malaysian vocational colleges. The proposed model comprises nine sub-constructs (i.e. strategic orientation, strategic translation, strategic alignment, strategic intervention, strategic competencies, restlessness, absorptive capacity, adaptive capacity and wisdom) as the underlying dimensions of two main constructs: organizational capabilities and individual characteristics. To address the research objective, the study used a nine-factor model of strategic leadership practices synthesized from Davies and Davies (2006, 2009), Hairuddin, (2012, 2016), and Hairuddin and Inas (2017). The second research objective was to develop and validate the authenticity of the MVCLSLPM. Based on the above research objectives, the research questions are as follows:\n5. Methodology: 5.1 Research design, sampling and instrumentation\n6. Results: 6.1 Demographic profile of the respondents\n7. Discussion and implications: 7.1 The tendencies, prevalence and levels of strategic leadership practices among Malaysian vocational college educational leaders\n8. Limitations and suggestions for future studies: There were several limitations and hindrences encountered during the study. For instance, some respondents in various leadership categories were not contactable or reachable when the study commenced, hence affecting the breadth of the data and scope of the findings. Another major limitation was the \"closed door policy\" of the Malaysian Ministry of Education which operates within an environment of \"rigid bureaucracy and tight regulations\". The policy had hampered quite a number of research activities in the strategic leadership domain for the betterment of Malaysian public educational institutions. The third limitation concerned the quality of the data which was somewhat affected by the unfavorable attitude of some of the respondents who were not willing to give honest and frank responses to the items.\n9. Conclusion: Empirically, the study found that the Malaysian vocational college educational leaders had high tendency and quite enthusiastic in practicing at least seven strategic leadership characteristics (i.e. Davies, 2003; Davies and Davies, 2006, 2009; Nazifah, 2012; Ali, 2013; Adelakun, 2015; Hairuddin, 2012; Inas, 2016). Indeed, the findings empirically supported the provision of specific strategic leadership training for educational leaders in Malaysia and beyond. The insights gained from this effort created multiple opportunities for educational leaders to develop training programs and courses that could inculcated strategic leadership practices among Malaysian vocational college and other educational leaders. The success of conducting this study in Malaysian vocational colleges context, offered for replication in other educational settings, for example in national schools, national-type schools, and religious schools, so that the MESLPM could be developed for the future benefit of the Malaysian education system in the current and future highly competitive globalized world.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to conceptualize, validate and confirm a structural equation modeling (SEM) hypothesized model of strategic leadership practices of Malaysian vocational college educational leaders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used a quantitative survey approach. The data were collected from 500 educational leaders of 65 Malaysian vocational colleges throughout Malaysia using a five-point strategic leadership scale. The gender composition of the sample was almost equivalent. The study embarked on descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and full-fledged SEM for the data analyses.\nFindings: The findings revealed that the Malaysian vocational college educational leaders had high tendency and inclination of practicing strategic leadership at their workplace. Besides, there was also evidence that the educational leaders of the Malaysian vocational college exhibited high levels or degree of strategic leadership practices. The responses to the survey items were consistent with seven distinct practices of strategic leadership such as strategic orientation, strategic alignment, strategic intervention, restlessness, absorptive capacity, adaptive capacity and leadership wisdom. The use of SEM procedures had confirmed that the hypothesized model of strategic leadership practices for Malaysian vocational college educational leaders was empirically valid and reliable.\nPractical implications: The findings highlighted the importance of planning and development of a specific-context training program for Malaysian vocational college educational leaders in strategic leadership. The training was considered fundamental in pursuit of effective leadership and positive institutional outcomes for such colleges in Malaysia.\nOriginality/value: The study had successfully formulated, tested and validated a model of strategic leadership practices for Malaysian vocational college educational leaders. The model was believed to be the first of its kind in the Malaysian vocational education context.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Private firm pricing and propensity to go public: evidence from mutual funds holdings	[ "Mutual funds holdings", "Private firms", "G14", "G32" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Mutual funds investment in private firms has been extensively covered by business media. Several articles propose that mutual funds buy private firms because fund managers expect these firms to undergo an initial public offering (IPO)[1] and are willing to bare liquidity risk in anticipation of higher returns in the event of an IPO or acquisition by another firm.\n2. Literature review: Private firms raise capital via regular loans, and direct as well as venture capital or private equity private placements. They also raise capital in the public market through reverse mergers (wherein private companies are merged into public shells), through IPOs or spin-outs. Venture capital funds aggregate contributions of institutional investors (primarily pension funds), corporations and wealthy individuals and invest these contributions in the equity of private and potentially high-growth technology firms (Cumming, 2008; Cumming and MacIntosh, 2007; Schwienbacher, 2008; Gompers and Lerner, 1999; Sahlman, 1990). Private equity funds tend to hold large investments in a small number of private firms, often investing in publicly traded companies and subsequently taking them private (Klein and Zur, 2009). Institutional investors, however, acquire private firm assets through equity or debt. An important distinction between private and public firms is the level of information asymmetry between insiders and outsiders at the time capital is raised. Leuz et al. (2007) studied public firms that deregistered from the SEC, stating that, by going private, they are no longer subject to SEC reporting requirements, one of the most important sources of information on public companies.\n3. Private firms held by mutual funds: We identified US holdings of private firms via the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) mutual funds portfolio holdings quarterly data during 2007 to 2011 (the \"Study Period\") (Alverio, 2013). Mutual funds may have various equity investments in private firms (e.g. ordinary shares, preferred shares, etc.). These funds may also have debt investments in private firms (e.g. promissory notes, warrants, etc.). We also used CRSP mutual fund holding description (\"security name\") to determine whether a holding corresponds to a private firm. This first screening resulted in 27,543 securities. As a second screening, we used this description to assess whether a holding is an investment in a US private firm. We excluded from the sample firms whose security names contained text such as: \"Put\", \"Call\", \"Fund\", \"Swap\", \"Index\", \"Option\", \"Default\", \"Contract\", \"IRS\", \"Bond\", \"Treasury\", \"Government of\", \"EURO$\", \"Eurodollar\", \"WNT\", \"Republic of\", \"Kingdom of\", \"Cash\", \"Future\", \"Forex\", \"SWAP\", \"Credit Def\", \"Accounts Receivable\", \"Other Assets\", \"Cash Equivalent\", \"CD\", \"Trust\", \"Repo\", \"Fund\", \"Oz Gold\", \"Mortgage\", \"iShares\" and \"ETF\". As we were not interested with financial institutions, we also excluded funds whose security names contained the following text: \"Bank\", \"Banc\", \"Citibank\", \"Citigroup\", \"Barclay\", \"JPMorgan\", \"Morgan Stanley\", \"Merrill Lynch\", \"Goldman Sachs\", \"Lehman Brothers\" and \"UBS\" (Durnev and Kim, 2005). A total of 17,593 securities resulted from the second screening. As a third and final screening, we merged the list from CRSP with the Bloomberg database containing names of US private firms[9]. Following Fenn (2000), we excluded private firms that are subsidiaries of public firms and firms that were previously public. Moreover, we excluded holdings representing less than 0.006 per cent of mutual fund portfolios (Elton et al., 2012), eliminating almost all debt holdings from the sample. (The firms that survived all these screenings and became part of the sample shall be collectively referred to as the \"Sample\" or the \"Sample Firms\", and any subgroup of these firms shall be referred to as the \"Subsample\".) This final screening resulted in a total of 182 securities.\n4. Pricing of mutual fund-held private securities: We evaluated mutual funds' pricing of private firms. As aforementioned, mutual funds are required to maintain high liquidity to assure that securities can be sold. Their illiquid assets holdings are limited by the SEC to 15 per cent of net assets. SEC imposes responsibility on mutual funds boards to make liquidity determinations and monitor portfolios' liquidity. When market quotes are not readily available, mutual funds must value portfolio securities and all other assets via their fair value, which funds' boards of directors must determine in good faith. Given boards' discretion to assign restricted securities prices and SEC's related cases, we collected evidence of mutual fund-held private firms' price fluctuations. We obtained US private firm securities pricing information from CRSP mutual funds portfolio holdings quarterly data and calculated security prices as market value divided by total number of shares. As mutual funds' boards of directors assign price, mutual funds' advisors served as proxy for board of directors. Close ties between directors and fund advisors reduce directors' ability to monitor portfolios' liquidity (Khorana, 1996).\n5. Mutual funds' holdings of private firm securities and expectation of firms going public: 5.1 Do mutual funds invest in future IPOs?\n6. Conclusion: Mutual funds must maintain high liquidity to ensure that securities can be sold; thus, they prefer stocks with high visibility and low transaction costs. Mutual funds illiquid assets holdings are limited by the SEC to 15 per cent of net assets. Limits imposed on restricted securities holdings ultimately affect funds' liquidity. Moreover, holding illiquid securities generates indirect costs, forcing fund managers to alter their optimal portfolios.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to focus on mutual funds' valuations of their US private firm holdings. According to extant academic literature, mutual funds' boards of directors should assign prices to their private firm stocks based on their own determination of fair value.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study investigates fluctuations in valuations of mutual funds holdings of private firms, and whether or not mutual funds managers are able to pick privately held firms that eventually undergo an initial public offer.\nFindings: The study shows that private firm common stocks' prices fluctuate much more than preferred stocks'; however, as expected, preferred stock is the most selected security type. This study also investigates these firms' propensity to undergo an initial public offering (IPO). Results show that mutual funds allocated most of their capital to US private sector firms that underwent an initial public offering. Logit model results reveal that fund managers are able to pick privately held firms that will go public.\nResearch limitations/implications: Due to data limitations, the authors' analysis does not control for venture capital ownership; an issue the authors plan to address in the future.\nOriginality/value: Though, research in this area may exist, the authors have not found academic literature related to holdings of private firms by mutual funds, pricing by funds' boards of directors or the motives for such investments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Quality management systems as indicators for stability and change in customer-supplier relationships	[ "Certification", "Business relationships", "ISO", "Quality management systems", "Stability and change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Stability has been seen as one of the main characteristic of business relationships, denoting how the relationships continue over time (Gadde and Mattsson, 1987). Change in such circumstances refers to the continuous development of the relationship, including adaptation between the parties (Hallen et al., 1991) and knowledge accumulation among them. For change to be disruptive, the literature on business relationships has mainly pointed at external circumstances (Halinen et al., 1999; Havila and Salmi, 2000), while the selection and deselection of business parties may also occur as the consequence of changed circumstances of the focal firm (Oberg et al., 2016).\nTheoretical background and framing: Research on business networks emphasizes the continuity of business relationships and how parties turn to the same supplier and customer in repeated episodes of exchanges (Hakansson, 1982). This is thus the consequence of commitment and trust between parties, while the commitment and trust in turn include how parties adjust to one another in continuing adaptation processes (Hallen et al., 1991), thereby creating a dynamic change in those processes. Stability and change, as coined by Gadde and Mattsson (1987), thereby interact as descriptions and fundamental characteristics of business relationships.\nResearch design: To provide theoretical and managerial insights on the researched phenomenon, this paper adopts an explorative, qualitative approach. Empirical illustrations were chosen in order to give comparable insights and to capture business relationships under different regimes, that is, unconstrained partner selections and relationship developments in the private sector as well as more restricted practices as part of public purchasing processes. This latter division came across as important based on experiences from quality management systems auditing by one of the authors, and given the difference between suppliers' required certifications in public procurement, which is not present for private-sector purchasing (but for certain industry sectors).\nFindings: Lessons from certified suppliers in relation to non-certified customers in the private sector\nAnalysis: Looking at the different illustrations, the quality management systems suggest to play different parts along the axis of public and private suppliers and in the partner selection and continuation of the relationship, respectively. More specifically, the systems delimit the choice of suppliers as the quality management system becomes a prerequisite for being chosen, and this applies regardless of if it is a formal requirement or not. An interesting observation from the empirical data is how customers sometimes seem to replace their further analysis of the suppliers' operations with the request for certification. Rather than analyzing the supplier's business, the customer simply requires the certification, while this as such does not provide a specific quality standard. A difference is seen here between certified and non-certified customers, as the latter tends to rather focus on actual processes of the supplier, while the former indeed sees a certification as the reassurance of the supplier's operations and quality work.\nConclusions: As indicated by the illustrations in this paper, quality management systems are an inherited part of partner selection, and this has been overlooked in previous studies focusing on such processes. While previous studies have emphasized resource complementarities, goal alignment (Anderson and Narus, 1991; Wilkinson et al., 2005; Oberg and Shih, 2014), similarities in contexts and expectations (Hakansson, 1982; Wilkinson et al., 2005), and symmetry to establish balance (Emerson, 1962; Hertz, 1998) as partner selection criteria, this paper shows how certification has a decisive impact on the selection of a partner. Specifically, the certification allows for the company to be further considered for purchases. The paper also indicates that this is the case regardless of if the customer is part of public procurement or those sectors where certification of suppliers (aerospace and car manufacturing) is a requirement. Hence, while certified customers in most sectors only need to prove that their suppliers have systems and procedures in place, many customers equate this with requiring that their suppliers should be certified.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper extends the discussion on stability and change through focus on specific relationship characteristics. Quality management systems prescribe established routines for supplier selection and monitoring, and may thereby designate the nature and longevity of customer-supplier relationships. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the effects of quality management systems on stability and change in different forms of customer-supplier relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A number of illustrative examples based on participatory data and interviews help to capture different types of customer-supplier relationships (private/public; certified/non-certified) related to quality management systems.\nFindings: While certified customers in most sectors only need to prove that their suppliers have procedures in place, many customers equate this with requiring that their suppliers should be certified. The paper further shows that customers replace deeper understandings for their suppliers' procedures with the requirement that they be certified.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the existing literature through integrating quality management systems literature with the business network approach. For business network studies, the discussion on quality management systems as constricting regimes is interesting and provides practical insights to the business network studies as such quality management systems increase in importance and spread.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An investigation of fit perceptions and promotability in sexual minority candidates	[ "Stigma", "LGBT", "Promotion decisions" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: And I always feel this with straight people - that whenever they're being nice to me, pleasant to me, all the time really, underneath they're only assessing me as a criminal and nothing else. It's too late for me to be any different now to what I am, but I still feel this keenly, that that's their only approach, and they're quite incapable of accepting me as anything else(E. Goffman, Stigma, Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity).\nTheory and hypothesis development: Goffman (1963) described stigma as a mark or signal that identifies a target as spoiled or less human. The basic proposition of stigma theory is that stigmatized individuals will be perceived as different from \"normals,\" and will therefore be rejected socially (Goffman, 1963). We leverage this key proposition in our hypothesis development: we propose that a key reason as to why gay men and lesbian candidates might be perceived as less promotable than heterosexual targets is because they are perceived as less likely to fit-in with their work environment.\nMethods: Sample and design\nResults: Correlations and moderated mediation analysis\nDiscussion: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of candidate sexual orientation in decision makers' perceptions of candidates' lack of fitting-in and promotability. As expected, perceptions that gay and lesbian candidates did not fit-in were related to promotability ratings. Beliefs that sexual orientation is controllable were related to promotability ratings in the expected direction, but the effect was only marginally significant. An interesting and counterintuitive finding was that gay men and lesbian women were rated more promotable than equally qualified heterosexual candidates in our study. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed below.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether sexual minority candidates are viewed as less likely to fit-in in their work environments than heterosexual candidates and, hence, to their being evaluated as less promotable.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Consistent with previous research, the authors used a hiring scenario where evaluators saw one of four different resumes, which varied based on candidate sexual orientation and gender, yet were equal on all factors, including candidate qualifications. The research included a pre-test and manipulation check to ensure the validity of the authors' research design.\nFindings: As the authors expected based on stigma theory, gay and lesbian candidates were more likely to be perceived as unable to fit-in than heterosexual candidates. Perceptions of a lack of fitting-in were negatively related to promotability ratings, as were beliefs about the controllability of sexual orientation. However, counter to the authors' expectations, gay and lesbian candidates were rated more promotable than heterosexual candidates. This presents a more nuanced picture of sexual orientation discrimination than has been offered heretofore.\nOriginality/value: Previous research has suggested that gay men and lesbians may be trapped in \"gay ghettos,\" yet there is little if any research on evaluations of sexual minority candidates in employment decisions beyond hiring. The present study extends research on sexual orientation discrimination by investigating whether decision makers are biased against gay and lesbian candidates in promotion decisions, and the factors that are related to promotability ratings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Purchase intention in an electronic commerce environment: A trade-off between controlling measures and operational performance	[ "Behaviour", "Technology adoption", "Adoption", "Developing countries", "E-commerce", "Online shopping", "End users", "B2B", "B2C", "B2G", "G2C" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Given the pace of information and communication technologies (ICT) proliferation, particularly mobile technology, electronic commerce (e-commerce) and mobile commerce (m-commerce) based practices are expanding fast (Aimeur and Schonfeld, 2011). Due to changes in lifestyle, urbanization and technology habituation, consumers are increasingly interested in and very keen to adopt and use electronic government, e-commerce, m-commerce and social media based applications and sites for facilitating their routine shopping activities and interactions with government (Dwivedi, Rana, Janssen, Lal, Williams and Clement, 2017; Featherman and Pavlou, 2003; Kapoor et al., 2018; Liao et al., 2011; Rana et al., 2017, 2016). The increasing habit of consumers shopping online is gradually creating a new window for marketers to promote and sell their products directly to customers. On the other hand, consistently, there are technology-related security breaches and potential risk (i.e. cybercrime is fast increasing) at an exponential rate (Aimeur and Schonfeld, 2011; Saleh, 2013). Initial studies on this topic (Saleh, 2013) have revealed that of the many forms of cybercrime, identity theft is one of the most severe issues for managing e-commerce, which is argued to be acting as a barrier to the wider proliferation of such emerging online shopping channels (Featherman et al., 2010). This provides a basis for undertaking further research for understanding issues related to it and formulating associated recommendations that can help e-commerce retailers to minimize the impact from such challenges.\nTheoretical basis: This section will first briefly discuss theoretical basis from the existing literature and then present a summary and key points from exploratory qualitative interviews that were conducted to provide support for the hypotheses development.\nHypothesis development: The following paragraphs explain the rationales of developing the hypotheses depicting the relations of PIs with PT, PPV and OP. The theoretical framework also suggests that the PT is determined by three antecedents, namely, perceived security (PS), perceived privacy (PP), and perceived anxiety (PA), while OP is influenced by perceived time value and perceived effort value (Aimeur and Schonfeld, 2011; Belanger et al., 2002; Cheng et al., 2017; Saleh, 2013; Shareef and Kumar, 2012). These relationships are individually discussed, and associated hypotheses are proposed in the subsequent part of this section.\nResearch methodology: An empirical approach is employed to examine the influence of the three contributing constructs on e-commerce PI. To examine this effect from the IT-OPI model (Figure 1), the empirical study designed in this context has been divided into two different phases: experimental stage and survey. This first allows the giving of a certain kind of exposure to respondents (experiments) and then capturing their perceptions through a survey-based empirical study (Ryals and Wilson, 2005; Shareef et al., 2018). Such an approach has been employed by previous studies (French, 2017; Rose and Wood, 2005) for gaining insights about consumers' perception based on their collaborative experience.\nData analysis and results: SEM, a multivariate technique, is used in this research to estimate the series of inter-related dependence relationships simultaneously through LISREL. Considering the adequacy of goodness-of-fit, we can identify and establish the model and theorize the relations among the variables. The model testing procedure used the correlation matrix. SEM has two parts, the measurement model and the structural model. The measurement model denotes the reflective model presenting the relations between the observed and unobserved variables, which is fundamentally confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The structural model represents the relations among the latent variables, i.e., the cause-effect relations. Following the suggestion of Anderson and Gerbing's, a two-step approach of complete SEM where the confirmatory measurement model precedes the estimation of the structural model was conducted.\nDiscussion: In the final structural model where the cause-effect relations are revealed through path loadings, the kh2 statistic is 15.3 with degree of freedom 13 and p-value 0.28887. So kh2/degree of freedom (df) is quite acceptable, and this result including other parameters indicates that the model is a good fit. RMSEA (0.036) and 90 percent confidence interval for RMSEA (0.00; 0.0957) are also a good fit. The squared multiple correlation coefficient (R2), which explains the amount of variance the independent constructs accounts for in the dependent variable is sufficient as per social science research (Kline, 2011). R2 for PI is 0.879. That means 87.9 percent variance of PI can be explained by OP, PT and PPV. However, the contribution of PPV on PI is negligible and can be removed (shown in Figure 2 and also in Table AII). Therefore, the assumption of the IT-OPI model, i.e., OP, PT and PPV can explain consumers' PI in e-commerce, is partially and adequately justified. This value of R2 is higher than usual for social science. The reasons of this higher value lie on the fact that the three constructs OP, PT and PPV were designed to measure the dependent construct PI from rigorous experiment and literature review. If a model adequately fits with the constructs, a good R2 can be achieved (Kline, 2011). The three independent constructs can adequately measure consumers purchase behavior. Additionally, before collecting data, an ecommerce site was artificially designed and a group of MBA students of the same university participated in that experiment. This procedure also enhances the possibility of getting higher R2. However, this process of e-commerce website design can provide certain limitations on the study which is now stated under the section \"Future Research Guidelines and Limitations.\" For the causal relation of PT with PS, PA and PP, 65.1 percent variance of perception of trust in e-commerce against identity theft or any other cybercrime is explained by these three dimensions. Similarly, on OP, 44.6 percent variance is explained by the two primary hypothesized constructs PEV and PTV and two more relations with the constructs PPV and PT. For PA, 40.1 percent variance is explained by PS and PP, although contribution of PP is not significant. All these relations with loading values and error variances are shown numerically in Table AII. Error variances denote the amount of variances in each measurement due to error in predicting actual phenomena of the underlying latent construct.\nConclusions, contributions, limitations and future research directions: The proposed IT-OPI model is dedicated to understanding an important research question regarding the plausible impact of controlling mechanisms of identity theft on online PI. The answer to this question has significant market value as the application of these tools, both administrative and technological, needs potential time, effort and money from both sides, consumers and e-commerce vendors. To understand the conjoint effect of those three driving or inhibiting forces on PI, this research has conducted an experiment among consumers in Bangladesh by launching three e-commerce websites with the extensive application of several administrative and technological tools to control identity theft related cybercrimes.\nFuture research guidelines and limitations: This is a significant research and has a potential contribution for e-commerce operation. However, the experiment to validate the model and conceptualize the ultimate impact through conceiving consumers' PI was not conducted in any mature e-commerce. The experiment was conducted in three artificial e-commerce websites. It might have some impact on higher R2 value. Future researchers can conduct the same experiment in fully established e-commerce. It was conducted in Bangladesh and among students. Researchers can test the model in different developed countries (particularly to verify the impact of privacy) and among all kinds of consumers. This study did not consider any moderating effects of demographic variables like income, gender and age. Future researchers can consider these moderating effects on PI. The product type in e-commerce might have an impact on PI, particularly for experiential products. This issue should be investigated shedding light on the revealed model.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the integrated impact of the application of protection measures against identity theft on consumers' synergistic perception of trust, the cost of products/services and operational performance (OP) - all of which in turn is postulated to contribute to purchase intention (PI) when shopping online.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to accomplish the specified aim, this study first conducted an experiment by involving the students from a university in Bangladesh. Then a survey was conducted to capture their opinion based on the previous experiment.\nFindings: The study identified that in e-commerce, OP and trust have potential impact on pursuing consumers' PI. Traditionally, price is always an issue in marketing; however, for e-commerce, this issue does not have direct impact on PI.\nResearch limitations/implications: The main limitation of this study is that a less established e-commerce example was utilized to conduct the experiment and survey for validating the model. Also, the study was conducted only in the context of Bangladesh and a student sample was utilized. Future studies can test the model in different contexts (particularly to verify the impact of privacy) by utilizing data from consumers.\nPractical implications: This study has resolved a controversial issue by generating clear guidelines that the overall conjoint effect of OP, trust, and price on PI is neither negative nor neutral. Synergistically, the application of these controlling tools of identity theft can substantially enhance consumers' trust, which is the single most predictor to pursue consumer PI.\nOriginality/value: This study has provided in-depth insight into the impact of different controlling measures in e-commerce PI. Practitioners have potential learning from this study that if consumers find the application of different controlling mechanisms against cybercrimes, particularly identity theft, enhancing the reliability, authenticity and security of transactions in this virtual medium, they do not mind paying a higher price. Such insights have not been provided by existing studies on this topic. Developing trust on e-commerce purchase is the driving force, not the price.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Lost in translation: Institutionalised logic and the problematisation of accounting for injury	[ "Sustainability reporting", "Performance", "Translation", "Accounting inscription", "Lost time injury", "LTIFR" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The translation of objects, activities and events to numerate inscriptions (numbers) is at the heart of accounting practice. This measurement process is, by its nature, subjective. What is measured is determined by decisions regarding which categories will be quantified, and how the conceptual boundaries of each category are defined (Robson, 1992). Accounting thereby constructs a picture of reality by selectively making items visible through measurement processes (Hines, 1988). Importantly, quantification permits the translation to numbers of particular conceptual qualities that are not only similar, but by being counted are deemed identical (Robson, 1992). Robson suggests that, where required, subsets may be created later using these qualitative differences. The creation of subsets is, however, an issue that remains under-examined in the accounting literature. This paper seeks to extend the work of Robson (1991, 1992) by exploring, within the context of accounting for work-related injury, whether the method by which data are organised into subsets influences the constructed \"reality\" of the larger set of objects, activities or events. Importantly, the research findings suggest that it does.\n1. Inscription and translation in accounting: Quantification, or the gaining and sharing of knowledge through the metaphor of numbers, has gained a privileged position in the sciences because numbers are widely perceived to provide accuracy (indeed precision), objectivity and rigour (Robson, 1992). Like science, accounting is \"clothed in the discourse of neutral, technical endeavour\" (Robson, 1991, p. 550). This neutrality in itself conveys a level of legitimacy (Hines, 1988). However, examination of practice reveals accounting activities to be \"highly political and rhetorical\" and accounting inscriptions to be closely aligned with \"particular techniques of categorising, measuring and inscribing\" (Justesen and Mouritsen, 2011, p. 168). Accounting translations are not epistemologically privileged, but rather are constructed relations between the inscription (number) and the \"subject\" (event, object, activity) to which the inscription refers (Callon, 1980; Robson, 1992); constructed because the quantities expressed by the numbers are assertions about concepts. They are not counts of objects per se but counts of constructed classifications of the qualities of objects as defined by a prior body of knowledge (Alonso, 1984; Robson, 1992; Walker, 1965).\n2. Institutional fields, logic and the problematising of accounting inscriptions: In constructing accounting inscriptions, Robson notes that the \"apparent reduction in ambiguities\" facilitated by the process of translation and inscription, as outlined above, \"presupposes a common understanding or sense of the concepts that are quantified\" (Robson, 1992, p. 689, emphasis added). This observation reinforces a link between translation and neo-institutional theory that Robson (1991) alluded to when acknowledging the role of institutions, bodies of knowledge, ideologies and objectives in shaping the problematisation and construction of accounting translations.\n3. Problematising the institutionalised logic of accounting for injury: The institutionalised logic that underpins current translations of injury outcomes to accounting numbers has a long history in global corporate practice. In particular, inscriptions of the subset of injuries resulting in \"lost\" productive work capacity have featured in accounting reports; with early examples included in the quarterly shareholder reports produced in the 1830s by the Australian Agricultural Company[4]. The use of subsets such as these to inform about aspects of work-related injury is important because injury outcomes are not homogenous. They are multi-causal, emanate from a range of mechanisms (energy sources), may affect any part(s) of the body and vary in severity along a continuum from minor irritation through to fatality. While the translation of injury occurrences to numbers involves counting the number of occasions on which people sustain an injury at work (consistent with socially constructed definitions of \"work\" and \"injury\"), the sum total of all injuries tends to aggregate too diverse a range of outcomes to support the decision-making needs of managers and other stakeholders.\n4. Method: Measures of work-related injury performance can be calculated for any designated set of injury outcomes; be they, for example, a workgroup, a business unit, an organisation, an industry, a state or a nation. Given the limitations of small sample size that may be associated with the typically low volume of injuries occurring in sampling units such as workgroups, business units and organisations, the authors targeted for examination a state-based[12] data set to ensure sufficient data for statistically significant results. Australian OHS authorities, at both state and federal levels of government, routinely collect information on compensated OHS outcomes occurring within their respective jurisdictions. While the detailed information is not publicly available, some authorities voluntarily release highly summarised data to the public via their web sites. The most comprehensive publicly available state data on compensated work-related injury and disease in Australia was provided by the New South Wales (NSW) Government's statutory OHS authority (WorkCover NSW) via annual Statistical Bulletins issued between 1987/1988 and 2008/2009[13].\n5. Results: The following sections first compare the findings of trend analyses based on traditional (Section 6.1) and then alternative (Section 6.2) approaches to organising workplace injury data into subsets. Section 6.3 then reflects on the extent to which each set of findings is consistent with explanatory comparative information provided in the 2000/2001 Bulletin.\n6. Discussion: The results of this study demonstrate that different ways of organising information for \"accounting\" potentially lead to different conclusions about the world and, since accounting inscriptions are formative, motivate different responses. When compensated injury data were organised by mortality (i.e. classified as either fatal or non-fatal LTIs), performance on both counts appeared to generally improve over time. The \"picture\" represented by the data were one of success in injury prevention. However, when the compensation data was reorganised by severity (i.e. classified as either permanently or temporarily incapacitating), the results revealed OHS management control systems had been increasingly successful in preventing temporary damage yet steadily worsening in their ability to prevent life-altering damage to people at work. In stark contrast to the earlier results, the alternative picture seems largely one of failure. Since the administrative logic of organising data did appear to influence perceptions of performance, the null hypothesis was rejected.\n7. Conclusion: This paper contributes to the body of literature on the way in which accounting translates its \"field of objects\" to financial representations (Robson, 1991, p. 551) by examining the process through which subsets of those accounting numbers are defined (Robson, 1992). The contributions are twofold. First, the results demonstrate that by organising the same data in different ways, it is possible to represent different pictures of the same world, that is, to create different \"realities\" (Hines, 1988). This underscores the difference between an administrative logic and a representative one in that, even if the measurement procedure is correct, that is, we count our pool of subjects accurately, the result may not necessarily represent the world because the counting procedure itself can be organised in different ways.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to seek to extend the work of Robson (1991, 1992) by exploring the accounting implications of the way in which subsets of non-financial accounting numbers are constructed. In particular, the study investigates whether the different procedures for organising subsets of a set of accounting data may lead to different conclusions about (the same) reality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical analysis focuses on the procedures by which organisations translate work-related injury outcomes to accounting numbers. First, existing procedures are problematised within their institutional context. This highlights complementary elements of translation and neo-institutional theory that together explain how institutional factors might operate to constrain the problematising process. An empirical analysis of workers' compensation data covering a ten year period is then conducted to calculate and contrast performance using two competing logics of accounting for injury.\nFindings: The findings demonstrate that different representations of reality may result not only from accounting choices as to \"what\" is measured, but also from accounting choices as to \"how subsets of measured data are organised\". Specifically, different ways of organising injury data into subsets led to different representations of the reality of overall injury performance. The evidence further suggests taken-for-granted assumptions and institutionalised practices may prevent adequate problematisation of the underpinning logic that guides the procedures for organising translations of work-related injury and illness to accounting numbers.\nPractical implications: The results suggest the existing logic of accounting for injury fails to recognise the financial or non-financial complexity of non-fatal injury outcomes. \"Lost time injury\" measures are revealed as neither valid nor reliable measures of injury (or safety) and therefore inappropriate for informing the occupational health and safety (OHS) decisions of managers, boards and external stakeholders. These findings reveal an urgent need for change in injury accounting practice and, in turn, raise serious concerns about the increasingly institutionalised global template for external disclosure of OHS performance information.\nOriginality/value: This paper takes a novel look at the construction of social performance measures and suggests further attention to the construction of accounting subsets is warranted. In demonstrating serious problems in accounting logic that underpin existing, and deeply institutionalised, measurement and reporting practices, the findings reinforce the need to routinely re-problematise accounting practices. Failure to critically review those accounting translations that underpin decision-making may prove a fatal mistake.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Engaging stakeholders during late stage security design with assumption personas	[ "Information security", "Business analysis", "Software engineering" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: When building software, security is considered as an after-thought, and security requirements are not properly considered until a comparatively late stage. When eliciting security requirements, stakeholders need to be engaged to provide insights into potential vulnerabilities and threats, but this can be difficult. The right stakeholders may be heavily in demand, and motivated by innovation rather than security. Stakeholders dedicate significant time and resources to understanding the complexity of a problem domain, leaving themselves little time for engaging with standard security design techniques. Such stakeholders may also find security a distant topic, with media reports on security threats and privacy invasions as somehow irrelevant to a system they are trying to build.\n2. Related work: 2.1 Personifying security expectations\n3. Approach: Using personas and scenarios, an approach for eliciting and specifying security requirements that engages stakeholders during the late stages of a system's design has been developed. This approach, which is an instantiated IRIS process, entails creating personas grounded in assumptions in design documentation about a system's users. These personas are used to contextualise scenarios, and build asset and goal models that, together, consider different aspects of how a system is used, or inadvertently misused. Requirements are elicited during these design sessions, and specified and managed within CAIRIS.\n4. Case study: This approach was evaluated by using it to elicit security requirements for a portal that facilitated the sharing of medical study data. The study data consisted of long-running, longitudinal studies of people sharing some specific characteristic. By providing an accessible interface to such studies, the portal ensured that research data and metadata could be re-used by researchers, thereby reducing the need for running unnecessary and expensive long-term studies.\n5. Conclusion: This paper presented an approach for engaging stakeholders in the elicitation and specification of security requirements at a late stage of a system's design. Based on the lessons learned applying this approach, there are three security design lessons that can be taken away.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to present an approach where assumption personas are used to engage stakeholders in the elicitation and specification of security requirements at a late stage of a system's design.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author has devised an approach for developing assumption personas for use in participatory design sessions during the later stages of a system's design. The author validates this approach using a case study in the e-Science domain.\nFindings: Engagement follows by focusing on the indirect, rather than direct, implications of security. More design approaches are needed for treating security at a comparatively late stage. Security design techniques should scale to working with sub-optimal input data.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes an approach where assumption personas engage project team members when eliciting and specifying security requirements at the late stages of a project.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A new English auction scheme using the bulletin board system	[ "Communication technologies", "Auctions", "Data security", "Logarithms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: A group signature scheme allows a member in the group to create a signature on the message on behalf of the group. The validity of the signature should be able to be verified, and the identity of the creator (signer) should be kept secret. Only the group manager (GM) has the authority to identify the creator.In 1991, Chaum and Heyst (1992) introduced the concept of group signature and proposed their scheme. There are four requirements to be met in their scheme:1. Unforgeability. Only a group member can create a signature on the message on behalf of the group.2. Anonymity. The validity of the group signature can be verified. However, nobody can reveal the identity of the signer except the GM.3. Unlinkability. No one (but the group authority) can link what two different group signatures issued by the same group member.4. No framing. No group member can masquerade another member to sign a message.Chen and Pedersen (1994) improved the Chaum et al. scheme and concealed the identity of the signer by using the Cramer et al.'s (1994) protocol. However, in the Chen-Pedersen scheme, the signer has to sign twice so that the signer identification can be done. Besides, Petersen (1997) also offered a general group signature scheme that could convert any digital signature into a group signature. So far, a wide variety of group signatures (Camenisch and Stadler, 1997; Park et al., 1997; Petersen, 1997; Tseng and Jan, 1998) have been proposed.Lee and Chang (1998) proposed a novel group signature scheme based on the discrete logarithm (ElGamal, 1985; Hwang and Chang, 2006; Hwang and Lee, 2005; Lu and Huang, 2006; Sramka, 2008). Their scheme proves to be more efficient than those in Chaum and Heyst (1992) and Chen and Pedersen (1994) in terms of communication. However, Joye et al. (1999) reported that theirs not satisfy the requirement of unlinkability. In this paper, we shall propose a new English auction scheme based on the Lee-Chang group signature by bringing in the bulletin board system (BBS). Although the Lee-Chang group signature does not satisfy the requirement of unlinkability of the group signature, their scheme can be extend to be suitable for our new English auction scheme. The drawback of the Lee-Chang group signature cannot destroy our new English auction scheme. On the contrary, we can apply this property to our new English auction scheme.Recently, electronic auction has been receiving more and more attention in the world of electronic commerce (David et al., 2007). Electronic auction can be either sealed-bid auction or public auction. In public auction, also known as the English auction, all the bid values are clearly published, but nobody can reveal the identity of any bidder except the auctioneer (Luo and Chang, 2008; Omote and Miyaji, 2001; Wu et al., 2002). Each bidder can offer prices again and again that are higher than ever. When no more bids are called, the highest price is the winning price. Finally, the bidder who cast the winning price is the winner in this auction. However, in sealed-bid auction (David et al., 2006; Franklin and Reiter, 1996; Lee et al., 2009; Kudo, 1998; Hu et al., 2009), the bid values cannot be revealed until the open stage.An ideal of English auction procedure should satisfy the requirements in the following (Lee et al., 2001; Nguyen and Traore, 2000; Omote and Miyaji, 2001):* Unforgeability. Nobody can forge a valid bid and pass the verification equation.* Anonymity. Nobody can identify the bidder from a bid.* Non-repudiation. The winning bidder cannot deny his/her bidding price after the winning bidder is announced.* No framing. Nobody can masquerade a bidder to bid.* Traceability. The winner cannot deny his/her winning bid after the winner decision and announcement stage.* Fairness. All bidders have the same power in the auction.* Verifiability. The validity of a bid can be publicly verified.* Unlinkability among different auctions. When a bidder is making bids in two or more auctions, nobody can derive any bid in one auction from another bid in another auction.* Linkability in an auction. Everybody knows it when some bidder has made many bids in an auction.* Efficiency of bidding. The computation and communication cost is lowest.* One-time registration. All bidders only have to register manager with the once before participating in the auction rounds.* Easy revocation. The manager can easily revoke the power of a bidder.* Two independent authority's powers. There is no single authority who can break anonymity.Up to now, the English auction has received only limited attention. Based on Camenisch and Stadler's (1997) group signature, the signature of knowledge reveals the identity of the bidder. In this paper, we shall propose a new English auction scheme to achieve the above requirements based on the Lee-Chang group signature.This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we shall briefly review the Lee-Chang group signature. Then, we shall propose a new English auction scheme based on the Lee-Chang group signature in Section 3. Next, we shall analyze the English auction scheme in Section 4. Finally, the conclusion will be in Section 5.\n2 Review of the Lee-Chang scheme: In this section, we shall introduce the Lee-Chang scheme. The group signature scheme, based on the discrete logarithm problem, was proposed in 1997. The Lee-Chang scheme procedures are as follows. Let p and q be two large primes such that q\|p-1, and let g be an element of order q in GF(p).There are four phases in this scheme: creation of the group, signing and verification, identification of the signer, and renewal of the signer's identity. In the first phase, the GM gathers a group of participants. In the second phase, only a group member can create a valid signature on behalf of the group. The phase is for the GM to identify the signer when necessary. Finally, in the fourth phase, the GM will give a new identify to a signer when his/her identity have been revealed.Creation of the group\n3 The proposed English auction scheme: In this section, we shall apply the above group signature to our new English auction scheme. The procedures of the English auction include bidder registration, bidding, and winner decision and announcement. In the above group signature, the user and the GM play the roles of the bidder and the auction manager (AM), respectively. The bidder registration procedure is similar the creation of the group in the group signature, the bidding procedure is similar to the signing and the verification phase of the group signature. Finally, the procedure of winner decision and announcement is similar to the opening of the signature and the identification of the signer.In our English auction scheme, we disperse the power of the AM to the registration manager (RM) in order for the anonymity of the bidders. Under such circumstances, only AM and RM can cooperate to identify the bidder. Note that RM or AM alone cannot identify the bidder. In our scheme, the RM knows the correspondence between a bidder's identity and the bidder's registration key. The AM creates and handles the auction.AM and RM have private keys xAM and xRM as well as their corresponding public keys yAM[?]gxAM mod p and yRM[?]gxRM mod p, respectively. The detail procedures of the new English auction scheme are as follows.3.1 Bidder registration\n4 Analysis of our English auction scheme: Our English auction scheme can satisfy the requirements as follows:* Anonymity. In our scheme, we use RM and AM to jointly support the bidders with anonymity. RM or AM alone cannot identify the any bidder. The bidder sends name and yi to RM in the registration phase. RM computes Yi for each bidder through yi and posts it on his/her BBS in a shuffled way. Next, AM posts (ri, si) for each bidder on AM's BBS in a shuffled way. Consequently, nobody knows the identity of a bidder except RM and AM working together.* Traceability. RM and AM can jointly trace the winner. So, after the winner decision and announcement stage, the winner cannot deny submitting the winning bid.* Non-repudiation. Bidder information conceals within it the signature {ri, si} provided by the bidder. This ensures that winners cannot deny their signatures following the announcement of the winning bid.* No framing. In our scheme, the bidder cannot disguise as another bidder to bid because he/she cannot get the private key xi of another bidder.* Unforgeability. In an auction, the bidder must create a legal signature on his/her bid when he/she wants to bid. Only, a legal bidder can pass the verification equation because he/she has a valid private key xi.* Fairness. No bidder can deny his/her bidding because every bid has a signature on it.* Verifiability. Every bidder can confirm the validity of any signature by the computing verification equation (1).* Unlinkability among different auctions. For each auction, RM and AM generate new xRM and ki for the event and each bidder, respectively, and therefore nobody can know the bids of the same bidder among different auctions.* Linkability in an auction. The bidder can use (ri, si) to bid many times until he/she gets identified. Although all the bidders get to know that somebody has bid many times, they cannot know the identity of the bidder.* Efficiency of bidding. The bidder can repeatedly use his/her (ri, si) to bid until the end of this auction round. All he/she has to do is compute a signature s on the bid when he/she wants to bid in the auction.* One-time registration. Each bidder only executes the registration procedure once with RM. RM saves the identity of each bidder in the database. If the bidders want to participate in the auction, he/she can find Yi and (ri, si) on RM's and AM's BBS, respectively.* Easy revocation. We can easily revoke the bidder as RM and AM, respectively, delete the corresponding Yi and (ri, si) on their BBS.* Two independent authority's powers. Only, AM and RM can cooperate to identify the bidder. That is to say, there is no single authority who can break anonymity.Our proposed scheme applies the BBS based on the Lee-Chang group signature. In addition, our scheme can satisfy the requirements of an ideal of English auction scheme as in Introduction.In Table IV, we compare our scheme with other English auction schemes. It is seen that our scheme is superior to other schemes. In addition, our scheme uses the concept of group signature and the Lee-Chang scheme to protect the bidders' privacy.\n5 Conclusions: In this paper, we have proposed a new English auction scheme based on the BBS. In addition, our scheme uses the novel concept of group signature and the Lee-Chang scheme to protect the bidders' privacy. In terms of 13 requirements for evaluating a new English auction scheme introduced in Section 1, our scheme is a better approach than the other schemes. The primary merit of our scheme is in its simplicity and practicality for implementation under insecure communication links.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concept of group signature, first introduced by Chaum and van Heyst, which allows individual members in a group to create signatures on behalf of the group.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper proposes a new English auction scheme based on the concept of group signature using the bulletin board system.\nFindings: - It is found that the proposed scheme can satisfy the requirements of an ideal of English auction scheme.\nOriginality/value: - Compared with other public auction schemes, it is claimed that the scheme presented in this paper can satisfy all requirements of an ideal auction scheme and is superior to other schemes. The scheme's primary merit is in its simplicity and practicality for implementation under insecure communication links.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Group leaders and teamwork in the over-lean production system	[ "Teamwork", "Time study", "Group leader", "Japanese automobile plant", "Lean production system", "Organizational adaptation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A manager said to me, \"What are you doing? Can you supervise the production line even when you are working on the line?\" Then, I answered to him, \"What are you saying? We cannot keep up with production if I don't work on the line. You should see it immediately\" (Shimizu, 2005, p. 574).\n2. Research setting: Our research setting was plant Y of Japanese automobile company X, which produces small quantities of various models of cars. Since 2007, this plant has been producing three models on one line. We focused on \"group a (chassis process)\" in plant Y. This group basically consisted of twelve workers, two TLs and one GL. Each team leader managed six workers.\n3. Performance analysis: 3.1 Transition of production volume\n4. Formal jobs of GLs: 4.1 Basic job of GLs\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Skills map analysis\n6. Discussion and conclusion: The results of our study are summarized below:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to describe how a work team adapted to its fluctuated and severe environment by changing from \"lean\" to \"over-lean\" mode. To do this, the author investigated the relations among productivity, the vertical division of labor, and group leaders' behavior in a Japanese automobile assembly plant.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors conducted field study at an assembly plant for five months. They collected three plant-level data to investigate the capability of its shop floor: transition of production volume; transition of the number of workers; and productivity. And they collected two types of workforce data: skill map and work shift. Moreover, they videotaped the behavior of group leaders on several days and analyzed them through a time study.\nFindings: The work team of this study achieved high productivity even in its tough environment. However, the authors' time study of group leaders showed that the group leaders, who usually engage in some management activities outside of the production line, did many tasks within the line. This indicates the team had a weakness toward the change of team members. Changing to this over-lean mode enabled the team to survive in a short-run, but maintaining the mode has a weakness in enhancing long-term competitiveness.\nOriginality/value: This study proposes a balance between the two modes is required for organizations if they are to survive their severe and fluctuating environments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A qualitative inquiry of multi-brand loyalty: Some propositions and implications for mobile phone service providers	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Brand loyalty", "Mobile communications" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Multi-brand loyalty (MBL) is \"the consistent repurchase of more than one brand from among a set of brands\" (Olson and Jacoby, 1974, p. 447). Compared to the past, in recent years, consumers are increasingly showing polygamous loyalty towards brands (Bennett and Rundle-Thiele, 2005; Cooil et al., 2007; Rundle-Thiele and Mackay, 2001; Rust et al., 2004; Uncles et al., 2003). In some service categories in particular, consumers intrinsically develop MBL (Jacoby and Chestnut, 1978). For example, in the banking industry in France, most households use two or more financial providers (Ngobo, 2004), whereas in the Malaysian mobile phone service industry, many users subscribe to multiple network operators (Quoquab et al., 2009).\nMobile phone service usage as the research context: In the present study, the \"mobile phone service sector\" has been considered as the research context due to the fact that in this industry MBL is a common practice among its users (Quoquab et al., 2009). The subscription rate has increased significantly and has surpassed 100 percent market share in 2009 (MCMC, 2009; Salazar, 2007). During 2009, the hand phone subscription rate was 105.4 per 100 inhabitants and increased to 116 in the last quarter of 2010 (MCMC, 2010). Moreover, the 20-49 years old age group showed the highest subscription rate for hand phone (170 per 100 inhabitants). In addition, with regard to network subscription, 24 percent users have multiple network subscription, which clearly indicates the existence of MBL in this industry (MCMC, 2009).\nSocial judgment theory as the research framework: The social judgment theory (Sherif and Hovland, 1961; Sherif et al., 1965) provides support for the MBL phenomenon. This theory acknowledges \"assimilation and contrast\" process of human mind in forming attitudinal preference (Kyle et al., 2004; Newman and Dolich, 1979). This theory indicates that individual's attitudinal preference or perception towards a particular object falls under any of the three regions or latitudes:\nLiterature review: With the passage of time, consumers' behavior pattern becomes more complex. In the past, consumers were mostly hard-core or sole-brand loyal (Rust et al., 2004; Uncles et al., 2003). However, in the recent years, this pattern has changed and thus some other relevant constructs have emerged, such as cross-buying, MBL, switching and the like. The next few paragraphs will review some relevant literatures that are related to MBL and this phenomenon is differentiated from SBL, cross-buying and switching.\nResearch methodology: Research approach\nKey findings: Why do consumers engage in MBL?\nDiscussion and development of research propositions: A summary of the findings from four focus groups and 13 in-depth interviews are shown in Tables I and II.\nConclusion and managerial implications: It is suggested that consumer behavior is a psychologically, culturally, socially and ideologically driven phenomenon and therefore exhibits complex consumption pattern (Meamber and Venkatesh, 2000). The findings from this study support this view due to the fact that the mobile phone service users not only exhibit SBL, but they also proven to be multi-brand loyal, cross-buyer as well as switcher.\nLimitation and future research direction: The qualitative nature of the present study helped the researchers to answer the research questions in depth. However, based on the findings of this research, future research can employ the survey technique incorporating large sample size. Moreover, it is also essential to carry out research in different service context rather than focusing only mobile phone service industry to examine consumers' behavioral pattern in different industry context. Lastly, future research may examine whether MBL influences service switching in the long run.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: It is evident that most consumers are polygamous and are loyal to several brands within a particular product or service category. This circumstance is coined as \"multi-brand loyalty\" (MBL). The present research tries to shade light on consumers' motivation to become a multi-brand loyal by answering the research question: \"why consumers become multi-brand loyal within a particular service category?\" The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Four focus group discussions and 13 in-depth interviews were carried out to gain deeper insights regarding the drivers of MBL.\nFindings: The findings of this study suggest that \"financial benefits\", \"need for privacy\", \"competitor's attractive promotional campaign\", \"public self-consciousness\" and \"availability of cheap handset and SIM card\" are the most frequently cited reasons that can make mobile phone service users multi-brand loyal. In addition, the study reveals heterogeneity among consumers, i.e. along with \"multi-brand loyals\", \"sole-brand loyals\", \"switchers\" and \"cross-buyers\" also exist in the Malaysian mobile phone service market.\nPractical implications: These insights put forth the importance for managers of mobile phone service industry to be more cautious in formulating their retention strategies. Moreover, they will be aware of the complicated loyalty pattern of their consumers which will eventually guide them to consider different strategic moves for each different loyalty segments.\nOriginality/value: Although the existence of MBL has been proven empirically, little attention is given to understand consumers' motive to become a multi-brand loyal, particularly in the context of services. Therefore, taking this opportunity into account, the present study fills this gap by providing an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Price or relational behaviours? Supplier relationship management in the German dairy industry	[ "Relationship quality", "Actual price", "Prices", "Behavioural factors", "German dairy industry", "Dairy products", "Germany" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and background: Long-term business relationships have been in the focus of marketing research since the beginning of the 1990s, as an extension of transaction-oriented marketing from an interaction-oriented perspective (Gronroos, 1994; Hennig-Thurau and Hansen, 2000). Consequently, there has been a call for stronger collaboration and long-term relationships between the different levels of the supply chain by a number of authors such as Fearne (1998), Hornibrook and Fearne (2001), and Clare et al. (2005) in the field of agribusinesses and by Schulze et al. (2006) in the German dairy industry in particular. Long-term relationships (LTR) between trading partners may provide additional advantages such as increase in reliability of supply, improvement in the level of technical interaction, potential product adaptation, reduction in the level of uncertainties as well as enhancements in the capacity to plan and forecast production and supply schedules (Batt and Wilson, 2001).In spite of the advantages associated with stable and good working relationships in a business to business environment, the key issue of which factors are most important for firms to build and maintain better relationship quality with their business partners has not received a consensual response among researchers. Various schools of thoughts have proposed different (and in some cases, contradictory) models. The neo classical economists for instance, generally emphasise the influence of the price as the most important factor both in economic praxis and in theory, implying that suppliers would choose a trading partner on the basis of the price that can be obtained. Furthermore, under the neoclassical economics framework, economic agents are assumed to possess perfect information and hence, there is no uncertainty regarding prices, product characteristics or the behaviour of competitors and trading partners (Hobbs, 1996). Consequently, issues concerning price dominate in business negotiations under a neo classical economic framework.This viewpoint is contrasted with behavioural-science theoretical concepts of relationship management, which emphasise the non-economic elements such as trust, satisfaction and commitment (e.g. Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Anderson and Narus, 1990) as the main factors influencing firms' ability to choose and maintain their working relationships with their business partners. In studies where prices have been considered in the behavioural economics framework, they have usually concentrated on the psychological aspect of prices such as the price perception measured in terms of fairness, reliability, confidence and transparency (e.g. Matzler et al., 2006, 2007) and the actual price levels as in the neoclassical economics framework have not been included in the models.This issue is particularly relevant for the German dairy sector, which has faced several industrial actions by milk suppliers. The main grounds for these strikes have been identified as payment of low milk prices signalling that the actual milk price might be important in the maintenance of long-term and stable relationships between the dairies and their suppliers.A review of the literature on the inter-firm relationships ascertain that there is no existing published works that integrates the neo classical idea of current price and the behavioural economics notion of relationships into a single framework and specifically, nothing focuses on the German dairy industry which is considered as one of the largest in the German food sector (Schulze et al., 2006).This gap in research along with the importance of the dairy sector in Germany demonstrates the necessity and relevance of the research.In view of this, the aim of this paper is to propose a model of relationship quality which integrates the neo classical economics idea of price and behavioural economics notion of relational factors in order to determine their relative importance on the quality of the business relationships between the German farmers and the dairies. This will enhance understanding of how the diaries can maintain better quality and stable relationships with their suppliers in order to enhance their long-term competitiveness and continuity of their businesses.The remaining sections of the paper are organised as follows: the next section presents background information about the German dairy sector and how milk prices are determined. We then provide a literature review on the concepts of relationship quality, price and behavioural factors. Following, a discussion of the methodology and operationalisation of the constructs are provided. We then present the results of the empirical studies that will be followed by conclusions and managerial implications. The paper ends with discussion of the limitations and the direction for future research.\n2. Descriptions of the German dairy industry and the generation of milk prices: The dairy industry is one of the largest sectors of the German food industry. The sector had an annual turnover of about 21.4 billion euros in the year 2005 (BVE, 2006). In 2005, there were approximately 102 dairies in Germany supplied by around 110,000 farms (ZMP, 2006). The market leader, Nordmilch, for example, had more than 10,000 raw material suppliers; smaller dairies, in contrast, are supplied by only a few hundred milk producers. Within the EU, the volume of milk produced is limited by the so-called milk quota scheme, a milk delivery limit that the producers are not allowed to exceed. Hence, raw material security is a priority for the dairies, who traditionally accomplish this through long-term contracts. Until recently, dairy-farmer business relationships were relatively stable and were embedded in the European Union's regulations.In the milk industry, the milk price that the dairies pay to the milk suppliers (milk-producer or farm-gate price) is of great economic importance because in some cases, it determines nearly 100 per cent of the farm income. On specialised farms, for example, the only additional income is generated through a limited number of slaughter cows and the sale of calves. However, there are considerable differences in the price paid for milk products between the individual dairies in accordance with the way the milk is used and the resulting value added. For example, the dairy may focus on the production of standard products such as uperized/UHT milk (milk subjected to high temperature for treatment) that in many cases is less lucrative than the production of brand-name or innovative varieties of milk products. In practice, the price paid by the individual dairies to the milk suppliers varies by up to 15 per cent from the average (ZMP, 2005).\n3. Model development and hypotheses: The objective of this contribution is to determine the relative importance of price and behavioural factors on the business relationship quality between the German dairies and their milk suppliers. Relationship quality is our main dependant variable, while the price of milk and behavioural factors are the main independent variable.In operationalising the price factors, we distinguished between the actual price of milk, which is the objective milk price in the market paid to the farmers, and the milk price satisfaction, which is the farmers' perception of the price. We included farm size and aspects of relational variables, such as communication, flexibility, common goals as controlled variables in our model, as displayed in Figure 1.The variables used in Figure 1 and the corresponding hypotheses are further elaborated below.3.1 Relationship quality\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Study design and sample description\n5. Statistical analysis: 5.1 Factor analysis\n6. Discussions and recommendations: The results of the study indicate that the actual price of milk does not influence the perception of relationship, and as a result, H1 is rejected. However, relationship quality has been found to be influenced by the existence of relational norms, price satisfaction and firm size that confirm hypotheses H3, H4 and H5 respectively. In addition, the actual price of milk also has a significant influence on price perception. H6 was also confirmed, indicating that relational variables have influence on price satisfaction.The findings above imply that the emotional and non-financial psychological factors are very important in understanding how the dairy farmers perceive their relationships with the dairies. This suggests that the dairy farmers do not only consider the actual price that is paid to them, but rather make comparisons in terms of price fairness determined by relative price comparison over time and across different dairies. This finds support from Matzler et al. (2006), who proposed perceived price fairness to be one of the major important psychological factors which affect customer's behaviour. This analysis shows that the dairy farmers orientate their sales behaviour less to the current price levels, focussing rather on whether their dairy understands their general situation, which goes beyond the short term economic benefits as in the neoclassical model.In addition, support for H6 further indicates that the existence of relational behaviours such as communication, cooperation and social bonds do not only influence the farmers' evaluation of the relationship quality of the dairies but indirectly through price perception which has also been found to influence relationship quality. H4, which postulates a positive relationship between firm size and perception of relationship quality, is also supported. This may be due to the fact that the bigger farms may be able to use their size to negotiate better and special conditions with the dairies and therefore are expected to rate the dairies higher and vice versa.A number of implications arise from the results of the study. First, we propose that if the dairies want to improve the quality of their relationships, they must concentrate on the emotional and behavioural factors, such as enhancing better communication and exchange of information between themselves and the farmers, ensuring more flexibility and cooperation, as well as embarking on common activities and joint planning. These factors are more likely to succeed compared to the economic factors such as the actual price of the milk, which has taken centre stage in discussions in the German press.Second, the influence of the relational behaviours on the price perception suggests the need for the dairies to improve the communication of price information to the farmers. If the dairies are able to provide adequate information on price levels as well as the reasons behind the payment of such prices to the suppliers on periodic basis, the farmers would be well informed about the general market situation and would be more likely to accept such prices without embarking on industrial actions to register their protest even when the actual price is not very high. Thus, the current system in which dairies determine the milk prices unilaterally can be minimised by enhancing price negotiations between themselves and the farmers. In that case it may be able to increase the level of confidence that the farmers have in the dairies even when the actual price is not that high.\n7. Conclusions and limitations of the study: The aim of this paper was to determine whether the actual price paid to German milk farmers influences their perception of relationship quality. The results indicate that there is no direct influence. We have shown that it is rather the perception of the milk price as well as the presence of relational norms that really matter. We conclude that for the maintenance of good working relationships, the emphasis should not only be placed on payment of high milk prices to the farmers, but rather on the regular flow of information and communication, as well as making the process of milk price determination more transparent. Like many other studies, this research has some limitations. For proper interpretation of the results of this case study, some important considerations must be made. For instance comparison of our sample with the national average indicates that the farmers who participated in the survey all have relatively large farms. Future research could therefore take a more representative sample by including a more balanced farm size in the sample.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to determine the relative importance of actual price and behavioural factors for the quality of the business relationship between German dairies and their milk suppliers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper reports the results of field study involving 209 farmers in Lower Saxony and the northern section of North Rhine-Westphalia regions in northwest Germany. These regions are the most important milk production centres in Germany.\nFindings: - The results indicate that, whereas behavioural factors, specifically relationship management practices and price satisfaction, have a positive influence on the quality of the business relationship between the farmers and the dairies, the actual price levels have no influence.\nPractical implications: - Actual prices paid to the farmers is not the most important factor which influences the quality of their relationship with the dairies but rather behavioural norms such as milk price satisfaction and relational norms. Dairies are advised to enhance price perception through price negotiations and transparency in order to facilitate quality relationship instead of through higher price payment alone.\nOriginality/value: - This study is the first to integrate and compare the actual prices and behavioural variables to determine their relative importance and influence on relationship quality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Food, nutrient, and energy waste among school students	[ "Household food waste", "Educational intervention", "Energy and nutrient losses", "Middle school students" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The UN (2015) has established 17 new goals for development known as the Sustainable Development Goals for 2015-2030 (Wahlen and Winkel, 2016; Grosso and Falasconi, 2018). Goal 12 is focused on encouraging sustainable consumption and production by reducing food waste at the retail and consumer levels by half as well as also halving food losses at the production and post-harvest stages by 2030 (European Parliament, 2017). Food waste has a significantly negative impact on the environment and social well-being. The United Nations Environment Programme has emphasized the impact of food waste on global warming and on increasing the amount of waste in landfills (UNEP, 2014). The USA has set the goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030, and the European Union intends to do the same by 2020 (UN, 2015; European Parliament, 2017; REFRESH et al., 2016, 2017).\n2. Aims of study: This paper estimates the extent of food wastage and wastage-related losses of energetic ingredients and nutrients among middle school students. The effects of selected forms of education on the reduction of food waste are also examined.\n3. Material and methodology: 3.1 Study group\n4. Results: 4.1 Profile of the study group\n5. Discussion: A survey by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS) (2016) in Poland found that secondary school students were important contributors to food wastage. Cohen et al.'s (2016) study in Poland and the USA also confirm that middle school students tend to waste food (73 percent declared that they occasionally waste food). Our results indicate that students waste 23 g of food per day on average. Although the though amount of food wasted in Poland is lower than the mean value of wastage in Europe as a whole, it should be noted that these results are mainly the leftovers of meals (Boschini et al., 2018).\n6. Conclusions: Middle school students are responsible for household food waste. The students in this study wasted 23 g of food per day. The most wasted items were found to be potatoes, bread, fruits and vegetables, along with meats such as ham. Leftovers are thrown into the trash or used to feed domestic animals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: According to a study by European Commission, 88m tons of food waste are generated per year, of which 46.5m tons are wasted by households. Households still remain the main source of food waste (53 percent). The purpose of this paper is to estimate households' food waste and wastage-related losses of energy and nutrients among middle school students as well as assess educational intervention regarding food waste prevention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study included 555 students from 11 schools in Poland. The study was conducted using the survey questionnaire and the three-day record of food waste. The interventional group filled a questionnaire before and after of education as well as after three months of intervention.\nFindings: Students waste 23 g of food per day. The most wasted products are: potatoes, bread, fruits and vegetable as well as meet and ham. Energy losses from leftovers are less than 1-10 percent. Losses of nutritional value along with wastages were the highest for vitamin C, but also for dietary fiber, potassium and folate. Food waste education was nearly twice as strong in study group with films intervention, than those who received only a leaflet for parents.\nResearch limitations/implications: Middle school students are responsible for households' food waste and contribute to energy and nutrition losses. Educational intervention is more effective, while using multimedia methods and need to be continued.\nPractical implications: The paper is a scientific study and addressed to the scientific audience. However, due to the problem of households' food waste, general public could be also interested.\nSocial implications: Food waste is an element of waste management. Studying the scale of food waste and waste related behavior can help to better understand causes of food waste. The search for ways to limit food waste, through education address to young people, can be an effective method of prevention of waste. The UN has established 17 new development goals for the years 2015-2030 (United Nations, 2015). One of them (Goal 12) is focused on ensuring sustainable consumption and production. It means halving food waste at the retail and consumer levels and food losses at the production and post-harvest stages by 2030.\nOriginality/value: There are few publications available about food waste including energy and nutrients waste. This study shows the scale of household waste, the quantity and type of wasted products and causes of disposal. Also, the way of handling with food waste at homes was examined. It is also important to draw attention to the responsibility of young people in wasting food, which was examined in the paper.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Custom executive education program charters: a beneficial task and useful template	[ "Executive education", "Charter", "Custom programs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Clarity, compactness, and focus are hallmarks of messages that \"stick\" (Heath and Heath, 2007). Thus, the existence of \"executive summaries\" is attached to committee reports and even to audit investigations. Similarly, the \"elevator pitch\", a phrase, is often used to encourage those preparing for a sales presentation to be crisp and on point. The charter template introduced here for custom executive education programs (CEEPs) provides a set of cues and a format for succinctly capturing and codifying the key agreements guiding the design, development, delivery, and monitoring of such a program. It provides guidance for creating a message that sticks, and answering the key question posed in a recent communications article with the provocative title, The 7 Deadly Sins of Report Writing (Feierman, 2012, p. 51): \"What are the most important things to communicate about [a] topic?\"\nSix component parts: Based on six decades of CEEP involvement and with the intent of facilitating purposeful, productive, engaging focus for CEEP teams, we have developed and use the following robust charter template which highlights six elements. First is \"Mission\". This opening section calls for, in one pithy sentence, a statement of program purpose. It communicates the program's core topical objective and target audience. This statement is largely driven by the program sponsor.\nA dynamic document: Table I presents one example of a charter for an actual CEEP we designed and delivered for a Fortune 500 company (the company name is disguised, and the contents slightly modified). It is typical of those we have initiated and collaboratively refined with other program sponsors. The charter was written shortly after the first series of client meetings. It provided several benefits. It served to codify overarching program-related agreements between the parties and guided the initial program design and development. Later, it served as a useful reminder for subsequent program offerings' preparations - especially those of the program leader for whom the program was one of several. Similarly, every three to five years, the program was subject to a major review and those endeavors were pursued under the umbrella of the charter, which itself, was reviewed. The charter was also a useful document to share with newcomers to the team - it provided a succinct sense of the program's underpinnings. It also set an ongoing tone for the collaboration within and across the program provider and client teams.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper introduces readers to the usefulness of, design of, and an example of a custom executive education program charter. As such, charters are posed as a key task to complete at the outset of a new custom executive education provider/client relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper codifies the attributes of a well-conceived and well-crafted program charter based on a number of years of having led custom executive education program design, development, and delivery activities.\nFindings: Six components of a useful and substantive custom executive education program charter are identified. Each is discussed as are the roles that a completed charter can contribute to in an ongoing custom executive education provider/client relationship.\nPractical implications: The field-inspired custom executive education program charter insights presented are immediately actionable by program providers and/or the client sponsors of such programs.\nOriginality/value: Readers are provided with a template for crafting their own charters. The merits of having a charter are highlighted, as are some of the challenges involved in crafting one.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring and managing performance in extended enterprises	[ "Performance management", "Measurement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: With the globalisation of commercial and industrial activities, one of the key issues at the forefront of any chief executive's mind has been the question \"how to create and sustain competitive advantage at a global scale through collaboration\".In this context collaboration means partnering with suppliers, customers, designers, research institutes, and so on to integrate their individual competencies to create a level of competency that is unmatched and difficult to copy and develop.Over the last decade, concepts such as supply chain management, extended enterprises and virtual enterprises have emerged, each describing a different level or format of strategic collaboration. Out of these concepts, supply chain management has gained significant acceptance in industry whereas others, such as extended enterprises and virtual enterprises, have remained as academic concepts with no real industrial and commercial application.It is now an accepted fact that in the twenty-first century, competition will be between value-chains, which efficiently and effectively integrate their competencies and resources to compete in a global economy. The European Union's research and development objectives under the sixth framework programme make it clear that, as yet, we do not understand how to manage a collaborative/extended enterprise.This paper will develop the argument that our limited understanding of how to measure and manage performance in extended and virtual enterprises is one of the main barriers to wide scale acceptance and practical use of these concepts by industry and commerce. It will also demonstrate, through empirical evidence, that the systems required to measure and manage the performance of extended enterprises, whilst being based upon existing performance measurement frameworks and models, would be structurally and operationally different.In tackling these issues, the paper integrates a number of existing concepts and it demonstrates that like all businesses, extended enterprises also have a common, cybernetic, structure upon which a performance measurement and management model could be developed.In the following sections the paper will first present the methodological basis of the research presented in this paper. It will then describe the background to the research programme emphasising the relevant literature, and go on to develop and validate the common cybernetic structure for extended enterprises. It will then develop and demonstrate the performance measurement model necessary to measure and manage the performance of an extended enterprise. The paper concludes with an in-depth discussion on the relative merits and limitations of the work done, emphasising the new knowledge emerging from the research.\n2. Methodology: From a methodological perspective this research is based on innovative constructivism (Kaplan, 1998; Kasanen et al., 1993). Here, the researcher starts with an observation of the limitations of the current knowledge and practices and goes on to develop innovative ideas to address these limitations either through documentation of innovative practices (Kaplan, 1998) or through logical deduction from the existing literature. The researcher then collects cases, teaches and speaks about the innovation, writes articles and books, and then implements the new concept. The researcher goes through this loop (Figure 1) several times to achieve initial, intermediate and advanced implementations, which continuously informs theory (Meredith, 1993). This approach was used to develop the balanced score card (Kaplan and Norton, 1992, 1996, 2000a, b).The research presented in this paper can be seen as:* an initial observation of the limitations of the current knowledge in performance measurement in the context of extended enterprises;* an initial deduction, from literature, and explanation of a model for performance measurement and management in extended enterprises; and* initial testing and description of the validity of this model.The validity of the model built was tested through a single, but in depth, case study. The case data was collected through a series of semi-structured interviews and workshops with the management team of the case study organisation.\n3. Background: The research presented in this paper has been conducted as part of an EU fifth framework IST programme on advanced methodologies and tools for knowledge management within extended manufacturing enterprises (K-Flow: G1RD-2001-00665). The authors of this paper were specifically responsible for investigating the performance measurement and management issues in extended enterprises, which is the focus of this paper.This section first looks at the literature on performance measurement and then goes on to look at literature on extended enterprises with specific emphasis on performance measurement in extended enterprises.3.1 Performance measurement\n4. The collaborative architecture of an extended enterprise: Earlier, the paper identified that performance measurement should be specific to business units (Kaplan and Norton, 2000a, b; Neely et al., 1996; Bititci et al., 1997).In their work into developing a generic architecture for an integrated performance measurement system Bititci and Carrie (1998) adopted Beer's (1985) viable systems model and identified a cybernetic structure for a business (see also Bititci and Turner, 1999).In essence, this work has described the competitive structure of any business that needs to be managed. This structure, which is illustrated in Figure 3, may be summarised as:* The business exists to create wealth for its shareholders (or satisfy expectations of its key stakeholders).* It achieves this by operating one or more business units that need to remain competitive in their selected markets to satisfy the needs of the business. Here a business unit is defined as the logical part of the business, which exists to service a particular market sector with specific competitive requirements. Business units may be product oriented or market oriented. In a product-oriented business unit, it is the design characteristic of the product or product group that determines how the product competes in that market sector. In a market-oriented business unit the same product may be subjected to different competitive pressures in different markets.* Each business unit competes by operating a number of value-add (operate) processes supported by the support processes. The efficiency and effectiveness of these processes determines the competitiveness of the business units.* The efficiency and effectiveness of each business process is determined by the combined performance of its critical activities.Earlier, the paper also identified that performance measurement systems should focus on business processes that deliver value (EFQM, 1998; Bititci et al., 1997; Neely and Adams, 2001), but in an extended enterprise these value-adding processes of each enterprise need to be joined end-to-end in a coordinated and synchronised manner. In short, they need to behave as a single process end-to-end as depicted in Figure 4. This concept is also strongly supported by other authors, such as Eloranta (1999) and Hammer (2001).In fact, Figure 4 simplifies the complexity of the environment within which an extended enterprise operates. According to the competitive business structure presented in Figure 3, business units should be the main unit of analysis for managing the performance of extended enterprises. Although, at a superficial level, collaboration between firms may appear to take place at enterprise level, it is our hypothesis that:H1. In reality, collaboration takes place at business unit level; and\n5. Case study: Daks Simpson Limited: So far this paper demonstrates, through literature, that an extended enterprise is structurally different and more complex compared to a single enterprise. It also concluded that a strategic framework for measuring and managing performance in extended enterprises does not exist. The purpose of this case study is two fold. First, it demonstrates the validity of the collaborative architecture developed, above, for extended enterprises. Second, the case study is used to develop a conceptual framework for measuring and managing performance in extended enterprises.The case data presented in this section was collected through a series of semi-structured interviews and workshops with the management team of the case study organisation.Daks Simpson is an apparel manufacturer specialising in ladies' and gents' suits, jackets and trousers. The manufacturing facilities are based in Scotland with product design based in London. The products are sold in a global market. Daks is a globally recognised brand name with a significance presence in the Far-East market, particularly in Japan.In practice, Daks has two business units, namely:1. Brand business, which specialises in the design, manufacture and sales of products under the Daks brand. These products are tailored garments produced to high specifications in limited quantities. Typically, a gent's suit may sell at PS400-PS600 in one of Daks' stores or through one of their retailers, such as Fraser, Slater or Harrods in the UK and through Nordstrom in the USA.2. Contract business which specialises in the design, manufacture and sales of products either under customers own labels, such as the St Michael label for Marks & Spencer, or for corporate wear under a customer's name such as Bank of Scotland. Compared to the garments produced for the Daks brand, these are much simpler products sold in larger volumes. These are mass-produced rather than tailored in contrast to the Daks product range.Table I illustrates the nature of the extended enterprise for each one of the business units. The empirical data presented in this table confirms the existence of two different extended enterprises (or collaborative systems) within one enterprise.Further analysis of the Daks' \"order fulfilment\" and \"product development\" processes illustrate that the overall picture is quite complex, as shown in Figures 7 and 8. Here, for both extended business units, the two processes have been mapped in their extended forms to illustrate the value chain of each extended process, whilst the details of the processes internal to Daks have been suppressed. Figure 7 shows that the two extended processes have enterprises/organisations that are both specific and common to both processes. For example, cloth suppliers, such as Arthur Bell, Nobles, Moon, etc., have a role to play in both the product development process and the order fulfilment process. Whereas catwalks are specifically part of the extended product development process, the equipment suppliers and subcontractors are specifically part of the extended order fulfilment process.Figure 8 illustrates a much simpler picture for the extended contract business unit; this is not a surprise as this is a much simpler business unit where product variety is low and volumes are high with relatively low product development activity. Although this is a much simpler extended business unit, structurally it demonstrates the same characteristics as the extended Daks business unit.However, further analysis (not illustrated in Figures 7 and 8) also revealed that the organisations common to both extended processes are split internally. For example, in the case of the extended Daks business unit, in one of the cloth suppliers (Nobles) there is a team of people who work closely with the designers in Daks on product development whilst another team in Nobles is working closely with the order fulfilment team in Daks. Furthermore, the product development and the order fulfilment teams in Nobles are in continuous communication with their counterparts in Daks but they rarely communicate with each other within Nobles. Our research established that this was a common occurrence in all those suppliers and customers who are involved in both order fulfilment and product development processes. That is, the extended business processes seems to be better integrated horizontally, i.e. between enterprises, then vertically, i.e. between processes within the same enterprise.From this case study we can conclude that:* the two extended business units are exclusive;* the two extended business processes are exclusive;* although some organisations may be common to both extended business processes, the internal split within these organisations is such that the two processes remain exclusive;* there is a continuous flow of information and knowledge between enterprises along each one of the extended processes; and* however, the flow of information and knowledge between the two extended processes is intermittent.This case study strongly supports the architecture proposed in Figure 6 and it suggests that, in developing collaborative systems, attention needs to be paid to:* flow of information and knowledge along each extended business unit;* flow of information and knowledge between two different extended units;* flow of information and knowledge along each extended process; and* flow of information and knowledge between two different extended processes.\n6. Measuring and managing performance in extended enterprises: a model: Based on the architecture of the extended enterprise as presented in section 4 of this paper the research team developed the extended enterprise performance measurement model, which is illustrated in Figure 9.In Figure 9 the extended enterprise consists of a number of enterprises (three in this case), which are collaborating. The readers should note that the extended enterprise emerges at the business unit level by linking the business units of a number of different enterprises. The extended enterprise then comprises a number of extended business processes. Each extended business process is the integration of the business processes of individual enterprises.The extended enterprise performance measurement model (EEPMM) comprises of a series of scorecards. These are:* enterprise scorecards, which are specific to each enterprise collaborating in the extended enterprise. Essentially, these are conventional strategic scorecards;* business unit scorecard, corresponding to the collaborating business unit of an enterprise;* business process scorecards (EB sub-process scorecard), these are operational scorecards internal to each enterprise;* extended enterprise or meta level scorecard, which includes strategic inter-enterprise coordinating measures; and* extended business process scorecards (EBP scorecard), which includes operational inter-enterprise coordinating measures.In managing the performance of each enterprise the management team will be required to deploy the strategic objectives of the enterprise to it's own business units and business processes (deployment path 1 in Figure 9).The strategic objectives of the extended enterprise will also be deployed to the business units, which make up the extended enterprise (deployment path 2). This will be consolidated with the objectives received from the enterprise and deployed through path 1 to individual business processes.Similarly, the strategic objectives of the extended enterprise would be deployed to its extended business processes and then to the sub-processes (i.e. part of the process that is specific to an enterprise), as illustrated in deployment path 3.This presents a complex structure for performance measurement and management in extended enterprises. In order to understand the consequences and practicality of such a structure the research team applied this measurement model in the extended contract business of Daks Simpson Plc. The results are as illustrated in Figure 10.\n7. Discussion and conclusions: 7.1 Research results and lessons\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research paper is to demonstrate how existing performance measurement may be adopted to measure and manage performance in extended enterprises.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper reviews the literature in performance measurement and extended enterprises. It explains the collaborative architecture of an extended enterprise and demonstrates this architecture through a case study. A model for measuring and managing performance in extended enterprises is developed using the case study.\nFindings: - The research found that due to structural differences between traditional and extended enterprises, the systems required to measure and manage the performance of extended enterprises, whilst being based upon existing performance measurement frameworks, would be structurally and operationally different. Based on this, a model for measuring and managing performance in extended enterprises is proposed which includes intrinsic and extrinsic inter-enterprise coordinating measures.\nResearch limitations/implications: - There are two limitations this research. First, the evidence is based on a single case, thus further cases should be studied to establish the generalisibility of the presented results. Second, the practical limitations of the EE performance measurement model should be established through longitudinal action research.\nPractical implications: - In practice the model proposed requires collaborating organisations to be more open and share critical performance information with one another. This will require change in practices and attitudes.\nOriginality/value: - The main contribution this paper makes is that it highlights the structural differences between traditional and collaborative enterprises and specifies performance measurement and management requirements of these collaborative organisations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding the determinants of cloud computing adoption	[ "Cloud computing", "Technology‐organisation‐environment", "Technology adoption", "Taiwan", "Republic of China", "Information technology operations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: According to severe market competition and a dramatically changing business environment, firms have still prompted to adopt various state-of-the-art information technologies (IT) to improve their business operations (Pan and Jang, 2008; Sultan, 2010). In recent years, the term \"cloud computing\" has been critical in the world of IT. Cloud computing, or the use of internet-based technologies to conduct business, is recognised as an important area for IT innovation and investment (Armbrust et al., 2010; Goscinski and Brock, 2010; Tuncay, 2010). Cloud computing has spread out through the main areas related to information systems (IS) and technologies, such as operating systems, application software, and technological solutions for firms (Armbrust et al., 2010). In other words, cloud computing is a kind of computing application service that is like e-mail, office software, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) and uses ubiquitous resources that can be shared by the business employee or trading partners. Thus, a user on the internet can communicate with many servers at the same time, and these servers exchange information among themselves (Hayes, 2008). Moreover, telecommunication and network technology have been progressing fast; they contain 3G, FTTH, and WiMAX, so the high-speed infrastructures are integrated strongly. Cloud computing services can provide the user seamlessly, the convenience, and the quality-stable technological support that can develop the enormous potential demand (Buyya et al., 2009; Pyke, 2009). Thus, cloud computing provides the opportunity of flexibility and adaptability to attract the market on demand.From a business point of view, firms are increasingly attempting to integrate business processes into their existing IS applications and build internet-based technologies for transacting business with trading partners (Tuncay, 2010). In high-tech industries, ubiquitous data transformation practices have become one of the key aspects for improving operation efficiency. To enhance competitive advantage, developing cloud computing capability is an important undertaking because it is not only rapidly changing the way that enterprises buy, sell, and deal with customers, but it is also becoming a more integral part of enterprises' business tactics (Pyke, 2009). Cloud computing diffusion becomes a significant research topic because it enables firms to execute data transactions along value chain activities (e.g. including manufacturing, finance, distribution, sales, customer service, information sharing and collaboration with trading partners) (Gartner, 2009; Pyke, 2009).While cloud computing has been discussed as a new technology develop that can provide several advantages, both strategic and operational, to its adopters, the cloud computing adoption rate is not growing as fast as expected (Banerjee, 2009; Buyya et al., 2009; Goscinski and Brock, 2010). In fact, Sclater (2009) surveyed different companies from different industries that have built custom applications in the cloud and analysed how cloud computing affected the companies' operations in security integration areas. The future of computing lies in cloud computing, whose major goal is reducing the cost of IT services while increasing processing throughput, reliability, availability, and flexibility and decreasing processing time (Hayes, 2008). Owing to the lack of exploratory studies that explain the diffusion and adoption of cloud computing, our research is to understand the process of adoption of the technology and to identify factors affecting the cloud computing adoption decision with high-tech industry in Taiwan.\n2 Theories and literature review: 2.1 The concept of cloud computing\n3 Research model and hypotheses: In this study, the research model incorporates technological, organisational, and environmental contexts as important determinants of cloud computing adoption. As shown in Figure 1, this incorporation of the three contexts posited eight predictors for cloud computing adoption, and adoption was considered as a binary variable, with non-adopter firms assigned the value of 1 and adopter firms assigned the value of 2. We used logistic regression analysis to test the hypotheses, and these factors are hypothesised to have a direct effect on firm adoption of cloud computing technology; the relationships among the eight factors were outside the scope of our research.3.1 Technology context\n4 Method: 4.1 Sampling and instrument\n5 Conclusion: To promote cloud computing adoption, it is necessary to clarify the factors that explain this adoption, and make a perspicacious analysis to understand if different industries have the same drivers for cloud computing adoption. Along with the potential benefits of cloud computing, through, come possible pitfalls that interrupt usefulness. One concern is the contemplation of failure downtime, which will vary by provider, and can happen as server maintenance is executed or as unforeseen outages occur. Another concern is the complexity and compatibility of cloud computing implementation can be a barrier to cloud computing adoption. While cloud computing has been regarded as an important technology that can provide strategic and operational advantages, significant rates of implementation in the high-tech industry are yet to be seen. Hence, it is necessary to understand the impact of cloud computing adoption in the high-tech industry. Firms that would like to adopt cloud computing can start with gradual implantation, slowly increasing the number of processes by developing more internet infrastructure or portable electronic equipment. Firms can begin by implementing cloud computing services into business processes, such as ERP and CRM. These processes are of high value to the firms, and the benefits of adopting SaaS with their trading partners helps them to compete with their bigger rivals. The contributions of this study are fourfold.First, this study presents several key findings and implications about the determinants of cloud computing adoption in the high-tech industry. These key findings are as follows:* Whether a firm implements cloud computing in the high-tech industry depends on the firm's technological, organisational, and environmental contexts.* Five variables (i.e. relative advantage, firm size, top management support, competitive pressure, and trading partner pressure) were found to be significant determinants of cloud computing adoption, and three variables (i.e. complexity, compatibility, and technology readiness) were found to be insignificant determinants of cloud computing adoption.* Among the determinants, trading partner pressure was observed to be the most influential factor affecting a firm's cloud computing adoption.* Relative advantage was the barrier to cloud computing adoption.One possible reason for this barrier was that the charging mechanisms of cloud computing services were not found to be friendly towards the firms' adoption of the technology. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first that examines adoption of cloud computing using an innovation diffusion model. Based on the TOE theoretical framework (Tornatzky and Fleischer, 1990), this study developed and validated a research model to examine the influence of eight contextual factors on cloud computing adoption in the high-tech industry.As in most empirical studies, our work is limited in some ways. First, the TOE framework may not explicitly point out that what are the major constructs in the model and the variables in each context. To solve this limitation, future research should consider that for more complex new technology adoption it is leading to combine more than one theoretical model to express a better understanding of the IT adoption phenomenon. Second, this work uses the logistic regression technique to explain the predictors that define between adopters and non-adopters. The method only focuses on the single relationship between the independent and dependent variables (Hair et al., 1998). Therefore, the interrelationship among the independent variables, no use of control variables, and moderators were not analyzed in this study. Future studies can simultaneously examine a series of variable influences and relationships. Finally, our work investigates only high-tech industry, others studies with new samples of specific industry, such as manufacturing or service, should be congregate to further study the applicability of TOE framework.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that affect the adoption of cloud computing by firms belonging to the high-tech industry. The eight factors examined in this study are relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, top management support, firm size, technology readiness, competitive pressure, and trading partner pressure.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from 111 firms belonging to the high-tech industry in Taiwan. Relevant hypotheses were derived and tested by logistic regression analysis.\nFindings: - The findings revealed that relative advantage, top management support, firm size, competitive pressure, and trading partner pressure characteristics have a significant effect on the adoption of cloud computing.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research was conducted in the high-tech industry, which may limit the generalisability of the findings.\nPractical implications: - The findings offer cloud computing service providers with a better understanding of what affects cloud computing adoption characteristics, with relevant insight on current promotions.\nOriginality/value: - The research contributes to the application of new technology cloud computing adoption in the high-tech industry through the use of a wide range of variables. The findings also help firms consider their information technologies investments when implementing cloud computing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Improving warehouse labour efficiency by intentional forecast bias	[ "Demand forecasting", "Labour efficiency", "Forecast bias", "Labour management", "Warehouse planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Warehousing serves as the primary link between producers and customers in the supply chain. It provides buffering for manufacturing operations to manage varying customer demand (Bowersox et al., 2002). Labour constitutes about half of all (non-automated) warehouse operation costs (Bartholdi and Hackman, 2016). For retail warehouses it is often difficult to determine the exact workforce, as the workload tends to be variable and activities, especially outbound work, have tight deadlines. Many warehouse managers therefore prefer flexible labour pools (De Leeuw and Wiers, 2015). Even with flexible pools, labour planning may be inaccurate with negative effects on labour productivity. Forecasting the workload and hence the required capacity is therefore an essential step in warehouse manpower planning (Bond, 2012). As managers usually have a good view of upcoming orders, quantitative forecasting methods using historical data can be combined with expert judgement, although this may introduce bias, i.e. systematic differences between forecasts and actual order sizes (Goodwin, 1996, 2002). Important questions are how to detect such biases, how to control them and how they affect labour efficiency, defined as the ratio of required labour over actually hired labour.\nLiterature review and research hypotheses: This literature review examines the three main aspects of our methodology: warehousing, labour management and demand forecasting.\nCase study environment: Warehouse characteristics\nForecasting order size: Statistical model\nLabour efficiency and forecast bias: In this section, we first investigate H3a by comparing labour efficiency on days with positive and negative forecast bias. Next, we analyse the relationship between forecast bias and labour efficiency to determine the amount of bias that optimises this efficiency, and we perform a small simulation study that confirms the empirical case study findings. Finally, we present outcomes of a small-scale survey among 30 warehouses that confirm labour efficiency benefits of forecast bias.\nImplications: Forecast bias methodology for labour planning\nFuture research and study limitations: Our main finding is that some controlled amount of bias improves overall efficiency of warehouse procedures. The specific results on optimal bias and associated efficiency gains obtained for our case will be different for other periods and other warehouses. By following similar methodologies as described in this paper, warehouse managers can determine the level of forecast bias that works best for their situation. The business analytic information required for this evidence-based labour management consists of available hiring strategies and cost structures as well as historical data on order sizes, forecasts and labour productivity. Such an implementation requires integrating information flows from various warehouse departments and provides an example of the potential benefits of the rapidly increasing interest for big data and business analytics (Waller and Fawcett, 2013; Wang et al., 2016). The case study illustrates the methodology, and the results are confirmed in a small-scale survey among 30 warehouses and in a simple simulation study.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show that intentional demand forecast bias can improve warehouse capacity planning and labour efficiency. It presents an empirical methodology to detect and implement forecast bias.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A forecast model integrates historical demand information and expert forecasts to support active bias management. A non-linear relationship between labour productivity and forecast bias is employed to optimise efficiency. The business analytic methods are illustrated by a case study in a consumer electronics warehouse, supplemented by a survey among 30 warehouses.\nFindings: Results indicate that warehouse management systematically over-forecasts order sizes. The case study shows that optimal bias for picking and loading is 30-70 per cent with efficiency gains of 5-10 per cent, whereas the labour-intensive packing stage does not benefit from bias. The survey results confirm productivity effects of forecast bias.\nResearch limitations/implications: Warehouse managers can apply the methodology in their own situation if they systematically register demand forecasts, actual order sizes and labour productivity per warehouse stage. Application is illustrated for a single warehouse, and studies for alternative product categories and labour processes are of interest.\nPractical implications: Intentional forecast bias can lead to smoother workflows in warehouses and thus result in higher labour efficiency. Required data include historical data on demand forecasts, order sizes and labour productivity. Implementation depends on labour hiring strategies and cost structures.\nOriginality/value: Operational data support evidence-based warehouse labour management. The case study validates earlier conceptual studies based on artificial data.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Research on nursing unit layouts: an integrative review	[ "Research", "Design", "Hospitals", "Health care", "Facility layout" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A nursing unit can be defined as an area in a hospital or other health-care delivery setting where patients with similar needs are grouped together to facilitate the delivery of care by health-care professionals. The layout of a nursing unit is an important environmental design feature because it contains spatial information of practical relevance. When properly labeled, it is possible to identify all the spaces and functions along with their shapes and sizes from unit layout. It is also possible to identify the relationships among different spaces and functions in a unit based on how they are configured in the layout. A study involving several unit layouts, therefore, may show how some units are similar to or different from the other units in terms of spaces and functions.\nThe literature: For the review of research studies on nursing unit layouts, books, book chapters, peer-reviewed articles, technical reports or whitepapers and dissertations were collected through numerous social sciences, medicine and health, and arts and humanities databases made available by the library system of a research university. Some of the databases included in the search were ABI/INFORM, Academic OneFile, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, BioMed Central, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, JSTOR, MEDLINE, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PsychiatryOnline, PubMed Central (PMC), ScienceDirect and Social Sciences Citation Index. In addition, all the proceedings of the conferences of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) and all the articles in the knowledge repository of the Center for Health Design (CHD) were also searched for this review.\nThe conceptual framework for integrative review: Most integrative reviews of research studies on health-care environments are often organized based on medical and/or non-medical outcomes (Rashid and Zimring, 2008; Ulrich et al., 2004, 2008). Notwithstanding their importance for evidence-based health-care design, these reviews have limitations. Due to a focus on outcomes, they often overlook variations in research design of the studies being reviewed. For example, studies on nosocomial infections in relation to handwashing in nursing units often use different settings, methods of data collection and methods of analysis. Regarding settings, some studies may focus on different locations of handwashing sinks; some others may focus on the same locations of handwashing sinks in different units; and still others may focus on the handwashing culture in the unit/s. Regarding methods, some may use field observation; some others may use interviews; and still others may use recorded archival data available from the unit. Yet, in outcome-based integrative reviews, all these studies would generally be put in one category.\nThe review: Of all the publications reviewed for the paper, 22 were considered having technical orientations, 16 psychological orientations, 3 social orientations, 20 psychotechnical orientations, 10 sociotechnical orientations, 2 psychosocial orientations and 13 were considered having psychosociotechnical orientations. Some publications, such as Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust\nDiscussion & conclusion: A literature map showing the distribution of studies on nursing unit layouts by research orientations and their subcategories defined based on research methods is provided in Figure 3. It can be observed that studies on nursing unit layouts are well spread over several categories. Very few research studies with social and psychosocial orientations indicate immediate research needs of these categories of research on nursing unit layouts. However, this observation should not imply that the numbers of studies in the other categories of research orientation are sufficient. With only a few exceptions, many issues of nursing unit layouts are investigated no more than one time in any one category of research orientations. More studies on these issues would be necessary for further validation of the findings that had been reported in the literature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to present an integrative review of the research studies on nursing unit layouts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Studies selected for review were published between 1956 and 2014. For the purpose of this review, a framework for integrative review was developed using research orientations. The three primary dimensions - technical, psychological and social - of the designed environment and various combinations of these dimensions were used to define the research orientations of these studies.\nFindings: Of all the publications reviewed for the paper, 21 presented technical orientations, 16 psychological orientations, 3 social orientations, 20 psychotechnical orientations, 10 sociotechnical orientations, 2 psychosocial orientations and 13 presented psychosociotechnical orientations. With only a few exceptions, several issues related to nursing unit layouts were investigated no more than one time in any one category of research orientations. Several other seemingly important issues including patient and family behavior and perception, health outcomes and social and psychosocial factors in relation to unit layouts have not been studied adequately.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future studies on nursing unit layouts will need to focus on patient and family behavior and perception, health outcomes and social and psychosocial factors in different units. They will also need to focus on developing theories concerning the effects of layouts on the technical, psychological and social dimensions of nursing units.\nOriginality/value: Despite a long history of research on nursing unit layouts, an integrative review of these studies is still missing in the literature. This review fills in the gap using a novel framework for integrative review developed based on research orientations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of immigration on natives' task specialisation: the case of Germany	[ "Labour market", "Immigration", "Recent immigrants", "Tasks", "Low-skilled immigrants", "Manual skills" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"What are the effects of immigration on native employment?\" is perhaps one of the most enduring questions in migration research, still troubling academics and policy makers alike. In trying to provide an answer, researchers have investigated the effect of immigration on native wages, employment, unemployment and participation rates, with most studies finding little or no effect. Yet, an aggregate-level analysis cannot tell us much about the compensatory processes taking place between sectors, skill levels, tasks and occupations that together allow the national labour market to adjust to the influx of foreign labour. A more nuanced approach is needed if we are to really understand the effect of immigration on employment.\n2. Immigration and its labour market effects in Germany: Within the EU, Germany hosts the largest number of immigrants, over 12.1m in 2017, comprising 14.7 per cent of the country's population (Eurostat, 2019). Net immigration flows to Germany have increased substantially since 1995, with a sharp increase being observed from 2010 onwards (Figure 1). The most recent increase can be attributed to the refugee inflow originating from conflict-affected countries such as Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. Significant growth can also be observed after the first enlargement round of the EU in 2004 and the second enlargement round in 2007, with a small decline during the Great Recession, in 2009. In terms of the skill composition[7] of the immigrants in Germany (Figure 2), there seems to be a small shift from low-skilled to high-skilled immigration during the period analysed. If in 1995, the share of highly skilled immigrants was only 13 per cent while the share of low-skilled immigrants 44 per cent, by 2014, 23 per cent of the immigrant population was now highly skilled, with 34 per cent being low-skilled (a transfer of almost 10 percentage points).\n3. Data and descriptive statistics: We base our analysis on data derived from the German Labour Force Survey (DE-LFS) and explore the period between 2002 and 2014, for which information at the regional level is available. The German LFS is carried out as part of the annual micro-census, which is based on the \"micro-census law\" (Eurostat, 2007). The survey includes information on country of birth, on which we base our conceptualisation of an immigrant. Hence, we define immigrants as those individuals who are foreign-born. We drop from our analysis long-term immigrant workers (i.e. those with five of more years in Germany), as they are more likely to have acquired German proficiency and other human capital skills of natives[11]. Additionally, since we are most interested in analysing the effect that low-skilled immigrants have on low-skilled natives' task specialisation, we restrict the data to only this educational group. We exploit information on the highest qualification achieved[12]. Moreover, since we look at the effect on task specialisation, we confine our sample to only those natives and immigrants which are either employed or self-employed, thus the working population. We use the NUTS1 (Bundesland) regional disaggregation as available in the LFS, for a total of 16 regions.\n4. The effect of immigration on the relative task supply of natives: 4.1 The empirical model\n5. Results and discussion: The following section empirically explores the relation between less-educated native workers and the corresponding group of less-educated immigrants' skills supply, across the 16 regions in Germany, over the period 2002-2014. Specifically, we investigate whether there has been a reallocation of less educated native workers to jobs characterised by a higher share of non-manual tasks, as a result of a rise in the share of immigrants with similar skills.\n6. Conclusion: This paper has investigated whether, as low-skilled immigrants enter the labour market into predominantly manual-intensive occupations, natives self-relocate to occupations which make use of their comparative advantage, communication skills. Our results suggest that an increase in the immigrant share increases natives' task supply of communication skills and decreases their task supply of manual skills. These results confirm the findings of previous studies for the USA and Spain, suggesting that, in Germany too, the labour market responds to the presence of immigration through tasks reallocation. Importantly, the decrease in the supply of communication tasks is stronger and more robust than the increase in the supply of manual tasks, pointing to a potential displacement effect taking place between natives and immigrants, alongside task reallocation. Further research investigating the effect on total employment and the role of specific labour market institutions could shed more light into the mechanism through which this adjustment process takes place.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of an increase in the relative supply of immigrants on natives' task reallocation, with a focus on Germany. Specifically, it investigates whether natives, as a response to increased immigration, re-specialise in communication-intensive occupations, where they arguably have a comparative advantage due to language proficiency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis uses regional data from the German Labour Force Survey between 2002 and 2014. To derive data on job tasks requirements, it employs the US Department of Labor's O*NET database, the results of which are tested through a sensitivity analysis using the European Working Condition Survey and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies data sets.\nFindings: The paper finds that indeed German workers respond to increasing immigration by shifting their task supply and providing more communication relative to manual tasks. Importantly, the decrease in the supply of communication tasks is stronger and more robust than the increase in the supply of manual tasks, pointing to a potential displacement effect taking place between natives and immigrants, alongside task reallocation. This would suggest that countries with relatively more rigid labour markets are less responsive to immigration shocks. Moreover, it suggests that labour market rigidity can minimise the gains from immigration and exacerbate employment effects.\nOriginality/value: The paper not only investigates task reallocation as a result of immigration in a different institutional context and labour market functioning, but the results feed into broader policy and scholarly discussions on the effects of immigration, including questions about how the institutional context affects labour market adjustment to immigration, worker occupational mobility in a more rigid labour markets and the fine balance needed between flexibility and rigidity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploratory study on risk management of state-owned construction enterprises in China	[ "China", "Quantitative analysis", "Risk management", "Exploratory research", "SPSS", "State-owned construction enterprises" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Risk management (RM) is one of the most important aspects in enterprises as it can help them avoid unnecessary losses and gain more benefits, which could translate into greater successful at a global level (Oehmen et al., 2014). Only when the RM level is evaluated timely and efficiently can remedial measures be taken to improve the weakest area in RM and increase the benefits to an enterprise (Zhao et al., 2013). With economic growth and social advancement, state-owned enterprises, especially China's state-owned construction enterprises (CSCEs), have been able to contribute enormously to the prosperity of the Chinese economy (Li, 2005; Qiao, 2014b). However, these state-owned enterprises are often plagued with varied, unpredictable risks that prevent them from developing rapidly, even though they see tremendous business opportunities in practical projects (Li et al., 2001). In addition, because of the enterprises' strong dependence on regions, resources, natural conditions and the environment, the systematic and structural RM in state-owned enterprises is often seriously impacted (Liu et al., 2013). Hence, because China is still a developing country, it is necessary for CSCEs to set up an improved, comprehensive, structural and practical RM system. There have been a series of studies on RM in some Chinese enterprises such as China's public-private partnership (PPP) projects (Ke et al., 2011, 2012; Zou et al., 2008). However, the RM in PPP projects cannot reveal the general situation of China's construction industry completely, because they form a minority in the whole national economy. In China, state-owned enterprises dominate the economic development. Therefore, the research, focusing on RM in CSCEs, is necessary for providing practical and useful references to perfect the RM system in China's construction enterprises.\n2. Review of the literature: Since opening up, the healthy, prospering and continuous development of China's economy has been providing valuable opportunities for CSCEs. However, in the conservation-oriented society, most CSCEs still deal with a wide variety of risks in different projects following empirical methods. Thus, they fall far behind the developed countries' enterprises in terms of RM. The study, focusing on four components, conducts an investigation into RM in China's enterprises. The four components are: RM culture, RM process, RM mechanism and attached management service.\n3. Research approach: In order to ascertain the extent to which current RM practices are used in CSCEs, an RM model was employed in the research. Although new paradigms and constructs that govern RM factors will continue to emerge as a consequence of the changing construction business environment, this research focused on the current series of steps that map out the CSCEs' RM factors. Therefore, on the basis of a literature review and basic conditions under which CSCEs operate, the measuring of RM focused on the following four components:\n4. Research methodology: 4.1 Development of the questionnaire\n5. Results and discussion: 5.1 Key factors of RM and RM level\n6. Conclusion: There is a relatively low RM level and maturity in CSCEs. The research aims to find the main factors impacting RM in practice to promote rapid, sound and sustained development in CSCEs. Because China is a developing country, not too many enterprises have an RM system in place. Thus, 200 questionnaires were sent out. According to the data collected, the average RM level is low. On analysis with SPSS, eight key factors were identified that impact RM significantly. The survey quantitatively shows the coefficient of influence of these factors. The eight key factors are as follows:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: There is a relatively low risk management (RM) level and maturity in China's state-owned construction enterprises (CSCEs). The purpose of this paper is to find the main factors impacting RM in practice to promote rapid, sound and sustained development in CSCEs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: There are a few state-owned CSCEs in China. Most enterprises know little about RM. Because of the limited number of RM departments in these enterprises, 200 questionnaires were sent to the enterprises to investigate the RM strategies employed by them. The research is quantitative and used a questionnaire survey to determine the important factors influencing RM practice. The collected data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences to identify the most important factors affecting RM as well as the extent of influence of these factors, in order to facilitate further research.\nFindings: The survey revealed the top eight factors (i.e. leaders' support, personnel's responsibility, comprehensiveness of identification, costs and benefits, risk appetite, understanding of language, frequency of training and performance management) that highly impact RM in CSCEs and the extent to which these factors impact RM. The data reveal that the average RM level is low. Some methods have been recommended to improve RM.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research lays the foundation for further RM development in CSCEs. The low RM level in CSCEs should encourage researchers to find better ways to improve RM. Some factors in the research will function as valuable guides for China's private and public-private partnership enterprises.\nPractical implications: A quantitative analysis methodology for RM has been developed for CSCEs that can reflect their RM level. In addition, the degree of impact of key factors on RM has been shown. The results can act as a reference to improve RM quantitatively, making the RM system more explicit in dealing with risks more accurately and instructively.\nOriginality/value: Structural RM research is utilized to evaluate RM in CSCEs by following an empirical method. With the continuous improvement in RM, CSCEs can cooperate well with construction enterprises of other countries for infrastructure projects and gain more benefits.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Matches and gaps in the green logistics market	[ "Sweden", "Logistics management", "Environmental management", "Logistics service provider", "Shippers", "Interface", "Green logistics", "Gap analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The management of interfaces is central in supply chain management (SCM) and logistics. An important part of SCM is coordination and collaboration with different partners such as suppliers, intermediaries, third party service providers and customers (CSCMP, 2010). Collaboration between parties in the supply chain is generally believed to decrease costs and increase efficiency as well as service. Moreover, the success of a firm is dependent on its managerial ability to integrate and coordinate the business relationships among the supply chain members (Lambert and Cooper, 2000). The supply chain linkage ought to be so tight that separate organizational units share the same purpose, with suppliers and customers helping each other to achieve mutually beneficial objectives (Bommer et al., 2001).In the SCM literature, interfaces seldom include the logistics service provider (LSP). Instead, the most commonly discussed interfaces are those between the shippers and the receivers of goods (Skjoett-Larsen et al., 2003; Stefansson, 2006). One reason for this could be that logistics firms are the least integrated link in supply chains (Lemoine and Skjoett-Larsen, 2004), or, as noted by Fabbe-Costes et al. (2009), LSPs seem to be the forgotten actors of supply chain integration. Furthermore, LSPs are often merely seen as actors that support other members of the supply chain, providing resources, knowledge, utilities and assets (Spens and Bask, 2002). Several logistics related trends, such as the shift towards outsourcing and increased globalisation, increase the need for stronger relationships between LSPs and supply chains (Seth et al., 2006).Most of the research conducted on LSPs applies either only to a shipper or to the perspective of an LSP, instead of a dyadic perspective. Literature in the context of service quality in supply chains also commonly considers only one directional view (Seth et al., 2006). Knemeyer and Murphy (2005) state that there is a need to simultaneously consider the perspectives of both the shipper and the LSP in order to decrease the risk of key perceptual differences (gaps) that can negatively influence the logistics service quality.Shippers and LSPs face an emerging and considerable challenge as a result of the large negative impact transportation has on the natural environment and, as stated by, for example, the EEA (2007) and Roth and Kaberger (2002), the environmental performance of the transport sector is an increasing problem. Because of increased usage of freight transport it is not surprising that both shippers and LSPs are pressured by different stakeholders, such as governments and customers, to lower their environmental impact from transportation (McKinnon, 2003; McKinnon and Piecyk, 2009; Wolf and Seuring, 2010). This creates an opportunity for LSPs to be proactive and meet these demands by considering environmental issues in their business models and as a value adding service offer.The correspondence between customer needs and the service offers is essential in order to succeed with the service concept (Edvardsson, 1997); however, that does not necessarily mean that supply and demand always match. For example, Wolf and Seuring (2010) found that the LSPs seem to be ahead of their customers when it comes to environmental issues, although they state this with caution and call for further research in this area.With the aim of learning more about the interface between LSPs and shippers and how environmental issues are taken into account, the purpose of this paper is:To develop and apply a tool for the identification of matches and gaps in the interface between the environmental demands of the shippers and the corresponding offers from the LSPs.The offers and demands of green logistics are defined in this paper as considerations taken in respect of the natural environment in the supply or purchase of logistics services. We take a wide approach towards environmental concerns and include green categories such as the use of environmentally preferable technology, the use and spread of environmental knowledge, and the inclusion of environmental concerns in the logistics management.There are many ways to label the actor responsible for the supply of logistics services. In this paper, the term LSPs is applied and, inspired by Fabbe-Costes et al. (2009) and Forslund (2010), includes actors such as carriers, forwarding agents and companies, transport(ation) companies, third party logistics providers/partners and logistics service companies/providers/suppliers.This paper is divided into five main parts. After the introduction, a literature section on the \"greening\" of the LSP-shipper interface will be presented. This is followed by a section focussing on service gaps, in which a model is proposed and developed. Next, the survey study is explained, after which the findings from the application of the model are presented. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions for future research.\nThe LSP-shipper interface: Wandel et al. (1992) describe the interface between shippers and LSPs in terms of a logistics market (Figure 1). In this market, the need for material flows and demands for logistics services by shippers meet, and hopefully match, the LSPs' system for transport flow and supply of logistics services. Similarly, Sheffi (1986, p. 2) describes the transportation market thus:Interactions between carriers and shippers can be considered supply and demand actions in a freight transportation \"market\". In the transportation market, carriers \"supply\" and shippers \"consume\" transportation services.The efficiency in the match between supply and demand can be measured in terms of service quality.The development of green logistics services is an active interface between the demand and supply sides, where both sides pressure and respond to each other (Martinsen and Huge-Brodin, 2010). In the following paragraphs, green supply and demand in the green logistics market are presented, after which environmental considerations in this market are discussed.The green supply\nGaps and gap models: A key issue in customer service is to understand and meet the customer's needs and requirements (Bommer et al., 2001). The service literature shows that customers can have different expectations of a service than those of their suppliers; a gap arises when parties do not share the same perception of the service (Hakatie and Ryynanen, 2007). Researchers who have studied these potential gaps have been inspired by the terminology of \"service quality\" (Parasuraman et al., 1985) in studies of the differences in service expectations and services received by customers (Seth et al., 2006). The rationale behind the development of \"service quality\" as described by Parasuraman et al. (1985) is that service quality, as opposed to product quality, is more difficult for consumers to understand, and is also more difficult to measure. The reason for this is basically four service characteristics that separate services from products: intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Shostack, 1977; Zeithaml et al., 1985). Successful service providers can be described as \"those who are able to zero the gap between required services and the services delivered\" (Kumar and Kumar, 2004, p. 316). Neither a positive nor negative gap is recommended; a negative gap implies that customer demands are not met, while large positive gaps indicate that the service level is too high, resulting in \"service overkill\" (Lings and Brooks, 1998), which can imply a waste of resources that could be better spent on something else (Large and Konig, 2009).The gap model introduced by Parasuraman et al. (1985) conceptualizes service quality as a comparison between customers' and suppliers' current expectations and perceptions. Thus, the gap model strives to measure the perception of the actual performance, not best practice (Mukherjee and Nath, 2005). The model developed by Parasuraman et al. (1985) summarizes key insights about the concept of service quality and the factors affecting it. One important part of this model is the five gaps identified (Figure 2):1. the consumer expectation-marketers' management perception gap;2. the marketer internal gap: management perception-service quality specification gap;3. the marketer internal gap: service quality specifications-service delivery gap;4. the marketer internal gap: service delivery-external communication gap; and5. the consumer internal gap: expected service-perceived service gap.The gap model enables researchers and practitioners to contrast the views of customers and suppliers. It has been described as a predominant model in the customer satisfaction literature, and is a well-known and widely used approach to determine whether or not consumer needs have been satisfied (Lin and Ho, 2008; Mukherjee and Nath, 2005). Moreover, the gap model can facilitate insight into customer demands and can therefore be used as a well-structured guide for suppliers striving to adapt their offers to these demands (Skalen and Fougere, 2007).Gap models in logistics\nThe survey study: The gap model was used to structure questions on a web based survey sent out to both LSPs and shippers. Although part of a much larger research project, for the purpose of this article, five specific questions were included in the survey. The first question was a nominal scale question to identify if the respondent was an LSP or shipper. The following four questions addressed one box each of those shown in Figure 4. Two of the questions were answered by the LSP's: the LSPs' stated offer (A in Figure 4) and their perception of the shippers' demands (C). Two questions were answered by the shippers: the shippers' stated demands (B) and their perception of the LSP's offer (D). All four questions had the same answer alternatives covering ten green categories that share a number of similarities with those presented by Martinsen and Huge-Brodin (2010). The respondents answered according to a five-point Likert scale ranging from (1) \"totally disagree\" to (5) \"fully agree\" in the analysis of the survey. Respondents also had the option of answering \"do not know\".Data collection\nFindings: In this section the five studied gaps shown in Figure 4 are discussed one by one.Gap 1\nDiscussion and further research needs: This paper has presented the development of a gap model that is of relevance for the green interface between LSPs' green offers and shippers' green demands. Furthermore, the developed gap model has been applied to this green interface. In this section we discuss the identified gaps, as well as the usability of the gap model in this specific context. We end the section with an elaboration on potential improvements to the developed model. Based on our experience of applying the model, we highlight categories of importance in the future use of the model.Identified gaps\nConclusions: In this paper we have developed and applied a gap model for the study of the green logistics market. In doing so, we have shown that there is a potentially rich area of research for the successful use of gap models; we have also gained new and more detailed insight into the gaps on the green logistics market. Our findings indicate that there are several internal and external gaps on this market. Interestingly the two internal gaps represent both the largest and smallest gaps; the largest gap addresses the LSPs' view of their offers and how they perceive the demand from the shippers (Gap 2). This gap indicates that the LSPs perceive themselves to be ahead of market requirements. A gap also occurs when the shippers' own demands are compared to the LSPs' stated offers (Gap 1). It could be argued that this over-achievement may be a way for LSPs to take control of the market development, or that they want to be prepared for increased environmental demands. As a worst case scenario, this over-achievement is service overkill and a waste of resources.A third large gap between the stated offers of the LSPs and the shippers' perception of the offers (Gap 3) indicates that even if the LSPs are aware of their over-achievements, the shippers are not. This gap could be a problem if the LSPs over-achieve in order to take control and steer the green market development. If that is the case, one could point out the urgent need for improved information exchanges and collaboration between the actors.The smallest gap identified (Gap 5) indicates that the shippers' demands are satisfied. This gap also indicates that there is no need for communication in order to make today's customers more satisfied, since they do not ask for more. Instead communication can be needed to foster and shape future demands.Before taking action or providing any recommendations on how to act in this matter, there is a need to deepen the understanding regarding the reason why these gaps occur. Furthermore, we have identified potential areas for the future development of the gap model, suggesting more studies applying similar tools.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The interface between logistics service providers (LSPs) and shippers is an area that has received little attention in previous research and even less has been done when environmental issues are added to this interface. Nonetheless, the perception among researchers and the industry is that in many instances, supply and demand in this green interface does not coincide. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to identify the matches and gaps between LSPs' green supply and the shippers' green demand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is based on a web-based survey sent out to Swedish LSPs and shippers. A gap analysis based on mean values and confidence intervals was conducted.\nFindings: - Findings indicate that the LSPs overachieve when it comes to green categories and also that they are aware of this situation. Shippers, on the other hand, interestingly are not aware of this and they seem satisfied with what they perceive is offered by LSPs.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Contrary to previous research, the paper specifies matches and gaps in the green LSP-shipper interface. As the survey covered actors in the Swedish market, future research would benefit from similar analyses from other countries.\nPractical implications: - The findings are of use for LSPs' understanding of shippers' environmental demands, and thereby enable them to adapt better to market demand. Similarly, shippers can use the findings to understand green supply and possibly change their demands accordingly.\nOriginality/value: - This paper adds to the knowledge of the green LSP-shipper interface. Furthermore, it uses gap analysis, which appears to be something not previously done within environmental logistics research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service quality of hospital outpatient departments: patients' perspective	[ "Patient perception", "Quality healthcare", "Service quality", "Patient satisfaction", "Quality assessment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Evaluation of patients' perception about health service quality has attracted considerable attention in recent years as an important element of healthcare evaluation (Labarere et al., 2001; Iversen et al., 2012). In the past, quality assessment was based only on clinical perspectives, and patient perceptions and feedback were ignored in quality assessment schemes. However, nowadays, patient views and perceptions are emphasized in the evaluation of health service quality, and mere reliance on clinical effectiveness aspects is not much supported (Mpinganjira, 2011; Carlucci et al., 2013). Patients are reliable sources of information about health service quality, and their perceptions and assessments can provide valuable data that are virtually inaccessible using conventional monitoring and performance evaluation measures (Labarere et al., 2001).\nMethod: Study design\nFindings: Demographical findings\nDiscussion: This study was conducted with an aim of evaluating service quality of outpatient departments of the teaching hospitals in Iran from the patients' perspective. The extracted structure from EFA determined different dimensions for service quality, which indicated differences with the structure intended for the initially developed instrument. The three factors \"appointment\", \"perceived waiting time\", and \"admission process\" were categorized as a dimension titled \"organizing and service provisioning process\". In addition, the \"physician's services\" dimension was separated into two dimensions of \"physician's consultation\" and \"information to the patient\". This finding was consistent with Baker's (1990) view, which suggested satisfaction with individual physician's service in the outpatient department including two separate \"communication skills\" and \"clinical skills\" components. Overall, identification of the service quality dimensions is a controversial and important issue, and there is no general consensus on the number of its dimensions. Nevertheless, all researchers agree about the multi-dimensional and complex structure of service quality (Nam and Lee, 2011).\nConclusion and recommendations: The developed instrument in this study has enough validity and reliability, and it can help hospital managers to identify the areas in need of improvement and correction measures. The present study recommends that improving examination and consultation quality and the information provided to the patient in the examination process, establishing or improving an internet or telephone appointment system to decrease waiting times, coordination between physicians and the outpatient department management, offering incentives for on-time physicians, generating value for the patient, and improving the physical space of the clinics can be effective strategies for the management of teaching hospitals to increase patients' positive perceptions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Assessment of patient perceptions of health service quality as an important element in quality assessments has attracted much attention in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to assess the service quality of hospital outpatient departments affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences from the patients' perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 in Tehran, Iran. The study samples included 500 patients who were selected by multi-stage random sampling from four hospitals. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire consisting of 50 items, and the validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed. For data analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Friedman test, and descriptive statistics were used through LISREL 8.54 and SPSS 18 applications.\nFindings: Eight significant factors were extracted for outpatient service quality, which explained about 67 per cent of the total variance. Physician consultation, information provided to the patient, and the physical environment of the clinic were the three determining factors of the quality of outpatient services. The highest and lowest perceptions were related to physician consultation and perceived waiting time dimension, respectively. The mean score of patients' perception of outpatient service quality was 3.89 (+-0.60). About 59.5 per cent of patients assessed the quality of outpatient services as good, 38.2 per cent as moderate, and 2.3 per cent as poor.\nPractical implications: The instrument developed for this study is valid and reliable, and it can help hospital managers to identify the areas needing improvement and correction.\nOriginality/value: According to the findings of this study, the majority of patients had a positive experience with outpatient departments of teaching hospitals, and the services provided in these centres were of adequate quality, based on patient assessments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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